Bread UNITY Project

Mediabox Ramadan Photography Project

2010-12-15T03:42:00.000-08:00

This collection of photographs was taken by young people from the South Asian community in Bristol, to explore the importance of Ramadan. The photographs were taken during Eid al-Fitr, a celebration making the end of Ramadan where people gather to pray, eat and celebrate together. These photographs provide an insight into this important religious festival.

Photography by Hira Hanif and Osman Hussain

Bristol Celebrates

2010-11-26T09:39:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday (21st Nov) at City Academy I went down to Bristol Celebrates festival. It was a great event to celebrate different religions and cultures. I volunteered as a steward for some of the time and I had a great day, it was really inspiring to meet so many different people who want to do positive things across cultural and religious boundaries.

Do you sleep in your hijab?

A group of young people from the Somali Development group had put on their own exhibition about wearing hijabs and I got to try out a hijab style. The girls said they get asked lots of questions by people about why they wear hijabs and decided to make this exhibition to answer these questions. One girl explained to me that she doesn’t always wear hijab, but she feels different when she does. We had a interesting chat about the idea of being modest and how women should be respected. (and in case you’re wondering… no they take them off at home and don’t sleep in them!)

Youth together from different faiths + cultures

Bristol Active Youth Service (BAYS) a youth service run by young people also came along to Bristol Celebrates and had their own display, it was pretty cool to hear about what they are doing. So far they have set up study clubs and youth activities and hope to get their own premises soon. What is amazing about this is it has been set-up by young people from Easton and Eastville for themselves and it has really inspired me about what we as young people can do!

Portents Pictures

2010-10-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

We've finally got the pictures through from the Bristol Portents event back in September. Our awesome tent was proudly pitched up on College Green amongst some amazing contributions from other local artists and community organisations. There were over 11,000 visitors over the nine days to this incredible community art installation.

You can see our pics on our Flickr page here.

Assembly at City Academy

2010-10-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 12th we headed over to City Academy to deliver an exciting assembly presentation on community activism to inspire AS level students to get involved in the new Mediabox and Inter Act project at their school. The aim was to emphasise the power of community action and how powerful your voice can be. We wanted to inspire young people to take action and speak out about what was most important to them.

The presentation went well and we had several young people sign up with lots of ideas for action projects including a documentary about Islamophobia. We are really looking forward to getting started on this project and can't wait to see what ideas the students come up with.

Mediabox & InterAct: City Academy Visit to Refugee Rights Drop-in Centre

2010-10-11T02:53:00.001-07:00

Last week we began the first sessions of our Mediabox and Inter Act project with City Academy. At the start of the week we met with AS level media students who will form the core of the group to introduce ourselves and find out how they would like to be involved.

Welcome Lunch

On Thursday we took 12 of the students to the Bristol Refugee Rights drop in centre for an introductory lunch and a chance to meet some of the young refugees who get support from the centre. Bristol Refugee Rights is a fantastic community organisation that provides a place of welcome for asylum seekers and refugees to meet and get support. They also campaign for human rights and support refugees and asylum seekers to play a full part in the life of the wider community.

Many of the students were a little overwhelmed when we arrived due to the sheer number of people who were there for the lunch. Food was provided by Awaz Utaoh, a local South Asian community organisation, and we were treated to an amazing selection of curries, dhal and rice dishes. When the lunchtime rush was quieting down we sat outside where the students were greeted by many of the refugees and asylum seekers who were keen to answer their questions and welcome them.

The afternoon took a slightly surreal turn when the props for the drama workshop taking place in the afternoon arrived.We were suddenly talking to people in amazing hats, masks and animal head dresses which the students found very amusing. This brightened the atmosphere and helped to put everyone at their ease.

It was a great afternoon and we hope that the students may be inspired to look at refugee and asylum issues for some of their social action project in the next few months.You can check out the rest of the photos from the day on our Flickr page here.

World Peace Day

2010-09-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today is International World Peace Day, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence where people around the world put down their weapons and join together in the name of peace. Check out this short film from charity Peace One Day to find out how the day came about and why it is so important.

You can find out more about Peace One Day on their website where you can also pledge your personal commitment to world peace.

www.peaceoneday.org

UNITY at Bristol Portents Event

2010-09-08T01:41:00.000-07:00

This month UNITY will be contributing to an exciting event on College Green during September called Portents. It is a community art installation comprising of 50 tents showcasing images from different community groups in Bristol on the themes of Home, Histories and Hope.

The project has been produced by photographer John Easterby in partnership with the Pierian Centre and promises to be a dynamic and interesting exhibition.

We've contributed images for our own tent showcasing some of the work we've done with young people over the past year.

If you'd like to come along the tents will be on College Green from the 18th to the 26th September 2010. For more information check out the BBC news page.

