How to find out what children want

putting a picture of your new housing project on your Christmas cards is one way of letting people know what you’re up to – but a calendar of artworks inspired by your plans for a neighbourhood is more likely to grab people’s attention.

This was the idea market renewal pathfinder Elevate East Lancashire came up with when it was looking to widen its consultation to local children. Kathleen Houghton, head of information and communications at Elevate, asked children to produce art based on their ideal neighbourhood, and then decided to organise a competition to photograph the best pieces for a calendar.

“I thought it would be a great way to give the kids a say about how their towns could be developed and improved,” she explains.

Home in time for Christmas

Before embarking on this type of project, calculate how much time you’ll need to make sure the calendar is ready to send out in time for Christmas. Elevate decided that all the children’s art would need to be finished by November to allow a month to pick the winners, photograph them and print the calendar.

You will also need to work out how many calendars you want to produce and the likely cost. Elevate printed 1000, sending them out to councils, schools and community groups. Houghton estimated that it would cost about £5000 to produce 250 calendars – including artists’ fees, production and postage costs.

Key Stage 2 of the national curriculum, which covers children aged between seven and 11, includes a module on design and the built environment. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment has produced a booklet on the subject for use in schools, so Elevate asked for advice from the local branch of CABE, Design East Lancashire. The organisation suggested the calendar could be worked into its module and together CABE and Elevate formulated a brief to present to local schools. The brief proposed producing the calendar in the classroom over a five-week period.

The Arts Council of England can put you in touch with local arts groups that work with schools at Key Stage 2. Elevate linked up with Mid Pennine Arts, which found six schools that wanted to take part in the project, one from each of the six East Lancashire towns earmarked for market renewal.

I thought a calendar would be a great way to give the kids a say about how their towns could be developed and improved

Mid Pennine Arts also found local artists with experience of working in primary schools. They employed the artists to spend about three days in each school over a five-week period.

The artists led discussions and helped the children to translate their ideas of what a perfect town would look like into various media including Modrock (similar to plaster of Paris) and silk screen printing, most of which the children had never used before.

You will need a graphic designer to put the calendar together. Houghton suggests keeping your eyes peeled for brochures and adverts and phoning up the graphic designer responsible. The graphic designer will also be able to arrange printing.

The judging panel – made up of representatives from Elevate, Mid Pennine Arts and CABE – chose two pieces from each of the schools they worked with so that there were 12 individual finalists, one for each month of the year.

“We were looking for diversity, imagination, use of materials, colour and contrast,” says Houghton.

Make sure to reward the children for their hard work: Elevate organised a trip for the winning children to watch the calendar being printed, and all the kids who took part received a calendar.