folly and the Big Lottery Fund announce ground-breaking "Portable Pixel Playground"

North West arts organisation "folly" has announced an important and ground-breaking new project, which is set to have national - possibly international -  significance: the Portable Pixel Playground.

The project has succeeded in gaining funding from the Big Lottery Fund, and folly is the only North West organisation to have a won a bid under this round of the Big Lottery Fund's "Playful Ideas" programme.

 folly's Portable Pixel Playground is an innovative and physical new play space, which is intrinsically digital. By connecting children's experiences of technology with play and creativity, folly hopes to unleash and re-energise children's ability to express themselves in the ever-more-important digital world.

 folly’s Creative Director Kathryn Lambert said “folly is delighted to have secured support for our ambitious new project, the Portable Pixel Playground.  We are really excited about developing a unique and imaginative play environment that will offer children and young people alternative play opportunities with art and technology.  We are passionate about providing children and young people with new and inspiring experiences that are relevant and meaningful to them. 

“The playground will encourage children to get active, think differently, collaborate and take risks.

“folly will develop the playground over the next 2 years by working with artists, staff and technologists supported by the funding from The Big Lottery Fund.

“folly believe that this project is the first of its kind and will change the face of children's play.”

Portable Pixel Playground will be a modular set of equipment and creative projects for use in public settings such as shopping centres, galleries and schools. The concept is a radical evolutionary development of folly’s existing follyplay events which feature laptops, computer kiosks and interactive projections on walls, floors and ceilings. The Pixel Playground will encourage young people to use everyday technologies in new and creative ways, providing them with interactive, physical and hands-on new experiences of art and technology.

Helen Bullough, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the North West, comments: “This exciting project will allow children in Lancashire and Cumbria to submerge themselves into technology and the arts whilst playing in a fun and interactive environment. BIG’s Playful Ideas programme is all about supporting projects that introduce new and innovative approaches to children’s play, this initiative definitely fits that bill and will stimulate the minds and imaginations of young people across the areas.”

folly's head of communications Matt Wootton said "What folly are creating here is an adventure playground for the 21st Century. It starts here, in the North West, but this is a concept that has universal appeal, in schools and art venues and shopping malls not just in the North West or the UK, but all over the world. Although we wish the traditional climbing-frame and swings playground well, surely in the future our playground concept using digital equipment will be accepted as standard".

folly is now set to proceed apace with the job of commissioning professional artists to fill the Playground space with creative ideas, to construct the technology necessary for the play equipment and to take the forthcoming touring project to as many venues across the North West as possible, with an eye to expanding the scope of the delivery area in the future thanks to the universal appeal of the Portable Pixel Playground concept.

To register your interest in the Portable Pixel Playground email play 'at' pixelplayground.org

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