From April 2020 – December 2021, Creative Generation was named an ITAC Innovator and focused on developing an infrastructure within the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) to address the gap in research and resources produced by and for the field of teaching artistry. The project engaged volunteers in the teaching artist field from a cross-section of countries to collect, validate, and disseminate tools, resources, and creative/scholarly research in a number of capacities. These include retrofitting the existing knowledge shared through the 2019 Think Tanks, building each into a digital learning module; formulating a strategy to catalog, publish and disseminate research and resources shared through the 2018 and 2020 ITAC conferences; and researching and recommending a sustainable and scalable framework for a clearinghouse of new tools and resources created by and for the field of teaching artistry to be located within ITAC’s digital platform. Read more about this project there.
From this work, ITAC hosts monthly Think Tanks, where a host from a different part of the world shares insights about their work, and in discussion with attendees, digs deep about the ways this could help you develop your own practice. The Think Tanks are edited, archived, and connected to additional resources across the sector.
Check out the latest archives here:
Building Cross-Sector Partnerships For Socially Engaged Arts (May 2022)
Fié Neo (Singapore)
“The more that we connect beyond the sectors and intersections that we conventionally work with, the stronger the change for our ecosystems becomes with the potential for innovation.”
This is one of ITAC Collaborative's monthly Think Tank sessions, which addressed the difficulties and complexities of initiating cross-sector partnerships. Though it poses challenges, it opens up opportunities, innovations and diverse arrays of funding streams. The current scale of crisis we operate within requires radical imagination and speed to transform societies where uncommon collaborations have the potential to create unexpected innovations.
How could we as arts and cultural agents play our part in creating conducive environments for change? What are some of the challenges and where are some of the opportunities? How could we move beyond raising awareness on issues to co-creating solutions?
During the session, Fié Neo led a presentation that incorporated two breakout sessions to provide participants an opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives with other teaching artists around the globe.
Art & Advocacy: Teaching & Empowering Students Towards Social Action In The Philippines (April 2022)
Cathy Lasam Ballo (Philippines)
This is one of ITAC Collaborative's monthly Think Tank sessions, which discussed the amazing examples of Filipino artist-led advocacies, the power of the arts as a catalyst and carrier for change, and how teaching artists can empower young minds towards initiative and action as responsible citizens.
Below are Key Takeaways:
Art is a very powerful vehicle for communication and change
As teaching artists, we must equip our students with the ability, passion, and drive to become catalysts for change
Change does not happen overnight, therefore, consistently work it into your curriculum
Know your students genuinely, and be authentic in your support and guidance
As Art never ceases to be at the forefront of change. History shows us that art has always been instrumental in swaying opinion, spreading better education, and inciting others to action. We are all living in challenging times. With the present pandemic, countries at war, rampant online trolling and bullying, volatile political climate, and environmental concerns, it is important now, more than ever, for teaching artists to use their unique skills and platform to empower the youth.
This talk had components of an interactive lecture and a short simulation where participants experienced the arts integrated curriculum process as ‘students.’ The added bonus of this Think Tank was that attendees receive a Certificate of Participation from ITAC & ARTguro Philippines for their participation.
Welcoming Newcomer Teenagers With Artistic Expression: Learning Without Unlearning Cultures (March 2022)
Frédérick Moreau (Canada) with Special Guest Lynn Ditchfield (USA)
This is one of ITAC Collaborative's monthly Think Tank sessions where Frédérick Moreau, creator of this program Le plaisir de la culture en français, housed in Laval, Québec, Canada where more than 400 students are from more than 20 different cultures, invited teaching artists to explore both his program and Borders to Bridges in the United States (presented by Lynn Ditchfield), which support young people as they come into contact with a new cultures, through artistic expression.
This Think Tank aimed to engage those curious about working with other cultures by providing an opportunity to discuss the various ways teaching artists can work with immigrant teenagers, who are often forced to adapt to new cultures but have incredibly rich experiences to share—experiences which can educate and inform how Teaching Artists can better support them. For them, art in all its forms can be an opportunity to forge their future, discover themselves, laugh, and develop their social and language skills. Here a teaching artist can guide their journey so that learning a new culture does not divide them, nor erase their existing identity, but instead becomes a positive experience.
Additionally, the Think Tank encouraged participants to put themselves in newcomers' shoes, in order to develop tools to help us better appreciate and support this unique perspective.
After Frédérick Moreau and Lynn Ditchfield presented their projects, they engaged Think Tank participants in an active conversation exploring how adolescents can continue to express themselves through the arts. Collectively discussing: What is going on in their minds? In which language do they imagine the scenarios they create? Which difficulties do they encounter? Moreover, how can we learn a new language, a new culture, through the arts? How can a teenager become familiar with a host culture without losing their own? What goes through the mind of a teenager who finds themselves forced to learn new cultural references?
Playback Theatre In Africa (February 2022)
Bonface Beti, Tarryn Lee & The AFRICA CONNECT Group
This is one of ITAC Collaborative's monthly Think Tank sessions, and this month we focus on Playback Theatre in Africa hosted by the AFRICA CONNECT Group. This group is an IPTN (International Playback Theatre Network) Africa Region Project that brings Playbackers from Africa together for the purpose of connecting and exchanging lived experiences through the modality Playback Theatre.
Here this ITAC Think Tank helps Teaching Artists from the Global North to witness a Global South online applied theatre intervention through stories of, and from, Africa. Even, ITAC participants were invited to watch part of the AFRICA CONNECT Group rehearsal live where they discussed their learning, goals and ambitions for this practice.
The past two years brought even more challenges for Playback practitioners in Africa to meet on African soil in a shared space. This disconnection in the field of Playback practice in Africa sparked a conversation between Bonface Beti from Nairobi, Kenya and Tarryn Lee from Johannesburg, South Africa to create a platform to CONNECT AFRICA through Playback story sharing and story listening.
Playback theatre is a non-scripted form of performance that invites the audience to share real life moments and stories through a supportive and guided process which in turn are transformed into theatre. This process of story sharing and story playing becomes a way of creating community dialogue around specific socio-political contexts, and the Playback process shapes itself according to the needs of a specific audience.
Tarryn Lee, who explored conversations from Bonface Beti, curated and led a 4-week AFRICA CONNECT GROUP ONLINE PROJECT experiment. The Playback community involved comprises Playbackers from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The group is small but committed to continuing to grow this community dialogue space and hopes to expand and include more Africa Playback practitioners as accessibility and equity are important to them. However, are complex socio-economic challenges faced by Africa today specifically in relation to online projects and intentions, which regularly restrict the continuity of the project’s work.
Community Building Through Co-Creation (January 2022)
Place Des Arts & Marika Crête-Reizes
Co-creation is a powerful catalyst. It brings people together, breaks down barriers, opens up for discoveries and can contribute to a sense of belonging. Community building through co-creation is at the core of an innovative initiative undertaken by Place des Arts (Montreal, CAN) to build strong communities around arts education.
Join Clothilde Cardinal, Head of programming at Place des Arts, and arts education consultant Marika Crête-Reizes as they share how bringing together teams of presenters, educators and teaching artists from across the province of Quebec for a one-week training Camp in aesthetic education sets the table for sustainable dialogues and actions in favor of the arts in schools and communities.