engage international Conference Galleries Creating Learning
17-20 November 2004
Main Venues: Tate Modern and Museum of London
Supporting Venues: Camberwell College, Chisenhale Gallery, Crafts
Council, Design Museum, London Print Studio, Photographers Gallery, South
London Gallery, Tate Britain, Whitechapel Gallery
A full conference programme, speakers' biographies, presentations (where
available), Soapbox prcis and delegates' evaluation summary are included within
this page. If you need further information about any aspect of the conference
please contact emma.prout@engage.org.
For the conference report, click here
For further information on speakers and their presentations, click
here
For the conference programme, click here
To download the Soapbox prcis, click
here
To see the delegate's evaluation summary,
click here
Conference Report
Introduction
The theme of this year's engage International
Conference was the many ways in which art galleries and museums contribute to
and enhance formal learning, with an emphasis on school (5 to 16 years)
curricula and agenda, and the need to recognise and value the different kind of
learning environment which a gallery can provide. There was a strong
international contribution to this year's conference which attracted 260
participants, with speakers from Finland, France, Ireland, Spain and USA, in
addition to UK, and chairs from England, Scotland and Wales. Nearly 20% of
delegates were from outside the UK, including a large group from Finland who
attended as part of a professional development visit supported by the British
Council.
Recommendations & Conclusions
-
Many speakers and delegates focused on risk - including the need for galleries,
educators, artists, teachers and pupils to be willing to take risks, the
dangers of risk-taking, risk-aversion and the learning potential of risk. It
was felt that a future engage conference or seminar could explore this further.
- Several
speakers called for a greater emphasis on evidence-based practice, for gallery
and artist educators to use their work to build evidence of successful
methodologies and strategies, thus further establishing gallery education as a
profession.
- At the same time, however, Conference was reminded that much of
what gallery educators do cannot be fully quantified or measured and this is
part of the richness of gallery learning. We must respect and value unplanned
outcomes.
- Who controls education agendas? Galleries often work within formal
education curricula and targets, and this work can be extremely effective,
however gallery educators also need to have the confidence in the special
qualities of their own practice to work outside of formal agendas.
- There is
a need for further training for gallery educators in working with teachers -
helping teachers to understand gallery education practice and to build
confidence to work with art which they may not like or feel comfortable with,
and enabling teachers to recognise the special difference in quality of
learning experience which occurs within a gallery
- Suggested themes for future
conferences: Is gallery education a 'profession'? If not, what still needs to
be done to establish it as such? Another suggested theme was the relationship
between educators and curators - recognising each other's skills, knowledge,
and expertise, finding common ground and exploring difference in approach and
practice.
I benefited from hearing of good practice and new initiatives in arts
education
Overview
Day 1
The first day focused on galleries as special places, where learning can occur
free from the constraints and conventions of the classroom, and on research,
with a call for galleries, gallery educators and artist educators to maximise
the evidence gathering and research potential of education work in galleries,
and to be aware of and build on current research into effective methodologies.
Keith Nichol from the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
set out the government agenda of evidence-based policy making - the need for
both government departments and funding recipients to demonstrate that culture
provides 'results' which can be quantified against different areas including
education, health, crime, and defence and security. Gallery education
programmes can be extremely effective at delivering against these targets,
however there can also be considerable obstacles for success. Maria Balshaw
from Creative Partnerships and Siobhan Edwards from National Endowment
for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) gave good practice examples which
supported galleries as special places of learning, often especially effective
with children who find learning in schools challenging. Veronica Sekules
noted the increasing value of practice-based research, in which gallery
educators and others can use what has happened within our own work to move the
profession forward. On the other hand she warned that we mustn't lose the
richness of practice by becoming too rational or controlling about
methodologies. Julian Stanley outlined the MGEP2 research which has
begun to identify and quantify the type of learning which takes place in
galleries, and which has correlated learning and enjoyment, choice and
satisfaction. Dick Downing from NFER presented evidence about what kind
of art teachers choose to include within the curriculum (largely early 20th
century, because it is seen as 'safe and accessible'), but also noted that
teachers who work with galleries of contemporary art are more likely to include
contemporary work in their teaching. It is important for gallery educators to
know what type of work is included in the curriculum when planning work with
schools, including professional development for teachers. Finally Helen Charman
and Michaela Ross from Tate Modern outlined their research project with
teachers at Tate's Summer Institute, noting the value both to participants and
practitioners of working with a small group of people for a sustained period of
time.
