creativevoices@artslink.co.za
tel: 27 11 403 7178
Learners are doing it for themselves …
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Creative Voices is an integrated arts project which assists educators in schools to empower learners to work creatively in the Arts and Culture arena. It is a collaboration between the National School of the Arts and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, made possible through the generous support of the Donald Gordon Foundation.
Background
In keeping with the White Paper on Education, all schools need to implement an integrated arts course for learners at intermediate and senior phase. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are many schools that feel ill equipped to do this due to a lack of either trained staff, adequate facilities or both. Creative Voices aims to address this need by providing educators with the training and support needed to assist their classes in exploring Arts and Culture through the creation and production of pieces of entirely indigenous musical theatre.
 Royal Opera House - Education |
In June and again in September 2000, Jaffray visited South Africa to explore the possibilities of introducing such a project. The National School of the Arts, which has established itself as a centre of excellence in terms of training in the arts arenas, was identified as the institution which would be best suited to act as a local liaison centre for the implementation of this project.
Jaffray was immediately inspired by the White Paper on Education and its unquestioning endorsement of the learning area of Arts and Culture as a fundamental part of any education process. On visiting schools, she was also impressed by the wealth of talent and passion which learners in our country possess. She is adamant that her goal is not to come to South Africa to educate us how to implement integrated arts, but rather to share with us some of the experience which the Royal Opera House has gained through the implementation of similar projects over the years. She is also very excited about the opportunities which the Royal Opera House has to learn from us. It is this recognition of our strengths as a cultural nation that has led to the project acquiring a unique flavour and title - Creative Voices. A dream of the project is to organise a cultural exchange at some point in the future, to expose our young people to other cultures and also to take something of our rich heritage so that it may be shared with others abroad.
This dream has already being partly realised in that four learners from South Africa, who were a part of the project during 2001, were included in an exciting international Opera writing course which was be held in Norway in August 2002. One of the Creative Voices Course Leaders was also asked to act as a facilitator in the Norway project in order to share with them the modifications that we have made to the work. We hope that this is the first of several such international interactions.
Methodology
Through the Creative Voices process, educators are equipped with new ideas, skills and techniques that enable them to undertake creative arts work with their learners that integrates music, dance, drama and design. Many aspects of Arts and Culture are dealt with throughout the course and educators are given the tools to become competent and innovative facilitators. They are thus prepared for facilitating in the new Outcomes Education Based style now required of all South African educators, while giving their learners a creative voice with which to explore the relevant concerns of the modern South Africa child.
The course is comprised of two components - Skillsbuilding and Playmaking. In Skillsbuilding, educators are equipped with skills in all four disciplines which can be used either independently or as building blocks towards Playmaking.
 St John Burchman's Primary CV educators receive their Certificates from Creative Voices Drama Course Leader Yvette Hardie |
A Playmaking weekend is held at the beginning of each year to selected schools which have completed the Creative Voices Skillsbuilding Training. Creative Voices is a long-term project. educators are provided with skills, which they will be able to continue to utilise even after their schools are no longer officially a part of the project.
Training of the Course Leaders
In February 2001, four specialists from the Royal Opera House came to Johannesburg to work with the team of South African Course Leaders, who had been selected from artists here who were involved in education. The Royal Opera House team shared with us the work that they have done elsewhere in the world, and together we devised a project that utilises elements of that work, but which were adapted to meet the unique requirements of the South African situation.
Due to the success of the project, it became necessary to expand the team of Course Leaders, which was done in January 2003 by a team of Royal Opera House artists and Creative Voices experts. Creative Voices workshops are now always facilitated by a team of no less than eight Course Leaders.
During the course of the last six years, Creative Voices has continued to grow, and train new course leaders. Using the professional knowledge and expertise of the original team, many young and aspiring South African actors, design students, dancers and musicians are being equipped with skills and experience that enables them to become far more competitive in their fields, while also supplying them with much needed employment. The team is now a dynamic force of both new and experienced artists and professionals that truly represents South Africa’s multicultural, multilingual society.
2004:
During this year, Creative Voices took 60 new schools through the Skillsbuilding process and 20 of the 2003 Skillsbuilding schools on to Playmaking. For the first time the Playmaking course was divided into two weekends, the first in February and the second in May. This was found to be very successful and it was decided to continue with this the following year.
