Ignite! past and future:
Present Status
Bore Place
Creative Spark Katie Chapman attends Ignite! Board away day at Bore Place to brainstorm the future of Ignite! with the help of a white van...
The Ignite! Board recently met at Bore Place in Kent, for two days to discuss the growth, identity and future of Ignite! I was invited as an awardee to help with the brainstorming. Despite feeling dubious as to what I could offer or as to why I was going away with the Board I had a super time and I felt that I was able to offer a different perspective that perhaps otherwise would have been overlooked by the Board.
Having just recently graduated from University, I’m at something of a crossroads myself thinking about what direction to go in, so there were lots of parallels with the discussions at Bore Place. I think sometimes it’s scary and sometimes it’s exciting not to know exactly where you are going. Ignite! has a clear sense of what it wants to do. It has a strong purpose and vision, but what is less clear is how it is going to go forward in the next 3 years. Bore Place was a fantastic space in which to brainstorm and let ideas flow and have creative conversations about this.
I was introduced to some amazing people on the Board and I was impressed with the range of interests they brought to the debate. There were scientists, teachers, other young people, workshop leaders and people who had been part of Ignite! since it started. They all threw themselves into the range of activities with creativity and gusto. Sometimes I think it helps to consider the future by coming at it from a different angle. For example Chrys who is an artist got us to visualise what the future of Ignite! might look like, but before we got on to that she helped us feel confident about our visual imaginations and I loved the exercise we did. Chrys got us to do a self portrait with our eyes closed, so we had to draw what we felt as we touched our face with our fingers (you should try it!). I never thought of myself as an abstract portrait artist!
One of the other valuable things was simply having the time to have relaxed conversations in such beautiful surroundings in the middle of nowhere, by an open fire with Matthew playing the grand piano, with Nuha arguing over the last crème brule!
As well as discussing important details such as the Chair’s Report we embarked on some creative learning sessions that enabled us to think about what Ignite! means to us or what it should perhaps be in the future.
As a group we came up with the analogy of Ignite! being like a white van. The white van is Ignite! zipping from one project to the next project, delivering resources and proved methodologies; then picking up new ideas and learning from one project and then delivering it to the next. What Ignite! picks up, whether it is research, resources, new ways of learning or connections, we then deliver to the next project we are working on. The role of the Ignite! Board is like the SatNav, guiding the white van, keeping it on the road, well maintained, fuelled and licensed.
I had a fab time and I look forward to watching Ignite! blossom into a strong company that really does celebrate the creativity of young people.
Katie Chapman, 14th December 2007