Birmingham City University

City, University of London

Designing for play and connection in our public spaces.

OPAL's mission is to ensure that every schoolchild has an amazing playtime every day with no exceptions. As a part time OPAL Mentor I support schools over an 18 month period to bring about an entire cultural and practical transformation of the way that play is thought about, planned for, resourced and staffed.

OPAL OUTDOOR PLAY AND LEARNING CIC

Mentor - West Midlands

Our work focuses attention on children’s creativity, making space for this to thrive through working in community settings and the public realm, equal parts play, art and social justice. 

We have collaborated with artists, voluntary groups, libraries, schools and foodbanks to co-create projects together that centre positive, joyful, healthy, creative and playful childhoods.

The Parakeet Studio CIC

Artistic Director

#GrowingUpGreen is a Children and Family Arts Festival that celebrates nature connection and climate action in Birmingham and the Black Country as part of #TheGreatBigGreenWeek

The festival takes place across Birmingham and the Black Country and gives children an opportunity to be in relationship with nature, nurture their curiosity in everyday ecology and help signpost a way to being environmentally responsible now and in the future.
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Growing Up Green recognises the important link between nature connection and climate action, that humans or all ages need to feel connected with nature in order to commit to its protection.
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In its third year, the festival has already engaged over 5000 children and families.

Growing up Green is brought together online at www.growingup.green

Founder - Growing Up Green

As Senior Arts Manager for Midland Metropolitan University Hospital Amy worked with Johnny Shah, Head of Trust Charity to raise over half a million £ investment into arts, community and cultural projects and lead on the creative health and wellbeing strategy to deliver a pioneering arts, culture and community programme for Sandwell and West Birmingham.

Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust

Senior Arts Manager as part of the MMUH Programme Company

Sandwell Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP) is a partnership of sector professionals, cultural enthusiasts & creative advocates who are working with children & young people (aged 0 – 25yrs) in Sandwell. In this role I ran an online arts festival for children during lockdown, set up and ran year 1 of a STEAM schools programme with ten primary schools and oversaw the re-branding and organisational development of the SCEP.

Sandwell Cultural Education Partnership

Creative Learning Producer and Partnerships Manager

Creative Producer for Midland Metropolitan University Hospital part of The Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust opening 2024.

Creative Producer

Amy was a founding member of Impact Hub Birmingham and Civic Square initiating the award winning #RadicalChildcare programme - an initiative to explore, imagine and invest in bold new possibilities for the future of childcare. Amy set up and ran a flexible and affordable childcare programme for artist parents at Impact Hub Birmingham, developed a #RadicalChildcare network of parents and practitioners and developed a series of seed projects in Bearwood with Sally Taylor including Bearwood Community Hub. The programme culminated in the #RadicalChildcare Systems Lab which proposed 10 interdependent investment areas to radically transform outcomes for children and families, co-created and generated by a range of people as part of a two day design event.

CIVIC SQUARE

Creative Director & Programme Director #RadicalChildcare

mac birmingham in partnership with Hiive introduces - Future C U R I O U S a wide ranging, free, open access development programme for aspiring and emerging artists, developed and produced by Amy Martin and Yinka Danmole, exploring future arts practice through a #free programme of artists talks, commissions, workshops, lectures, visits and labs. 

Future C U R I O U S encourages emerging artists to tinker, play, hack and respond to three key themes: Sustainability & the environment  | Creative Technology, data & The Internet | Space & Place.

Midlands Arts Centre

Creative Producer - Future Curious

F A M A L A M stages unusual cultural products, exploring the viability of new ideas in art, entertainment, parenting, play and learning for younger audiences and their families. F A M A L A M was founded by Creative Producer, Amy Martin and her (then) 9 month old son Theodore. 
F A M A L A M's first project was the Internet Cat Film Festival with Flatpack Film Festival in March 2015. The films were chosen by a team of under 5s, the children took part in curatorial training and our youngest curator was 3 years old. 


In July 2015 F A M A L A M received funding from Arts Council England to develop a series of pilot projects including Summer Camp with Birmingham Open Media. 

In November F A M A L A M partnered with Impact Hub Birmingham to create a pop up co-working space for working parents with high speed wifi, natural light and on-site childcare to launch the #RadicalChildcare conversation. 

#RadicalChildcare is an initiative to explore, imagine and invest in bold new possibilities for the future of childcare.

F A M A L A M

Creative Producer + Educator

Flux Liverpool is a celebration of young people’s creativity and entrepreneurialism held in Liverpool from the 17th July – 2nd August 2014. It is a partnership project between the Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium (LARC) organisations and a range of local partners and has ambitions to become the first in a series of biennial International Youth Arts and Cultural Festivals in Liverpool. Flux is an opportunity to celebrate young people’s creativity in Liverpool through performances, workshops, sharings, discussions, events and projects. It will enable Cultural organisations and the creative industries to signpost and highlight further progression routes, performances, projects, programmes and opportunities for young people.

Tate

Flux Festival

As part of Arts Council England's mission, 'achieving great art for everyone', goal 5 states that every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts and culture.

To help ACE achieve this, they set up a network of 10 'bridge' organisations (as part of the National portfolio) that will use their experience and expertise to connect children and young people, schools and communities with art and culture.

The bridging organisation for the West Midlands is Arts Connect WM. My role is to look at how we can better engage young people as participants and audience for arts and culture outside of school post 16. This work involves a partnership project with mac, birmingham that investigates current provision and where improvements can be made.

