Category Archives: Expressive Arts

Youth Music Initiative Consultation Opportunity

As part of the on-going Year 11 Youth Music Initiative programme in Aberdeenshire the Arts Development team is looking to appoint a researcher to plan and run a consultation exercise with children and young people in the region.

The Youth Music Initiative (YMI) programme, which is administered nationally by Creative Scotland, has two key purposes:

1/ To meet the Scottish Government’s P6 target that “every school pupil in Scotland should be offered a year of free music tuition by the time they reach Primary 6.”

2/ For projects delivered beyond the P6 target the purpose is: “to engage young people (of any school age) who otherwise would not participate in quality music making activities.”

With these priorities in mind and working closely with the Aberdeenshire YMI team, the consultation will engage with children and young people across Aberdeenshire to ascertain what impact the work is having, what areas of music are popular and where gaps exist that can be addressed in future years.

It is envisaged that the consultation will be with a range of participants such as those undertaking YMI projects, children and young people in other music settings, Visiting Music Specialist’s classes, school councils and Community Learning and Development groups.  It is important to note that Aberdeenshire is a large, mainly rural, locality and evidence will be required from a representative cross-section the region.

The research post is open to cultural professionals and creative artists who will be employed on a freelance basis and will need to be available between May and July (2014) to work with school based groups, with the report completed by the end of August.  Successful candidates will be required to be PVG registered with Disclosure Scotland (Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme).

A fee of £5,000 is available for the work, which will cover all research, travel and subsistence, materials and final report.  We will shortlist candidates for interview based on an indication of suitable experience and creative responses to the brief.

To apply please send by email:

  • Your CV
  • A short description of how you would conduct the research on two sheets of A4, with a breakdown of associated costs, based on the figure above.
  • Details of two referees

Deadline for email applications 12 May, 2014 to david.atherton@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Only email applications will be considered.

Please note interviews are planned for 19 & 20 May, 2014 at Woodhill House in Aberdeen.  Candidates will be judged on the basis of a short presentation and responses to questions from the panel.

For informal discussion and more information about the project please contact:

David Atherton, Arts Education Officer, 01224 665363 david.atherton@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or

Jenna Main, Youth Music Initiative Officer, 01224 664604 jenna.main@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Composing Music Survey

To help us better support composing music in the classroom, Education Scotland would like to invite practitioners to participate in a very short survey which will help direct us towards developing appropriate support materials. This consultation will also take into account feedback from our learning blog and inform next steps for the working group.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/eslb/2014/04/23/composing-music-survey/

Divided City by Theresa Breslin: New Musical Version for Primary Schools

Register: http://bit.ly/1jYpnfR (Glow log-in required)

Join Theresa Breslin and Elly Goodman of the Citizens Theatre as they offer a unique insight into the history of bringing this iconic book to the stage. Pupils and teachers will get the chance to ask Theresa and Elly questions about the play and the book and to find out more about this ground-breaking project. The Citizens Theatre has now staged three large scale musical theatre productions of Theresa Breslin’s Divided City, adapted for the stage by Martin Travers with an original score and songs by Claire McKenzie. More information about this Glow TV event is on the Education Scotland Learning Blog.

For full details of these and other events, please log in to Glow and view the current schedule: (Glow log-in and password required).

2014 Fringe Schools Poster Competition

There is still plenty of time to enter the 2014 Fringe Schools Poster Competition and be in with a chance to win £750 for your school! The winning design will become the official poster for the 2014 Fringe and all shortlisted entries will feature in a special exhibition in Edinburgh during the Festival Fringe.

Closing date for entries is 17:00, Friday 07 March 2014

The Fringe Schools Poster Competition is open to all school children in Scotland aged 5 – 16, and we are looking for a unique and eye-catching poster design that represents the variety and vibrancy of the Fringe – the rest is up to you!

For full details of how to enter, the design brief, what your pupils could win and terms and conditions download the entry pack at www.edfringe.com/poster . You can request a printed pack by emailing poster@edfringe.com  or by calling 0131 226 0036.

Good luck! We look forward to receiving your entries!

Music Working Group

The subject working group for Music convened for the initial meeting on Monday 3 February

Visit the full post here: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/eslb/2014/02/12/music-working-group/

The subject working group provided an opportunity to discuss the development of creative approaches to music education across sectors. This working group mirrors the groups being brought together from the other Expressive Arts subject areas, Art & Design, Drama and Dance who will feed in to the Expressive Arts conversation days.

We would invite practitioners across sectors to share their thoughts and views.

Awards for Young Musicians

AYM believes that young people deserve the chance to fulfil their musical potential.
We help outstanding young instrumentalists in any genre with annual Awards from
£200 to £2000. Our funding is flexible: we want to help young musicians excel and
so we can support most major musical costs.
Receiving an Award is just the start of your journey with AYM – we do all we can to
help each young musician to flourish and grow.

Visit our website
http://www.a-y-m.org.uk/

Follow us on
Twitter: @AwardsAYM
Facebook: awardsforyoungmusicians

BBC Commonwealth Film making competition

School story competition – promoting your school, community and Commonwealth values (extended deadline: 21 February 2014).

The BBC are looking for 3 schools – 1 in the UK and 2 from other Commonwealth countries who will make a film with the help of a TV crew, which best reflects the Commonwealth values and shares what it means to be a global citizen.

Winning schools will have their films featured on the BBC Commonwealth Class website www.bbc.co.uk/commonwealthclass.

Big Big Sing – Song Writing Competition

Write a Commonwealth Games song! Big Big Sing is a nationwide celebration of singing that will inspire thousands of people to get singing in the lead up to and during Games Time.  As part of this project, Big Big Sing is running an exciting songwriting competition open to Primary and Secondary School pupils in Scotland.

Big Big Sing invites pupils to write a song inspired by the Commonwealth Games, pupils can work individually or as a class to write a song between three and five minutes in length.  With the games just around the corner there’s no shortage of inspiration for budding songwriters!

Show Racism the Red Card’s Anti-Racism/Anti-Sectarianism Creative Competition

2013/2014 marks the 10th anniversary of the annual Show Racism the Red Card’s Anti-Racism/Anti-Sectarianism Creative Competition in Scotland. The Creative Competition is an integral part of the Show Racism the Red Card’s work in Scotland and has become a central feature in the calendar with almost one in five of Scotland’s schools having participated in the competition.  Entries are welcome from both individuals as well as class groups and the closing date for all entries is Friday 31st January 2014.

To enter, school and college students must develop a piece of creative work that gets across loud and clear the important message that racism and/or sectarianism is not welcome in Scotland.  This could be artwork, poetry, a short story, creative writing, music, a dance/drama performance, research project or multimedia presentation.

Competition winners will be invited to a star-studded award ceremony at Hampden Park in March, attended by the elite of Scottish football, to receive public acclaim for their work and receive their prizes.

For further information please visit the Show Racism website.

Puppetry Workshop for teachers – linked to War Horse

29 January, 4.30 pm

http://bit.ly/1ifTdum (Glow log-in required)

Join us for this exciting behind the scenes look at puppetery as teachers work with Finn Caldwell who is one of the original War Horse puppeteers. Finn has directed the puppetry for productions of War Horse in the West End and in Australia.  He has also just directed the puppetry in The Light Princess at the National Theatre and is directing a children’s puppetry show called Elephantom in The Shed.

For full details of these and other events, please log in to Glow and view the current schedule (Glow log-in and password required).