Mediabox & InterAct: Ramadan Photo Project

2010-09-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 25th August we met with 3 young people from South Asian community organisation Awaz Utaoh to being a photography project exploring Ramadan.We did several activities exploring what Ramadan means to each of the young people and choosing key themes for them to explore in photographs. Here are some of the words they came up with:

Ramadan or Ramzan is a time for fasting where Muslims of all ages do not eat or drink between the hours of dawn until sunset. It is a spiritual time of prayer and reflection and the young people said that fasting made them feel good and have good intentions towards others. Ramzan is also a time when Muslims give charitably, Zakat, and many of the young people were sending funds to their friends and families in Pakistan to help provide essential supplies to survive the terrible flooding.

The key themes they decided to focus on are:

Eid

The holiday that marks the end of Ramzan.

Chaand Raat

The night before Eid, a great time of celebration where families gather to spot the new moon tghat marks the end of Ramzan and the start of Eid.

Fasting

5 Pillars of Islam
5 practices that are essential for all Muslims.

It was amazing to speak to the young people about their faith and how it impacts on their lives. We hope that the photo exhibition will give an insight into what it means to be a young Muslim in Bristol. Watch this space for more details over the next few weeks.

Word cloud created using wordle.net.

Our survey says...

2010-08-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

Whatever you think!

Bread is conducting a survey to find out just what you think about our projects. We're looking at how we reach young people, our branding and what people know and think about BREAD.

If you have a couple of minutes to spare then please follow the links below. Your opinions matter to us and we want to ensure we are providing the best possible support and activities for you!

Current volunteers:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q6QQGLJ

Young people not officially involved in BREAD:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7V6TR2C

Thank you for your time and watch this space!

UNITY is back!

2010-08-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

It's been very quiet here in the UNITY office while we've been waiting for our funding applications to come through but we're pleased to say that UNITY is back with a brand new project for the next few months.

Inter Act

Inter Act is a new project run by the Citizenship Foundation that supports young refugees and asylum seekers aged between 16 and 25 to come together with local young people to identify shared concerns and issues and develop their own campaigns to tackle them.

The project will be running in Birmingham, Swansea and Cardiff and UNITY will be co-ordinating the Bristol project in partnership with the Somali Development Group and other local organisations.

We'll soon be recruiting peer educators to help deliver the project so watch this space for more details.

UNITY Guerilla Galleries

2010-06-09T02:34:00.001-07:00

Art on the Railings
Originally uploaded by Bread UNITY Project

Part of the Bristol Festival of Photography, with help from For the Love of it, this quirky little exhibition is already brightening up parts of Bristol.

UNITY put up three big and two mini Guerilla Galleries around central Bristol. To check out the Galleries in St Werburghs, St Pauls and Easton, see our collection on Flickr:
Guerilla Galleries Collection

The Love of It
Bristol Festival of Photography: Guerilla Galleries

For further information see: UNITY Blog

Fairfield Students present Assembly at Lockleaze Primary School

2010-06-08T02:41:00.001-07:00

Why Celebrate Diversity
Originally uploaded by Bread UNITY Project

Fairfield peer educators visited Lockleaze Primary School on Wednesday May 19th to present an Assembly to over 80 children aged 7-11 yrs. After some nerves in the morning and a few technical difficulties, the Assembly got under way. The peer educators did extemely well, overcoming their nerves to present the Why I Respect project in an engaging and enthusiastic way. They had great interaction from the audience and answered questions really well. There was a focus on diversity and the leap from Primary to Secondary School. The Why I Respect film was shown and then the children asked questions about the project and the school.

Fairfield Student:
'I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I don't normally like public speaking.'
'It went really quickly and it was not as scary as I thought it would be.'

Alison Hendy, Deputy Headteacher Lockleaze Primary School: 'The Assembly fits in well with our work on tackling racism and discrimination, "Say No to Racism"/"Give Racism the Red Card"'.

Charlie Mee: 'The students will get extra merit points for their achievements today and representing Fairfield so well to younger children, who might well want to attend our School in the future.'

Q: How many different languages are spoken at home by Fairfield students?
a: 1-10
b: 11-20
c: 21-30

A: 26

UNITY Street Art Project

2010-05-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heatheronhertravels/ / CC BY 2.0

Bristol is synonymous with graffiti. It's everywhere you look! And as we all know Banksy, one of the most infamous graffiti artists, is a born and bred Bristolian.

At UNITY we are starting up a Street Art Project to look at the different and diverse forms of graffiti and other street art from all over Bristol. Our UNITY street journalist Ruth has set up a blog dedicated to the project. All updates and events will be logged on here: http://www.unitystreetart.blogspot.com/

We want to gather together opinions and ideas about graffiti in Bristol working towards producing a zine or leaflet about what young people think about street art in their area.

To get started we will be doing a bit of vox popping at the Stokes Croft Street Festival on Saturday 22nd May (this weekend!): http://stokescroftstreetfest.wordpress.com/

The Stokes Croft Street festival is a culmination of a week of activities celebrating the area's exciting and vibrant diversity. Sounds right up UNITY's street!

