Local Entrepreneurs Return to School for The Sharp Futures Project
Local entrepreneurs David Derbyshire and Lee Stanley returned to school yesterday with amazing results. David Derbyshire, Director of successful local business Astra Signs, will be sponsoring an impressive building wrap for the school near where he grew up, that demonstrates the most inspiring artwork for The Sharp Project on Oldham Road. The winning team will see their artwork scaled to half the size of a football pitch and draped down the side of the Sharp building.
Manchester City Council and New East Manchester plan to transform the former Sharp warehouse in Newton Heath, east Manchester into a new centre for creative and digital industries, offering talented starters, young entrepreneurs and established professionals the opportunity to develop and prototype their ideas in a purpose-build environment that provides unrivalled access to very high speed broadband connections.
‘”The idea of Sharp Futures” commented Sharp Director Susan Woodward “is to engage fourteen year old pupils now so that by the time they do leave school they have an armful of real projects they have delivered on their CV. Giving the best opportunity for their future. They were given a real design brief and the mural ideas they presented were outstanding”.
Former pupil of North Manchester High School for Boys, Lee Stanley is Director of award winning Manchester enterprise MOTIV that delivered the competition as part of the 100% MOTIV Challenge. “I really wanted to give the pupils, something to get excited about. The idea of having artwork down the side of such a prominent building in the area – I knew that would get them thinking”
The competition picked up pace when North Manchester High School for Girls joined the Challenge alongside Plant Hill Performing Arts College who also pledged to give 100% Effort to the MOTIV Challenge.
The panel of judges, at the finals held at the Crowne Plaza in Manchester yesterday. included Sir Richard Leese. “This goes to the heart of innovative and creative Manchester, giving the opportunity to our young people, in this case from North Manchester, to show what they can do, and to see what doors might open for them in the future if they put the work in. Great stuff!”
Winning Concept
The judges decided to award the winner of the concept category to the school who demonstrated the greatest ability to meet the given brief. The winning concept was clear and delivered a concise message for the Sharp Project. The judges chose North Manchester High School for Girls as the winning concept and they will now be given the opportunity to work with David Derbyshire/ Astra Signs to complete their design which will be projected down the side of the Sharp Building and unveiled in the next school year.
Winning Design
North Manchester High School for Boys produced a ‘stunning’ piece of Design but the judges felt that it did not meet as strong an understanding as the winning Concept of the Sharp project being a ‘digital grow-bag’. However, it was decided that this design be awarded the winner of the Design category because Sir Richard Leese was so impressed by this design and saw it as an excellent representation of Manchester’s opportunity for young people that he would like to use this design for future events or printed materials in North Manchester.
Winning Communications
The winner of the Communication Category was the entry that Sue Woodward, Director of the Sharp Project, felt strongly conveyed the community aspect of Sharp Futures and was therefore awarded to Plant Hill Arts College. The entire judging panel was extremely impressed by the way that these pupils communicated with each other and the strong working relationship which had developed in the team. Sue would like to offer this school the opportunity to work with the Sharp Project to develop a mission statement for the project which will be used on the Sharp Futures website. The mural will be unveiled in the Autumn. More details very soon!
If you would like further information about The Sharp Project please click here
