Abstract
There is strong governmental support within the UK to develop creativity and emphasise the importance of its role in learning and teaching. Sharp (2003) identified issues, gaps and priorities for further research that looked at the impact on children of working with professional artists in terms of their creativity. This paper explores the initial findings of an evaluation report conducted by a university research team, exploring the creative performances designed by Starcatchers , an organisation developing performing arts experiences for children aged birth to 4 years. The research team consisted of four action researchers who were each attached to an artist in residence working in four theatre venues across Scotland. The artists involved represented four different art domains: puppetry, visual arts, artistic experiences informed by playing therapy and installation work. The researchers collaborated with the artists to observe children’s engagement, provide feedback, discuss projects, and record the processes of project development. This paper seeks to explore the artists’ experience of designing and implementing participative performance events and the nature and processes of working with young children in performing arts. It focuses on an exploration of the creative learning processes which were developed by the artists in residence to promote children’s creativity and involvement in the visual arts. The role of the artist is examined and key aspects are suggested with a view to enhancing the creative learning experiences provided for children within educational contexts, indicating points for consideration by adults charged with the responsibility of planning and developing environments which support young children’s creativity.
Highlights
Current ContextCreativity is an area of great interest in the current educational context within the U.K
Each researcher was responsible for observing their partner artist in residence, sharing observations and reflections with the artist exploring ways in which they developed the use of the environment as a means to developing young children’s engagement with performance and creativity
The perceptions of the artists above provides evidence of the ways in which creative projects such as Starcatchers incorporate the voice of the child in developing innovative and engaging creative experiences
Summary
Creativity is an area of great interest in the current educational context within the U.K. Creativity in thinking and learning is not a new phenomenon and has often been debated and discussed within education and the field of arts, culture, and policy makers. The publication of the All Our Futures Report (NACCCE 1999) and the subsequent Scottish report Creativity in Education (SCEAG 2001) has led to an increased awareness of the need for a greater emphasis on the role of creativity in the lives and education of young children. There is evidence to suggest creativity is enhanced when children are given elements of choice and control of their learning, with a balance between structure and freedom (Gandini et al 2005, Ewing 2009, Davies 2011). If children are understood to be active participants in their world, as creative co-constructors of their world and as individuals with their own views of the world (Jans, 2004) the extent to which they have opportunities to fulfill this disposition is determined in part by the environments in which they spend their earliest years
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