Burlington Bling
Following on from a successful partnership with Hounslow Councils Youth Service department, during the run up to the festival in 2005. Burlington Bling continued this work with their PAYP (positive activities for young people) team looking at providing outlets, for young people in the borough who had previously had limited access to creative opportunities, to gain new skills.
Located at Chiswick House & Gardens a series of art workshops took place
over the summer holidays of 2006, exploring themes of identity, disguise and belonging with young people aged 13- 16 year olds. The young people came from neighbouring estates, many of which were surprised by the site as most of they were unaware of its existence and hadn’t previously visited. The project encouraged the young people to visit both the house and gardens and discuss the ways they think it would have been used in the past
Working in a variety of different mediums, a mixture of dance, jewellery, T’ shirts and set design were produced; reflecting on how people previously lived, entertained and dressed compared with their own lives now. The role of Chiswick House as a villa for entertainment was used as a starting point for discussion.
‘I see Chiswick House as a hugely inspirational place, it and many houses of that era influence my own artwork and I wanted to bring these areas of interest to a wider audience, an audience who may only see the house and grounds as somewhere to bunk school. I wanted to be part of a project that challenged their preconceived ideas’ facilitator for Burlington Bling
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