The Skillsbuilding and Playmaking processes were thoroughly evaluated at a workshop weekend for all course leaders led by Janet Watts and Caroline Calburn in October 2004. Lessons were added and revised, the efficacy and educational relevance of the course discussed, and plans were set in motion to ensure that the presentation and content remain of an excellent standard. The team worked as a whole, and in their disciplines of speciality, to finalise all adjustments and prepare for 2005. It was decided to introduce a Learners’ Manual, which would assist the educators and learners to meet all the Arts and Culture portfolio requirements set out by the education department. This was completed and introduced in February 2005.
2005:
During this year, four graduates of the National School of the Arts, Johannesburg, were trained as Creative Voices course leaders. This is in keeping with the decision made at the inception of the project to not only train and mentor Arts and Culture educators, but also aspiring young South African artists in the fields of music, art, drama and design in order to help secure their future success in these arenas. Creative Voices now has a team of twenty-five trained Course Leaders.
2006:
In November 2006 we held our first Creative Voices Production Day. A festival of original works by our 2006 Playmaking schools at the National School of the Arts was thoroughly enjoyed by all 500 children who participated and their audience which included parents, educators, guests from the Royal Opera House, London, the British High Commissioner, Mr Paul Boateng and his wife, Janet, many local district officials and education dignitaries, including Mr Malele Petje and representatives of the press. Local celebrities such as Mmabatho Mogomotsi also came to support the children and John Matshakiza, our guest speaker, gave them praise and encouragement. This event was a huge success and will be held again in November 2007.
2007:
We started the year very auspiciously with a TV appearance on SABC 1’s Beyond The Classroom. They were very interested in the many Eastern Cape delegates we are training, and so we began a busy and productive year. 40 of our 2006 educators joined us once more for their second year of training and they will be presenting their original productions at the end of the year. We also trained 180 new educators during our Skillsbuilding weekends. Once more, we had educators coming from as far as the Eastern Cape to gain the knowledge we give to our Arts and Culture educators each year. They were very enthusiastic about the workshops and left feeling enriched and empowered.
We will have two Production Days this year, one in Gauteng at the National School of the Arts in November and one in the Eastern Cape in October, as many of our educators travelled from there to undergo our training. Through our association with ASSITEJ South Africa, the recently inaugurated chapter of ASSITEJ International, an international network for professional theatre companies, individuals and organisations working in the field of theatre for children and young people, we hope to invite other children’s theatre organisations to participate in Gauteng this year.
2008:
2008 was a busy and fruitful year for Creative Voices. We started off with our Playmaking weekend in January 2008 which was attended by 40 delegates, mostly teachers from the Eastern Cape. These are all teachers who successfully completed the Skillsbuilding course in 2007, and they returned in May 2008 for Playmaking 2. We also enrolled 180 new teachers in our 3 Skillsbuilding courses. These teachers all attended two 3-day workshops with us during 2008.
One of the Skillsbuilding workshops was attended by teachers and district officials from the Eastern Cape. The District Officials are responsible for ensuring that there teachers have the adequate skills required to teach their subject, and it was a very positive development to have them on our course as they can more clearly understand the teachers needs and see where skills training is needed. It empowered both them and the teachers in the districts they manage.
In February 2008 we were invited by the Department of Education to the National Education Department Arts and Culture conference in Durban. This conference was hosted by Sello Galane, Chief Education Specialist for Arts and Culture in the National Education Department. Yvette Hardie (drama facilitator) and Janet Watts (Project Manager) attended and demonstrated the Creative Voices programme to delegates, who were all Arts and Culture District Officials from all over South Africa. It was a great success and both our content and methodology were well received. We have since been in conversation with the Department of Education as to how we may become a more effective part of their training programme. This is still to be finalised. We are in the process of obtaining a Departmental Vendor Number which will enable us to be eligible to run training courses for the Department of Education throughout South Africa.
2009:
Janet Watts was appointed to the National Core Training Team of the National Department of Education. The task of this team is to assist teachers to implement their subject effectively and inclusively in the classroom. She facilitated two 3 – day workshops together with CIIMDA and specialists from the Department of Education. These were very successful and follow-up training is being discussed.
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