Community & Education Filmmaking Projects
Inspiring, Educating & Empowering Children and Young People
ignite creativity
Community & Education Filmmaking Projects
Sparks Communities is a Community Interest Company.
We inspire, educate and empower children and young people through participatory film and media arts activities.
Our community filmmaking projects work with children and young people who would not typically have access to film training or development opportunities.
We support young people who face disadvantages to improve their life chances, their mental health and wellbeing.
Film & Media Workshops
We provide participatory workshops in film, animation, photography and other media to schools and community groups
Charitable Projects
We partner with charities and community organisations to deliver projects with meaningful educational and social outcomes for children and young people
Artistic Development
We provide development opportunities for film and media practitioners to develop their practice and skills in working with young people. We also develop and curate artistic programmes with young people and support with their professional development.
Accredited Training Programmes
We support children and young people to gain accredited qualifications that can improve their employability, artistic development and opportunities for the future. We partner with a range of accreditation bodies to deliver recognised training.
Community Filmmaking Projects
We engage participants who feel excluded from or underrepresented within arts activities, with a special emphasis on programmes that focus on inclusivity, or projects that seek to improve youth mental health and wellbeing.
We believe that all young people deserve the chance to tell their own story and express their point of view.
Through our activities we build confidence and aspirations, as well as valuable skills for the future. We aim to provide a safe space for children and young people to express their voice, share their experiences and interact with the world in new and interesting ways.
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Recent Youth & Community Film Projects
Our youth and community film projects include projects in educational, charitable and community settings.
What It’s Like To Be Me
A collaboration with youth mental health charity Kids Inspire, where we delivered film workshops alongside drama therapists as 11-16 year olds explored what life is like for them. Through film, we explored bullying, mental health issues and the pressures of being a young carer.
Girls with Goals
A filmmaking workshop programme all about female aspirations with Bishop Challoner’s School in East London. We worked with a group of young women to help them create a film that explores issues around representation of women, women in the workplace and aspirational role models.
Reconnections
A filmmaking workshop programme for young people in South London who have struggled with the effects of the pandemic lockdowns. Through film we explored mental health and wellbeing, pressures of being a young person in London and how to navigate these.
Moving Minds
A collaboration with Into Film, working with groups of young people to produce films that explore mental health, their experiences and worries. Participants produced their own films inspired by their own experience of mental health issues.
Shakespeare 400
A filmmaking workshop project with an East London secondary school, in collaboration with Into Film. We worked with a group of students to adapt Shakespeare’s Richard III into a modern day film using extracts from the Shakespeare play.
Boys with Books
A project with Burlington Danes Academy in West London. We worked with boys aged 17-18 to make a documentary about career choices, studying the arts and gender issues and stereotypes about what boys are expected to study or pursue as careerpathways.
#LearnLoveLiveLiteracy
A project in collaboration with the Barbican Children’s Library, where we delivered filmmaking workshops inspired by popular books to encourage digital literacy skills as well as improve engagement with the Library services. Children aged 5-10 explored favourite stories and adapted themes and characters to produce their own imaginative film and animation sequences.
Rivers Documentaries
A documentary project with year four students at Castle View Primary School in Slough. We worked with 120 Year 4 students to explore their Rivers topic and to develop a series of new skills in filmmaking, animation and media. We supported them to produce a fun documentary to share their learning and new skills, which was presented to families and the wider school network.
My Journey
A filmmaking project in partnership with the London Transport Museum, Hillingdon Council and Queensmead School in conjunction with TFL.
Students made their own films about taking safe journeys to school, as well as walking to school as much as possible.
Our History
Sparks was founded in 2010, beginning with children’s film and media programmes in London.
We’ve since worked with many schools, educational organisations, charities and community groups to inspire over 5,000 children and young people to get involved with filmmaking.
We were founded by Dan Farrell and Donna Bamford. We’re now joined by a wonderful team of filmmakers and arts educators who support us to deliver our work.
Funding & Support
Sparks Communities is a Community Interest Company (CIC).
Our community filmmaking and media projects supported by the Sparks Film & Media Arts group of companies, who provide us funding through their mainstream operations, as well as in-kind resources and staffing support.
We also receive financial support through individual donors, through several trusts and foundations and partnerships.
We’re very thankful to all of our partners, donors and sponsors, who enable us to make a difference in children’s lives.
If you’d like to find out how you can support our mission, please get in touch with us via the form below.
