Creative Champions: Touring Art Exhibition

Buckinghamshire Council is proud to have worked with 8 local primary schools from our Opportunity Bucks wards to introduce pupils to the history of the Paralympics; celebrating the role that Stoke Mandeville has played as the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement.

Around 685 pupils in Year 4 to 6 took part in two creative workshops, commissioned by the council and led by Rachel Gadsden, visual and performance artist and Dave Steele, The Blind Poet - both highly regarded artists in the UK and internationally.

This workshop allowed pupils to experience creating a large-scale dynamic artwork in collaboration with Rachel Gadsden. Alongside the collaborative piece, each pupil also created an individual artwork inspired by the physical power and spirit of Paralympic athletes in action.

Guided by Dave Steele, the Verses of Victory workshop saw students individually and collectively write short poems reflecting the themes of resilience, courage, and inclusivity.

Listen to a recording of the Together We Celebrate Creative Champions poem on Buckinghamshire Libraries’ SoundCloud.

From the success of the workshops, Rachel is now working on a series of four large-scale Paralympic inspired artworks (4ft x 3ft canvases) that will incorporate the drawings created by the pupils. This will be exhibited alongside a final poem created and recited by Dave, interspersed with the students’ poetry and representing the collective voice of the participating children.

Pupils, their family and friends, and local communities alike, are warmly invited to see this exhibition of artworks as it tours around different venues in Bucks from August to November 2024 to coincide with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The exhibition will launch at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 22 August and will visit local libraries in Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe as well as Buckinghamshire Council’s head office at The Gateway, Aylesbury.

Creative Champions is one of a series of projects being delivered under the ‘Together We Celebrate' programme. Together We Celebrate looks to bring communities together to honour Buckinghamshire as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.