As a curator, the notion of learning in galleries is essential. I work
with our education team closely and I want to increase my knowledge and
experience.
Day 2
Day two of the conference began with smaller 'break-out' workshops taking place
at galleries and museums across London. This was the first time that practical,
hands-on sessions had been included in an engage conference
and the response from delegates was overwhelmingly positive. The workshops
provided an opportunity for participation and discussion in a small and
informal environment. Their interactive nature was seen by delegates as
important in balancing the theoretical, full group sessions in the auditorium:
Very interactive, enjoyable and educative
This gave us more time to develop discussion and participate.
Thursday afternoon focused on formal curricula and agenda, and ways in which
galleries work with and around these. Jacqueline Ley and Delia Paveling,
both from Specialist Arts Schools, outlined the ways in which these schools are
able to offer enhanced arts provision and to include the visual arts and visual
literacy across the curriculum. Both teachers urged gallery educators to
contact and work with their local specialist arts schools. Jonathan Douglas
from Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) presented the 'Inspiring
Learning for All' framework as a tool for gallery educators and teachers to
evaluate gallery and museum learning. Kaija Kaitavuori gave a
perspective from the Finnish National Galleries, where the different art
museums work in very specific and defined ways with different age groups, but
where engagement with both historic and contemporary visual art is recognised
as valuable inspiration or starting point for cross-curricular learning. Within
the Finnish network individual galleries plan their own education programmes
but also collaborate on provision for schools. Sally Tallant from
Serpentine Gallery ended the afternoon by describing the new City Academies,
which may offer an opportunity for galleries to directly influence the
curriculum in selected secondary schools in England.
I am an artist as well as an educationalist and I am very interested in
creative learning.
Day 3
Friday morning examined ways in which teaching and learning can take place in
galleries and how learners' and teachers' roles and definitions can change in a
new setting. Anusha Subramanyam and Vipul Sangoi from Cultural
Cooperation / Beeja Dance gave an energising and energetic example of how South
Asian dance can inspire learning in a museum or gallery but also warned against
museums and galleries working with culturally diverse artists in a tokenistic,
one-off way rather than as part of a sustained, collaborative and well thought
out programme. Helen O'Donoghue gave an overview of the Irish Museum of
Modern Art's (IMMA's) work with schools and the way in which education and a
respect for the audience's artistic response is embedded in their practice.
IMMA believes that meaning and value reside in the individual and that people
are capable of dealing with the most challenging areas of contemporary
practice. Carla Padr from University of Barcelona asked us to recognise
and challenge different learning and teaching styles employed, often
unconsciously or casually, in galleries and museums. Emily Pringle also
focused on approaches to learning taken by museums and galleries, emphasising
dialogue as key when working with art, artists and audiences.
On Friday afternoon Conference was invited to move beyond formal learning
agendas and to examine two programmes which question and attempt to re-define
the purpose, role and conventions of museums and galleries. Claude Fouteau
from Muse du Louvre described Louvre Estuaire, in which a national institution
established an ambitious access and outreach project. Robert L Sain director
of LACMA Lab, rejected the gallery / museum culture of 'I know; you don't;
you're lucky to be here,' and urged educators and curators to have a goal of
public enjoyment - if the audience is having a good time engagement,
participation and learning will follow naturally.
Robert Sain was the highlight of the conference. He was wonderful!
Enthusiastic, entertaining, erudite and inspiring. He was an excellent speaker
who found just the right balance.
Speakers' Biographies and Presentation Summaries
Where indicated, speakers' presentations are available for download.
Maria Balshaw
Director, Creative Partnerships Birmingham and Clore Leadership Fellow Maria
Balshaw worked for ten years as an academic, publishing books and articles on
African-American literature, urban culture and visual arts and in 2002 was
appointed Director of Creative Partnerships Birmingham. In 2004 she was awarded
a Clore Leadership Fellowship and is currently dividing her time between this
cultural leadership programme and Creative Partnerships Birmingham. She
continues to write and has recently contributed an essay on the visual culture
of Birmingham for Remaking Birmingham: the Visual Cultures of Urban
Regeneration, ed. Liam Kennedy (Spon-Routledge, 2004)
Presentation
Can We Come Back? Partnerships Between Schools, Young People and Galleries
This talk will discuss work developed as part of the Creative Partnerships
Birmingham programme with particular focus on partnerships built over two and a
half years between five secondary schools and the Ikon Gallery Birmingham.
