A summary of inspiring digital developments in the arts that took place in 2010, courtesy of AmbITion.
http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http://feeds.feedburner.com/getambition?source=ignition
Authors Live – Jacqueline Wilson – 27th January
Happy New Year! Register now to watch Authors Live with Jacqueline Wilson on the 27th of January !!
National Music Award for East Ayrshire Council
East Ayrshire Council reports that it has won a prestigious prize in this year’s National Music Council Local Authority Music Education Awards for its high-quality music provision to young people in schools.
http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/corpres/news/showNews.asp?p=3066
The Major Trophy was jointly awarded to East Ayrshire and Devon.
Glow hits record levels during the snow
GLOW hit record levels for a single week, with a quarter of a million hits from more than 54,000 unique users in the week starting December 13, demonstrating that schools are making the most of GLOW during the bad weather.
See the full article here.
Glasgow Youth Film Festival
The Glasgow Youth Film Festival schools programme is now online and available to book at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/schools
The programme this year is extremely varied and we’re excited that bookings from schools are coming in fast. This year we’ve been able to offer free or subsidised bus transport thanks to our sponsor Muvizu.
Competition: meet Jacqueline Wilson
To celebrate Scottish Book Trust’s next Meet Our Authors broadcast on 27 January 2011, they are offering one lucky child the chance to meet Jacqueline Wilson, be part of the live audience at the BBC studios, have their very own short story published in the Sunday Herald, and win £100 worth of contemporary children’s books for their school!
Here’s how to enter <http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/childrens-authors-live/meet-jacqueline-wilson-competition>
LensHead: Pupils sink their teeth into film-making
North Lanarkshire Council’s LensHeads project, an intensive introduction to film-making which started in 2003 as a fun class mainly for pupils of Bellshill Academy. It has since grown to a point where 50 to 60 pupils aged 15 to 18 make four short films over a year, with help from professional film-makers.
The course now offers Scottish Qualifications Authority certification, and there are animation, sound and make-up offshoots. See the TESS article here.
Hertie Querty at GOMA, 3 November – 1 May
Hertie = jovial, cheerful and merry; querty = brimming with fun and mischief. If you are a teacher and that sounds like your class this year, bring them along to the Gallery of Modern Art, whose show for autumn highlights the most fun elements of the permanent collection.
Among others, there’s a huge chairs-and-handbags sculpture by Jim Lambie, and pictures of a child pulling funny expressions by Roni Horn. “The show is ideally suited to school groups, and we can provide programmes aimed at under-fives, primary and secondary groups,” says learning assistant Jen Sinclair. “A lot of the pieces in the show explore portraiture, and we work with the children to look at how artists convey expression. We try to unpack portraits too – what is an artist trying to tell us with a portrait?”
Workshops are free for Glasgow schools, and no more than £35 for school parties from other areas.
Special Announcement from Drake Music Scotland…
Drake Music Scotland is one of only twenty organisations in the UK to be chosen to commission a piece of music for New Music 20×12 which will feature centre stage at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Included in the list announced on Friday by PRS for Music Foundation (see below), Drake Music Scotland has commissioned composer Oliver Searle to write ‘Technophonia’ which will be scored for a new kind of ensemble that brings together cutting edge music interfaces. Oliver Searle’s music will inspire the young musicians to combine their individual talents to achieve a unique team performance, which will challenge how the audience defines musical instruments and performing musicians.
Read full story http://drakemusicscotland.org/new-music-20-x-12/
Figurenotes Conference
Last week, Glasgow City Hall’s Old Fruitmarket venue was packed with teachers, educators, musicians and policy makers wanting to find out more about Figurenotes, a simple music notation system that uses colours and symbols instead of notes.
The Figurenotes conference was organized by Drake Music Scotland, the Scottish partner in an international network of music educators using Figurenotes to make music making accessible to a range of user groups including SEN music, Early Years and those with Autistic Spectrum disorder.
‘Making music should be a basic human right – Figurenotes is helping to place the joy and delight of making music in reach of all.’
Markku Kaikkonen and Kaarlo Uusitalo, Figurenotes creators
Presentations from inspiring teachers like Annona Thornton from Lilybank school, made evident the powerful impact the system has for children and young people – they find it easy to use and can quickly achieve and make progress, which in turn helps build confidence, motivation and communication skills. Figurenotes not only supports one to one teaching, it also allows differentiation within shared group activity.
Drake has been trialling Figurenotes Software with 40 people, and is using their feedback to develop the software before rolling it out nationally to Scotland’s music educators in 2011. Information on the software and a Figurenotes Resource pack will be available early next term.
In the iCompose session, Conference delegates had an opportunity to try out Figurenotes, creating short compositions which were played back to them by professional musicians from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Drake Music Scotland is working in partnership with Scottish Chamber Orchestra on the iCompose competition, which this year includes a Special Needs Category. For more information on the competition and how to enter visit www.icompose.org
Drake Music Scotland is one of ten Scottish arts organisations awarded funding to deliver a Co-Create project for Glow.