If you are interested in getting involved with the UNITY Street Art Project, whether it's to write something, take photos or just express your opinion, get in touch.

Peoples Hustings College Green, Bristol

2010-05-06T02:52:00.000-07:00

UNITY went down to College Green on Tuesday 4th May to check out the Peoples Hustings, organised by the Speakers Corner Trust.

Speakers’ Corner Trust is a registered charity which promotes free expression, public debate and active citizenship as a means of revitalising civil society in the UK and supporting its development in emerging democracies. (http://www.speakerscornertrust.org/)

Here are some thoughts from Ruth a UNITY volunteer:

I went along today to hear what the politicians had to say at the Peoples Hustings on College Green today. It started with historical speeches, and that was really interesting, especially Emmeline Pankhurst. She talked about things that were most relevant for feeling disenfranchised. I think it is really relevant when she said, ‘No one can govern you, unless you give your consent.’

I thought it was good that there was a variety of people from different organizations in the community. And it was good to have a young person speaking, and not just the stereotype of a young person, but she spoke her own mind.
And the woman who spoke from SPAN was good and she had lots of good things to talk about.

It made me think that our own politics is about telling people that if they have a problem you will fix it, rather than having a proper discussion. Politicians need to be honest if they don’t agree or can’t fix something.

You can also hear three of the inspiring speeches from historical figures, Oliver Crowmwell, Emmeline Pankhurst and Winston Churchill.

Oliver Cromwell

Emmeline Pankhurst

Winston Churchill

Vox Pops around Cabot Circus

2010-05-06T02:49:00.000-07:00

The Thursday before the election, UNITY was out and about on the streets of Cabot Circus, Bristol to find out the different reasons why people Do and Don't Vote. Oneil was our roving audio reporter, interviewing 14 people on their differing views. We spoke to people of all ages and found people passionate about politics and the elections as well as those disillusioned. Listen to some of the reasons people gave......

For Voting:

For Not Voting:

Face to Face scheme update

2010-04-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

You may remember a few months ago that some of the UNITY volunteers attended a scheme run by the BBC called Face 2 Face. The scheme gave each volunteer the chance to work alongside media professionals and develop their technical skills. We caught up with one of our volunteers, Romayne Graham, to find out more about his experience at the BBC and how this has lead to new opportunities for a career in the industry.

"When Face 2 Face started we split up into three small groups. They wanted us to make a short film, which raised a question “Is the BBC for me?”. The catch was that we only had three days to do it. That gave us one day to come up with an idea and develop it with the intention of shooting it on the following day. We only had the third day to cut it together. It was an intense three days but it was definitely a good experience because we had the whole BBC at our disposal.

After making our short films we were able to attend professional workshops at the BBC once a week for 3 months. To my surprise mid-way through the workshops we were told that three paid work placements would be up at the end of the scheme.

I was one of the lucky three to gain a placement. I would be a Entry Level Runner for three months with pay. Not only that but I would work across the three main departments of BBC Bristol. Which meant working on Points West, post-production and NHU (natural history unit).

I have been working on Points West for the last two weeks and my first impressions are good. I have shown that I have a technical interest so I have been learning how to control the Hub, which is PointsWest super computer.

Reporters give me tapes and I record them onto the server. Once they are on the sever they’re routed to Points West editing suites where the reporters cut together their own martial. This is also where live broadcasts are streamed to the Points West studio.

I have also been fortunate to go out with a reporter by the name of John Maguire and I have helped set up the Points West studio for broadcast.

With the time I have left in the newsroom I hope to learn about vision-mixing. The idea of cutting together a show live on air really excites to me.

I see this work placement as a huge opportunity develop my skills as a media practitioner. Hopefully the skills I learn whilst at the BBC will help me to gain other job opportunities in the media industry." Romayne, 24

We're really proud of what Romayne has achieved and look forward to seeing how his career develops in the future. You can see pictures from the scheme on our Flickr site.

Why I Respect : The finished film!

2010-04-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

This has been a really special project for us and our thanks go to our fabulous peer educators Oneil and Shagia who’ve supported every session and were fantastic with all the young people. We’d also like to thank Charlie Mee and Andy Gove from Fairfield school for being so supportive and helping us make the project possible, we’d really like to work with the school again in the future.

Our thanks also go out to BBC Bristol and editor Richard Lanciault for providing such excellent technical support and enthusiasm. Last but by no means least we’d like to thank the Fairfield Students themselves for bringing such creativity, humour and flair to the project. We loved working with everyone and the commitment and entertainment they brought to the project was brilliant. They’re an awesome bunch and we hope to work with them again in the future.

