Author: Brian Foster

Dream Makers


DreamMakers is a 16 months long, UK – wide project (Glasgow, Bolton, Peterborough, Newham, London) . In each location, 6-8 young people (between 13-19 year olds)  of Roma, English Romany, Irish Traveller and non-Roma backgrounds, will be given training in photography, sound and video, to become reporters from their communities. The project is exploring themes of identity, migration, belonging, dreams and aspirations. 
Please visit www.dreammakersuk.tumblr.com to find out more.

A Steering Committe of members from all the partnering organisations is following the project.
After each lot of workshops in each location a community celebratory event/exhibition will take place: first one to be in Glasgow, 11 December 2012.

A final exhibition collating all the materials and bringing together all the participants will take place in London at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, June 2013. It will be surrounded by a series of events and symposiums.

The young DreamMakers will co-curate the exhibiton.

A book with all the materials will be published in Autumn 2013.

Mediator training oversubscribed

Applications closed on Thursday November 15th for the Council of Europe course for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller mediators. There was a good response with over 50 people applying for 27 places. ACERT, which is organising the course on behalf of the Council of Europe, has offered places to all applicants who have Gypsy, Roma or Traveller ethnicities, completed their applications by the deadline and said they could definitely attend the course. Those who were not offered places may still have the opportunity to attend if initial offers of places are not taken up. Unfilled places will be offered on Wednesday November 21st. If there is a significant number of disappointed applicants ACERT will make the case for another course in the future.

Thank you to all who applied. We hope it will be a valuable course and will pave the way for more community members to be employed in roles that promote understanding and respect for identity and culture.

ACERT meets with the Aldridge Foundation

ACERT meeting with Aldridge Foundation to discuss meeting the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children in the new Kensington Aldridge Academy and in a future Virtual School

On Monday 5/11/12 ACERT met with the Aldridge Foundation who describe themselves thus:

The Aldridge Foundation is an educational charity founded by Sir Rod Aldridge to help young people to reach their potential and improve their communities, principally through the sponsorship of entrepreneurial academy schools and colleges.

We are unafraid to challenge conventional thinking and a culture of low expectations, and believe there are no limits to what people can achieve. 

The Aldridge Foundation are planning a new Academy in North Kensington in London and met with us to share ideas about meeting the educational needs of Traveller communities within the catchment area and also of the more mobile Traveller population who may need more creative provision to enable access to education.

With this is view they are looking at exciting and innovative plans to offer sustained and structured education to children not in school through a Virtual School.  This would offer students access to a highly individualised learning programme ensuring they were able to achieve formally recognised qualifications. As well as supporting the education of various groups of travelling children it was also envisaged that home educated, sick and other such groups of children could enrol in the Virtual School.

The representatives of the Foundation acknowledge the importance of meeting with the relevant communities to incorporate their views into the project.

It was a lively and optimistic meeting and the representatives went away with lots of notes saying that they had found the meeting very useful.

Posted by Amy Rogers