Below is an archive of our past education projects. Scroll down to discover more about the exciting and impressive work that has been achieved by participants.
Bridgetower
Key Stage Three teaching resource George Bridgetower: Art Liberty & Slavery 1807 was developed by the Festival in 2007 to commemorate the bicentenary of Britain’s parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. It was swiftly accepted onto the London Grid for Learning and has also been accepted onto the National Education Network, accessed by 45,000 schools across the UK.
Celebrating Biodiversity
In preparation for our annual Festival Procession, in 2010 Celebrating Biodiversity saw London school students design and create an ecologically focussed arts extravaganza.
The Leviathan
A large-scale participative music performance for the 2009 Festival directed by composer and saxophonist, John Harle. 800 saxophonists wound their way through the City streets in four separate snake-like processions.
Rave To My Darkly Dashing Stream
A river poetry and music project in collaboration with Thames21 for the 2009 Festival. Secondary school students learnt about the tides of the Thames to forage the foreshore at Billingsgate and the world heritage Queenhithe Dock (between Southwark and Millennium Bridges).
Drop by Studio @ One New Change
An outdoor studio in the sunken garden at One New Change opened to all for three weeks of the Festival. One of London’s leading young cityscape artists Richard Tait encouraged and inspired the public to add their mark to an 18 metre hoarding mural, providing an opportunity for social and creative contact onsite and a positive talking point back at school or the office.
Jewellery
A flagship Festival project guiding senior secondary students to the creation of contemporary pieces of jewellery for a Festival exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery.
Sweden on Stage
A green afternoon of free activity and fun on Hampstead Heath, buzzing with participative eco arts, music-making, dance, storytelling, art installations, delicious foods and midsummer 2009 festivities in celebration of Sweden's presidency of the European Union.
Pluck!
The City of London Festival’s 2009 week long music and street arts programme at Canary Wharf concluded with PLUCK! - a celebration of stringed instruments from around the world.
Soundtrack
Developing a musical performance with an ecological focus, Soundtrack saw students from the City’s neighbouring boroughs find the beat in preparation for our 2010 Festival Procession.
Moment and Monument
This commission for the City of London Festival and Big Dance 2010 saw choreographer Mestre Ponciano working with degree level students from some of London’s top dance schools in a site specific piece taking inspiration from the Afro-Brazilian dance form Capoeira and responding to the prodigious architecture of the City.
Your Turn
The 2010 City of London Festival opened on 21 June with a celebratory event in and around the historic Guildhall. A 7.30pm concert in the Guildhall Old Library was followed by an outdoor, late evening performance in the Guildhall Yard designed by artist Luke Jerram: 21 pianists play a newly commissioned work devised by Richard Causton for 21 upright pianos which draws on all 21 of Chopin’s Nocturnes.
Biodiversity Matters
Connecting to the 2010 Festival's City Bees project, highlighting the plight of the honeybee and celebrating the possibilities of urban landscapes, young people from the City and Tower Hamlets embarked on an exploration of one of the Square Miles open spaces.
Build an Organ Project
Working with Organist William McVicker, Sound Artist Duncan Chapman and Animator Blossom Carrasco, children from Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School explored the inside workings of the organ.
Flock
In preparation for the 2011 Festival 109 young people and older adults from the City's surrounding boroughs worked together to create an innovative open-air exhibition that migrated across the City during the summer Festival.
Oceania: Voyages and Discoveries
Visual artists Alice Lodge, Fiona Edwards, Caroline Jones and Katie Barton worked with 300 young people from nine London schools in preparation for the 2011 Festival Procession. Tons of the City’s recycled materials were transformed into innovative works of art inspired by the Festival's themes of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Maori Heritage
With the guidance and support of London-based Maoris, in the lead-up to the 2011 Festival children from the City's surrounding boroughs worked in-school and through visits to important external sites to discover the rich and varied cultural heritage of the Maori people.
