Nautical threads examines Dover’s long nautical history through a range of connecting cultural and educational activities involving visual artists, writers, poets. The project took place in 2014 and has provided the participating Dover District schools with an inspiring cross-curricular focus for curriculum topics and themes.

Project outcomes:

• Artists and organisations will be better able to work with schools and understand their needs
• Teachers will learn new skills from arts specialists and be able to use them to inspire learning in their schools
• Children and young people will learn how to work collaboratively with people of different ages and backgrounds. They will build a “toolkit” of skills that will help them to communicate ideas and motivate others.

Outputs include:

• Creative piece of writing to inspire response to narrative and pupils own writing and drawings written by Corbyn Matthews Crow: The story Knife has been narrated and recorded by Barry O’Brien of Dover Tales.
• Collaborative textiles piece made in response to the story and the nautical theme, using pupil’s drawings as the basis for the composition
• Artist-led lantern event with Dover Rowing Club for all participating schools
• At least 10 young people completing Arts Award and sharing skills
• More schools achieving Artsmark
• Exhibition of textile work
• Arts award training for teachers
• Workshops for teachers and pupils

Workshops:

• Textiles
• Concrete poetry (shaped poetry)
• Creative writing
• Location drawing
• Additional workshops to be confirmed as the project progresses

Ewan Golder made a visually rich filmic experience bringing together the many different strands of the Nautical Threads project: