Creative Europe
Desk UK
for Culture

Artists in Creative Education (ACE): Developing a practical guide

For 18 months, the international project Artists in Creative Education focused on using artists and cultural activities to unlock creativity in children and young people in schools. The four partners from across Europe – Creativity, Culture and Education, CCE, (UK), Cultuur-Ondernemen (Netherlands), Drömmarnas Hus (Sweden), and Kulturkontakt Austria have worked very successfully together.

All in all, 25 artists from nine European countries have met, worked incredibly hard and shared their experiences of working creatively in primary schools, mainly in deprived communities. The big finale of the project was a conference held in Brussels on 6 October 2011. 140 participants from 27 countries from across Europe and beyond met at the Bronks Theatre. The aim of the conference was to address the role artists play as creative partners in schools by combining the knowledge of leading international experts, artists, educators, politicians, policy makers and EU representatives. The conference was a varied, very lively, challenging and productive event and what emerged from it was a clear sense that a network to support this work in the future was an important next step. Notable speakers at the conference were Mary Honeyball (MEP) and Karoline Zielinska (Chair of the Culture Affairs Committee of the EU and Senior expert in the Polish Ministry of Culture).

The day included a live link-up with classrooms in the UK, India, Tanzania, Russia and Brussels led by artist Mike McGrother. This brought children right into the heart of the conference, had all the delegates on their feet and brilliantly illustrated approaches to working creatively across national boundaries. One of the overall aims of the project has been to produce a practical guide to share our experiences and support artists to work creativity in education. The guide was launched at the conference in Brussels which can be downloaded free online: www.artistsincreativeeducation.com’