Angus Arts and Cultural Education Team in partnership with DCA Education present…

Artists Leading the Learning

DCA   27 Jan, 5 Feb and 12 March

A short course covering the core essentials of preparing and delivering high quality creative and artistic learning experiences for children and young people in formal and informal settings, delivered over three sessions by Pauline Meikleham (Arts and Culture Support Officer, Angus Council and Louise Kirby and Louise Ritchie – professional artists and experienced creative learning facilitators). Subsidised by the Creative Learning Networks Fund.

Session 1: Preparing the Way. Sunday 27 January, 11.30am – 4.30pm (includes a wee lunch, tea, coffee and a wee biscuit)

Session 2: The Eye of the Storm, Tuesday 5 Feb, 6 – 8.30pm (includes tea, coffee and another wee biscuit)

Session 3:  The Power of Reflection, Tuesday 12 Mar, 6 – 8.30pm (includes tea, coffee and a different wee biscuit)

Invest in your professional development and enhance your level of knowledge, skill and confidence as a creative learning facilitator
TOTAL COST £75
You may be a recent graduate interested in working with young people  in schools, nurseries or in the community.  You may be an artist who has some or a lot of experience already but feel you still have more to learn about planning, preparation, facilitation and reflection.  Whatever your level of experience and no matter what your interest is, this three part course will provide an opportunity to learn alongside other artists and creative facilitators, share and reflect on your existing skills and experience, learn about different ways of engaging with children and young people through art and take away some clear and helpful guidance on planning, child protection, evaluation and so on.
The course is offered over 3 sessions.
Session One is a full day blast through everything an artist needs to know in order to facilitate a successful creative learning activity, workshop or project and explores a range of approaches and models suitable for different age groups, levels of ability and contexts.  We will look at the importance of preparation and the different kinds of preparation that might be helpful depending on your personality, interests and level of experience and confidence including shadowing and mentoring, site visits, research, planning meetings and how to get the most out these different kinds of activities to help you plan your project.  We consider the role of the artist in learning settings and explore different approaches and models of practice that may give you ideas and inspiration for your own practice looking at real examples.  And finally we look at the nuts and bolts of what you need to know and do in advance of delivering a project or workshop and provide useful handouts and checklists dealing with all aspects of project preparation, evaluation and areas such as insurance, child protection and so on.
Session Two drills down into the unstable world of project delivery where anything can happen – no matter how prepared you are.  This session will give you strategies to deal with the unexpected and the confidence to adapt when things don’t go according to plan. You will hear about the experiences of artists who have had to deal with fires, floods, dried up felt pens, locked cupboards and bad coffee – and they somehow managed to survive!  We will look at the challenges of different sizes and types of groups and ways of ensuring everyone stays involved and gets what they need from you in your session.  We will analyse the skills of presentation and think about where we are on the confidence scale with regard to our facilitation skills as they stand.   (Follow up sessions offering more intensive skills development focusing on any specific area of interest can be offered later in the year, depending on demand).
Session Three looks at the much neglected, but crucially important, area of reflection and next steps planning.  How do you know what participants have learned or gained from your session? How can we make that learning more visible? What worked well and what could have worked out better and how can you use that knowledge to inform your approach next time?  How can you document your work and use it as a tool for reflection and planning?  How can the work participants have created be used as a tool for learning and reflection after your session is over? How can you plan reflection into the process from the outset rather than as just an afterthought?   Analysing the impact and outcomes achieved through documentation and reflection will enhance your skills, knowledge and confidence and those of your learners, inform and improve your future planning and delivery  and create momentum leading to further work and opportunities.

The Trainers

Pauline Meikleham is Arts and Culture Support Officer within Angus Education Development Service and has 25 years of experience of developing creative learning projects and programmes and of delivering training to a range of creative practitioners including artists and teachers.  She has extensive experience of working within formal, informal and community learning contexts and a sound professional understanding of how creative practice can support the aims and values of the new Curriculum for Excellence.   Since 2008 she has been working with local artists to establish arts and learning networks and to set up training and mentoring opportunities for artists seeking to work in schools.  She is currently working with local partners to establish a North East Regional Artists and Learning Network and to expand the range of training and mentoring opportunities for creative practitioners.

Louise Kirby is a visual artist and surface pattern designer, based in Dundee, Scotland.  She aims to capture the drama of the Scottish wilderness, with nature at the heart of all of her designs. She had a distinctive rhythmic signature with a playful approach mixing succulent colours, energetic repetitive marks and silhouettes and creates bespoke artwork for products and services – fashion, interiors, murals, stationary, ceramics… Louise Kirby works in collaboration with clients in a variety of ways:  Providing freelance design services creating bespoke surface patterns for products and services; creating bespoke artwork/murals for interior spaces and  designing and delivering a range of creative workshops and projects for schools, museums, galleries and hospitals.  Since 2009 she has been working with Pauline Meikleham to develop the artists network and mentoring programmes and on a range of creative learning projects.

Louise Ritchie is a visual artist currently also based in the Dundee area, who has recently completed public art commissions for Dundee City Council and been commissioned to participate in School Design /Creative Engagement Programmes by Ginkgo Projects . She and Louise Kirby are the two co founders of research network group TRiGGER , funded by ArtWorks Scotland/ Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Louise is also President of the Society of Scottish Artists.   Her work  revolves around an ongoing series of responses to real and imagined environments.  The paintings are not representational but are more a memory of those places, influenced by the emotions and events of the time. They aim to stimulate and provoke thoughts that draw empathy from the viewer.   Louise has extensive teaching experience working with nursery age children right through to post graduate students and has led and supported several large scale collaborative projects locally and internationally.  Louise has been working with Pauline Meikleham and Louise Kirby since 2010 to develop the artists network and mentoring programmes in Angus and on a range of creative learning projects locally.

What to Do Now ….

If you would like to book please call DCA Box Office 01382 909 900 and ask for a place on ‘Artists Leading the Learning Training Course’.  Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.  Payment of £75 should be made in full on booking.   NB Booking is for all three sessions, it is not possible to book for just one session.

The Creative Learning Networks Fund is managed by Education Scotland, in partnership with Creative Scotland to support the development of Creative Learning Networks (CLNs) in local authority areas across Scotland.