Cultural Cargo

Creative Partnerships is offering a unique opportunity for seven young people between the ages of 14 – 16 years to take part in a sea voyage from Falmouth to Greenwich o­n a 90ft Baltic Trader sailing ship “The Ruth”.

The Journey is part of a grand scale celebration for the 2012 Olympic Bid, culminating in the team joining in the “Olympic friendship Festival” o­n Friday the 24th of June at Greenwich.

The Plymouth Mouth has been tasked with finding a single lucky student to represent the City in this event. As a multimedia website offering young people a voice in matters of regeneration, we are looking for a creative, engaged and enthusiastic spokesperson for Plymouth. Sea legs and a zest for adventure are essential. The Plymouth Mouth is a partnership project run by Coleridge Productions and Creative Partnerships.

We are asking each secondary school in the city to put forward o­ne candidate between the ages of 14-16 years. Each candidate will be given their own web space at www.plymouthmouth.com, to present their short introduction to Plymouth. The piece must introduce the City, its People and aspirations to an audience who know nothing of the place. Entrants will be judged o­n their creativity, use of multimedia, content and representation of Plymouth, incorporating diversity. All media forms are welcome from the written word to still pictures, audio and film. Please see Cultural Cargo Entry Guide Lines for details.

All entries must be posted by the 2nd of June, when our Creative panel will choose five finalists. The successful five will be invited to a special Mouth event (date to be confirmed) where they will present their work to a board of young people, who will choose Plymouth’s Cultural Cargo representative.

The young sea farer must be set to sail for June the 17th, when the team accompanied by a professional sail crew and film maker will leave Falmouth docks. During the Journey the student will learn about sailing and film making as they navigate the coast of to reach Greenwich by the 24th. A day of Olympic celebrations, the premier of the Cultural Cargo documentary (made o­n board) and o­ne final night aboard “The Ruth” brings the adventure to an end. Students will return by coach or rail to the South West o­n the 25th of June.

This is a high profile event providing excellent media coverage for both the individuals and Schools involved. We urge that students be encouraged and supported in taking part.

All entrants must be registered with Naomi Green or Leonie McFarlane at The Mouth, providing the students name, age, address, school and contact details. This can be sent by email to naomi@coleridgeproductions.com.

Written parental consent for the student to participate in the voyage must be received by the final entry date of the 2nd of June. Please do not hesitate to contact us using the above address or by calling 01752 764408 for further details. We look forward to hearing from you.

view the short listed entries here

Cultural Cargo - an article about the project recently published in "The Big Picture" magazine

Linking into the 2012 London Olympic bid, seven young people from across the south west, aged from 14 to 19 years, will depart from Falmouth o­n June 17th to embark upon a unique journey.

The seven will board the ‘Ruth ’ -a 90ft Baltic Trader and sail training vessel, owned by Penzance ’s First Rate Sail – with a small crew,, a film maker and a member of the Creative Partnerships team, with a remit to investigate,. film, edit and deliver their own completed ‘cultural cargo ’ to Greenwich in London, in time for a special cultural event.

Linking into part of the celebrations around the 2012 London Olympic bid and an idea called the ‘Friendship ’, Creative Partnerships London East are organising a day for 300 young people o­n June 24th, o­n which the young people will be addressing  key questions such as: “What will I be in 2012? What will London or the place that I live be like in 2012? What difference will the 2012 Olympics make to the place that I live?”

In response to this, the seven young people aboard the ‘Ruth ’ will be addressing those same questions from their own very different perspectives, o­n the journey from Cornwall to London, working with the film maker and calling at two or three other ports o­n the route.

By the time the ‘Ruth ’ docks in Greenwich to meet with the Thames Tate riverboat carrying the 300 young people from the London schools, the South West ‘Cultural Cargo ’ film will be completed and streamed to Greenwich to be shown at the destination event in the heart of London. The young people from both regions are to share the last leg of their journey to the festival site whilst also sharing their personal visions for the future.

Antony Waller, co-ordinating the Cultural Cargo project for Creative Partnerships in the south west, says: “Not o­nly are these seven young people learning how to sail a 90ft ship, but along the way they are being asked to reflect o­n some big questions; they are learning about each other; and all the way along they will be in communication with the other schools via a video satellite link-up. This is a journey of learning, growth, communication and discovery o­n many levels.”

Creative Partnerships ’ Lindsey Hall says: “We are working closely with Sport England, South West Screen and others o­n Cultural Cargo, and see this as the first exciting step towards a range of innovative, cross-cultural collaborations.”

As we write, the seven lucky young people are being recruited from across the region using a variety of networks including Sports College, Arts College and virtual networks in Cornwall, Plymouth and Devon, Bristol, the Forest of Dean and other parts of the region. By the time you read this, they will be about to set off o­n the trip of a lifetime!

You can contact Antony Waller about Cultural Cargo o­n 07973 813848.

See the ‘Ruth ’ at www.firstratesail.co.uk

further information about "Cultural Cargo"

view a live webcam of the voyage