Protest Camp goes to Winchester
October 15, 2015
During May 2015 the Mischief Makers spent two days running outreach workshops for the Boomtown Fair Kidz Area in Winchester. The children made banners on themes of Brave New World and Revolutionaries, culminating in a rollicking march through Winchester Library!
De Pijp
April 26, 2014
Children organise to protest for a play street in Amsterdam in 1970.
“Ten, twenty children can’t change anything ”
Like hell they can’t !
Up with Creativity! Protest Camp Highlights. . .
October 15, 2012
Protest Camp is a Children’s Democracy Project which creates a forum for creative rebellious thought and a step off point for debate and discussion. Through our events in schools, festivals and communities we we encourage the views of children to take centre stage, in all their eccentricity and vibrancy. Society ignores the voice of the child at its peril, and Mischief Makers Protest Camp calls for our youth to be heard!
Art in Schools . . .
Attending ‘A New Direction’s Creative Schools London’ at the British Library last week was an inspirational day. The conference was called by A.N.D. in response to the urgent matter of ‘sustaining a cultural curriculum in a time of change’. In addition to the presentations by Ian Middleton of Ofsted, Mark Reid -Head of Education at the BFI and Patricia Lankester, trustee of the Tate and arts educationalist, we heard impassioned and moving testimony from teachers and workers in education on the vital role that creativity has and should continue to have in the lives of our young people.
The day became a fantastic kind of mind mapping of all the thoughts and plans that many who work in education dream of and yet never have a moment or opportunity to express outside of such frantically busy schedules.
So much thanks has to go to A New Direction for arranging this day, the first of many we all hoped and the beginnings of a serious conversation about cultural engagement between all of us who work with young people in these difficult times.
Mischief Makers 2012
The Mischief Makers Protest Camp at Nova Festival July 5th – 8th
January 30, 2012
We shall be proudly banner waving our bespoke slogans once again this year in a riot of colour and dissent. Come join us, make a banner, a placard, strum a tune, pitch up a tent . . .
‘Big ideas and little details’ Nova is a new British festival brought to you by producers of the original Big Chill Festival.
The Mischief Makers at Nova Festival July 5th – 8th
January 30, 2012
Edinburgh Festival 2011
December 2, 2011
As the Summer drew to a close the Mischief Makers took the train to Edinburgh to make some mischief at The Pleasance.
Once settled in to our flat (care of Edinburgh University thank you very much) we put on our aprons on and headed down to the Pleasance Courtyard.
This year we ran a workshop for little people and adults in a very chilly igloo. The Scots ignored the cold spell and got down to some creating some inspiring slogans and dolls.
Protesting on a small scale. In this workshop a lot of our placards were peg doll size.
We held an impromptu ho down to the dulcid tones of ‘She’ll be going ’round the mountain when she comes’ accompanied by Will on guitar. After the singing sit in the troupes gathered to march around the Pleasance Courtyard.
Thanks Edinburgh, see you next year!
Night, night. x
A Very Pleasance Day Out
July 28, 2011
On Saturday the 16th of July the Mischief Makers set up camp in the Pleasance Forecourt as part of the Big Day Out.
The Rain poured down but we made merry with the resident musicians and puppeteer.
Come rain or shine you can’t keep a peg doll down, they were out in their many colours brandishing banners such as ‘Sisters need Love’ and ‘Zombies aren’t all bad’. . .take note Islington!
Feeling very pleased with her slogan ‘More Butterflies’.
Despite the rain we had many makers of mischief sheltering in our camp.
The Big Day Out was a soggy yet fun event! The rain simply didn’t stop the young people of Islington and beyond from making beautiful placards and pegs, and having a shout about what really mattered to them. We had many brilliant, kooky slogans such as ‘Invent a flying Suit’, ‘Jump on Beds’ and ‘Eat Flowers’. Our planned march became a ‘Protest Sit In’ at the British Summer as none of the placards were dry enough to brandish. . .!
Big Thanks to Candida and Ant at The Pleasance for inviting us out!
THE CHILDREN OF N16 HAVE SPOKEN…
July 14, 2011
At the end of June the Mischief Makers spent two days at William Patten Primary School running four workshops with 120 children from years 2 and 3. The children were amazing, innovative and creative in their approach to voicing their ideas and creating beautiful collaged slogans. On Sunday the 3rd of July the Mischief Makers held a march at The William Patten School Fair where an excited mob gathered to wave their placards high in the air shouting out their slogans and singing along to Robin Grey’s bespoke Protest songs.
The march gathers pace with shouts of ‘Look after the world’ and ‘Stop the Golden Eagle’
Placards basking in the sunshine.
Camp Mischief ready for action.
See this link for a quirky write up of the day! http://quirkandrescue.wordpress.com/
Summer in the City 2011
June 19, 2011
The Summer is here and the Mischief Makers are back with a vengeance. We will be kicking off our Summer Season with four workshops at William Patten Primary School this June working with pupils in years 2 and 3.
The work made in these workshops will be used in a protest march at The William Patten Primary School Fair on Sunday the 3rd of June 12 – 3pm. Please come along to Stoke Newington Church Street and join us for a raucous march around the school grounds. We will also be manning a Mischief Makers stall making Protest peg dolls at this event.
On Saturday the 16th of July the Mischief Makers will be staging an event as part of the Big Day Out at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington. Last year the sun shone and we made merry on our march that spilled out onto the streets of Islington accompanied by the Big Hat Band. Please come and join us again, we’ll be there 11am – 3pm.
Are you going to Edinburgh Festival this year? If you are don’t miss our Protest Camp workshop in the Kidzone at the Pleasance. We’ll be pioneering ‘Peg Out Your Protest’ at this event, creating a marvelous intervention on Sunday 28th of August 2-6pm. All Welcome.
In Praise of the Placard . . . A look back at 2010
December 31, 2010
Looking back at our 2nd year of peg doll demonstrations, cloth-crafted slogans and music filled protest with the children of London, Edinburgh, Dorset and Ledbury, a sense of prescience can be felt.
When we began our Protest Camp project in 2009, our aims were to instill a sense of what democracy really is to young people, to hand them the tools for ‘creative rebellious thought’. Our aim was to create a forum for discussion and expression where the individuals’ beliefs are celebrated and writ large upon glorious bright cloth. The sight of children up and down the country armed with banners and megaphones has been a delightful and thrilling spectacle, and one which the parents and associated adults have been moved by. It has been often remarked that to see this young generation with their dreams hoisted high has reminded everyone involved that we all have a right to our say, and that this sense of self-determination is a precious thing which must be nurtured above all else.
December 2010 has seen a remarkable return to the forum of protest. Countrywide we now see young people and children taking part in this vibrant and vital form of dissent. The powers that be have sadly seen this as a threatening development and one which must be quashed. However this belief in the right to protest is one which will not cease, and now it has found its voice it cannot be silenced.
Here’s to another year of poetical intervention, creative empowerment and inspiration to all.
Long Live the Placard !
Nikky and Sarah. The Mischief Makers. London, December 31st, 2010.
Barbara Kruger
The Mischief Makers' Blog 