Cambridge teenagers to present animation project at The Junction

Five talented teenagers are to unveil a series of new films and animations that have been created to inspire other young people.

The project is led by artist Paula Briggs and is called #BeACreative Producer.

Since June 2018, Paula has worked with the group – which includes her 13-year-old daughter Rowan Briggs Smith, an artist recently featured in the Cambridge Independent – to come up with the films and animations.

The presentation will involve showreels from the project and more than 25 minutes of film and animation which combine many different art forms: dance, drama, craft, visual arts and typography.

In addition, all of the accompanying music has been composed by members of the team.

The team comprises Rowan Briggs Smith, 13, Alex Tunstall, 13, Lluis Borrell, 13, Imogen Ransome, 14 and Amelia Baker, 14.

The innovative way the project has been devised and run resulted in these Cambridge teenagers being invited to give a presentation at the Houses of Parliament in November last year, and they have also been shortlisted for a National Learning Award.

When the final animations are launched nationally, they will be shared with schools, galleries and arts organisations across the UK and overseas, in order to inspire others.

Amelia said: “We’ve combined all of our creative skills to make a big animation encouraging creativity.

"I’m quite into music and dance so I’ve composed a couple of things, although Alex has done most of the composing. We’ve also included some dance as well.

“There are two sections – part one is a series of questions, it’s like a quiz to see whether or not you’re a creative producer. Then part two is a series of animations showing the importance of being creative and how to be creative.”

Imogen added: “I’ve been contributing some pieces of music that I’ve composed, and have also been helping with the animation.

"We were all sort of friends before, but this has definitely brought us a lot closer together.”

On the presentation at The Junction, Imogen said: “There’s going to be a big screen and we’re going to watch the animation. Also, we’re going to have the props on display that we’ve used.

"We’ve been animating using a green screen and white boards, so we may have some examples of those.”

The team’s very proud mentor, Paula, said: “They’ve all got different skills and they’ve all brought those together in the project. Working with such a small team has meant I have been able to really help them develop their creativity.

"Contributing their individual skills to such a valuable project has been very special.”

The project will be showcased at the Cambridge Junction (J3) on Thursday, February 28 at 7pm.

To learn more, visit accessart.org.uk/be-a-creative-producer.

For free tickets, visit junction.co.uk/becreative-producer.