Maria will discuss the opportunities and challenges posed by developing
galleries and their spaces and practices as active sites of creative learning
for young people and their teachers. She will share examples of work created by
young people and teachers, reflections by young people, their teachers and
artists involved on the evolving programme and on the building of relationships
between gallery and schools. She will then suggest some of the unique
approaches and underlying challenges in seeing this kind of work as central to
the work of schools and cultural organisations.
Anne Brockbank
Learning and Development Consultant
Anne works with clients in a range of public and private enterprises. Her
activities include: Executive Coaching and Mentoring; Action Learning;
Facilitation and Reflective Learning, as well as Management Development.
Publications include: Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education
(Open University Press, 1998) with Ian McGill; Reflective Learning in Practice
(Gower, 2002) with Ian McGill and Nic Beech; and The Handbook of Action
Learning (Routledge-Falmer, 2004) with Ian McGill.
Helen Charman Curator Schools Programme (CPD), Tate Modern
Michaela Ross Artist Educator, Tate Modern
Helen Charman cut her teeth in arts education as an intern in the Education
Department of the Memorial Art Gallery, Upstate New York, as part of a one year
graduate fellowship in Comparative Arts from Oxford University. In the 1990s
she worked as Education Co-ordinator at the October Gallery, London; Arts
Development Officer at the London Borough of Harrow; and Education Co-ordinator
for Cultural Co-operation (London). She has an MA History of Art (Birkbeck
College, University of London) and Diploma in Arts Administration (Roehampton
Institute, University of Surrey). She recently embarked on a Doctorate in
Education (Institute of Education, University of London). Her research project
focuses on professionalism in gallery education.
Michaela Ross trained in English, History of Art and Fine Art at York
University and Fine Art Painting at the Accademia di Belle Arte di Firenze. She
recently completed an MA in Painting at Wimbledon School of Art. Her work has
been shown in exhibitions in the UK, Italy and the United States. Recent studio
practice explores ideas around drawing and language, interests drawn from and
extended through her work as an artist educator. She has worked in gallery
education since 1995, mainly at Tate Liverpool and Tate Modern where she works
with a range of audiences, including schools, teachers and community
programmes.
Presentation
A Turn of Mind: Contemporary Art and Interpretation. Reflections from Tate
Modern's Summer Institute for Teachers.
School Art: What's In It? by the National Foundation for Educational
Research indicates that the taught curriculum in secondary school art and
design education pays scant attention to meaning-making in visual art. This
presentation provides a snapshot of a research paper exploring possibilities
for teaching interpretation evidenced by an action-research project from Tate
Modern's Summer Institute for Teachers. In doing so, it argues for the value
and necessity of interpretation as a taught skill. The presentation will also
introduce the wider context of research in the Schools and CPD (Teachers)
Programme at Tate Modern
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Jonathan Douglas
Head of Learning and Access, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)
Jonathan Douglas is a member of the National Literacy Trust's Advisory Board
and has chaired Children and Literature in London for London Arts. Before
working at MLA, Jonathan was Adviser for Youth and Schools' Libraries at the
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, where he
spearheaded the influential Start with the Child report. He has worked
in Westminster libraries as a children's librarian and children's services'
team leader. As National Year of Reading Coordinator, he initiated an exciting
project across libraries, education and the arts.
Presentation
Inspiring Learning for All is the new national framework for
planning and measuring effective learning in museums, libraries and archives.
It has been developed through a national consultative programme led by the MLA.
Over 4 years, the process has engaged over 700 professionals. Inspiring
Learning for All has been extensively piloted and has produced compelling
evidence of the learning impact of museums, libraries and archives, which MLA
has used to win funding for the sector in the 2004 spending review. This
presentation will examine Inspiring Learning for All, its practical
usefulness to galleries and will explore how they can benefit from its use.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Dick Downing
Principle Research Officer, National Foundation for Education Research (NFER)
Dick Downing taught drama for three years before running away to join the
theatre, where he spent 12 years acting and directing theatre in education and
community theatre work. The arrival of children caused him to seek more stable
work as Education Officer for Yorkshire Arts, subsequently as Head of Planning
for Yorkshire and Humberside Arts Board. After eight years he left to go
freelance, combining childcare with consultancy and evaluation. Since joining
NFER three years ago, he has led research projects on various subjects
including school exclusion, teacher sabbaticals and children missing from
education. In the arts field he has researched theatres and their education
policies; arts interventions in teacher education; the state of arts education
in primary schools; and museum and gallery projects for young people.
