PAL

Calling Writers: Apply now for PAL Children’s Film Lab in India, December 2009

2009-10-30T10:29:45Z

The Lab in India is jointly designed and organised by Eleeanora Images (India) and PAL (London) and is supported by the Media International programme of the European Union, the British Council, Children’s Film Society of India, EON Productions and the Goethe Institute.

The aim of the Lab is to initiate the production of a slate of high-quality Indian films for children. It will focus on stories with a potential for co-production and distribution in national and international markets, at the same time developing the creative and practical skills and knowledge needed to make productions for the child and family audience specifically.

PAL is working in a consultative capacity with Eleanora Images to initiate what we hope will become a 3-year programme. Its design and organisation is based on PAL’s experience of co-directing the MEDIA-funded European Pygmalion programme since 2002.

This pilot programme consists of a 10-day residential Lab. Two distinguished screenwriters from Europe and India will work with six selected Indian writers.As with all PAL Screenwriters Labs, there will also be a resident ensemble of five actors and a director plus a storyboarder to support the writers. Visiting guests at the Lab will include producers from both Europe and India, with particular interest in films for children, Cinekid Festival Director Sannette Naeye will screen Cinekid prizewinning films.

2009 STEM Fluency Lab - East Midlands

2009-10-12T12:43:14Z

Over five days the Lab will provide the opportunity, time and space to experiment and play, try new cross-discipline approaches, take risks and to reflect on practice.

As one of the teachers at the 2008 Lab said:

‘Understanding is like an explosion of colour which starts with a few drips’

The Lab will have a deep impact on participants’ practice, outlook and confidence which they will take back to their labs, classrooms, staffrooms and studios.

“Beneath the noisy surface of our minds, there are deep reserves of memory and association, of feelings and perceptions that process and record our life’s experience beyond our conscious awareness. So at times, creativity is a conscious effort. At others, we need to let our ideas ferment a while and trust the deeper unconscious ruminations of our minds, over which we have much less control. Sometimes when we do, the insights we’ve been searching for will come to us in a rush, like “letting a cork out of a bottle”.Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica, ‘The Element’ (2009)

Creative Scotland - have your say

2009-10-08T12:58:44Z

Designed to engage the artistic and creative communities, Perspectives offers the opportunity to share views on the emerging role of Creative Scotland. It’s the place where ideas around Creative Scotland can be discussed, contrasted, compared and challenged. We’re delighted that Perspectives features the Artist as Leader Report in its on-line Library.

The Difference Engine Lab: Launch of New Learning Resources

2009-09-24T09:38:26Z

The promenade performance leads the audience from past to future through a landscape of machines and ideas… solving the spider’s riddles hidden in her worldwide web; persuading the counting madman to open the gates to the Hall of Shadows and discover the workings of the Steampunk Arcade; and helping Charles Babbage find the clues to repair his masterpiece.

The idea of The Difference Engine was developed at a PAL Lab in November 2008. The Lab was commissioned by Creative Partnerships Manchester, working with CUE, to get the collaboration process between artists and teachers off to a flying start.

“I was amazed how easily we were all enticed to tap into our creativity.” Artistic Director, Thingumajig Theatre

Creativity: Luxury or Lifeline?

2009-09-21T12:35:51Z

PAL contributed to one of the conference’s themes - ‘Enquiry at the centre of professional learning’. The workshop was participatory, aimed at provoking reflection on personal experience of work, based around the question “When are you happy at work?”. True to PAL’s principle of exploration through collaborative making, the participants produced a ‘poem in progress’ by the course of the hour-long session.

The theme of ‘Enquiry’ was launched with a keynote speech by Professor Anna Craft. Anna was the co-author a substantial evaluation of PAL’s Creative Science Teaching Lab 2005, funded by NESTA and Creative Partnerships.

PAL’s New Website

2009-06-23T13:23:44Z

Have a look at the Timeline in the Portfolio section. This shows PAL’s growth over the past 20 years and includes the names of almost everyone who has been on a Lab. There’s still quite a lot to do especially on the earlier Lab pages but it’s already shaping up to be a very useful demonstration of our work.

If you’ve been on a PAL Lab and have any links, photographs or other material that you would like us to consider for inclusion, just get in touch. We’d also welcome your comments on the site as a whole… and please subscribe to our news feed to keep up to date with our activities and sign up to our mailing list.

We are grateful to Rob Bevan and Philippa Watson of XPT, who designed and built our website, for their expertise and patience.

The Art of Enquiry

2009-06-22T14:19:26Z

For this first Lab, we invited a small group of artists drawn from different disciplines to think out loud about the issues that currently concern them in their practice. The day was facilitated by Roanne Dods.

Our hope is that this experimental artistic enquiry will create a life of its own and a high profile for the value of adventurous research and development. In due course we will post more about what we learned form what was a very stimulating day.