How children are inspired through encounters with the arts

© NPO Children Meets Artists
6th
WSAC parallel session 12
Arts and education: new models and new audiences
How children are inspired through encounters with the arts –
Observations based on initiatives in Japan
Mitsuhiro YOSHIMOTO, Arts Council Tokyo / NLI Research Institute
Rapid increase in children meeting artists
Artists started to visit schools in the late 1990s
Conduct workshop-style programs different from existing music and art
classes
Offer innovative learning and capacity building not achieved through
other subjects Arts in Education
4 types of organization involved
National and local governments and their cultural foundations
Cultural institutions (Theatres, concert halls and art museums)
Arts organizations (Orchestras, theatre companies, dance groups etc.)
Nonprofit art organizations and private companies/foundations
Cooperate closely in various ways to execute programs
Performance Kids Tokyo
© NPO Children meets artists
Performance Kids Tokyo
Started in 2008 in partnership with NPO Children Meet Artists
Deliver contemporary dancers/choreographers, theatre directors,
actors/actresses, musicians and so on
Create a new production featuring children through 10 day workshop
and perform it on the final day
Arts Education Platform by City of Yokohama
Established by the City’s cultural division, education board and cultural
foundation jointly with NPO ST Spot Yokohama in 2008
Introduce appropriate artists upon school’s requests and coordinate
workshop classes
50,000 children from 400 schools participated through 2011
Initiated by Art NPOs supported by private companies
NPO Children Meet Artists
Started Artists Studio In A School (ASIAS) programs in 2000 with 7
schools, 350 children and 9 artists for 11 days in total
In 2012, 96 schools, 3,200 children, 50 artists for 395 days in total
26,500 children participated so far in collaborations with national/local
governments and private companies/foundations
“Artists’ Meet Children” Initiative by Toyota Motor Corporation
Started in Kyoto in 2004 as a part of Toyota CSR’s human resource
development
16 not-for-profit art organizations involved throughout Japan
6,000 children from 63 schools in 13 regions participated so far
NPO Children Meet Artists
Create interactive meetings between children and contemporary
artists
To encourage children to fulfill their unique potential and extend their
capacity
To encourage artists to explore new forms of artistic expression
through working with children
Director Yasuhiko TSUTSUMI describes the goal as
“Artists devote their lives to creative expression and creating new
value. Through meeting them, children learn that there is more than
one way of looking, thinking, or expressing oneself. What is important
is that children gain a sense of this through the experience of
workshops, which involve independent, trial and error learning – in
other words, that they understand it not in their heads but in their
bodies, through developing their physical senses.”
Programs for children with disabilities
© NPO Children meets artists
Programs for children with intellectual disability
Children with language use disabilities
Speak continually and randomly about personal affairs
Talking exclusively to teachers and neglect nearby peers
Workshops with contemporary artists encourage these children
To communicate with others through somesthesia and the five senses,
not through language
To express themselves
To be separated from capability assessments
Not to adjust to healthy people
To improve their self-esteem and confidence
To enhance self-affirmation
Initiatives in towns in rural area
Public theatres and concert halls grew rapidly in the 1990s
3,000 in total throughout Japan
1,000 built in 1990s, two new openings every week
Difficulties in attracting audiences
Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities (JAFRA)
Started music program “ONKATSU” in 1998
Bring emerging talented musicians to local town to conduct outreach
programs in schools and deliver recitals at concert hall
Stick to small group of children, short distance to artists (not in gym)
and appropriate duration (less than 60 min.) in order to maximize the
impact
Wadayama Town in Hyogo Prefecture
Jupiter Hall with 800 seats and efficient acoustics
Cultural Center of Wadayama Town
Kazuhiro TAKAGI, violin
© JAFRA
© JAFRA
He plays his violin and talks to children aged 8-9
© JAFRA
Goals of ONKATSU
To give children opportunities to listen to live classical music
To nurture future audiences
Unexpected outcomes
Instant audience development (children bring parents, grandparents
and siblings to the concerts)
Valuable training opportunities for young musicians (children are very
severe and honest audiences)
Long-term impact
Outreach programs became popular at many music halls in Japan
100 top-leveled musicians were nurtured
Number of cultural institutions involved
in JAFRA’s outreach programs
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Total
Music
12
12
16
20
17
18
34
49
77
75
61
51
49
49
38
578
Dance
7
8
12
10
14
20
19
20
110
Theatre
4
14
3
5
4
30
718 public theaters and music halls
65,000 children
© JAFRA
Hokkaido
Aomori
Akita
Iwate
Yamagata
Miyagi
Fukushima
Tochigi
Ibaraki
Gunnma
Saitama
Chiba
Tokyo
Kanagawa
Niigata
Nagano
Yamanashi
Shizuoka
Gifu
Toyama
Ishikawa
Fukui
Gifu
Aichi
Music Dance Theatre
9
1 Mie
20
1
Shiga
9
0
Kyoto
8
3
Nara
3
2
Osaka
31
4
Wakayama
8
2
1 Hyogo
6
1
Okayama
16
1
Tottori
9
0
Hiroshima
29
3
2 Shimane
9
2
3 Yamaguchi
15
3
1 Kagawa
3
3
1 Tokushima
10
0
Ehime
17
3
1 Kochi
5
3
Fukuoka
13
1
1 Saga
14
3
Nagasaki
18
2
Oita
9
4
1 Kumamoto
5
3
Miyazaki
14
7
Kagoshima
13
7
2 Okinawa
Music Dance Theatre
9
2
1
16
0
13
3
7
1
1
9
6
16
3
25
7
2
19
1
5
0
12
3
9
3
5
3
7
2
9
0
5
1
19
1
1
18
1
7
11
2
14
0
4
12
1
16
1
5
1
12
3
13
1
60 public theaters and music halls
180 classes and 5,500 children
Annually throughout Japan
Study on educational programs at cultural institutions
What kind of effect do you think continuing to take part in music,
theater, or dance outreach programs will have?
