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Graham Bowman Young People's Development Coordinator
Hathershaw and Fitton Hill New Deal For Communities 16/06/08
Hathershaw & Fitton Hill NDC commissioned REELmcr to do a piece of work,
which we hoped would help us engage with a lethargic and divided community.
Oh boy is that a drastic underestimation of the profound effect this group of
highly motivated and deeply passionate professionals have had on this community.
Sue Nathan, Head of Tameside Youth Service
“I have commissioned Reel Manchester to produce 4 films
with young people from Tameside. The process provides the young people with
a distinctive voice which is denied them in this society. The film "Grounded” was
groundbreaking involving over 100 key worked young people in the Positive
Activities for Young People scheme. The premiere was and will remain, a highlight
of the lives of the young people, the staff and myself.
… perhaps more importantly they work to change the lives
and the life chances of the most disaffected and disadvantaged young people
in Tameside. The process and methods they use enables the young people to
gain in confidence and raises their self esteem considerably. They gain and
develop lots of transferable life skills. They also enable the young people
to acquire accredited outcomes, in the last film project this is a NVQ Level
3. The partnership we have developed with Reel Manchester is one of the most
valuable within our service. I would recommend them without reservation to
any agency working with young people.”
Tony Walsh, Community Regeneration Manager Salford
"Most important of all however has been the process and the outcomes
of that process for those involved. REELmcr is a company led and staffed
by people with a rare passion and exceptional skills, experience and resilience. Throughout
the workshop and production stages of filmmaking they have brought these
qualities to working with some very challenging young people and mixed-age
groups. We have witnessed some incredible, indeed life-changing transformations
in the confidence and aspiration levels of those involved which we are now
working to channel and support. I understand that this has been replicated
with every group with whom they have worked.
REELmcr deliver a product, which consistently exceeds client expectations – often
beyond that which has been funded in terms of hours worked and beyond reasonable
levels of tolerance and commitment. They are capable of replicating
this success and indeed of growing as an organisation and improving their
processes and end-products even further."
Professor Peter Roberts – Chair of The Academy for Sustainable Communities, Vice Chair of The British Urban Regeneration Association.
“The REELmcr/Salford project has developed a highly innovative method of involving young people and adults in regeneration activity. Films have been created which draw upon input directly from the community and use the experience of participants to help other people to improve their lives. Community involvement was central to the filmmaking process with the estate providing a vast pool of untapped talent, which has so far gone unnoticed. The project offered an opportunity for previously disaffected young people and parents such as non-working mothers to engage in a legitimate purposeful activity and produce a high quality end product.
The REELmcr team have also worked to build the confidence of the participants, to establish a strong and compassionate love for their community and to create an awareness of positive and negative actions on the community as a whole.”
(Quote taken from The RENEW Exemplar Programme, February 2005)
Cilla Baines, Director of Community Arts Northwest (CAN)
"Wherever they work, they always create real impact. This is because their work prioritises the whole creative process of working with young people, ensuring that young people are able to gain real skills and an insight into video production, through creating work that is both imaginative and entertaining and not afraid of addressing real issues that young people face.
In my experience they are one of the few companies In Greater Manchester that can work successfully with excluded young people in the places and environments that they live.
They are at all times extremely professional and reliable with a consistently
high standard of work. In my experience this is crucial to the delivery of
successful work with communities.
They also work with real Integrity, creating participatory work that stretches
and challenges the people involved, building working relationships that encouraging
young people the majority of whom who have had little or no opportunity,
to work with dedication and creativity.
Not only are REELmcr accomplished and inspired artists, they really care
about the people they work with and it is this combination of factors that
enables them to produce work that is successful and has real attention to
detail."
Nicola Shindler, Executive Producer - RED productions
'"I think the work done by REELmcr is as good as some professional films I am asked to work on and certainly better than many. The use of drama and film making as a way for young people to express themselves and their concerns is invaluable and very important. I would give them every support possible."
Claire Cowell – Youth Arts Manager, Manchester City Council Cultural Strategy Team
“REELmcr are highly pro-active in profiling the films whilst providing a rich and lifelong learning experience for participants, through the process and the premiere. REELmcr have also been successful in attracting funding from a range of sources. The director Jacqui Carroll is a valued member of Manchester Youth Arts Network, advisory group and in November 2004 gave a presentation at the annual seminar on the impact of the work on young peoples health.”
Tommy Lever MBE– Director of Lower Kersal Young People’s Group
"REELmcr have been a role model for me & the Kersal Young People's Group. They have taught me and my group new skills and motivated me enough to go on to and make our own films. They are also masters at getting young people to work with a wide range of people from the local community, particularly cross-generations”
John O’Neil (15) who has worked on 2 projects:
“I believe working with REELmcr is great because it ‘s a chance for you to show yourself in a different light in the community whilst working with REELmcr I worked alongside a lot of people I wouldn't usually work with eg. religions, ages. A good thing about making the film is that all the young people were able to say what they want and were able to voice their opinions and because of how much the young people enjoy working with REELmcr we have set up a group to apply for funding to pay for another REELmcr film. We also managed to raise the money to fund the premiere of "A Knight in Salford"”.
