Advice for schools planning arts facilities
Performing Arts Facilities in Schools offers advice and guidance for schools developing new or improved facilities for dance, drama, and music programmes based on The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum.
The information in this website has been developed from the collected experiences of more than 60 New Zealand schools and many performing arts education specialists.
The aim is not to provide definitive solutions – every school's situation is different. Instead, this website offers questions and issues for boards of trustees, principals, teachers, and architects to consider during the planning process, plus descriptions of facilities in 20 New Zealand schools.
Note that, since theatres and other performance spaces are designed primarily for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, they are mentioned here only insofar as they impact on performing arts programmes.
Motivation
The impetus for this project came from curriculum and property staff at the Ministry of Education, who are often asked for guidance on developing performing arts facilities.
Subject experts who were consulted welcomed the project as they see the provision of suitable teaching facilities as one of the key factors contributing to the growth and improvement of teaching and learning in the performing arts.
Development
Information was assembled through consultation with a range of dance, drama, and music education specialists – including national facilitators, arts advisers, and teachers in schools – as well as principals and trustees.
Arts facilities at more than 60 schools were studied in the course of the research. Sixteen of them are described in the 'Gallery of school examples' section and four in the 'Examples of theatre-related facilities' section. The examples were chosen to present a range of facilities, across all year levels, and in schools of different sizes and backgrounds.
The facilities shown are not necessarily the 'best' in the country. They have been chosen because they illustrate a range of solutions to meet particular needs. Some of the facilities and space suggestions can only be achieved in schools where additional local funding is arranged. For information about, and links to, Ministry of Education requirements, see the 'Ministry of Education policies and guidelines' page.
Acknowledgements
The Ministry of Education thanks the following people who contributed to this project:
- all the curriculum experts who participated in the exploratory workshops and commented on the text
- principals and teachers from the schools described in these pages, as well as the staff of the many other schools that were visited but not included in the final selection of material – the willingness of the example schools to be contacted by other schools planning new facilities is especially appreciated
- Bill Lennox, who facilitated the project, wrote the text, and took the photographs.