Study on educational programs at cultural institutions
What kind of abilities do you think are nurtured in children by
classes conducted by artists visiting schools?
Study on educational programs at cultural institutions
UK
Arts Depot, East London Dance, London Sinfonietta, Liverpool Arts
Regeneration Consortium, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool
Biennial and The Black-E.
France
Théâtre de Gennevilliers, Scène Nationale Théâtre de St. Quentin-enYvelines, ANRAT, MGI, NOUVEAU THEATRE and Ville de Besançon
Direction de la Culture et du Patrimoine.
Germany
Kinder zum Olymp!, TUSCH, Tanz in Schulen, Brotfabrik, and Theater
Thikwa.
USA
Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute, Lincoln Center Theater, New York City
Center, Joyce Theater, HAI (Ex-Hospital Audience, Inc.), Office for the Arts
and Special Projects at the New York City Department of Education,
Maryland State Arts Council, Everyman Theatre and Baltimore Art and
Music Project.
Impact of the Arts in Education (AIE)
Confidence, self-esteem and self-affirmation
Some children can excel only in art activities
Dance and drama activities build self-esteem
Teachers evaluate children from a different perspectives
Imagination, creativity and critical thinking
Indispensable skills in this era of rapidly changing socioeconomic
environment
Cross boundaries and practice issue resolution through AIE
Acquire the capacity of creative and critical thinking
Impact of the Arts in Education (AIE)
Socializing and a sense of responsibility
Spend more time alone with TV games, computers and smart phone
Experience the pleasure of collaborative activity through engaging in
music, drama and dance as a group
Learn the importance of consideration and respect for others
Progress in basic subjects
Positive impact on language, math and science by activeness inspired
by AIE activities
Develop reading and writing skills through drama workshops more than
through language study
By-product and not the main goal
Changes over Time in Top Factors Emphasized
by Japanese Companies When Selecting Employees
Communication Ability
Independence
Cooperativeness
Spirit to take on
challenges
Conscientiousness
A sense of commitment
Source: Japan Business Federation
Respondents chose 5 items from 25 factors emphasized when selecting employees. The graph shows the
proportion of all responding companies who chose each factor.
Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake
through arts and culture
Area devastated by tsunami
3. Otsuchi town
2. Minamisanriku town
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
1. City of Iwaki
Tokyo
Iwaki Performing Arts Center (IPAC)
© Iwaki Performing Arts Center
© Iwaki Performing Arts Center
Minamisanriku Songs for the Future
© ENVISI
© ENVISI
© Masashi ASADA / ENVISI
“Fight, Minamisenriku!”
We helped collect the water
Carried relief supplies
Made meals for everyone
We cleared away the rubble
Made do with little food
The rubble was heavy
The water was heavy
We all worked together
Our workplaces were gone
Still we built new stores
Worked the best we could
Hauled in boats washed out to sea
Caught salmon and goby
Harvested sea squirts, oysters, seaweed
Planted seeds in the ground
We all worked together
We all worked together
Words and music by 21 Grade 4 students at Isatomae Elementary School
© Masashi ASADA
Exchange between Constitución Chili and Minamisanriku
Both suffered from
earthquake and tsunami
High School students
exchange poem and essay
Concerts in each city on the
day tsunami attacked,
February 27 in Constitución
and March 11 in
Minamisanriku in 2013
Keko Yunge was invited to
Minamisanriku
© Japan Foundation
© El Mercurio
Autumn Festival at Otsuchi Shrine in Iwate Prefecture
© GBFund