Presentation
School art: What's in it? Exploring visual arts in secondary schools
is a report on a year long investigation into the content of the art curriculum
at Key Stages 3 and 4. It involved 54 interviews with teachers in 18 schools,
some chosen randomly and some identified as incorporating contemporary art
practice in their curricula. It includes findings based on the description of
over 60 art modules, revealing the materials and media available to pupils, the
artistic reference used to support teaching and the skills taught. It explores
the factors that enable and inhibit the choices teachers make. In particular,
it identifies some major differences in approach to curriculum content.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Siobhan Edwards
Learning Programme Manager, NESTA
Prior to joining NESTA on a full-time basis in 2004, Siobhan worked as a
freelancer, acting as Project Supervisor on a range of NESTA Learning awards,
and for the Clore Duffield Foundation as Artworks Research Manager. Research
carried out for the Foundation included the Artworks reports Space for Art
(2003) and State of the Art (2004), and Space for Learning: A handbook
for education spaces in museums, heritage sites and discovery centres with
a range of partners including the Heritage Lottery Fund, MLA, Arts Councils,
DCMS, DfES and CABE Education.
Presentation
NESTA and new ways of learning
This talk will provide a brief overview of NESTA's Learning programme,
including what we look for and examples of projects funded. It will also
introduce Illuminate, NESTA's new funding stream for museums, galleries,
science and discovery centres, giving details of the criteria, process and
deadlines for project proposals.
Claude Fourteau
Special Advisor to the Director, Muse du Louvre
During her tenure in the museum field, Claude has become a specialist in the
areas of: issues of equal access to culture; visitor evaluation and research;
research into new types of interpretation; marketing public services; and
membership support. She is an active participant in the museum field in France
and abroad, with Association interMuses (Paris), the American Association of
Museums (USA) and the European programme Collect & Share, among others.
Currently, in association with the Muse du Louvre Director, she develops and
oversees pilot projects at a regional and international level.
Presentation
Louvre-Estuaire: a fresh look at museum education
Louvre-Estuaire is the name given to a vast educative project on heritage,
conducted by the Louvre in a rural area of Aquitaine, in partnership with
National Education and local collectives. Decentralising its resources away
from its collections gave the museum a chance to reassess and reassert its
educational capacities, to create and confront an innovative learning
environment, and to join in a new dialogue with the partners, the population
and the teachers alike.
Michle Fuirer
Artist Educator, Tate Modern Michle Fuirer trained in Fine Art at Exeter
(BA) and Birmingham (MA) Schools of Art, followed by an M.Phil in Cultural
Studies. Since the 1980s she has been involved in community and gallery
education, working both as an artist and a project organiser. Her artwork has
been seen in group and solo exhibitions of sculpture, video and photography in
galleries in the UK, former Yugoslavia, Germany and Sweden. Her latest project
is Laid Table, a large-scale digital still life made with a community
group, supported by Arts Council England and The Photographers' Gallery,
London.
Kaija Kaitavuori
Head of Development, Finnish National Gallery
From 1996 to 2004 Kaija was Head of Education at Contemporary Art Museum
Kiasma. Previously, she was Assistant Editor of the leading Finnish art
magazine, Taide
(1991-96) and has written and lectured on modern and contemporary art and
museum and gallery education in various forums. She is a participant in the
European programme Collect & Share.
Presentation
Supporting and Subverting - working with and around national agendas.
Perspectives from the Finnish National Gallery
Kiasma, the Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, has built its' schools'
programme on the principle of a cross-disciplinary approach. Looking not only
at 'Art', but at 'things', which relate to various school subjects. Schools,
however, are structured according to the distinction between subjects.
Consequently, the programme has proven to be a challenge both for museums as
well as for schools and has felt like working against set agendas. A consortium
of art educators in Helsinki has united to develop a programme for basic
education that supports the new national art curriculum and creates a system
where each class is introduced to a new museum each year. The museums have
developed activities and programmes targeted at specific age groups and themes
are chosen from the curriculum. The programme has been created in close
consultation with the education authorities responsible for the formation of
the national core curriculum and the municipality-specific curriculum in art.
