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Rather a lot of my professional life has been absorbed in the development of audiences, reflects Janet Robertson, desperately seeking ways to offer the ?road-to-Damascus-arts-conversion experience? to people whose view of the arts was in some way limited. Often these marketing and development strategies were very successful and offered new vistas to many, but it occurred to me that if we really wanted to ensure that our society discovered itself and all it can be, then the road to Damascus needed to be sign-posted earlier!

With Kenny Forrest I launched SNAP! Nursery School in Cambridge in January 2000.The setting opened with a handful of little people, and since then things have moved swiftly and successfully to the stage where we now have a setting offering 66 full-time places in a building four times the size of the one we started in. With the help of the New Opportunities Fund we offer affordable and accessible childcare options where the arts are an integral part of our daily activities delivered by visiting specialists and our own nursery staff.

The Foundation Stage, the government?s new early years initiative for all children aged three to six, arrived in September 2000 and focuses on play-centred learning. Using that, alongside the concerns and concepts voiced in Professor Ken Robinson?s NACCCE committee report ?All Our Futures? as basic structures, the strategies were formed to deliver our idea of creative childcare.

Children respond to and absorb all the influences around them and do not differentiate between play and work. It is all play. Imagination and self-expression build very quickly in our children and the many frustrations experienced by that age group dissolve when communication is offered through such varied channels: ?If you?re angry, have a dance; if you?re sad have a sing; if you?re tired, find some good colours and paint yourself better, and if you just might burst with happiness, then find a costume and explode.?

Not only is individual development enhanced, the children learn group skills and teamwork as second nature. Their drama work encourages very sophisticated team-building and the structure of much of our dance work stimulates motor skills large and small and puts self-discipline firmly on the agenda.

SNAP! has enjoyed residencies in 2001 with wildlife illustrator Carl Ellis and the Northampton Theatre?s TIE Company with their production of ?The Ugly Duckling?. We are currently working with the Junction CDC in Cambridge in a family-friendly initiative reaching new audiences and building arts links in partnership with a cluster of nursery providers in Cambridge. In November Tiebreak Touring Theatre will be performing its new piece ?The Snow Egg?, specially written for the under fives, and early next year we hope to launch the first ever orchestral residency with our age group.

Being able to imagine brings understanding, knowledge and inspiration. Self-expression brings confidence, awareness, strength and belief. We must allow our children from the earliest moment to share in and absorb the arts. More than ever, all our futures depend upon it.

Janet Robertson is an arts educationalist and Director of SNAP! Nursery School. t: 01223 477413; e: jinty.robertson@virgin.net