"As a school, we couldn't have asked for more from the Bread Youth Project in terms of the professionalism, the enthusiasm and the imagination you demonstrated in the way you managed the whole project, and in the way you worked with our students. The sessions were thoughtfully and creatively put together, with care and attention to detail, and the diverse group of young people were engaged and motivated throughout the six weeks of the project. Add to this the inspiring choice of volunteer facilitators and organisations who Bread arranged for us to work with (including the chance to work with experienced film-makers and to edit at the BBC) and Fairfield would have absolutely no hesitation in working with Bread again, or in recommending other schools to do so."

Charlie Mee, Extended School Co-ordinator, Fairfield High School, Bristol

Clash of the Titans!

2010-04-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

See the party leaders go head to head in the first televised political debate tomorrow night on ITV1. You can follow the action online with lots of interactive features on the ITV website.

Don't miss out on the action and your chance to hear what the politicians have to say straight from the horse's mouth.

Make sure your voice is heard this election

2010-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

The UK general election is being held on 6 May 2010 and if you aren't registered your voice can't be heard.

You can follow all the election action on the BBC website, hear what the politicians are saying to earn your vote and read their manifestos online.

Make sure you register by 20 April 2010 if you want to vote in this election. Go to aboutmyvote and register now!

Top links for first time voters:
How to vote:
The BBC news website it great for info on what to do, where to go and how to vote.

Radio 1: Newsbeat
The Newsbeat site has lots of videos, debate from young people and simple overviews of the events and policies and how they will affect you.

The Parties
Check the BBC page for some of the sites of the political parties contesting seats across the UK in the 2010 general election.

Who to vote for?
Votematch is a great site for helping to work out your voting preference. By answering a few questions on different issues it will give you a rough idea of which party you are best suited to.

UK Youth Parliament have asked lots of party leaders to send them a statement explaining why young people should vote for them. Head over to their site and click onto the party logos to hear what the leaders have to say.

Channel 4 Fact Check
Fact Check goes behind the spin to separate the political fact from fiction.

BBC Interactive Guide
A very handy site that allows you to directly compare each parties policies on a whole range of issues with just a couple of clicks.

Democracy UK
Democracy UK is Facebook's page to bring people and politics together.

Join in the Facebook / Youtube digital debate

We believe your views matter so don't be a bystander, get involved and make a difference to your community and your country.

Your World Your Say Schools Conference

2010-03-30T02:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday 29th March we attended the Your world Your Say schools conference at BAWA in South Gloucestershire. The event was attended by lots of organisations with the aim of empowering year 8 students to discuss local and global issues and take action in their own schools. We ran 4 half hour workshops in the morning with 50 students from schools all over Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

We had two new volunteers supporting the activities, Izzy and Huria and hopefully they’ll be working with us on more projects over the next few months. We ran the UNITY Flag and First Impressions activities which went down really well with students and teachers alike and we hope to have made some new links for project work with other schools in the future.

Here’s what the students learnt and enjoyed:

'You can't judge people by the way they look.'

'Don't judge a book by it's cover'

'Everyone's different'

'I learnt about not judging people and giving people chances.'

'Very interactive'

'It helped me to think about myself'

'It was brilliant and I would love to do it again!'

What the teachers thought:

'There's a lot about my students I teach that I nevet get chance to ask/ know about.'

'Very good. Proof of the difficulties with identity.'

'Friendly and interactive session.'

'Great workshop!'

What our peer educators thought:

"The session went great, I really enjoyed myself. The young people were really enjoyable to work with and Ina and Steph were really great." - Izzy, 17

"I learnt a lot of stuff during the session and enjoyed myself a lot." - Huria, 19

Why I Respect: Fairfield School DiversEC1ty event

2010-03-11T02:23:00.000-08:00

Well we made it! We managed the impossible and completed the film in time to be screened at the Farfield School's DiversEC1ty event, so called as it is a celebration of the cultural diversity of EC1, the community surrounding Fairfield.

It was a fantastic event with food from all over the world, a Somali fashion show, singing, drumming and activities. UNITY had our own stall showcasing all the photos and information from the Why I Respect project at the event which culminated in a screening of the film.

All the students were really pleased with what they had achived and were able to show off their work to their parents. It was a fantastic way to end the project on such and high and we thanked all the students who were involved with chocolate and certificates.

Why I Respect: Editing at the BBC

2010-03-04T02:28:00.000-08:00

We spent the day editing at BBC Bristol with the Fairfield Students to get the film finished for the DiversEC1ty Event at their school next week. The students had the opportunity to work with professional editor Richard Lanciault and really enjoyed the chance to see all the equipment and decide on the look and feel of their finished piece. We’d like to give a big thank you to Richard for all his time and support on the project, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible!

Comments from the students:

'I enjoyed learning how to use final cut pro.'
'I really enjoyed going to the BBC and editing and watching our videos'

Why I Respect: Filming in the Community

2010-02-25T03:02:00.000-08:00

After weeks of planning the students went out into the community to film their project today with Shagia and Oneil, two peer educators with UNITY. We split them into 2 groups, one focussing on Chinese culture and the other visiting the multicultural area of St Marks Road in Easton.

