June 27, 2021

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by: admin

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Tags: artists, boost, cultural, education, Programme, role

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Categories: Special needs education

Programme to spice up artists’ function in cultural schooling

GERMANY

A university in Lower Saxony has started a nationwide course to strengthen the role of artists in cultural education.

A total of 33 artists from different areas and countries are to attend the pilot course “Artistic Interventions in Cultural Education”, which the University of Hildesheim will start in September this year. The course, which runs until August 2022, ends with a certificate that promises students greater acceptance by colleagues and institutions with whom they would like to work in cultural education.

In addition, it offers them a platform on the course website to present their artistic expertise and position themselves in cultural education.

The certificate serves as proof of the ability of the graduates of the degree program to carry out artistically demanding projects in cultural education, for example at schools, museums and youth centers, theaters, opera houses or festivals.

The two-day eight-course modules cover topics ranging from cultural education in school contexts and cultural institutions as learning locations to strategies and practical formats for conveying art and culture.

A “train-the-trainer” module provides students with the skills they need to train other cultural workers.

The artists taking part in the course were selected by an external jury from 450 applicants across Germany. The themes addressed by the artists in their projects encompassed skills and disciplines ranging from community building to music geragogy. Artistic approaches included concepts as diverse as community workshops and mobile forges. Numerous target groups are addressed, with different methods of art communication and different social issues coming into play.

“Artistic interventions in cultural education” is based on the idea that art has a special role in cultural education because it enables aesthetic experiences beyond everyday life.

“The experience of artistic principles in a learning and discovery process should initiate independent and unconventional thinking and action, strengthen the perception of self-efficacy and sensitize the individual to complex social contexts,” explains Mona Jas from the Department of Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheimheim.

“But artists are often lacking in appreciation in schools and cultural institutions, and this is where the course is intended to remedy the situation.”

The modules of the pilot course are carried out at the Federal Academy for Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony. The course and its participants are funded by Stiftung Mercator, a private foundation that promotes education.

The 33 artists selected for the course are involved in a variety of activities and come from different countries.

Alexandar Hadjiev, originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, studied bassoon, for example, and is now taking part in the creative laboratory in Frankfurt am Main, which brings together artists from different fields. Hadjiev works with students from special schools on topics of their own choosing.

Barharak Omidfard, from Tehran, Iran, is a visual communication and art history scholar who is involved in a pottery project aimed at visualizing storytelling with women of Afghan and Yazidi origins who are learning to share their experiences escaping from conflict areas with the Express art.

To contact Michael Gardner, send an email to michael.gardner@uw-news.com

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