Culture Carousel

Culture Carousel in 2017 was Bergen Culture School’s broad programme for the youngest students. It works in close association with SFO (after-school programme). The programme is committed to offer long-term, quality artistic activities between the cultural school and SFO and is a ground-breaking project in the national context.

Aims and Objectives

  • to give 6-9 years old children access to art and culture by developing long-term, qualified collaborations between art teachers at the local culture school and pedagogical staff at after school care services

Description

Objectives: Culture carousel gives children, aged 6-9 years of age, the opportunity to express themselves freely, playfully and artistically with artists from varying genres and alongside adults in SFO. Pupils and SFO employees acquire skills and methods from the learning processes that they can use independently in their own daily lives.

In 2017-19, Culture Carousel works with Art Equal, and through this project it, in addition, focusses on students with special needs or with special problems in the groups. Inclusion is a keyword. The Action Learning method is used at all levels from work in the student groups to the collaboration between artists and employees and also with internal work in SFO, and experience sharing and competence building between all of SFO and participating artists in Bergen.

Due to a lack of funding, the Cultural school today cannot teach all children in the city at one or more age levels. One goal is therefore that the Culture School’s contribution should be spread within each SFO so that all pupils and staff will eventually get the benefits of the specific work that is presently only done with selected students and SFO staff. It is also a goal that all schools / SFOs in Bergen should be able to participate.

Structure: In Spring 2018 there are 13 schools and 14 art teachers participating. At each school, two student groups of 12-16 students each, take part. We wish to be able to work with approximately 30 schools each year. This is half of the primary schools in the city. Each school receives two visits each year in a period of 9 weeks. Each visit there are two artists from different art subjects.

The two artists collaborate with one or more employees in SFO. Throughout a three-year cooperation, SFO employees gain experience and increased competence in using action learning and artistic methods and subjects so that they can continue and spread the work to all SFO students. After three years, schools can use artistic consultants as needed on a smaller scale in subsequent three-year programmes. Then they will again be offered 3-year commitments for cooperation with two artists from the Cultural School.

During the three years that SFO works closely with the Cultural school, they are offered visual arts, dance, theatre and music.

Each semester begins with an inspirational seminar and ends with an evaluation meeting for all artists and SFO educators in Bergen.

Method: Action learning is the usual method used. Through this, artists and employees come together to apply artistic methods / skills to the heart of everyday life.

Outcomes: The children in SFO have had the opportunity to express themselves artistically in an extension of their special skills and play. Experience from participation in Cultural carousel strengthens one’s ability to see others as resources and to experience that they themselves can be resources for others, sharing the same qualities and personal skills of all people.

Building creative, artistic understanding and competence in SFO through long-term cooperation and inspiration: SFO in collaboration with artists, joint evaluation meetings and joint kick-off seminars, as well as opportunities for sharing experiences in international contexts.

Caption: Culture Carousel Autumn 2016. Visual artist, Hip hop dancer and SFO working together. Here the students have "danced,to hip hop music, the strings with chalk attached to long sticks. On the picture, they have chosen which lines they want to draw/colour. Everyone should think about the whole picture, taking into account each other's work. Dry Pastel. The hip hop dancer participates in the drawing.

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