Archikids Festival - 17-19 May 2013

ArchikidsFollowing the outstanding success of this year’s pilot project Junior Open House Festival Open-City will establish a flagship festival programme in 2013 called Archikids Festival.

Archikids will be a three day festival on 17-19 May 2013 located in the City of London’s Square Mile. The festival will encourage young people of neighbouring boroughs to discover the City of London’s fantastic buildings and architecture through the programmed activities. Archikids will establish itself as a main programme in Open-City’s education strand.

Archikids 2013 Festival Programme
We believe that the best way to understand architecture and good design is to engage first hand with the buildings and places of the city. During the Archikids Festival buildings, places and spaces that are architecturally inspiring will host a variety of engaging activities – tours, workshops, exploration trails, and competitions.

Developing from the Junior Open House Festival Programme of 2012, ArchiKids 2013 will programme over 40 fun and educational architectural activities.  The programme will include this years Festival Highlights; such as the On your Scooter! trail, the famous City of a Thousand Architects workshop, Hatwalk, Design your Dome, and Birds Eye Building explorations; alongside many more new activities commissioned by Open-City.

Festival Competitions:

  • Open Up Competition – Open-City will run an Open Up Competition in advance of the festival aimed to create the most innovative and unique architecture activity for children and offer an opportunity to artists, architects and designers to develop their creative output.
  • Art Competition – Open-City will run an Art Competition during the festival aimed to commend and celebrate the artistic and design talents of the children participating in the festival weekend. The exemplary competition submissions will be exhibited following the festival – extending the engagement reach of the festival beyond the weekend and its audience.

Who will be involved?
Architects, artists, engineers, designers, students and city workers will help Open-City’s education team run these fabulous activities and help us discover the public spaces and places where we live, work and play each day! With over 15 years experience in architectural education Open-City has the knowledge, skill set and relationships to facilitate this unique education platform.

Who will attend?
The festival is aimed for 5 - 12 year olds from all over the capital and specifically from City of London’s neighbouring areas – Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Islington. Over 5,000 children and adults will be actively involved.

Why will Archikids Festival 2013 be outstanding?
Because Archikids:

  • Creates the first free and inclusive festival of architecture for children.
  • Showcases innovative thinking and practice to educate future generations about their city.
  • Attracts a broad multicultural, geographical, inter-generation audience.
  • Allows young people to access a part of their city, which is normally not frequented by children.
  • Encourages hard-to-reach young audience to extend their horizons beyond their own neighbourhoods.
  • Produces activity resources to help children learn about their built environment, usable throughout the year.

If you wish to be involved or sponsor the programme please contact Katie Darling, Archikids Project Manager or call 020 7383 0782.

 

 

 

 

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