FALMOUTH Art Gallery is one of only three organisations in the country to receive the first Max Rheinhardt Literary Awards.

It has been awarded £3,500 to stage an innovative art and creative writing project in partnership with local writer Mac Dunlop, automata maker Fi Henshall and Penryn College where students aged |14 to 15 will take part in workshops |linking creative writing with the gallery’s automata collection.

Between January and March, the teenagers will take part in a series of workshops during which they will use Mac’s short stories and the gallery’s automata collection as stimuli for their own creative writing and automata.

The project will culminate with the launch of a new publication that will be written, illustrated and designed by the students in partnership with Penryn Press, a publishing house run by students at Falmouth University, giving them a chance to develop their skills in editing, design, layout and print production.

The Max Reinhardt Literacy Awards is a new initiative that is being run as a pilot in 2014 to 15. Galleries, art museums and visual arts venues across England were invited to submit a proposal to host an award, to support a creative writer to work with a school and a gallery/art museum/visual art venue. Three awards have been made, to Falmouth Art Gallery, Kettle’s Yard and Manchester Museum, |for an activity, which will take place in spring 2015.

Henrietta Boex, director, Falmouth Art Gallery, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be one of only three organisations to be selected for the first Max Reindhardt Literary Awards.

“It is a fantastic opportunity to work with 14 to 15-year-olds, who are an under-represented audience in museums generally, and build new creative relationships with them. We are also delighted to be working with Mac Dunlop and Fi Henshall who both have wonderfully exciting ideas for the project.”

Falmouth Art Gallery is open from 10am until 5pm, Monday to Friday and admission is free. For information on this project or other workshops contact Charlotte Davis on 01326 313863 or at info@falmouthartgallery.com.