Arts Connect

Consultant

Bearheart was founded in 2013 by Poet Steven Camden aka PolarBear and Creative Producer Amy Martin. Our first project was a large scale digital participation project called sTaTe funded by Grants for the Arts investment of just under £100K. This project explored online storytelling and worked with The Roundhouse to co-produce high quality digital artwork with young people.
Since 2014 Bearheart has been under the leadership of Amy Martin and Amy was responsible for winning a large commission from Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium to deliver a city wide young people's festival that again placed young people at the centre of the work as producers and programmers.
Set within Liverpool’s world-class arts & culture offer, from 17 July – 2 August 2014 audiences were invited to discover a range of multi-arts performances and events online and across the city. From literary events, film and music to gaming and visual arts, there was something for all ages. A partnership project with over 30 arts organisations, Flux aimed to place young people at the heart of the arts in the city region, acting as a catalyst to increase opportunities and reflect the aspirations of young people aged 14-25 years. Bearheart has since developed partnerships and projects with IdeasTap, mac birmingham, Impact Hub Birmingham and Birmingham Open Media to co-produce projects with children, families and young people with a creative team of experienced multidisciplinary practitioners.
Since 2013 Steven Camden has written two best selling young adult fiction novels and toured internationally

Bearheart CIC

Co-Director

Amy Martin a young people’s creative producer based in Birmingham has received funding from Arts Council England for an R&D project called Ideas Vendor. 

Ideas Vendor will investigate and research into how cultural organisations can improve their use of digital technology and the Internet in engaging young people with arts and culture. Encouraging the development of future audiences, future artists and utilising the skills, expertise and talents of a digital generation.

The project will encompasses a creative project called Birmingham 2022, which will devise a re-imagined vision for the future of arts and culture in Birmingham for the year 2022 created, written and produced by young people.

Arts Council England

Researcher/Producer

As Creative Director I am responsible for establishing the scope and artistic direction for CreaTEDx within TEDxBrum including; researching appropriate artists and creative people and develop artists’ briefs, programme a variety of different voices, creative forms and experiences and share the journey each creative/artist takes to get their work shown or performed at TEDxBrum through social media; audio, photographs and written account.

TEDxBrum

Creative Director

The Cannon Hill Collective is designed to offer young people aged between 16-24 the chance to engage and connect with mac Birmingham’s programme. From initiating, producing and delivering their own projects to advising on mac’s wider young people’s programme, the collective will have the opportunity to help shape mac’s provision for young and emerging artists as producers, ambassadors and creative consumers, with a strong emphasis upon cross art form activities, social media, individual progression, diversity and access.

#CannonHillLectures are for young creatives aged 16-24yrs from the West Midlands. The sessions aim to de-mystify the creative and cultural sector and help young people to find their route in, whether that is as an employee, freelancer or as an entrepreneur. Lectures have included such titles as 'Think like an artist act like a boss – Tips for a creative career', 'Knowing your audience' and 'Networking – more than just business cards'.

Creative Producer: Cannon Hill Collective & Cannon Hill Lectures

Sound Lounge 21 is an innovative and ambitious project model that places young people at the centre of the organisation, providing them with the skills to shape and brand the Sound Lounge 21 youth programme at Town Hall Symphony Hall (THSH) whilst developing their skills as cultural leaders.

Town Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham

Creative Producer: Sound Lounge 21

Birmingham Hippodrome

Temporary Education Manager

TEDxBrum invites you to join Birmingham's greatest thinkers, leaders and do-ers in an inspirational day of talks, performance and films, looking at the theme of The Next Revolution.

Birmingham's inaugural TEDx event will bring the TED spirit of ideas worth spreading to our city for the very first time, igniting a passion for spreading ideas in local communities and beyond. The aim is to spark deep conversations and connections, bringing together people from different backgrounds from across the city to inspire both thought and action.

TEDxBrum is an entirely volunteer run event, thriving on the energy and inspiration of a small dedicated team of TED fans.
My role is to coordinate the production if the event on 24th March 2012 at mac, Cannon Hill Park.

TEDxBirmingham

Volunteer Event Producer

West Midlands has been awarded funding from Clore Duffield Literature Poetry Awards to deliver the Future Poets Festival in partnership with mac and Ideas Tap.

With the support of professional poets and industry experts a group of 10 young people from the West Midlands will work together over five months to create and curate a one-day Future Poets Festival that will explore the full range of Poetry from Classical to Digital Poetry and Poetronica.

Future Poets Festival is on Saturday 4th August 2012 at mac from 12noon until 6pm. 
http://futurepoetsfestival.com/

Writing West Midlands Ltd

Future Poets Festival Producer

Project Manager for Curious Sounds in Curious Spaces family event at Symphony Hall and Producer for Fierce Festival Press Gang. Fierce Press Gang was a group of 13 young people aged 16-19yrs from Birmingham and the Midlands recruited through Ideas Tap. They spent six weeks in the lead up to Fierce Festival, working with industry experts gaining experience in multi media journalism and hearing from art critics, journalists and reviewers. They were tasked with gathering interviews, writing articles, taking photographs, reviewing, creating videos and capturing the story of Fierce Festival 2012.

FIERCE

Project Manager & Producer

As Head of Education & Community at Town Hall and Symphony Hall I managed a team of four. The work of the department is within the spectrum of arts education, youth arts and community engagement.

B:Music

Head of Education and Community

I managed and supported a team of 29 Creative Agents plus recruited and managed the 110 schools in Birmingham, Herefordshire and Worcestershire as part of the Creative Partnerships programme. I also ran the Bright Space Youth Panel (BSYP), and produced the Creative Careers Festival www.creativecareers.org.uk . I  also developed a digital media project about cultural entitlement and social mobility for young people called Platform (www.projectplatform.org.uk)
Another part of my work was to facilitate practitioner development and the Bright Space Creative Encounters series – which was about Meeting, Connecting, Sharing and Networking.

Amy Campbell MA Ed