Some of our youngest painters and writers will be celebrating the publication of their first book, The Wishing Eel, with a special launch party and book signing on Tuesday 2 December at Cambridge University Press Bookshop in Trinity Street, Cambridge. For more information see the publications link on the right hand navigation.

The benefits of Vital Communities have two essential strands. Firstly, a vibrant new programme of creative activities aimed at Year 1 children, their families and wider communities in nine identified locations across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Secondly, the only longitudinal research study to measure the qualitative and quantitative impact of a creative programme upon individuals and communities. Vital Communities is therefore not just innovative, it is leading edge!

Vital Communities will track 360 families (nine active groups and three control groups). We will then follow these families and their communities through the fifteen-year period of the research. Participant groups are being selected to be representative of the breadth of social conditions of the sub-region including for instance areas of rural isolation, small market towns, urban fringe and locations already identified for regeneration.

Themes of the research include the effect of arts activities on the creative economy, healthy communities and vital neighbourhoods. This will involve monitoring:

• impact of high quality arts provision on children, their carers and wider family groups
• local community participation and engagement with arts and cultural activities
• community perceptions of the long term impact and value of the project in each area
• impact upon the local economy, community development and regeneration

Vital Communities is working closely with the primary/infant schools in each of the locations, taking arts and creative activities in the first instance to Year 1 children, extending out to their families and through them to the wider communities.

Vital Communities will be happening in the following active locations:

East Ward, Peterborough – St Thomas More Primary School
Fenland Villages, Fenland – Wisbech St Mary and Payne Primary Schools
Fulbourn, South Cambs. – Fulbourn Primary School
High Barns, East Cambs. – St Mary's Junior School Ramsey, Hunts -  Ramsey Junior School
St Neots, Hunts – Samuel Pepys and Winhills Primary Schools
Sawston, South Cambs. – The Bellbird Primary School
Sutton, South Cambs. – Sutton Primary School
Trumpington, Cambridge City – Fawcett Primary School

Vital Communities is resourced by the seven local authorities of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and NESTA.

If you would like to become involved in this project and/or would like further details, please contact:

Susan Potter,
Project Manager
Vital Communities
Tel: 01223 718013
E.mail: susan.potter@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Sharon Wilson
Administrator
Vital Communities
Tel: 01223 717753
Email: s.wilson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk