Art & Culture
Institute of Imagination is off to a flying start in the Royal Docks
The Institute of Imagination team have barely touched down in their new space, but they haven’t lost a moment in inspiring children to make, create and dream big. The Institute’s Savena Surana told us more.
Institute of Imagination is a charity that organises activities for children, young people, families and schools across London, previously working with the Tate, the British Council and the Wellcome Trust. The organisation moved into the Expressway hub near Royal Victoria Dock in December, joining the likes of the Silver Building as part of the area’s new creative cluster.
“We have a programme already up and running in Newham called Flying Futures, which is in conjunction with Rolls-Royce. It's all about getting kids to explore and experiment with aerodynamics at home,” says Savena Surana, the institute’s marketing and outreach officer. “We have created a digital lending library where we essentially lend out digital equipment to children and young people. That may be a laptop, a wifi hub, or a hair dryer for making your own wind tunnel, which is really fun.” Surana laughs – she’s tried it herself. “We want children and young people to be able to take part in the programme regardless of whether they have their own equipment.”
We want children and young people to be able to take part in the programme regardless of whether they have their own equipment.
Savena Surana, marketing and outreach officer at Institute of Imagination
Switch the Docks
For Institute of Imagination’s first project in the Royal Docks, they created four large wooden lightboxes telling people’s stories.
Institute of Imagination is already working with organisations local to Newham. “We’ve made some really good connections here. We’re working closely with community hubs like the Royal Docks Learning & Activity Centre, and Ambition, Aspire, Achieve,” says Surana, adding that Newham Libraries have been instrumental in helping to distribute the digital resources, as well as activity packs so young people can experiment at home, following along with instructional videos.
The move to the Royal Docks was delayed a little when Institute of Imagination’s intended location, the Crystal, was declared the new home to City Hall. The organisation has spent the past few years in Lambeth, and will carry on doing the occasional programme there. “We’re still open to doing public events around London, but we really want to focus on Newham now. We want to have a central hub at the Expressway,” says Surana. “Once we’re fully moved in, we want to be able to run workshops from here, as well as go out to local schools.”
The Royal Docks was attractive to the Institute of Imagination because it’s a forward-looking part of London: “The diversity in Newham has a lot to offer, as well as the rich history of the Royal Docks – that really speaks to what we’re trying to achieve as a charity,” says Surana. “We feel we could create some interesting programmes here, and be able to complement the area and vice versa.”
The Royal Docks is a place for the imagination to run wild, so we feel a kinship here.
Savena Surana, marketing and outreach officer at Institute of Imagination
Switch the Docks is the first such project, an R&D project commissioned by the Royal Docks Team as part of their Join the Docks Autumn Programme. “We worked with local community organisers in order to capture people’s stories. We asked them three simple questions: how was Newham in the past? How is it now? How do you imagine it in the future?” Workshops took place over lockdown. Some people made voice recordings describing their dads’ work on the docks, while others imagined what the docks would look like as marshlands overrun by monkeys, Surana explains. Institute of Imagination has created four large wooden lightboxes from these stories, which will be installed near the Crystal with an interactive element.
This is only the beginning from Institute of Imagination. “The Royal Docks is a place for the imagination to run wild, so we feel a kinship here,” says Surana. “The spark of creativity and imagination now being instilled across the Royal Docks is great. We’re really excited to be part of it.”