Group 1:

The Chinese group visited the Wai Yee Hong supermarket in Eastgate where they filmed all the different Chinese food, tried their hand at presenting and bought a few items to share with their classmates. They then went on to visit the Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s Group, a local community organisation that supports the Chinese population of Bristol. Students interviewed staff from the organisation about Chinese culture and were fortunate enough to visit an arts project for older Chinese women. Although the women could speak no English they were clearly pleased to see the young people and took great pleasure in showing them how to make various origami animals to their delight.

The importance of the orgaisation was brought home to the students by the workers at the project who described the isolation felt by many of the women who could speak no English and had never learnt to write before. The project gave the women a space to come together, share skills and meet new people in the community. They showed us a fantastic book that the women had compiled filled with beautifully illustrated recipes and batique Chinese characters that they were really proud of.

Group 2:

The second group visited St Marks Road in Easton, an incredibly diverse and culturally rich street with it’s many local businesses and community groups. The young people interviewed varioius shop keepers, from the barbers to the hallal butchers and Mr Abdul Ismail from the Brisol Sweet Mart, who gave them a detailed account of how his family escaped persecution in Uganda and came to this country to start a new life and set up their own business. The group then had the opportunity to sample some of the wonderful food that the Sweet Mart had to offer from pakoras to gulab jamen before heading back to school to compare their footage with the other group.

Over the next few days we’ll be working on the edit before taking the students to BBC Bristol to edit together the final piece. The finished film will be available to view on youtube in a couple of weeks and will be screened at Fairfield School’s DiversEC1ty Day.

What the students learnt and enjoyed:

'I enjoyed going to the chinese supermarket'

'I learnt how to interview people properly.'

'I enjoyed finding out about different cultures.'

What our peer educators thought:

'I really enjoyed going out into the community. The young people were very encouraging to each other and seemed quite professional when interviewing.' - Shagia, 19

Why I Respect: Fairfield School Session 2

2010-02-05T02:21:00.000-08:00

This session was great fun as we started off by playing games to get them thinking about their likes and dislikes and also learning each other’s names. Oneil then led a heritage game where the young people had to describe what they thought the heritage of the person next to them was and whether they thought they were born in the UK. This led to some interesting discussion on why they had formed these opinions, some based on surnames and others based on hair and eye colour.

To follow up this activity we got everyone to put stickers on a world map on the countries their family is connected to. This helped them to visualise the diversity of their group.

After looking at their own heritage and cultures we gave them time to plan what cultures they would like to focus on for their project. Each group put forward their ideas and the peer educators facilitated a democratic voting system to give the young people real ownership of the project. The final topic choices were edited several times until the whole group was happy with the direction they were going to take. The students also discussed things they would like to find out about these cultures. The peer educators were fantastic at making sure they considered all the practical elements such as how they could interview people from these communities and ensuring they kept in mind the time frame of the project.

This week we introduced another peer educator to the team, Shagia so it was her turn to sit in the hot seat for the 'First Impressions' activity. The young people were still way off on a few topics but it also led them to ask other questions about religion and travel as well as other topics which shows they are really thinking about all the elements that make up a persons identity.

What the students thought:
'I enjoyed the word association and learning about different cultures.'

'I learnt alot about different cultures.'

'Awesome, best ever!'

What the Peer Educators thought:
'I feel this session went very well and the kids felt they had a lot of control over the ideas which was what we want.' Oneil, 22

'At first I was really quiet but then managed to speak to everyone. The whole experience was really good and getting to know everyone. I really enjoyed working with the kids on this project and I hope it goes well in future sessions.' Shagia, 19

Why I Respect...

2010-01-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Project
Why I Respect has been developed in response to an idea put forward by the UNITY steering group of peer educators. The project aims to encourage young people to explore the diversity of their own communities and promote cultural understanding and respect for others.

Our aim is to run workshops with different groups around Bristol from schools to youth groups, actively encouraging young people to get out into their communities and engage with different groups.

The Pilot: Fairfield School
Our pilot project is taking place at Fairfield school where a team of peer educators from UNITY will work with Year 9 students. Students will work with the peer educators to investigate ideas of cultural identity in their local area (EC1) and create a 5-minute video celebrating cultural diversity.

The finished film will be shown at the schools Bristol: DiveEC1ty event in March and will be used as an educational resource for workshops and assemblies given by the Year 9 students at Fairfield's feeder primary schools.

Session 1
This first session was all about getting to know the young people and allowing our peer educators Claire and Oneil to get a feel for the project and their involvement. We played lots of icebreaker games to get the young people to feel relaxed and help us find out more about them. One of the best activities was the Heritage Flag. We asked each group to draw a flag and draw or write in each corner:

Something you like doing
Something that represents who you are
Something that represents where you live
Something that is important to your family

We had some great discussion around these points and it led the group to find out more about the people they see at school everyday.

