During summer 2009, iceandfire collaborated with Children’s Society Embrace Project, Sheffield Live Community Radio and renowned press photographer Richard Hanson to develop an audiovisual project, which worked with young people to examine the safety of spaces around them.

The project provided a platform for the participants to be the creators rather than the subjects of the artistic work with media professionals providing support and skills training. This engaged with iceandfire’s Participation remit of engaging vulnerable communities with the arts in a safe, creative environment.

With safety being a key component various conventions on children’s rights, nine participants aged 15 to 19 explored what safe spaces are for them and people around them, through drama, images and interviews. As a group of refugee and asylum seeking young people, who’s voices are rarely given a public platform, this project has allowed them to contribute to public debate on these issues whilst gaining useful creative media skills. A photobook and audioslideshow were created from the images and interviews with online and public exhibitions planned for early 2010.

The Safe Space Audio Slideshow project is described below in the words of one of the teenage participants:

To begin a successful start, within the first few gatherings games to allow everyone to get to know each other where (sic) introduced. Once everyone became confident around each other, the meetings held where more enjoyable for everyone.

In the morning, we were trained how to use professional recorders, in Sheffield Live Studio. For the beginning of the afternoon, we were taken to the city centre, at our chosen place. Where in pairs of two we went around, looking for people to interview, which was delightful. In the end of the day, every small team had interesting and useful recording of various range groups of people. Furthermore, at the end of the day we returned to Sheffield Live Radio Station, where everyone edited what they had recorded, deleting the unnecessary parts, once more working as a team.

Another opportunity given by clea to us, was working with a professional photographer known by Richard. This photographer displayed how his expert cameras worked, answered our questions, and off we were for the afternoon in town, taking various photos mainly of the artistic textured buildings, then of anything else which showed a great art. To finish the day off, we went to a studio to use the Photoshop on the apple computers, to cut off the bits that where unwanted in the images.