Specialist Schools – New partners

Schools have often had links with arts organisations, but has the introduction of specialist arts status altered this relationship? Rachel Robinson looks at what happens when a Specialist Arts College and an arts organisation decide to work closely together.
The process and requirements of obtaining Specialist Arts College status forces schools to look to their local arts and cultural sector for partners. The Specialist Schools and Academies website claims Specialist Arts Colleges will develop an active learning community that involves other primary, secondary and special schools and community groups and work closely with arts practitioners, arts industries and with the Regional Arts Offices. If this is the case, then the logic follows that the 424 schools across the country with Specialist Arts status have over the past few years been developing or strengthening ties with local arts providers. This has to be a good thing in itself, but are these simply partnerships on paper, or are exciting and creative things coming out of this local matching?

Collaboration

Foxford School and Community Arts College in Coventry have had links with Warwick Arts Centre since 1999 when they actively looked for partners to gain their specialist arts status. The Arts Centre were happy to be involved, but keen to make sure that the relationship resulted in practical and creative outcomes. This relationship is now continued by the Director of the Arts College, Jonathan Bardgett, and the Education Officer for Warwick Arts Centre, Brian Bishop. Initial small projects with pupils led by Warwick Arts Centre education staff were successful, and staff became keen to try out a larger scale collaborative venture in the hope it would forward school agendas and excite and enthuse pupils.

Linking with the specialist status demands of working with other local schools, a format was found whereby, for one day a week over two terms, partner primary schools came to Foxford to take part in a variety of arts workshops with staff and visiting artists. Power and Spirit, as the project was titled, was off and away! Sponsorship from Arts and Business and from local employer Jaguar has meant that a salaried artistic director is now in place to manage the project and to develop curriculum modules for Foxford and for other schools.

In the largest version of the project to date, groups of fifteen Year 5 and 6 pupils from feeder primaries, and Year 7 Foxford students were involved in weekly one-hour workshops in Samba and Stomp, 3D construction, paper weaving and dance over an eight-week period. The involvement of a new partner, Coventry University, saw postgraduate media students working on animation, digital images and real-time motion tracking with the pupils. This digital element became central in pulling all the work together into a performance, Terra Cinetica, which took as its theme the B of the Bang. Based on a quote from Linford Christie about the moment in which he starts to run, the project was able to combine this idea of a sudden burst of energy into all art forms, including movement and sport, and so link into the International Childrens Games that were being held in Coventry. An impressive website (http://www.terracinetica.com) was produced to document the project.

Sharing staff

St Margaret Ward Catholic School and Arts College in Stoke-on-Trent has only recently received its specialist status. However, it has for a long time had close links with the Regent Theatre (a touring venue) and Victoria Hall (a major concert hall) through a shared post which sees Jo Blagg as Arts College Manager at the school, and Education and Outreach Manager for the venues.

Jo worked in the arts sector in positions with Art Link West Midlands and The New Vic Theatre, before joining the commercial Ambassador Group that operates The Regent Theatre and Victoria Hall. Her post with St Margaret Ward Catholic School and Arts College began in 2003 with a remit to develop the community programme for the school, necessary for specialist status, and was a deliberate decision on her part to try and bring dual benefits to both worlds. Projects have included a Dance Artist in Residence pilot project, DAiR, organised by DanceXchange. This saw dancer Hayley Rose based at Victoria Hall and working with pupils from the school. Although the school is already strong in dance with a team of three specialist teachers, Hayleys involvement was able to add a further dimension, and push the standards and the opportunities for performing. Hayleys links with the school have continued, and a project DAiR To which will again link the venue and the school is underway.

Venues often have regular programming slots, attractive to schools looking to build up relationships with arts organisations. Glyndbourne Operas annual winter touring slot at the Regent Theatre has given the school the ability to offer workshops for Year 6 feeder primaries, providing them with the opportunity to work on stage, learn about opera and to discover their voices, as well as providing an introduction to the venue to which they will be returning again in their secondary school life.

Newly created positions take time to settle in to any organisation, and there have been challenges in embedding this unusual crossover post. However, Jo feels she has found inspiration from colleagues on both sides of the equation and has grown in confidence in her dealings with pupils. She says, There is a fascinating dynamic to having two professional networks, two workplace environments, two sets of colleagues and two journeys to work& I enjoy extensive creative partnerships, two wonderful dedicated performance spaces and a four-storey glass atrium perfect for workshops… The new job has done me the biggest favour imaginable.

Rachel Robinson was, until December, Administrative Director of aliss, the West Midlands service to promote creativity in teaching and learning by supporting partnerships between arts and education.
w: http://www.aliss.org.uk.
e: [email protected]