Jacqueline Ley
Assistant Head and Arts College Director, Holly Lodge Girls' College
Jacqueline has exhibited widely in one person and group shows, beginning in
1987 at The Whitworth Young Contemporaries. In 1989 she was first prizewinner
of the Manchester Academy Show and her work is included in several public
collections including The Obala Gallery, Sarajevo. Jacqueline has had a full
and varied teaching career. Starting as an artist in residence and freelance
gallery educator, she went on to complete a PGCE and worked for a number of
years in further education before taking up a teaching post in a secondary
school. She is currently Assistant Head and Arts College Director at Holly
Lodge Girls' College and continues to make and exhibit work. She was
instrumental in writing a successful Specialist School application making Holly
Lodge Girls' College the first Visual Arts College in the North West region.
Her key aims have been to develop partnerships between mainstream education and
the wider community and to promote the creative use of digital technology in
the classroom.
Presentation
Creativity in Schools
Primary and secondary education in England are undergoing rapid change and
schools are focusing on new ways to engage pupils throughout the curriculum.
There are currently a number of initiatives that directly impinge on the
creativity agenda in schools, including Specialist Schools, Personalised
Learning Framework, Every Child Matters and The Tomlinson Report 14 - 19
Strategy. This talk will outline Jacqueline's understanding of, and experience
of working towards implementing, a number of these strategies and policies
within the school context.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Keith Nichol
Head of Museums Education and Workforce Development, DCMS
After periods working for the Department of the Environment and the Department
for Education, Keith joined DCMS when it was set up in 1992. Since then he has
advised Ministers on policy in Broadcasting, Sport and the Arts, as well as
undertaking secondments to the European Commission in Brussels and to the Youth
Justice Board. His current priority is to develop and implement a joint
DCMS/DfES museums' and galleries' education strategy.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Susan Norwood
Education Director for Anjali Dance Company
Susan studied Fine Art and dance before completing a theatre Degree at
Dartington College of Arts. She spent twelve years working with Corali Dance
Company whose work was shown at venues such as Tate Modern, Whitechapel Art
Gallery and Channel Four. Parallel to this she worked in the commercial world
of fashion. Her innovative experience of working with people with learning
difficulties led her to work with Anjali Dance company. Recent projects with
Anjali have included residencies with Modern Art Oxford and Milton Keynes
Gallery.
Helen O'Donoghue
Senior Curator; Head of Education and Community Programmes at the Irish Museum
of Modern Art (IMMA)
Helen has held her current post at IMMA since 1991. She has written and
published a series of articles and publications both for IMMA and for Irish and
International journals.
Presentation
A Space to Grow. and to see Red Lines Between the Fingers
Working with teachers to develop a pedagogical approach to access artworks,
artists and children's creativity.
This presentation will outline the development of the seminal work at IMMA with
schools, as described in A Space to Grow and will draw from recent
action research: Red Lines Between the Fingers, (Research funded by the
Department of Education and Science (DES) on the long term programme with the Breaking
the Cycle unit.) And a second research project titled Artformations
exploring The Imaginative Life of Children in collaboration with the
Abbey's Outreach programme and with funding from the Arts Council Projects
strand. I will discuss the successful /unsuccessful partnerships between
teachers and the museum and the outcome of reciprocal learning as a result.
Carla Padro
Assistant Professor of Art Education, University of Barcelona
Carla has a PhD in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of
Barcelona and an MA in Museum Education from Washington DC. She has
collaborated with a number of pieces of educational research, including
projects at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Sites Gallery in Washington DC and
the National Museum of Catalan Art and the Museum of Theatre in Barcelona. She
is a critical friend of the European programme Collect & Share
Presentation
Carla will define Social Constructionism and connect this concept to museums,
providing a reflective framework for museum education.
Delia Paveling
Headteacher, Newent Community School
Delia has 31 years of experience in education, 15 of those as a Headteacher.
She has been head of Newent Community School since 1999, a rural 11-18 mixed
comprehensive north of The Forest of Dean and west of the City of Gloucester,
which achieved Arts College Status in September 2002. There is a strong focus
on Visual Arts including Art and Design, Graphics, 3D studies, Vocational
courses, Fashion and Textiles. The school is developing links between Art and
Design & Technology, especially Textiles and Graphic Products. There is a
strong tradition of regular gallery visits in this country and abroad.