The 'First Impressions' Activity was the most popular though. We asked the young people to answer a series of questions about the peer educators and UNITY staff based only on their first impressions of us. The questions ranged from how old we were to what music we liked and how rich we were! On some aspects they seemed to have us pretty well sussed out but other things were way off and it served as a great tool to show them how wrong their first impressions and assumptions about people can sometimes be.

What our Peer Educators thought:
'I felt it went very well. The main thing is that the kids enjoy themselves. They learnt that you can't judge a book by its cover.' Oneil, 22

'I was impressed with the kids behaviour and how thy responded to us. They were coming up with lots of ideas.' Claire, 24

What the students thought:

Overall it was a fantastic first session, filled with energy, ideas and enthusiasm and we can't wait to go back next week!

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!
Well 2010 is here and although we’ve had a rather slow start to the year with all this snow the end of December was busy for us with lots of celebratory events of the years work.

Face 2 Face
A special screening was held at the Watershed cinema to celebrate the work all our young people did with the BBC as part of their Face 2 Face scheme. All the films they made during the initial 3-day training workshop were screened at the cinema and each received a special certificate from the BBC acknowledging their work. We look forward to watching these bright stars make their mark during 2010 as they undergo more training and have the chance to compete for a job with the BBC at the end of the scheme. Good luck guys!

Filming ‘A Drunken Mistake’ in Lawrence Western
All last term UNITY staff and peer educators travelled out to Lawrence Western to support young people at one of Bread’s other youth projects Juicy Blitz. The aim was to film a script the young people had written about underage drinking, a big problem in the local area. We supported planning sessions led by an amazing team from BBC Bristol and braved the cold before Christmas to start filming. During January and February we hope (weather permitting) to finish shooting so watch this space for more information on the project and a chance to see the finished piece.

Coming up in 2010…
We have a whole host of opportunities for volunteering with Bread and UNITY this year. We have 3 new members of staff (Becky, Janene and Natalie) who form the new V team, dedicated to getting young people the skills and experience they need. V is for volunteering and by signing up with the team you can access any volunteering opportunities within our 4 projects (including UNITY) as well as developing your own ideas. You can achieve awards and recognition for the hours you do so it's great experience for those looking to build up their CVs.

The V team are a great bunch and you can find their contact details on the Bread website here and find out more about V here.

We have lots of exciting film and peer education projects coming up this term so sign up to get more information.

Season's Greetings!

2009-12-18T05:28:00.000-08:00

We'd just like to say a big thank you to all those that have supported the UNITY project during 2009 and to all the young people that have worked with us over the past few months.

Our offices will be closed for two weeks now over the holidays but we'll be back in action from the 4th January 2010. We're really looking forward to all the exciting projects we have coming up in the new year so watch this space for details of how you can be involved.

Merry Christmas to you all and a very Happy New Year!

From Ina, Stephanie and everyone at Bread.

Have your say....

2009-12-01T02:53:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months we've worked on a large variety of projects with young people from across Bristol. Here's what they have to say about what they've done:

St Paul's Carnival

'It was amazing to see all the different floats, seeing the different colours and the vibrancy of everything. I found it interesting recording the interviews that were going on and it really made me think about how to place the microphone to get the best recording. I enjoyed collecting background noise to build up an audio story of the day and I learnt a lot from listening to how other people do interviews which made me think how I could improve my own technique. It was interesting listening to everybody's roles within the carnival and how they made it happen. I want to work in acoustics in the future so the day gave me an insight into another job that uses the skills I have in a different way. It was nice to see people didn't have any inhibitions about working with people from different cultures and I enjoyed seeing everyone gathered together to celebrate the same thing. I didn't realise there were so many diverse people in Bristol and this is the first time I've been to the carnival. I really enjoyed the day and it showed a different side to Bristol that hadn’t seen before.' - Callum, 19

Bristol Asian Mela

'At the Mela I learnt how to interview people and take photos to share the event with other people who weren't there. I am interested in photography and sharing sights with other people. I will use the skills I learnt to further my knowledge of photography and learning more about new cultures. Being somewhere I would normally feel uncomfortable, but it was great 'cos I felt so welcome and comfortable and enjoyed every minute of it. I tried some food there, which I have never eaten before. After trying one thing I felt more open to trying new things because it didn't seem so gross. Even though our cultures are different, we are the same in so many ways. And we all just had a great time working together as a team. The main highlight was enjoying myself and getting a henna tattoo. Everybody there was really friendly and I would absolutely love to go there again as I had such a great day and would recommend it to friends.' - Natalie-Jade,18

UNITY Peer Education Sessions - Docklands Youth Club

I'm really enjoying the sessions. I do like working in larger groups but its nice having a more intimate session in a smaller group. This sort of training is right up my street as it's helping me learn and improve. Learning is a big part of my life and ever since I left school I just try and take any chance I get to learn new stuff.' - Linzy, 21

