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==Welcome to the Artists in Schools wiki created for teachers, artists and students working on collaborative arts projects in schools in the North during 2009. ==

=This site is for you - teachers, artists and students working on arts projects in Terms 2 and 3 of this year! =

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 Tell us about your project. Keep us informed of how it's going. Share with us some of the highs and lows. . . Feel free to create your own school page, or create a blog of the learning journey and hotlink it to this site. Paste some pics for us. . . we might even suggest a witty caption!

What's the Buzz ? 
The Ministry of Education's //Artists in Schools// programme is a pilot project that provides the opportunity for practising professional artists in the fields of dance, drama, music, and visual arts, to work with young people in New Zealand primary and secondary schools during Terms 2 and 3 in 2008. It involves schools and communities in creative projects while providing students, teachers and artists with challenging learning experiences. The programme generates innovative w ays to engage students from year 1 to 13 across the arts disciplines within the curriculum.

Check out the other project wikis in other parts of the country: [|The South Island] Central North Island and Wellington  


Having an artist work with students can give teachers the opportunity to step back and reflect on pedagogy and incorporate new or different approaches to learning and teaching. The programme will also provide teachers, who are likely themselves to be practising artists, with professional development opportunities.


Artists in Schools projects provide an ideal way for the artist and teacher to provide challenging

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">and engaging learning experiences that deepen student knowledge and understanding of different art forms and arts practice. These projects also provide an excellent way for students and teachers to connect with and learn from artists, and also give an opportunity to connect student learning with the broader community.

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Artists in Schools funding supports artists’ residencies with financial support of $800 a week, up to a maximum of $8,000, for an artist to work with students and teachers for a period of up to 10 weeks. Schools are given a grant of $250 a week, up to a maximum of $2,500 for the full 10 weeks. The school’s grant is to cover resources such as materials, costumes, or instrument hire needed for a project.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">What does The New Zealand Curriculum say about the Arts?
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**//Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.//** //The arts are powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealanders. The arts have their own distinct languages that use both verbal and non-verbal conventions, mediated by selected processes and technologies. Through movement, sound, and image, the arts transform people's creative ideas into expressive works that communicate layered meanings.//

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The way each project is organized is up to the artist and the school to decide. A school might want a printmaker to run workshops for a week; an artist might be needed for a large project which would take 10 consecutive weeks to complete; a music project could be spread over two terms; or, two artists – say a musician and a theatre director – could work together, sharing time and funding, for a period of five weeks. There are many options available.

Visit Arts Online Community Artists for Education, [|CAFE]<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The aim of this networking facility is to support schools and artists in working together for the benefit of students by providing schools with direct access to practising artists and their professional work.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Where can I read about similar projects?
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The [|Creative Partnerships project] in the UK provides examples of 11 case studies/digital stories on their website. These projects occurred in South and East London during 2005 and 2006.

A similar programme was conducted in Victoria during 2001. The [|Arts Victoria] site contains digital stories of who worked where, in what discipline, and what the benefits to the school and community were.

A report from the Arts Council in the UK - **//Artists Working in Partnership in Schools//** - is worth reading. The document attempts to provide some best practice guidelines for commissioning practice and effective partnerships for artists working in schools. It presents a framework of quality indicators and suggested measures that can be applied to commissioning, planning and delivery. The document can be downloaded here: [| Working in Partnership.pdf]