Linking Learners with Artists in the Community

Involving community artists in school programmes brings authenticity and a mentoring capacity to the learning exchange. Schools need greater access to practising artists if students are to know and understand the depth and breadth of each of the disciplines in action.

An example of this learning exchange is Kids 4 Drama, who have been running community-based drama classes for ten years, primarily in West Auckland. A growing part of their work is running curriculum-based courses in schools and presenting theatre-in-education programmes. Their Don't Trash It, Stash It show, which is run in partnership with Waitakere City Council's Keep Waitakere Beautiful programme, has young members of the company's drama classes involved in taking the message into schools.

This is a rare form of peer education in New Zealand schools. It's powerful because the message comes in an entertaining package presented by kids of the same age. Stephen Dallow, Company Director, Kids 4 Drama

The arts, schools, and the community

The arts affirm who we are and provide us with a sense of where we come from. Many communities have a history of encouraging and celebrating local artists. The arts curriculum encourages schools to contribute to community networks in order to develop, in their students and their families, a lifelong interest in the New Zealand arts. An example of this liaison between the arts, schools, and the community, is the Wanganui Visual Arts Resource Teachers' Network, which has been meeting regularly since 1975. It provides ongoing professional development for teachers, culminating each year in an arts festival celebrating the work of their students.

In 2001, the work of children from primary and intermediate schools was highlighted at the Wanganui Community Arts Centre in Pearls of the Pacific, the 2001 Arts Festival. Māori and Pacific dance, music, dance dramas, and visual art works were all presented.

So many people attending Friday night's opening would never have considered visiting a gallery – perhaps now it might be the beginning of a lifelong participation in the arts. Rei Hendry, Visual Arts Adviser to the Taranaki/Wanganui area

Secondary Schools Arts Coordinators Project

This project aims to stimulate and enhance students' learning by drawing on the wider expertise of each school's arts community. The project enables schools to employ a coordinator who will arrange student participation in such activities as visiting galleries or attending music, dance, and theatre performances.

National Secondary Schools Arts Coordinators are also contracted to source, coordinate, and disseminate information that will help teachers to find additional expertise for their arts programmes. For specific examples of the ways in which schools have used an arts coordinator, see the Education Gazette, 17 September 2001, pages 10 to 11.

Previous | Next | Index Page