Mela Post-Production at the BBC

'I enjoyed editing with Jamie and I managed to get the gist of what he was doing. I learnt more about audio editing and I really liked the fast pace of the day. The environment was really relaxed and it was good to be involved.' - Adrian, 22

Bread Residential

'I found it really really good. Everything is still really new to me so it's nice to see how many great people are involved with BREAD. I thought wow this is amazing. The best thing was probably just meeting everyone and learning what all their skills are. It made me want to definitely get involved more and pursue more youth work stuff. I can definitely see myself in one of those roles in the future.' - Linzy, 21

BBC Face 2 Face Workshops

'It was a really practical and hands-on experience, working with a different mentor each day and being treated like staff gave me a real feeling of what it would be like to work at the BBC. We worked with young people from different groups to create a film around the theme "Is the BBC for me?". We all got the opportunity to try each role in our groups from interviewing, to using the camera and working on audio. I learnt some new skills such as how to set up shots and improved my interviewing technique. All the people who worked with us were really relaxed and easy to talk to, we even got the chance to meet the head of BBC Bristol. It was a very rewarding experience and I've made lots of contacts. Over the next 12 weeks I'll be attending workshops to polish my skills and learn more about the industry and I hope to be doing some work with BBC Blast in the future.' - Oneil, 22

'I really enjoyed interviewing weatherman Richard Anguin as he was a cool person and helped us develop the idea of our film. I think the workshops made a difference to me as I gained a lot of knowledge of people working in the newsroom and it helped me make new contacts. Is the BBC for me? Yes I do think it is for me. It was a real eye opener working here the last couple of days. I saw the highs and lows and now know what to expect. It was a lot of pressure working on something, having only 1 day to film and 1 day to edit but I got a real buzz from being so busy. I'm definitely going to be taking up the offer of mentoring and plan to focus more on the behind the scenes aspects of production. I just want to say thank you to UNITY, BREAD and the BBC for this opportunity, it was really important to me.' - Adrian, 22

You can see photos and videos of all our past projects on our Flickr and youtube sites.

New promo materials for UNITY

2009-11-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

We've been slaving away to update our promo materials so here's sneak peek of our new leaflets that will be hitting the streets in 2010.....

We'll be recruiting lots of peer eductaors for exciting projects in the new year so watch this space for details of opportunities comming up in the next few months.

BBC Face 2 Face Scheme

2009-11-28T05:51:00.000-08:00

On Monday 23rd November 2009 six UNITY volunteers went to BBC Bristol to participate in a three-day training event called Face 2 Face. The scheme is about providing training and support to young people from diverse backgrounds who aspire to a career in the media. During the initial 3 day event our volunteers worked with other young people to produce a 5-minute film supported by BBC staff exploring their response to the question, is the BBC for me? The aim of this was to engage them in a dialogue about their views of the BBC as a media producer and potential employer.

The key questions they looked at were:
Does the BBC's output interest, engage and entertain them?
Does it represent them, their views and experiences?
Would they consider the BBC as a place to work, would they fit in and feel at home here?

The volunteers...
We spoke to all of our young people during the application process and they told us what they were hoping to get out of the experience:

'With this opportunity I would love to be able to enhance my practical skills and get out there and get as much experience as I can. I feel it could help me keep enthusiastic about expressing myself and help my life broaden out in a bigger way. The opportunity to be able to focus on working on representing the views that so many people have about race, religion and class is very important to me as well. I also feel that the media today needs to change how they choose to stereotype. If the BBC gets more people from different backgrounds then it could help make a better product and achieve a better outcome really.' - Correll, 20

'My interests have always been in the field of imagination. I've always been a creative person and I enjoy seeing ideas come to life. This is going to give me a very big opportunity because obviously the BBC are very prestigious, they're known worldwide, and to be able to say you work for the BBC or have the chance to work with the BBC is a reward in itself.' - Oneil, 22

'Working with the BBC would be a huge honour because the BBC is a very big company known worldwide and I'm quite proud to know that the BBC is in Bristol. What would I get from the scheme? Obviously I would get to work in the actual industry and get that experience that I'm craving having just graduated from university. I'd like to develop my camera skills more and see the professional production side of things. My ultimate goal within the media is to direct and produce my own films or TV programmes.' - Romayne, 24

'I want to work in the film and media industry but getting your foot in the door is one of the hardest things to do. If I get this opportunity it would mean the world to me.' - Narasser, 22

What the BBC Thought....
'They came with energy and enthusiasm and left exhausted - a true experience of working at the BBC. Even though the team from Bread were split up into different groups they showed a strong ability to convey their ideas and listen to the input of others. The mentors that worked with them really enjoyed helping them plan, film and edit and found them all very engaging.' Michelle, BBC Bristol.

You can find out what our volunteers thought on our quotes page here.

Next Steps....
After the initial three days, those that want to take it further have been offered on-going training in the form of workshops to develop key skills and sessions with a BBC mentor who can provide access to supporting information on career development. Young people will gain experience in many different areas such as script writing, presenting, editing, camera-work, radio production, CV and application writing and interview techniques.

