Our Work
Guiding Principles
Our partnership aims to be inspiring, resourceful, collaborative, opportunistic, imaginative, innovative and bold.
Our task is to facilitate the partnerships between cultural organisations, schools and youth providers - we are open, inventive, diverse and welcoming.
Discover more on our new Cultural Rucksack initiative for every school-aged child in Nottingham.
Communications
We want to make communications easy - so that teachers and headteachers are informed of opportunities from the cultural sector in a timely and coherent way.
Cultural partners can make use of the ChalleNGe website and e-newsletters to share news and project opportunities; and schools can celebrate their achievements, give feedback and help build a picture of creative learning for children and young people.
Youth and community organisations are also invited to share their experiences and opportunities and make connections with us to help broaden opportunities for all children and young people in the city.
We are developing the concept of Nottingham's 'Cultural Rucksack'; for schools to embed high quality arts experiences for every school pupil in the city.
Evaluation and Learning
Our 4 goals focus on:
- reaching more and different children and young people;
- improving access to cultural education;
- evaluation, building capacity and doing things differently;
- resilience, sustainability and the future.
Developing a shared understanding of the experiences of children and young people and ensuring that their voices are heard and appreciated is at the heart of our ethos.
Our evaluation framework is formative and seeks to embrace the complexity within our partners’ broad range of motivations, levels of engagement, scale of work and ambition. It seeks to find meaning, tell stories, challenge the status-quo and understand better ways of doing things – being open, collaborative and providing space for reflection, sharing and learning.
We have an ongoing Youth Voice project, We are Here, working with Bo Olawoye and filmmaker Ben Harriott until December 2021.
ChalleNGe Team
Cathy Mahmood
Cathy Mahmood
Cathy Mahmood
ChalleNGe Manager
Cathy has been working in the arts for 20 years in a variety of arts management roles. As General Manager of New Perspectives Theatre Company; Arts Policy Manager for NHS Notts; running a Children in Need arts programme in Sneinton to working for The Creative Quarter; and more recently as Creative Nottingham North Coordi
ChalleNGe Manager
Cathy has been working in the arts for 20 years in a variety of arts management roles. As General Manager of New Perspectives Theatre Company; Arts Policy Manager for NHS Notts; running a Children in Need arts programme in Sneinton to working for The Creative Quarter; and more recently as Creative Nottingham North Coordinator with Rebalancing the Outer Estates Foundation; she connects people, funding and projects to deliver more arts opportunities in schools and communities.
Cathy has been with ChalleNGe since March 2019.
Martin Smith
Cathy Mahmood
Cathy Mahmood
Cultural Rucksack Lead
Martin began his career as a Geography teacher and was also the Outdoor Education Adviser for Nottingham City Council.
He is now a Senior Adviser for Academic Resilience within the Greenwood Academies Trust supporting the delivery of Character Education and Personal Development.
In partnership with the Education Part
Cultural Rucksack Lead
Martin began his career as a Geography teacher and was also the Outdoor Education Adviser for Nottingham City Council.
He is now a Senior Adviser for Academic Resilience within the Greenwood Academies Trust supporting the delivery of Character Education and Personal Development.
In partnership with the Education Partnership Board, Martin joined the ChalleNGe team in November 2019 to develop the new Cultural Rucksack arts offer for Nottingham schools.
Maria Narducci
Maria Narducci
Maria Narducci
Marketing and Communications
Maria has 30 years’ experience of working in marketing and communications across a wide range of sectors, including Museums, Galleries, Parks and Libraries at Nottingham City Council and as a Marketing Consultant for the National Trust.
Maria works 2 days a week for ChalleNGe and manages our website, social me
Marketing and Communications
Maria has 30 years’ experience of working in marketing and communications across a wide range of sectors, including Museums, Galleries, Parks and Libraries at Nottingham City Council and as a Marketing Consultant for the National Trust.
Maria works 2 days a week for ChalleNGe and manages our website, social media channels and communications with teachers and the wider youth and community sector.
Bo Olawoye
Maria Narducci
Maria Narducci
Creative Engagement Manager
Bo Olawoye is our Freelance Creative Engagement Manager, who has been working for arts organisations in Nottingham and beyond since 2001. She develops participatory arts projects created with diverse communities, vulnerable groups and youth-led organisations. Bo is on our Evaluation team, working to deliver '
Creative Engagement Manager
Bo Olawoye is our Freelance Creative Engagement Manager, who has been working for arts organisations in Nottingham and beyond since 2001. She develops participatory arts projects created with diverse communities, vulnerable groups and youth-led organisations. Bo is on our Evaluation team, working to deliver 'We are Here', a youth voice project in partnership with filmmaker, Ben Harriott.
hello@challengenottingham.co.uk
image credit: Miriam Grossi