Jam Lab Planning Notes

Overview

Ownership / Structure of Jam labs

Jam labs is a new strand of activity of the Scavenger Labs company which focuses on creating packages of OER to support project-based approaches to STEAM and undertaking paid R and D work with partners.

It is a partnership between Steve Summers from noisytoys.org and Mick Chesterman who works as Manchester Met School of Education.

Our ethos it to do partnershiph work but to keep the financial structure of the project and the branding as simple as possible in case we want to separate activities in the future.

Thus financially keep as much activity freelance as possible between Mick and Steve.

Noisy Toys is led by Steve Summers running workshops in schools, and museums and installations. This work is ongoings.

Mick to reactivate a media production thread again as a freelancer - using name of either Clearer Channel or Beyond TV.

Focus Areas for this discussion to be turned in to a business plan

  • Motivations
  • Products
  • Audience
  • Timeline

Motivations (1–3 years)

Steve Motivations

  • Cash and funding
  • Engagement of young people
  • Drop-in public events - ongoing
  • Workshops - greater diversity
  • Installations - ongoing
  • Tinkering & experimentation (R&D)
  • Greater diversity of work
  • Paid for R&D
  • Less chaos in workshop
  • Artistic self-presentation
  • Identity as researcher
  • Making the workshop manageable by bringing in help by employing people

Mick Motivations

  • Cash (within 1 year)
  • Long-term plan for supporting mental wellbeing
  • Supporting children & families out of school
  • Continuing facilitation of messy projects
  • And keep practising learning design
  • Family involvement - get Gil involved in process
  • Develop an independent research body for partnerships
  • Develop my role as media artist / performer through film screening and multimedia events
  • Do more mentorship for younger practitioners (with support from other organisation)

Products and Vehicles for devivering those projects

Noisy Toys:

  • workshops and subcontracting workshops, on accessible STEAM workshop - see https://noisytoys.org/ to extract more information
  • School formats:
  • One-off day
  • Fun weeks

Clearer Channel:

As above but for media production, news reports, podcast production, website creation.

Jam Labs

  • 6-weeks of sessions: to be run once a week for one half-term model

  • Teacher training:

    • 1-day training
    • Peer network
    • Weekly mentorship
    • Selling kits

Creating OER project packages.

These would be based around a project approach. e.g create a buggy to battle others or create a digital game using text coding.

The packages consist of workshop resources and facilitator notes to support delivery.

There are two levels of packages.

a) Prototype: quicker and cheaper to produce but quite sketchy in terms of presentation, often via working document in google docs

b) Professional: high quality printable workshops resources and detailed notes for facilitators created in partnership with participants via a participatory design reasearch approach. These are more expensive and are imagined to be funded via partnerships.

Training partnerships

Technical support to others delivering similar projects

Additional Structures

  • After-school clubs (SEM, mentoring YP)

  • Research partnerships

  • Pilot (funded) projects with mentoring

  • Exhibition / installation outputs

Funding

  • Lottery bid: £200,000

Something to work towards, but would need a lot of development to show the need of the community

Marketing

  • “Flavour”: Cute animals with media and artistic equipment

  • Cute animals (foxes, raccoons, squirrels, rats)

  • “YETI” concept

  • Youth contributions to projects

Core Motivations for Jam Labs for participants

  1. Wellbeing
  2. Skills for self-expression (and work) for Young People and for supporting adults
  3. Political & social literacy

Audience and Market

  • Home-educating families
  • Research partners
  • Arts freelancers
  • Schools (non-core)
  • GLAM institutions

Keywords

  • Informal education
  • STEM
  • Music
  • Families
  • Playful
  • Arts
  • Experimental

Key potential contacts

Scavenger Labs board

  • Rebecca

Advisory group.

  • Alan D,

  • Cathy Lewin

  • Louis and kids

  • Jon Savage

  • Home Ed groups

  • Sissy

  • Jenny - Rachel

  • Z-arts

  • Media museum

  • Cath Bann

Timeline

Constitution Timeline

  1. Website outlining aims and future activities
  2. Advisory Group → Sept
  3. Pilot artworks and workshop projects
  4. Home Ed project (Apr–Sept 2026)
  5. 200 k lottery funding bid (Apr 2027)
  6. Working resources – location check-in