At the end of this 12-week programme, those looking for work can compete for one of three paid work placements. These placements will be awarded to three successful candidates and will see each employee rotated between post-production, factual programming and news. Young people will be encouraged to network as much as possible and make us of the contacts they gain during the placement.'We hope it will provide a platform from which to launch themselves into a media career.' Sarah Wade, Project Manager BBC Bristol.

Our thanks go to all the staff at BBC Bristol who are supporting UNITY's volunteers over the next few months. We hope all our young people get as much as possible from the experience and look forward to watching their progress.

You can check out all the photos from the event here.

Post-Production workshop at BBC Bristol

2009-10-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 27th October we took a group of volunteers from UNITY and Awaz Utaoh to BBC Bristol on Whiteladies Road to continue post-production work on Bristol Asian Festival audio pieces.

Volunteers worked with BBC editor Jamie Talbutt and UNITY staff to create three pieces that celebrate the work of Awaz Utaoh. Awaz Utaoh is a small voluntary community organisation serving South Asian people in Bristol and the surrounding areas.

Young people also worked on pieces designed to give a flavour of the vibrant culture and artists that contributed to the Bristol Asian Festival (mela) organised by Awaz Utaoh back in September.

All the volunteers were excited to look round the BBC and work alongside media professionals. 'everyone who came along was brilliant; really keen, friendly and enthusiastic which made my job super easy!' Jamie Talbutt, BBC Bristol.

You can listen to the audio pieces here and see photos from the day on our Flickr site here.

Cookie Exchange

2009-10-08T03:13:00.000-07:00

UNITY volunteers had great fun this week making biscuits and cakes for an inter-generational cookie exchange at Trinity Community Arts Centre, Lawrence Hill. The day was held as part of the Celebrating Age Festival 2009 with community events engaging older people right across the city from 28th September to 3rd of October.

The volunteers baked a huge amount of cookies using exciting ingredients such as chocolate chips, smarties and fudge. Young people met all the staff at Trinity and had fun swapping recipes and biscuits. The volunteers will be contributing their recipes and pictures of the day to a special book produced by Trinity.

You can check out all the photos from the day on our Flickr site.

Bristol Asian Mela

2009-09-28T03:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a group of volunteers along to the Bristol Asian Festival in Eastville Park to experience the festivities and to interview the young people who had helped to organise the event. The event was organised by community organisation Awaz Utaoh who provide a range of activities, events and support services for Bristol’s South Asian community.

It was a really special day with dancing from Bollywood Glamour, Bristol’s first Bollywood dance company, a fashion show on the main stage
and performances from international artist Imran Khan. The main attraction was the talent show in the youth marquee where young people showcased there phenomenal talents from beatboxing to singing, dancing and even modelling.

Over in the heritage marquee elders from Bristol's Asian community and the Lord Mayor gathered for a special book launch lead by Simi Chowdry, director of Awaz Utaoh. ‘More than a Curry’ is a special book that details the contribution that the Asian community has made to Bristol. The launch was accompanied by a special screening of a documentary featuring interviews with community elders. In his speech the Lord Mayor praised the work Awaz Utaoh and their organisation of the event: ‘It is a great example of an event which binds relationships between families and communities and promotes peace and harmony in our city.’

UNITY Volunteers with the Mayor in the Heritage Marquee

Interviewing Talent Show Contestants

All of the photographs, audio and video from the day will be edited together by our volunteers in the next few weeks and will appear on our various sites.

St Paul's Carnival Post Production Workshops

2009-08-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

After interviewing members of the public, local young people, community leaders and even our local MP, the UNITY volunteers then attended a series of workshops (supported by BBC Blast) to edit together all of their recordings and photographs into two multimedia presentations to be shown at the Harbourside Festival.

Young people came into the Bread offices and worked with Matt Olden from I am the Mighty Junglator (a local band and experimental media collective) to produce the pieces. Volunteers learnt about different audio and video editing software and were able to have a real hands on experience, choosing which interviews to include and altering audio levels to improve sound quality.

The finished pieces were shown at the festival on the 2nd of August 2009 and have been uploaded onto all UNITY's sites to promote the project.

You can watch both films on youtube or by clicking on the icons in our video bar on the left-hand side of this page.

St Paul's Carnival Documentation Project

2009-07-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 4th July 2009 UNITY took a group of volunteers to the St Paul's carnival to document this colourful celebration of diverse local culture. Young people photographed the parade and interviewed community leaders and members of the general public to gain an impression of what makes this such a special event.

Recording local musicians by the main stage

Meeting the Mayor

Interviewing Stephen Williams MP

Meeting some of the performers

In the afternoon the photographs taken by volunteers were displayed on the BBC big screen in Portland Square which was achieved with assistance from BBC Blast.

To see all of the photographs taken by young people on the day please go to our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/breadunityproject/