Celebrating Languages in schools and communities
Universities for Nottingham partnerships
ChalleNGe are really excited to be working with both Universities in Nottingham to find new ways to celebrate languages and language heritages with schools, communities and our arts partners.
Find resources and be inspired by some existing language projects created by our University partners, Natalie Braber and Nicola McLelland.
Nottingham Voices (download the Nottingham Voice app)
World of Languages (play games and tackle quizzies to discover the hidden treasures of languages)
Celebrating Notts Languages (listen and explore what language means to people who call Nottinghamshire home)
What we hope to do
We are delighted to be part of the Universities for Nottingham Co(l)laboratory programme, supporting a PHD researcher in developing city-wide research and strategy development around celebrating languages as intangible cultural heritage. We look forward to connecting them to schools, communities and our arts partners - strengthening the ways we can come together as a city to celebrate our language heritages - dialects and accents, old words, new words and multi-lingualism - within local festivals, events and Nottingham's cultural and education calendar.
Small grants programme 2024
Working with NTU, we are pleased to have awarded 8 small grants for partnership projects for schools, community groups and arts organisations to devise and co-deliver 'Celebrating languages heritages' projects in 2024.
Funding has been awarded to:
- One Vision Partnership / Bulwell Arts Festival
- Nottingham Poetry Festival
- Nottingham Contemporary and NEST
- Archway Learning Trust, NAE and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre
- Beatfeet and Forest Fields Primary School
- Diversify Education and Communities
- Nottingham Playhouse and Refugee Roots
- Windmill Community Gardens
Celebrating Languages Projects
One Vision Partnership & Bulwell Arts Festival
Nottingham Contemporary & Nottingham Education Sanctuary Team
One Vision Partnership & Bulwell Arts Festival
Bulwell Arts Festival (hosted by OVP) will run three workshops in writing poetry and film that will lead to the creation of a short film themed around celebrating women’s contributions to their community. The women in question will be from Bulwell who speak different languages from various cultural backgrounds, to share their experiences of female strength and positivity.
Nottingham Poetry Festival & Cultural Vibrations
Nottingham Contemporary & Nottingham Education Sanctuary Team
One Vision Partnership & Bulwell Arts Festival
As part of this year’s Nottingham Poetry Festival, Cultural Vibrations will be exploring the languages and dialects of the Caribbean and African communities via a series of workshops. Through Dub, poetry and afrobeats, they will focus on how these languages and dialects have affected culture, identity and slang in the UK.
Nottingham Contemporary & Nottingham Education Sanctuary Team
Nottingham Contemporary & Nottingham Education Sanctuary Team
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
Nottingham Contemporary will be providing a city-wide creative programme with young refugees and asylum seekers, visiting sites across the city and helping them express their written and verbal responses both in their home languages and English with the help of a writer.
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
Archway will be working with local choir leaders from the New Art Exchange and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre to support the process of learning songs by music teachers and students. In doing so they aim to provide teachers with material and CPD to help decolonise their curriculum.
BeatFeet & Forest Fields Primary School
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
BeatFeet & Forest Fields Primary School
Project Donkiloo Laa will be a development on a previous project where children from The Gambia and The UK shared their favourite childhood songs with each other. Songs in Mandinka, Wolof, Jola, Fula and English will be taught through insightful music-making and singing workshops, including hand drums and the kora.
Diversify Education and Communities CIC
Archway Learning Trust, New Art Exchange & Ukrainian Cultural Centre
BeatFeet & Forest Fields Primary School
Beechdale Community Centre will be holding a series of events including a Cultural Exchange Fair with language games offering communities of ethnic minorities to showcase their culture, heritage and linguistic heritage. There will also be dance performances, storytelling, and a culinary language program.
Nottingham Playhouse
Windmill Community Gardens
Windmill Community Gardens
Nottingham Playhouse are building on their collaborative project with Refugee Roots, where the Playhouse’s Conversation Café meets the Refugee Roots’ Art Session. These weekly sessions combine language skills and social elements with creativity in the forms of theatre, puppetry and crafts.
Windmill Community Gardens
Windmill Community Gardens
Windmill Community Gardens
Windmill Community Gardens aims to create a garden of words which describe the crops grown at the centre. This will be a celebration of the many languages spoken in Nottingham. Artwork will be created to display the results in an impactful way, and will be digitised so that community gardens everywhere can welcome those with English as a second language.