Deliver - Reflect - Plan: focusing on cross-artform creativity for children aged 5 and under
Working in the arts and within an early year's context sometimes makes us feel a bit like water birds! The surface belies the busy, constant activity that enables us to move our projects forward, to take flight and share the wonders of arts-based activity with others and then land, back in the right place for a rest before the next flight. Sometimes we feel like ducks but mostly we aim for swans! We love our work and feel privileged to share the joy of creativity with so many others.
Making & Believing Conference
Our finale for this project took place on 25 March 2024 and was hosted by our one of our partners Derby Theatre. This was a celebration of all the activity that has taken place since 2021 and recognition of all the amazing artists, educators, arts organisations, researchers and cultural centres that took part. It focused on continuing to:
‘Foster creativity in Early Childhood’, something that we believe passionately in due to its capacity to develop imagination, curiosity and possibility thinking.
We send a HUGE thank you to all who could join us at this event and engaged so enthusiastically in the day. Here are a few images to give you a flavour of the event:
Check out our Making & Believing page from mid-April where you will find:
- A film that captures moments of early years creativity in action and shares some thoughts and voices of those who took part.
- A digital copy of Dr Susan Young’s completed Making & Believing research paper
- Films of the conference presentations by Dr Susan Young and Debi Keyte-Hartland
- A jolly highlights film capturing moments from the conference
So, what next after Making & Believing?
We will spend some time reflecting on our learning and plan how to take this forward, developing plans to enable us to continue working to support early childhood creativity. We will keep you updated.
Music To Our Ears
The sounds of Early Years music can still be heard across Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset and Torquay as five of our SoundWaves Network SW projects continue until early July 2024. A sharing event will take place at the end of this period so watch out for dates.
Supporting these projects and providing skills training our current Building Confidence Using Music in Early Childhood six-week course is halfway to completion with 50 people joining us in Zoom Land to learn from experienced EY music practitioners. If you couldn’t make it this time - don’t worry - we are planning to repeat it in the next academic year. Keep an eye on our website or keep reading these newsletters for release dates.
Certificate For Music Educators: Early Childhood
Take Art is once again offering a limited number of £300 bursaries to support next year’s cohort of students living in the Southwest who wish to study this acclaimed theoretical and practical part time course from September 2024. Further information here.
We wish you all a restful Easter break and look forward to connecting with you again soon.
Jane Parker and Jennie Loader