Presentation
When were you last in school?
This talk will look at the choices within the National Curriculum for secondary
schools, focusing on: Specialist Schools now and in the future; work with
galleries - Nature in Art -Gloucestershire; artists in residence, in schools
and galleries; visual communication, thinking skills, enhancing memory; the
value of ICT in the visual arts across the curriculum; and building
relationships to enable galleries and schools to work together.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Emily Pringle
Emily Pringle trained as a painter and worked for several years in gallery
education as an artist delivering workshops. She subsequently became the
Education Co-ordinator at Chisenhale Gallery in London. More recently, she has
completed a number of arts education research and evaluation projects,
including We did stir things up: The role of artists in Sites for Learning
for the Arts Council of England, which informed the development of ACE's 2003 Interrupt
symposia series. Currently she is working towards a PhD at The Institute of
Education. The provisional title of her thesis is 'The Practitioner as Teacher:
The role of the artist within gallery education.'
Presentation
Dialogue: Its place within gallery education
This short paper will explore the significance of dialogue within current
creative practice and gallery education scenarios. The presentation will draw
on current art historical and pedagogical ideas, whilst looking in detail at
the nature of the exchange between artists, artworks and participants. Key
issues to be addressed include the processes of knowledge acquisition,
collaboration and authorship and the characteristics of the knowledge generated
through dialogic encounters.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Michael Prior
Access and Education Programmer, Arnolfini Michael Prior joined Arnolfini in
2000. He trained as an artist at Leeds Polytechnic (1992) before working in
Leeds City Art Gallery (1992-95) and Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery
(1995-97) He was a Curator at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (1997-2000) where he
focused on education work, Ikon Touring and developing projects and exhibitions
with artists including Tim Brennan, Adam Chodzko and Jeffrey Dennis. During
Michael's time at Arnolfini the organisation has continued to develop a
programme of participatory projects across its wide-ranging interdisciplinary
programme. Arnolfini's premises are closed to the public until summer 2005
while major building works take place. An Interlude programme of events
continues during the building works and the artistic programme. This programme
has included extensive work with schools and community organisations including Out
of Site with Kathleen Herbert and Education Unlimited and Inaudible City
with Zo Irvine and Artists Without Homes. Each of these projects have aimed to
explore how a place such as Arnolfini can become a platform for participants'
voices and ideas. Michael is an engage South West
representative.
Viv Reiss
Senior Visual Arts Officer, Arts Council England Viv Reiss is Senior Visual
Arts Officer at Arts Council England. She is responsible for promoting
contemporary visual arts practice within the formal and informal education/
cultural sectors. The education and development programme at ACE supports
artist-led education initiatives, placing the process of creating and engaging
with art at the centre of the programme. Previously Viv worked in community
arts and as a gallery educator.
Robert L. Sain
Director, LACMALab Robert L. Sain joined the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
in September of 1999 as director of the museum's research and development unit,
instituted to test experimental approaches for presenting art and engaging
audiences of all ages. The hallmark of LACMALab is the participation of artists
through a collaborative process. Prior to that, he served as executive director
of the Children's Museum in San Diego, California, where he focused the mission
on learning through the arts and opened an arts-based charter elementary school
in the museum. He began his museum career in development and started the first
fund-raising programs for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Presentation
LACMALab is a new animal in the museum world. As an experimental programme in
the context of a large encyclopaedic museum, LACMALab is in the business of
investigating new models for presenting art and engaging audience through
artists' commissions. Over the past 5 years, over 30 artists and designers,
from the internationally noted to art students, have created participatory
installations for audiences of all ages, serving over 300,000 visitors. Perhaps
the most challenging and seductive aspect of the 'charge to the artist' is to
create new work that equally engages both a child and an adult. This 'age-free'
approach is not chronological, not linear, and not about imparting information
'at' the visitor. The goal is to provide a new kind of social intersection
space where visitors determine their own meanings, and hopefully, have
transformative experiences that may apply to other areas of life. LACMALab is
about 'lighting the fire' and about motivation, which is the foundation for
life-long learning. A PowerPoint presentation will show examples of the
artists' projects and examine seven different strategies for engagement in the
gallery.
