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Knowle West Media Centre

April 7, 2008 Posted by Makala Cheung in : Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Bristol, Community Media, Regeneration, South Bristol, Events, Mentoring, News, Learning, Skills, Environment, Connecting Bristol, Guest Bloggers , add a comment

I’m Press and Communications worker for the Knowle West Media Centre. We offer cutting edge media services and facilities from our new environmental building, and exciting hands on learning alongside professional practitioners. We are strongly embedded in the local community and run various groups for residents, especially young people.

My role involves doing press and marketing for KWMC, editor for the community newsletter, running parts of the community website http://www.knowlewest.co.uk (including the events pages), community communication both face-to-face with residents, clubs and organisations, facilitating Mouth of the South (more below) and taking part in community events, networks, and city-wide work for example I took part in Connecting Bristol’s bid to the Digital Challenge.

The new Knowle West Media Centre at Leinster Avenue will be holding its official 2 day opening event this week. Young people who work with Knowle West Media Centre will launch the two day programme of celebration on Thursday 10th April when they officially open the £2.6m green new HQ that they helped to plan, design and build. The opening ceremony will mark the successful end of a 5 year project to provide Knowle West with a beacon of creative and climate-friendly media enterprise, where young people can develop the technological skills demanded by the digital age.

Thursday 10th April 12pm-5pm
Official opening of KWMC by the Archimedia Core Group and KWMCC Director Carolyn Hassan from 12pm, this will be followed by building tours and displays of each departments work, as well as film screenings and projects and performances by young people and community groups.Then at 3.30pm Matthew Taylor, Chief Exec of the Royal Society of Arts, will speak about Young People, Media and Community.

Friday 11th April 2pm-5pm
Friday will see an opening of KWMC by local residents and Key Funders of the building, including Bristol City Council, South West Regional Development Agency and Arts Council SW. Again there will be film screenings, exhibitions, story telling sessions and tree planting.

To join us on this landmark occasion please RSVP to Katie Taylor at Katie@kwmc.org.uk by 7th April.
Please note children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.

You will be able to find out more about us and meet some of the young people we work with. Examples of our groups include:

AMAZING ARCHIVE GROUP - A Young Roots Heritage Lottery Funded project for 12 – 25 year olds researching their heritage in and around Knowle West.
In June 2008 an exhibition will present the work of the group and invite the community to become involved in creating a ‘living’ archive for Knowle West.

KNOWLE WEST CARBON MAKEOVER- Knowle West Media Centre is working with 100 homes to be part of this exciting year-long environmental project. The project team will support the families in making changes to their homes and lifestyles looking at the different themes of climate change, for example, shopping locally.

DIGITAL FISH FILM CLUB - A young person-led club for 13-19 year olds, open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. They make short films and animations; as well as holding holiday film clubs, and workshops on acting, music recording, scriptwriting etc. The group’s work has won national awards and often run trips to screenings of our work all over the country.

SILVERSCREEN FILM CLUB - Over 50’s Film Club with regular screenings, host guest speakers, an extensive DVD library and cinema visits both in Bristol and further a field. Transport to events if required, and a selection of refreshments. It is open to all over 50’s from Knowle West and South Bristol.

MOUTH OF THE SOUTH - Our young journalists group is for 11-16 year olds and sessions include;
Newsletter - design, writing, interviewing and photography
Website: www.kwmc.org.uk/mos which includes radio and film projects

NLARGE PHOTOGRAPHY - Our photography group for 13-19 year olds is open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. The group follow an in depth and exciting programme learning all aspects of photography from a wide range of professional photographers. The Nlarge team take professional commissions and work towards becoming a sustainable enterprise led by young people.

To find out more about us go to http://www.kwmc.org.uk

Meanwhile, I have a workshop to prepare for - The newsletter drop-in club. The newsletter is nearing deadline, and residents will be meeting tonight, and I will be helping them in editing and designing all the new stories I received from residents and local workers over the last week.

So until tomorrow, everyone have a nice evening (whether the sun is shining or it’s snowing - who knows after yesterday’s weather), and if you happen to be reading this weeks Venue, there’s a double spread about us on page 24.

Makala x

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CAN DO COMMUNITIES, Learning for Change National Event

November 22, 2007 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Education, Community Media, Events, Mentoring, Learning , 1 comment so far

The Scarman Trust has been very supportive of Connecting Bristol. They are holding the following free event, which has a very interesting, diverse and potentially explosive line up of speakers. I wish I could be there…

You are invited to attend the launch of the Scarman Trust’s “You Can Do”
Guides. Designed to equip citizens with the skills, capacity and confidence to engage in community activity, in social action and in democratic processes the Guides are an invaluable resource for individuals with a Can Do spirit and for anyone involved in public service delivery.

This will be a fantastic opportunity to meet a wide range of interesting people - national and local politicians, community activists, academics, media commentators, voluntary, community and public sector leaders. Please come along to share and develop your ideas and opinions on the current issues for community and citizenship in 21st century Britain.

This is a FREE event, funded by Equal, to encourage wider participation and inclusion.

Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9NH
Tuesday 11th December 2007
11.00am - 4:45pm

Speakers to include

To reserve a place please contact dave.johnston@thescarmantrust.org or call 0117 9299555

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Linux Boot Camp

May 14, 2007 Posted by Clare in : Digital Challenge, Computer science, Bristol, Learning , add a comment

UWE Linux Boot Camp, 25th-27th July 2007
Ever needed to get more out of your computer and gadgets?  Have you wanted to knowmore about Linux, open source software or get in touch with your inner geek? If so then the UWE Linux Boot Camp is for you.

The event, open to people who are studying for or have recently done A levels, will involve two and half days of practical workshops exploring many aspects of modern technology and explaining the use of free, open source software.

For further information please email: craig.duffy@uwe .ac.uk
Craig Duffy, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Knowle West Media Centre meets Sarah Barfield and Anne Peachey at The School of Christ the King

January 11, 2007 Posted by Roz in : Education, Digital Challenge, Learning , add a comment

Sarah Barfield and Anne Peachey
School of Christ the King
9 November 2006

I went to the School of Christ the King where I met with Sarah Barfield, learning mentor and Anne Peachey, head teacher. Sarah and myself began to discuss the digital challenge and Anne Peachey joined us soon after our discussion began. I explained the Connecting Bristol bid, and the purpose of my meeting with them. Sarah and Anne told me that there have been various projects and work using new media across the school and with parents’ groups. They told me that they are running a parents’ group to encourage parents to cross the barrier into school in order to boost communication.

Anne and Sarah told me that IT related issues have come up in relation to adult learning. They explained that there were issues to do with access for many families and that there were also issues for parents who want to support their children to use new media, but who don’t know how to use it themselves.

Anne and Sarah said that the Knowle West Issues forum was one space that the parents’ group was very interested in and in which they were keen to engage. They told me that someone is coming into the school from KWMC to introduce the parents’ group to using it. They said that numbers of parents attending the parents group ranged from 2 – 16, but that given the interest in the issues forum they anticipated a good turn out to the introductory sessions.

Sarah and Anne then talked about the relationship between new media and staff at the school. They said that one major issues was time, because staff don’t have enough time for training in new media.
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