What is gallery education?
Gallery education is a new and changing body of practice that exists to broaden
understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts - through projects and
programmes that help schoolchildren and the wider community become confident in
their understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts and galleries.
Gallery education continues to develop in response to changes in art practice,
changes in audience needs, and changes in formal and informal education.
Many galleries and art museums around the world now have gallery education
departments, and gallery education programmes organised and delivered by
gallery education staff, working with artist-educators, artists, teachers,
professional partners and community leaders.
Gallery educators work as:
-
creative catalysts - working with artists, curators, and the community to
create new projects to help people engage with practising artists
- audience
champions - representing schools' and communities' needs and expectations in
the gallery or museum
- access and education experts - understanding and
planning for the needs of different users, including different learning styles
and cross-curricular opportunities
- advocates and project managers - promoting
and delivering projects and programmes
Gallery education includes:
-
promoting visual literacy - helping people develop the tools and vocabulary to
experience and respond to art
- unlocking creativity - stimulating people to
explore their own creative potential, to make art themselves, and to pursue
careers in the creative industries
- cultural empowerment - building people's
confidence with and understanding of artists, galleries, arts centres, art
museums.
Gallery education can:
-
help schoolchildren expand and enrich their learning about art
- give young
people the chance to re-engage with art and culture
- enable people to meet
live artists and develop careers in the arts
- reach out to community groups to
build renewed contact with culture