Polska Tales

Polska Tales is a collection of children's stories written by children and families from the Polish Community in Southport, UK.

Who I Am and Where I'm From

Polska Tales was created during a community engagement project called Who I Am and Where I'm From. The project was developed with the aim of working with hard to reach communities to help them tell their story. The project aimed to help families who had relocated from Poland to help them engage within the community, have an opportunity to share their stories, and develop their English language skills through writing stories and creating artwork.[1]

Whimsical Arts ran 6 art sessions with the group, using an art therapy tool called 6 part story method[2] to guide the group in creating their stories in 6 parts. Over the 6 sessions 6 pieces of artwork were produced by the participants to pictorialise each part of their story.

5 stories were created:

The book

The 5 stories were compiled into a book called Polska Tales. The artwork created for each story was digitally photographed and used on each page of the book with the corresponding text shown on the left hand page in Polish and the right hand page in English.

The book was printed up and distributed to schools, playgroups and local libraries across Sefton. A pdf version of the book is also available.

Library Tour

Whimsical Arts and members of the group, took the published book on a tour of the 13 libraries across Sefton. The dates were pre-agreed and local schools were invited to attend the tour which included a reading of the stories and a short art session during which the participants were able to create the first image for their own story.

Films

Following the completion of the art sessions the group spent a day at the Community Learning Centre in Ainsdale with Story tellers who recorded the stories in both Polish and English, along with sound effects to create an audio book. The images were then animated around the audio track and a DVD was created with 5 films in both English and Polish.

Screening

The project was completed with a celebration event that took place at the Plaza Community Cinema in Waterloo. The group were treated to a private showing of their Polish films before other guests and dignitaries were invited to a light buffet and a premiere of the films.[8]

Films available on Youtube

The Search (English) Wyprawa (Polski)
The Journey in Search of Pollen (English) Podróz w Poszukiwaniu Pylku (Polski)
Inside Out (English) Inside Out (Polski)
Maya's Story (English) Historia Maji (Polski)
Golden Friends (English)Zloci przyjaciele (Polski)

Funding

Whimsical Arts and Geni-i submitted a funding bid to Express Sefton 08 in October 2008. The funding was aimed at cultural activities in celebration of Liverpool Capital of Culture year. Initial funding was granted which was then matched by Sefton Equalities Partnership through Children in Need funding and Sefton Extended Services.

Feedback

The book and DVD were taken to Poland by the Mayor of Sefton and presented to the Mayor of Gdańsk. The DVD is also set to be included as part of a training programme called "Everyone Can Play" [9] aimed at helping playworkers understand the difficulties children can face as a result of their cultural background, abilities etc.

References

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  1. ↑ http://www.communitydesigner.co.uk/Polska_Tales.htm
  2. ↑ Effective Treatments for PTSD, Edna B. Foa, Terence M. Keane, Matthew J. Friedman, page 484
  3. ↑ Polska Tales, page 7, Published 2009 by Sefton CVS
  4. ↑ Polska Tales, page 21, Published 2009 by Sefton CVS
  5. ↑ Polska Tales, page 33, Published 2009 by Sefton CVS
  6. ↑ Polska Tales, page 47, Published 2009 by Sefton CVS
  7. ↑ Polska Tales, page 61, Published 2009 by Sefton CVS
  8. ↑ Crosby Herald, page 20, 27 May 2010.
  9. ↑ http://www.seftonplaycouncil.org.uk/ECP.htm
  10. ↑ http://www.geni-i.co.uk/Polska_tales.html Geni-i

External links

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