Veronica Sekules
Head of Education & Research, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Dr Veronica
Sekules is responsible for developing learning and research programmes,
educational events and conferences, artists' projects, outreach and training
with students, schools, teachers and the public. She was trained as an art
historian, specialising in the middle ages and 20th century art and
is widely published in these areas. She has an MA in Education and is an active
educational researcher and writer. She is on the Arts Council Task Group and
sits on the board of engage. She has been invited
to work as a consultant, to lecture and run projects and workshops for teachers
and museum educators in the UK and Europe. She is currently on secondment to
Tate Britain as project manager for the 'Visual Dialogues' project, producing
interpretive resources for a regional partnership of museums.
Presentation
Veronica will discuss some of the factors which characterise and distinguish
different types of learning and professional development in galleries and in
schools. She will touch on the role of research in developing a practice able
to move towards outcomes which reflect the processes of engagement of
participants in teaching and learning.
Cath Sherrell
Education Officer, Visual Arts, Aberystwyth Arts Centre After studying Ceramics
and Photography at Camberwell School of Art, Cath Sherrell spent 10 years
working on various youth and community arts projects in London. She has been
Education Officer for the Visual Arts at Aberystwyth Arts Centre since 1992
where she is responsible for an extensive participatory programme. This
includes a range of weekly courses for adults and children; an extensive
programme for schools; gallery workshops, talks and conferences; demonstrations
and artist in residence projects; outreach activities and special projects with
vulnerable or marginalised groups; exhibitions of participants' work, and
intensive 'Master Classes' and summer schools with nationally and
internationally renowned artists. She sits on the board of engage
and the engage Cymru development group.
Julian Stanley
Regional Director, Centre for Education and Industry at the University of
Warwick Julian has a background working in schools as a teacher and curriculum
manager. Since joining the University of Warwick he has been involved in the
evaluation of a range of educational initiatives involving partnerships with a
variety of other agencies. From 2002 to 2004 Julian co-ordinated and led the
evaluation of phase 2 of the DfES's Museum and Gallery Education Programme.
Julian is currently involved in the evaluation of en-vision, a gallery project
seeking to engage and develop the role of young people in galleries, and Raw
Canvas, a peer-based, gallery education programme at Tate Modern. He is also
involved in the production of learning and teaching materials including an
electronic resource to support the new Applied Art and Design GCSE in schools
and colleges.
Presentation
The talk provides a review of ArtFULL, a national gallery education programme,
that formed part of the national Museum and Gallery Education Programme
2002-2004. I will touch upon what was distinctive about the evaluation
methodology and provide a summary of what we can say about the impact of this
programme. This will include comments about the character, extent and
distinctiveness of learning outcomes in comparison to outcomes relating to
museum education programmes. The talk will conclude with comments about some of
the issues and constraints that affect gallery education and some of the ways
in which they might be addressed in the future.
Click here to download a copy of the
presentation
Anusha Subramanyam, Director, Beeja Dance
Vipul Sangoi, Director, Raindesign
Anusha, a dancer, choreographer, teacher and dance movement therapist, is one
of the best known faces of bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance style)
in the UK. In a professional career spanning nearly 20 years, Anusha has
collaborated with many dance companies and individual artists across a range of
dance styles. As a solo dancer Anusha has performed at many prestigious venues
to appreciative audiences internationally. Anusha has trained as a dance
movement therapist and is constantly working towards exploring the power of
dance and movement as a form of healing. She has worked with special needs
groups, children, adults, teachers and other associated professionals. She is
also a qualified Pilates teacher.
Vipul Sangoi, is part of Beeja's core team. A communications designer, he is
director of Raindesign. Raindesign works in all forms of communication: graphic
design, photography, film, web etc. Vipul has also designed small mobile
exhibitions. He works with Anusha in generating and developing ideas for
performances and workshops. He is also responsible for visual and sound support
at Beeja Dance.
Presentation
Dance in Museums
Dance is normally witnessed in darkened halls, in social settings, in streets
but rarely in Museums. But dance forms, like the South Asian classical dance
styles, are a form of theatre. They are used to tell stories. They have a
vocabulary of symbols for gestures and expressions and are tightly integrated
with classical music, which has its own structure and patterns. Museums are
places for exploration, and dance, which can encourage audience participation,
can enhance the enjoyment, experience and understanding of the museum visitor.
