Now in its sixth edition, Pic ‘n’ Mix provides children and teachers in schools with the tools with which to tell their stories through film. The programme involves free Continuing Professional Development (CPD) workshops for teachers, film education screenings and in-school workshops with writers and filmmakers. 

In 2022/23 the theme for Pic ‘n’ Mix will be ‘Flip the Script: Finding ourselves in the Stories that Make Our World’. Through poetry, performance and storytelling, pupils will explore how their own personal narratives link to those of different places and times, and how our collective histories impact the world we live in today. Using film and movie-making techniques to engage with their own personal and communal stories, pupils will reflect on how (and if) they see themselves in their given topics, culminating in the creation of their own short film.

Pic ‘n’ Mix is run with the support of our partners Tower Hamlets Arts & Music Education Service (THAMES) and Into Film, and is funded by The Portal Trust, Travers Smith, Merchant Taylor, Derwent and THAMES.

This FREE programme is available to primary schools in Tower Hamlets so please get in touch with our Schools and Film Education Officer, Helen Baldwin.

 

THE PROGRAMME: 

Mon 26 Sep: CPD Workshop

Nov 2022 / Mar 2023 (dates TBC): 

Into Film Screenings – Each participating school will come to Rich Mix’s cinema to watch a film carefully chosen with support from Into Film for the themes of the programme. 

Nov 2022: 

Kids in Museums Takeover Day – One group will get a behind-the-scenes experience of what it is like to run a neighbourhood arts centre and cinema.   

Dec 2022: 

CPD workshop at Rich Mix. As well as resources for schools, workshops with teachers will share our approach to utilising film as an accessible means of supporting learning beyond the programme, to focus on screenplay writing and filmmaking. 

Jan – Apr 2023: 

Literacy and Filmmaking workshops in schools. Each participating school will receive a half-day literacy workshop and three half-day film workshops, run in partnership with Rich Mix Associate Artists across theatre, film and spoken word. The workshops will focus on scriptwriting and poetry, developing a narrative, filmmaking techniques and supporting children to create their own films. 

May 2023: All films submitted.

Jun 2023:

Digital Take Over Day – A group of pupils will take over the Rich Mix Socials for a day, working with our Marketing team to tell the story of this year’s Pic ‘n’ Mix Programme. 

Jun 2023:

Tower Hamlets Primary Film Festival at Rich Mix. A showcase of the films, for schools, teachers, parents and special guests. 

 

It’s so very special to witness children realizing their creative abilities. All Pupils are able to access the activities, regardless of their prior academic attainment. They find a role suited to their skills, and they feel valued for their contributions. Such an amazing project!
Teacher
This programme allowed our pupils to see the overall outcome of script writing (one of our genres that we focus on in Literacy). It provided many opportunities to deepen their understanding of all aspects of film…the pupils often do not have the time/resources or skills to put together a film and this programme broke the filmmaking process up in to manageable steps.
Teacher