I came across this article in The Conversation, titled Share don’t scare: we need to nurture (and learn from) young cultural leaders , from the 16 Oct. 2015. And even though it is discussing a tertiary education, or older, generation of young cultural leaders, it is still important, I think, to have the same sentiments for secondary art education.
The article is authored by Lizzie Miller, who is the Director of the Master of Curating and Cultural Leadership degree at Art and Design UNSW, so her perspective is based on that cohort.
My background, apart from teaching, is grassroots. In particular ARIs and emerging artists. I have dabbled in Arts Marketing and Cultural Policy and other all rounder arts professions, (I once took photos of kids with Santa, and in between managing art galleries I used to dabble in construction, they count as well right?) and it always comes back to the grassroots, for me anyway.
This is a refreshing article, I find, as even though it discusses UNSW specific activities, it does discuss and point-out the new methods and approaches education research is taking by linking leadership to Indigenous cultures and to feminist approaches.
Being an educator is about empowering students to be the best they can be (even though at times it can be just like herding cats). And as current politics and culture is rapidly changing and evolving, so too does our methods of nurturing the next generation of leaders, (or cats).
deconstructed finger lime pie 