The experience that we have gained at Devon Arts In Schools Initiative (DAISI) shows that once a two-way relationship has been built with a school ? both listening and suggesting projects to meet the school?s needs ? the school is likely to come back to us for repeat bookings. So how do you get to that point? asks Zannah Chisholm.
Time and persistence are probably the two key ingredients to building relationships with schools. It?s always good to start with schools closest to you: the ones that your children go to, your performers? children go to, or the ones where your trustees are governors. When DAISI started in 1996, those were schools that were our first port of call. We were trying to re-engage schools in Torbay with the tremendous educational potential of working with the professional arts sector. We sent out a letter to the schools to attract teachers who might be interested. We held focus groups for teachers, artists and governors to get together and talk about what they would like to see happen. DAISI was established as a direct outcome of these groups and the board of trustees reflects these interest groups. At least nine of our trustees are headteachers, teachers or governors and their advice and presence gives us credibility in the education sector.
We brand everything so that schools become familiar with DAISI. We use all methods of communication to get through to over-worked teachers ? fax, email, phone and letter. There is a termly newsletter which features different schools, giving them good publicity and hopefully whetting the appetite of other schools. We also fundraise or collaborate with arts partners to offer one-off opportunities, such as free music taster workshops, which grab schools? attention. We try to make it easy for them to run an arts project.
There is nothing like the personal touch so we try to visit in person and get to know the teachers, and since September 2002 we have employed a full-time Schools? Project Manager to build and develop relationships with schools. School visits are important both to observe arts sessions in progress and to hear what teachers, pupils and governors are saying.
The local education authority is a major partner running collaborative initiatives and has a representative on our board. We work hard to keep up with educational initiatives and offer creative ways of meeting those new schemes, such as Extended Schools. We had to react quickly when the child protection issues were thrown into the limelight in 2002 and now only employ artists who have got Enhanced Disclosure through the Criminal Records Bureau. We also evaluate all of our projects and run training to develop skills in the sector. One of the key reasons a school will come back again and again is because they believe we offer high quality work and that they are in safe hands.
Zannah Chisholm is Director of DAISI. t: 01392 385215; e: daisi@daisi.org.uk;
w: http://www.daisi.org.uk