'Ten in a Bed': Literacy, Intermediality and the Potentials of Low-Tech

Abstract

Ten in Bed was a project led by participatory arts organisation Phakama, in partnership with Queen Mary University of London. Over an eight-week period we ran a series of intermedial arts workshops and staged a performance with under-5s and their families at a community centre in Bethnal Green, London. We attempted to enhance creative and communication skills, which are a key feature of critical literacy. In this article, I use Lars Elleström’s ‘modalities’ to parse the project’s material, perceptual and social aspects and to consider the ways in which the intermedial process operated affectively to develop critical literacy skills.