Million Plus

Last year (2015) Canterbury Christ Church University helped Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) students strengthen their communication skills, increase in confidence and gain an art qualification.

Working with the internationally acclaimed artist Adam Chodzko and Canterbury Festival, the University’s Sidney Cooper Gallery ran a series of workshops for 23 KRAN students from a number of different countries, including Eritrea, Africa, Vietnam and Afghanistan. The workshops helped to engage the students with contemporary art to create their own pieces, which led to ten of the participating KRAN students achieving Bronze Arts Award (equivalent to a level D-G GCSE qualification) as well as contributing a meaningful piece for Adam’s exhibition at the gallery.

Natasha Wright, Volunteer Coordinator for KRAN Education Canterbury, said: “Working alongside the Sidney Cooper Gallery and Adam Chodzko was a fantastic opportunity for our students to not only engage with the professional art world but also to feel part of the local community.

“We are extremely proud of all the hard work and dedication our students put in to create the pieces of art for the exhibition and achieving their Arts Award qualification.

“By participating in this project it has also provided our students with the confidence and necessary skills to pursue creative courses at college and enabled KRAN to establish links with the Sidney Cooper Gallery to work on further projects.”