GrowinG Future innovators - ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative ...

kit containing film equipment, cameras, books
and work sheets, which can be booked out
from local schools or City Learning Centres.
The outreach kits can be used independently,
or, as Angela Cowan says, “we can also send
an artist in to deliver quite short skills-based
workshops with them so they can use the
equipment.” Where regional audiences
are concerned she says, “it is better for
us to go there to have a bigger impact on
that community.”
Overcoming distance in a different way
is FACT’s online filmmaking and social
networking initiative designed for grade 12
students. Set up in collaboration with the art
and technology center Eyebeam in New York,
the project is conducted across class time &
study periods. FACT’s Education Coordinator,
Anna Kronenburg, explains the concept:
We live link schools based in New York
with schools based in Liverpool and they
start off by having Skype conversations and
debates based on various themes. We do
a couple of these and then set them a film
challenge, which starts by thinking of ten
questions to ask each other based around a
chosen theme. Each student then makes a
two-minute film in any media, like a mobile
phone film or a camera. Sometimes it will
be that they have to come back and pitch
to us ideas. EyeBeam in New York has
been working on a platform for them to
upload it to… and the young group from
the other side can comment and blog and
put things on, and it is a safe environment
for them to share what they are thinking.
The last students who did it got such a buzz
and were like “Ahh!” I have just seen eight
films, and so we can now look and critique
or review them. We’re not too sure about
the next stage of that project. I think that
at the moment the idea is they will be set
up with a pal who will be responsible for
sending over a brief and taking you on
using the platforms to keep in touch, like
virtual pen pals.
As well as embracing new technologies,
contemporary artists are renowned for
using old and familiar materials or processes
in new and surprising ways, revealing a
range of unexpected possibilities. The
Arts Immersion program, a joint initiative
between the Malthouse Theatre, the
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
(ACCA) and Chunky Move Dance Company,
exemplifies this idea. The one-day rotational
program for high school students offers
multiple ways of interpreting a single theme
or concept using generative methods
from visual art, dance and theatre. The
collaborative approach was conceived by
Meg Upton, an Education Officer from the
Malthouse Theatre, who saw the advantage
of having three complementary organisations
operating within a small cultural precinct.
“Meg’s idea was to broaden students’
experiences,” explains Shelley Hinton, from
ACCA, “particularly for years 9 and 10, from
government, disadvantaged and regional
schools, to enable them to enjoy a cross-arts
experience within this precinct.” Elaborating
on the program design and one of its many
iterations at ACCA, she says:
Students undertake three workshops
presented by a professional artist within
each organisation, all on the one day. We
do that by way of linking the workshops to
one work in a current exhibition of ACCA
to create a central theme. The education
staff within each organisation work as
facilitators but the workshops are primarily
led by a professional contemporary visual
artist, dancer or theatre practitioner.
One of many workshops at ACCA was
conducted during the exhibition, Uncanny
Nature, with the artist Alex Pittendrigh.
Alex had previous experience working with
students, so I knew and felt confident that
he would work well in the workshops. He
had created a range of Baroque inspired
2D-3D friezes on board using BlueTac,
which completely fascinated the students.
They loved the idea of using an office
related product or material for art making
and the fact that they were very beautiful,
delicate and finely sculpted 2D, 3D images.
It was decided that the central theme for
the workshops would be ‘relationship’ and
‘connectivity’ and the students would make
an individual work on board, which would
in the end connect to make a large-scale
piece with all the other students’ works.
Instead of just using standard BlueTac,
we decided to use fluoro Tac, because we
knew it would inspire the students, which
it did. So to begin, the students heard
Alex talk about his work in the Gallery,
and were then led through a discussion
Growing future Innovators: a scoping study 47