Wunderbar festival -Haircuts By Children

Last week gave the brave, trusting and possibly foolish volunteers the chance to take part in the project Haircuts By Children in the Saks salon in Newcastle’s city centre.

School children from Walkergate primary school in Newcastle offered free haircuts to members of the public as part of the first ever Wunderbar Festival.

The event took place on the 10th and 11th of this month with the children getting around five afternoons of workshops in the school prior to the event to practise their new skills.

Ilana Mitchell, the is the Wunderbar’s creative director, says how the ambition for the Haircuts by Children project  “was to bring the fantastic experience of Haircuts by Children to the North East, to work with a group of children who could be empowered in their decision making and creativity, for adults in the region to put their trust in those children.

“And to have this happen in a city centre salon, providing both a contrast to the salon’s everyday activity, and taking the children seriously as hairdressers for the weekend”

The project was created by the world renowned Canadian arts company Mammalian Diving Reflex who Lana approached to suggest bringing to project to the North East.

“Haircuts by Children is one of MDR’s most successful projects” explains llana, “they’ve been invited to do it at least ten other times, in Europe, Australia, Canada and America. Mrs Anderson, the brilliant teacher from Walkergate Primary, has a lovely idea to link up the kids from all around the world who have been involved in a Haircuts by Children event and hopefully this will happen very soon.”

The obvious concern with the project is just how people were going to look  once their haircuts were finished. So were there any shocks during the event? Were people right to trust these children free access to their heads of hair?

“Main surprise really in having it done has been how gentle the children are. I hate going to the hairdressers normally, and fully expected them to pull my hair more than a regular stylist, but on the contrary they were ever so careful. And they were very good at the patter too. I’ve been surprised that so many people allowed them so much free reign - one guy with very long hair asked for a Mr T, and got it!”

So overall the event was a complete success. Nobody left with accidentally dyed green hair or missing an ear. So what next for the Hair Cuts By Children project and the Mammalian Diving Reflex?

“Haircuts by Children turns up next in Regina, Canada.” said llana. “The haircutting children from Walkergate Primary have decided for themselves to split the money they “earned” - they get an honorarium for each haircut, plus they had some donations for the fair-trade hot chocolate they were handing out - 50:50 between charity and a trip out for the group.

“Mammalian Diving Reflex are busy researching for a new project called The Best Sex I’ve Ever Had, which explores sexuality from the perspective of older adults, people over the age of 65. And Wunderbar, aside from getting some sleep, is getting into gear for the next instalment, hopefully in 2011. Watch this space”