Linda Lees-Hislop
Beneficiary, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Education
In Scotland, Cultural Co-ordinators (of which I am one) work in Arts Education Teams within Local Authorities and our broad remit is to make the links between the arts, culture and heritage and formal education.
My role involves designing arts projects for schools that make curricular links and help schools add value and interest to learning and teaching. Every year our team programmes a six week long Storytelling and Theatre Festival for schools. All the events are free and it is the biggest of its kind in Scotland, if not the UK. In 2008 we filled approximately 12,000 places in a schools population of around 24,000.
The project with The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts is a really exciting one, where I am working closely with Aberdeen Arts Centre, one Academy and seven Primary schools. We are using the Children and the Arts fund to programme professional, high quality theatre throughout the school year. Pupils from the target schools get at least two visits to the theatre, and they also enjoy workshops back in school. The workshops either prepare them for the performance or help them to draw out ideas and gain deeper understanding from the theatre experience and how it relates to them. Teachers are also encouraged to use the theatre experience as the basis for discussion, critical thinking, creativity, literacy etc.
A particularly exciting aspect of our project is that we will take a small group of teachers and pupils to Imaginate, The Bank of Scotland’s International Children’s Festival in Edinburgh in May. The pupils and teachers who attend the Festival as VIP delegates will then work closely with the Arts Centre Manager and myself to programme work for schools and the Arts Centre stage. The idea is that the pupils gain a deeper understanding of how theatre is developed and what needs to happen for shows to be performed in schools and theatres. It also gives them an opportunity to work closely with their teachers and their Pupil Council back at school to help programme theatre visits and workshops for the whole school. This is an element of the work we would like to further develop as it helps children to become active learners, effective contributers and responsible citizens. As well as the Children and the Arts programme benefiting children and teachers in schools, it is also helping the Aberdeen Arts Centre to become more closely connected to schools and be as child friendly in its programming as possible.
Only the highest quality theatre is booked as part of this Children & the Arts programme, and the best possible artists and workshop leaders are used at all times. Part of the design of the project is to ensure that skills are left in the schools, so teachers can continue to work with the Aberdeen Arts Centre, and can continue to think imaginatively and creatively when interpreting the Curriculum.
