Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation is "pleased to announce" that it has secured funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Teacher Development Fund for Broadway Gallery to deliver a programme of educational arts activities in Letchworth schools.

PHF awards funding to a small number of organisations each year and it is a "testament to the extraordinary work" that is taking place at Broadway Gallery that it was included in this cohort. 

Funding was granted to organisations from the Scottish Highlands to London, and Broadway Gallery is in the company of prestigious national organisations, putting Letchworth firmly on the map.

The Teacher Development Fund aims to enable teachers and school leaders to develop their skills, knowledge, and experience in order to embed learning through the arts in the primary curriculum.

The funding will enable Broadway Gallery to work with schools including Hillshott Infants, Pixmore Junior and Woolgrove Special Needs to deliver a unique Teacher-Artist Exchange programme, designed to use visual arts to address a broad range of prevalent social and emotional needs.

Broadway Gallery created the programme in partnership with headteachers at these, and other local schools.

St. Thomas More primary school will also be part of the work – outgoing head teacher is Jane Perry who said: "Since the pandemic, we – like much of the country – have seen a rise in complex emotional and social needs in our classrooms. 

"We know that visual arts can be used as a powerful emotional regulator, and we're thrilled to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Broadway Gallery on this critical intervention.  To have the chance to work with real artists in school is incredible and will be so valuable to our pupils – we can't wait."

The Teacher-Artist Exchange partners visual artists with primary school teachers in Letchworth Garden City in a bespoke development programme of workshops, artist residencies and collaborative skills sharing.

The programme begins in September 2024 and will run over two academic years, involving the same cohort of artists and teachers throughout.

It will give artists the opportunity to develop their own teaching skills within a school environment and give young people the chance to experience visual arts in a fresh, hands-on way.

Mollie McLellan is Cultural Learning Officer for Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, who will be leading the work. She said: "Working closely with schools to support their needs is such an important part of the arts, culture and heritage offer of Letchworth Garden City.

"We're delighted to be a part of round seven of the PHF Teacher Development Fund and looking forward to working with our partner schools to explore the impact of arts on Letchworth Garden City."

The project will have a wide reach across all areas of Letchworth Garden City – 14 primary school classes will benefit from the work. 

Broadway Gallery has engaged with seven artists and four members of staff from each of the seven schools involved to create a programme which will have a measurable impact on young people in Letchworth Garden City. The project forms a crucial strand of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation's strategic aim of making Letchworth a great place to grow up.

Chantelle Stephenson-Pearce is a local artist who has been engaged to work on the programme.

She said: "I'm proud of being part of the Letchworth cultural community, and to be able to give back to the town in such a critical way through my work is incredibly rewarding.

"It's really exciting for me as an artist to be associated with Paul Hamlyn Foundation – having their support for a Letchworth project is such a coup for the cultural scene."

The Teacher-Artist exchange commences in September, and you can keep up to date with the progress of the project at www.broadway-gallery.com