Posted on 2nd Apr
Library workers in Nottinghamshire are on the shortlist for a national award.
The Libraries Connected Awards celebrate the achievements of library workers who have had an exceptional impact on their library service, users or their local communities.
The team from Inspire, which delivers culture, learning and libraries, went above and beyond to create an innovative early years project that had a lasting impact on participants and the artists involved.
When Inspire won Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation funding in 2018, the team developed the Little Creatives programme to help early years children learn new skills and have multi-sensory creative experiences. The team worked with five visual artists to develop their arts practice to be appropriate for early years children, programming workshops in 16 libraries, 12 early years settings and 2 community settings.
When the Covid-19 pandemic stopped delivery in 2020, they showed great resilience and ingenuity to continue to work with the artists to develop online workshops for families to access from home. A Little Creatives book has also been developed and is available in all Inspire libraries, and the project includes a report on Inspire’s wider work in the early year
sector advocating for the role libraries play in early years development.
The report has been shared both in and outside the libraries sector, including to health and education partners, at the Libraries Connected conference, and shared to the Living
Knowledge network though the British Library.
Carol Newman, director of Culture at Inspire, said: “We are delighted that 4 members of Inspire’s Libraries and Culture team – Helen Ackroyd, Sarah Baker, Lucie Davis and Lucianna Gallucci have been shortlisted for the Libraries Connected Children’s Promise Award for their work delivering the Little Creatives Early Years programme. This external recognition of their hard work, ingenuity, and creativity in developing this activity programme is fully deserved and all four of them should be very proud of this honour.”
The winners will be announced on 4th June at a ceremony at the Libraries Connected annual seminar in Warwickshire.
