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

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!

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/

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.

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 Maker rounding up their Children’s land army for an afternoon at Protest Camp.

Two likely candidates for Making Mischief.

Our youngest maker of mischief gets the peg dolls in order.

Let the children be seen and heard!

Demands are made for a Pescatocracy . . .

With the Big Hat band who accompanied our mischief makers on the march,  New Orleans style.

Thanks so much to Candida and Ant at the Pleasance for all their support and belief.

Pupils from John Masefield School playing in their band ‘Fozwan and the Superior Siblings’.

A Big Thank you to Victoria, Lindsay, Nicky D, Tanya and Maya, Rachael, Christine and Jimmy.

Our tent at the start of the weekend.

Pack up your troubles in you old kit bag……

Our new installation piece, the fabulous twin peaks of ‘Doll Mountain’. Participants were invited to place their protest dolls atop the mountain, to shout their dreams from up on high.

Nicky D – Ready for anything with a camera or hammer – eat your heart out, Rosie Rivetor!

Rallying our wonderful John Masefield rebels before the march.

Rallying with some rousing chants. . .  “Kids Are the New Adults!”

The Young People of Ledbury have Spoken!

Its a teenage riot! Fantastic, surreal slogans get the attention of Castlefield revelers  ” Muffins are Ugly Cupcakes” . . ” Blonde and Proud” . . “I want to be a Narwal” . .

The Makerettes – Glamour and Grit.

“The 1940′s was a great time of empowerment for women. We are extending that message to our young people through our Protest Camp movement. Believe in yourself and be proud of your dreams…”

Fozwan and the Superior Siblings rock the Words in Motion tent to the assembled masses.

Our interview with The Big Chill film company. To be on air soon . . .

Here’s to the fabulous The Makerettes, see you next year Ledbury. . .xxxxxxxx

Thanks so much to Victoria at the Big Chill and we wish her every success with her new project.

Just before our afternoon workshop started in the Children’s Ark in the Pleasance Courtyard.

Two lovely ladies ready to add their dollies to doll mountain.

Making a protest rosette.

Flower Power 

Pinning on work to be proud of. 

This little girl drew a picture of the bus she came to the festival on her rosette. 

Thank you to our lovely singing door man and photographer extraordinaire. 

The Lovely Liv making her peg doll dance.

Nikky making peg dolls. 

A Marvelous Placard ‘I like Magic’. Me too. 

‘I Love my Family’. 

All packed up at the end of the day. See you next year Edinburgh. We love you!

Mischief Makers’ Protest Camp: August 7th and 8th, 2010.

Castlefield Arena.

The Mischief Makers return to The Big Chill with the acclaimed Protest Camp. We will be situated next to the Words In Motion Tent, Saturday and Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.

We invite passers by to come and spend time with us to visualise their innermost desires and demands! At our camp, slogans can materialise into cloth banners, placards and sculptural forms. Our peg doll demonstrators will be taking to the hills in our spectacular new installation piece ‘Doll Mountain’, to which participants will be invited to make and add their own peg self. Over the weekend this colourful spectacle will unfold in rebellious creativity!

Rumours of a Revolutionary Tea Dance on Saturday night are now confirmed. There will be tea drinking, plotting, strumming and bespoke waltzing amidst the banners and peg dolls. 9 – 11p.m.

Sunday at 1 – 1.45 pm will see the young people of Ledburys’ John Masefield School rise up and demand to be heard as they march and rally at the Words In Motion tent. We are also proud to present the JMS based band Fozwan and the Superior Siblings,folk-pop at its finest.

The Mischief Makers are artist educators, Nicola Godlieb and Sarah Conway Dyer. We run idea-driven, conceptual arts projects, which utilise and respond to the environment and users of a given space. This is the second year of our Protest Camp, which is also appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Letters laid out on the table and we were ready to make some Mischief. 

One of the first banners of the day. 

Angus and Finlay were stars helping us set up, here are some of the banners they made.  

‘I want a magic wand’. 

‘Save the Elephants’ with some beautiful adornment. 

The first revellers assemble before our march. 

Richard and Frida whipped up into a protest frenzy. 

And Goodnight Vienna.