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Community Projects
Streetspeak is a community based outreach project that uses football to involve disadvantaged groups of young people in literacy work, leading to an increase in their self-esteem.
Funded by the Football Foundation, Arts Council as part of the National Football Museum's Poetry in Motion initiative, Streetspeak is a three-year project (2008-11), in which participants are involved in a programme of performance poetry workshops producing new pieces of poetry (including poems, chants, texts, slang) with a football theme. It will culminate in the creation of on-line learning resources, a film and an exhibition at the National Football Museum and a performance of newly commissioned work by poets and community participants. We aim to include 800 young people in the project over three years. The exhibition, learning resources and film will reach an audience of 100,000 people.
Ten poets, including Paul Cookson – Poet in Residence at the National Football Museum – are delivering the sessions.
The Museum is working with local disadvantaged community groups from areas of deprivation in Preston and surrounding districts in partnership with a range of Lancashire and Preston youth and community initiatives: Playing for Success (Preston North End), Youth Offending Team (YOT), Group Intervention Panel (GRIP), Youth Intervention Programme (YIP), Groundwork and Streetwise . Participants are encouraged to take part in football coaching sessions with PNE Community as part of their involvement in the project. The initial stimulus for this work was the Football Poetry Exhibition at the Museum which ran from September 2007 to March 2008. The Museum aims to spread the work to other regions in due course.
The project harnesses the youngsters' interest in football to develop their literacy skills (listening, oral and written) and raises their personal esteem and aspirations through engaging in performance football poetry sessions led by a poet.
The Museum will aim to fund and sustain parts of the programme in the fourth year.
The National Football Museum project will use the Museum's unique place in football and football's role as a positive force in society to improve social inclusion, reduce juvenile nuisance and raise educational standards. The project offers an innovative approach to bring about achievable results focussed on areas of social deprivation in Preston.
Poet Craig Bradley (right) leads a Poetry in Motion (Streetspeak) session with youngsters Cameron, Reece and Lewis from Groundwork Lancashire West (Wigan area). Film-maker Gary Coogan from Jagged Productions looks on!
By using a creative approach to literacy the National Football Museum project will encourage participants to engage in football poetry, achieve an increased sense of self-esteem, and improve their levels of educational attainment.
The chief aim is to improve literacy skills; listening, oral and written, of the participants through reading, jointly writing and performing poetry with a football focus. A written record (included in a final Anthology) and video diary of participants' work and feelings will enable us to ascertain progress in literacy and measurable outcomes related to attainment and self-esteem. Formative evaluation of this will inform further developments. The project will culminate in a stimulating and engaging exhibition that will attract a wide and diverse audience, and which will include a multi-media presentation. There will be a series of performances of participants' work and newly commissioned work of poets at the Museum, which will raise the self-esteem of the participants in the local area and throughout the North West of England. The Exhibition and the performances will be measurable outcomes which can be evaluated by feedback from the many thousand visitors who will view them.
Sustainability in Preston and Lancashire will be achieved through the creation of learning resources (units of work on a literacy theme related to football and poetry) in partnership with the local Youth and Community Service, produced to MLA (Museum, Libraries and Archives) standards. These will be used alongside our existing resources (an Education Pack and lesson materials for use at Key Stages 2 – 4) which have been professionally designed and produced for use by schools. The resources can be accessed by Youth and Community groups, Playing for Success groups, Preston North End Youth Development teams, Streetwise groups and schools beyond the period of the project. In the fourth year of the project the performance poetry consultant will promote the project using the resources produced through continuing work with the community.
Recent quotes from participants:
“Poetry is very interesting and a very clever subject to learn about. Important stuff. Terry (the poet) is also a very funny, intelligent man who makes everyone have a laugh, his poetry is very funny and has got a lot of good rhymes and beats.” (Streetspeak participant)
“Pupils reacted really well and all enjoyed the experience. Definitely stimulated interest and will be interesting to see how content is developed in future sessions.” (Staff member)
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said in November 2008: “I am delighted to see Streetspeak (Poetry in Motion) launched, especially by such a legend in the game as Sir Tom Finney. The project is good news for young people in Preston, Lancashire and beyond and the fact that it is being launched by a player of Sir Tom's stature means it will be beginning in true style.”
The Football Foundation is the UK's largest sports charity funded by the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government.
The Museum's Poet in Residence, Paul Cookson
The Museum recognises the way in which football can be a catalyst to engage children and young people who may be turned off formal education, to become excited about learning. For over two years the Museum has created interest in poetry among youngsters through the football-themed poetry workshops, readings and performances of the Museum's Poet in Residence, Paul Cookson.
Paul has had a number of books of poetry published, including his collection of football poems Give Us A Goal (Macmillan Children's Books, 2004). He has written many articles for football club magazines and appears regularly on BBC and commercial radio stations.
Paul worked with the Museum to develop a popular exhibition at the Museum from September 2007 to March 2008 and an expanding programme of activities linked to national initiatives such as Reading the Game.
“Football is a national obsession. By tapping into what kids are interested in makes poetry more accessible because children start listening to and writing poetry about football and then write poems on other themes. It especially encourages boys who can be reluctant readers and writers.”
Paul Cookson, Poet in Residence, National Football Museum