Beeja's work, in the educational setting, is very interactive. Beeja's approach
to creating workshops using dance is based on a few basic principles: active
participation; fun; accessible; inspiring; cross cultural; subject specific;
encourages lateral thinking and reinforces learning; and is inclusive. The
presentation will be interactive and will include examples of work at the
Science museum and the Museum of London.
Sally Tallant
Head of Education and Public Programmes, Serpentine Gallery As Head of
Education and Public Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery, London Sally has
been developing an ambitious programme of education initiatives and artists'
projects and residencies. Recent projects include Kathrin Boehm and Andreas
Lang, Toby Paterson, A Constructed World. She has curated and organised
exhibitions in a wide range of contexts including the Hayward Gallery, Milch,
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She has lectured on graduate and
post-graduate courses at the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, Central St.
Martins and Dartington College of Art, amongst others, and is a regular
contributor to conferences nationally and internationally.
Presentation
The talk will focus on a project with North Westminster Community School - its
demolition and the construction of two new City Academies. Sally will talk
about government agendas in relation to Academies and the opportunities arising
from DCMS and DfES initiatives. She will also discuss the passporting of funds
directly to schools and the implications of this for the sector.
Mike Tooby
Director, National Museums & Galleries of Wales Founding Curator of Tate
Gallery St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, Mike
Tooby has been the Director of the National Museums & Galleries of Wales
since 2000. Throughout his career he has been interested in the way museums and
galleries express local and national identity. Prior to being in St Ives he
curated a variety of major exhibitions, in particularly, two which looked at
the foundation of modern Canadian art, on which he is an authority, (including
the Barbican Art Gallery's The True North), as well as a host of
multi-disciplinary projects which drew on his interests in archaeology, social
history, music and dance. He has been Chair of engage
since 1999.
Conference Programme
|
Day 1, Wednesday 17 November
Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern
Chair: Viv Reiss, Arts Council England
|
| |
|
13.30 - 13.50
|
Welcomes
Mike Tooby, Chair, engage
Christopher Naylor, Director, engage
|
| |
|
13.50 - 15.15
|
Galleries as Unique Places of Learning
Keith Nichol, DCMS
Maria Balshaw, Creative Partnerships
Siobhan Edwards, NESTA
Questions & Panel Session
|
|
15.15 - 15.45
|
Tea / Coffee
|
| |
|
15.45 - 17.45
|
Building evidence: Galleries, Teachers and Learners Veronica Sekules,
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art
Julian Stanley, University of Warwick
Dick Downing, NFER
Helen Charman and Michaela Ross, Tate Modern
Questions & Panel Session
|
| |
| Day 2, Thursday 18 November |
| |
|
Various venues
|
|
|
10.00 - 12.30
|
Workshops and Discussion Groups in various London
|
| |
Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern
Chair: Cath Sherrell, Aberystwyth Arts Centre
|
| |
|
14.00 - 14.30
|
Groups report back from morning sessions
|
| |
|
14.30 - 15.30
|
New Curricula, New Agenda
Jacqueline Ley, Holly Lodge Girls' College
Delia Paveling, Newent Community School
Jonathan Douglas, MLA
|
|
15.30 - 15.45
|
Comfort Break
|
| |
| Day 3, Friday 19 November |
| |
Lecture Theatre, Museum of London
Chair: Maggie Maxwell, Scottish Arts Council
|
| |
|
10.00 - 10.05
|
Welcome from Darryl McIntyre, Director of Public Programmes, Museum of London
|
| |
|
10.10 - 12.30
|
Teachers and Learners
Anusha Subramanyam and Vipul Sangoi, Cultural Cooperation / Beeja Dance Helen
O'Donoghue, Irish Museum of Modern Art Carla Padro, University of Barcelona
Emily Pringle, Freelance Arts Researcher, UK Questions & Panel Session
|
|
12.30 - 14.30
|
Lunch and Fringe Meetings
|
| |
| Chair: Michael Prior, Arnolfini, Bristol |
| |
|
14.30 - 16.00
|
Beyond Formal Learning
Claude Fourteau, Musee du Louvre
Robert L Sain, LACMALab, USA
Questions
Closing Remarks, Michael Prior and Kirsten Gibbs
|
Other information
engage's international conference 2005 will be
hosted by Arnolfini, Bristol, 16 - 19 November 2005. For other information
about engage events and professional development
opportunities, see 'the fast train' or contact
engage on info@engage.org or 020
7729 5858
top