User:RachelleyLee/Offscreen expeditions

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“The aim of the project is to give students from the UK and Middle East the chance to communicate and learn from each other in a positive and creative way,” said Offscreen director Stephen Stapleton.

He added: “We are so used to seeing the Middle East through western eyes and I think it will be exciting and deeply insightful to see how young people from the Middle East see us.”

Story & Vision
In 2002 four young British artists took a trip to the Middle East. Al Braithwaite, Henry Hemming, Stephen Stapleton & Georgie Weedon discovered there that what they thought they knew about the Middle East was a completely different thing from the actual character of the region. Using this new knowledge, they decided to found the Offscreen Education Programme, now a registered UK not-for-profit charity. .

Offscreen has since spawned Offscreen Expeditions, which each year organises expeditions of young artists and students from one side of the world to visit the other. These journeys are intended to facilitate communication and understanding between the UK and the Middle East. .

UK to Gulf
Offscreen started off by taking students from schools on London on a 12-day trip to the Gulf. The team created artwork from their journey, on which they visited the skyscrapers of Dubai, Beduin desert camps, and everything in between. They worked with Rashid School for Boys and Latifa School for Girls and were inspired by a hot-air balloon trip into the desert. .

The students then flew from the UAE to Oman. They rode camels and slept in the desert, discovering with geologists and locals the fragility of the desert. They returned to the UK having learned much about the world and themselves[6].

Gulf to UK
Lebanese, Emirati, Omani and Bahraini artists, having rarely or never been to the UK before, searched there for an authentic vision of life in the West. After an art competition put on by regional authorities in conjunction with HSBC and the British Council, the students were given the opportunity to flex their creative muscles on the Offscreen Gulf to UK Expedition 2008.

Journey to Pakistan
In October 2010 Offscreen sent 6 young British artists to Pakistan. They travelled through the country for two weeks, meeting artists and other community members and learning about the real Pakistan. Upon returning, the students embarked on tours of secondary schools in each of their respective areas, aiming to change popular attitudes and misconceptions about Pakistan and the Middle East in general.

Journey to UK
In July 2010 Offscreen brought 10 young artists to the UK in an effort to showcase the real UK outside media perceptions. The Qatari, Kuwaiti, Pakistani and Jordanian students, met and worked with young creatives in Britain, politicians, farmers and many other people. They traveled from multicultural London to the hills of Yorkshire and then back via some of the UK’s largest cities from 11-25 July.

During the expedition the team recorded their travels, contacts and experiences first hand, producing a cultural ‘travelogue’ of art, photography, film and thoughts.

Journey to the UK 2011
In July 2011, Offscreen will again bring students from the Middle East to the United Kingdom. The students, winners of the MCY Most Competitive Youth competition, have demonstrated their commitment to bettering society through their art. Journey to the UK 2011 will take the young Saudi artists, photographers and creatives to London, Cornwall and Northumbershire, giving them a rounded view of the UK to balance views portrayed by the media. The MCY competition itself was a collaboration between the Saudi Arabian government, Microsoft, SAGIA, and Offscreen; it was an effort to identify and reward the most competitive young people in the Kingdom in the categories of Arts & Creativity (administered by Offscreen), Technology (administered by Microsoft) and Innovation (administered by SAGIA and Cisco).

Arabia Offscreen
December 2011 will see a first for Offscreen, an expedition of 10 students from around the world to see Saudi Arabia [2].

Education
Offscreen also works in the education sector, creating educational resources during and after each Expedition, and directing seminars and workshops in the London area and elsewhere

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Categories: Educational charities | Educational organisations based in the United Kingdom | Charities based in the United Kingdom