Sydenham Arts announces further details of the Great War Classroom, a special event at the heart of this year’s Summer Festival from 1st-10th July.
Sydenham’s imaginative contribution to the nationwide WW1 Centenary Commemorations will take the form of an interactive recreation, giving visitors the chance to experience what it was really like in a Sydenham schoolroom in 1916.
The recreation, led by an actor and facilitator, will offer visitors of all ages an unforgettable, immersive experience. The local community will have the opportunity to contribute information and help develop this project with memorabilia, personal recollections, family histories and ideas. Formal sources of information and materials, from local archives to national resources such as the Imperial War Museum and the National Archives at Kew, will also be explored. There will also be an outreach programme of interviews and conversations with local groups and individuals.
Despite widespread public interest in the centenary, the Great War’s effect on both teachers and pupils in classrooms of the time is a largely overlooked aspect of WW1 heritage. Sydenham Arts will collate valuable research into how the war affected activities and atmosphere in a typical school classroom in South East London. They will then set up a local classroom as closely as possible mirroring the reality of 1916 and invite groups of local students and general public to take part in a series of immersive dramatized sessions.
15,0000 brochures listing all the performing arts (comedy, theatre, poetry, music) and visual arts events will be available throughout the borough.
Sydenham Arts is a forward-thinking community organisation founded in 2009, which embraces every art form. Led by Helen Goward, their mission is to advance the Arts for the benefit of all, in particular the people of Sydenham. The work of Sydenham Arts would not be possible without the generous support of the Arts Council, The Big Lottery Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Lewisham Council, private sponsors and an army of enthusiastic volunteers.
Instagram: @SydenhamArts
Twitter: @sydartsfest
Tickets and Information sydenhamarts.co.uk/event/the-great-war-classroom