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First day this Term- Hospital D | Puppet Portal Project - hospital D
2009-09-23

First day this Term- Hospital D

Today was the first contact Day of the Puppet Portal Project, -which already ran for ten weeks last term- back in school.

Today I experienced how productive and sensible it is taht this project os happening in two phases: I feel there is a mutual respect of all involved with the PPP in the school which could only grow with time, and an understanding of all the differnt roles different parties or individuals hold in the project.

Last week all participants (the artists and teachers, evaluators and mentor, Kids Own and Trinity) met for a day to plan ahead, discuss organisational issues and receive some special training on the intercultural aspect of the project.

The artists also met and, between them, discussed how to further improve the Video Link Ups and the communication between the hospitals. We loosely decided on four themes for the next sessions which would allow for a shared story /situation to happen at link up time, enhancing both, the communication and playfulness- not only through the given theme but also through a change of the actual Ait Eile Link up page we meet at. The windows will now be windows of a vehicle, house, shopfronts � thus opening the screen to be a virtual playground for our puppets.

The theme of our first day was NEIGHBOURS- With creative input from Siobhan and great work by the technicians in Trinity, today the Link-up windows were embedded in the image of four neighbouring houses.

There was lots of movement in the classroom: some of the children had to leave in the middle of the session and only came back a few minutes before the planned Video Link up with Helene. We made rooms for a house we d like to live in, after we had discussed how this house would look like: there should be plants! A TV! It could be a castle! One boy, assisted by the classroom assistant had made a puppet straight away as the building of a space would have been too complicated for him, so whilst the others made their puppets he created a great colourful window to peek out. We made little films of puppets peeking out the window and later briefly linked up with Helene and some staff in her workspace the playroom, unfortunately �her� children had left but the girls who were still here really enjoyed the link up, very chatty! and showed their houses.-

Some of the children had been very sick and the teachers commented that it was amazing how they participated today. This was also mirrored by a mother who �s boy had been in intensive care until Sunday, not only was she surprised to see her son that active and happy, she also commented that this experience made her �see the hospital from a whole new perspective�. Also the assistant working with that boy said he �made her laugh�.

After lunch a meeting with the school�s teachers and staff provided space to discuss organisational issues and address open questions. Following that I presented a short visual excursion into my work outside the puppet portal project and finally we watched some of last years videos. I met a teacher who had been on the leave for last year and whom I will be working with in the afternoons. I was also shown a great display area in the hospital�s main entrance area and initiated by the principal embarked on a journey to find storage space within the hospital for all my boxes of materials.