Students as Organisers - ownership in school

Students organise cultural events in school: it's ownership, influence, cooperation, development and fun!
21 Jun, 2016

Students as organisers provides school children with a unique opportunity to develop skills such as responsibility and ownership allowing them to develop as organizers of cultural events, as cultural ambassadors and as human beings.

The Students as organisers concept originated in Norway in 2006, and since then Denmark and Finland have adapted and developed the idea, and in 2016, Sweden also joined in.

A Students as organisers group usually consists of 8-12 students (aged 12-16) who are responsible, in cooperation with a contact teacher for preparing and running all cultural events taking place in their school: theatre plays, concerts, or other. In this context the crew will typically be responsible for the following tasks:

  • Hosting – Students are responsible for contact with visiting artists before and after the event: they will receive them at the school and introduce them on stage etc.
  • PR – Students are responsible for advertising the event around the school, for interviewing the artists, perhaps write an article for the school magazine or local newspaper and take pictures for the school website.
  • Technicians – Students will help visitors with gear: carry it to the performance room, help with set up etc., and during the performance, they are responsible for light and other technicalities.
  • Organisers – The entire Crewas a group can also be given the opportunity to participate in the more administrative tasks such as choosing which cultural events the school wishes to present as well as take part in the evaluation after the event.

In preparing the students for the task of becoming cultural organizers, they are all invited to participate in a day seminar with other students from the local area, just as they become part of a national student as organizers network.

The above description is taken from Denmark's "KulturCrew" programme run by Levende Musik i Skolen and TeaterCentrum

Want a live taste of what Students as organisers is about? Check out the videos from KulturCrew, Levende Musik i Skolen, Denmark and Konserttikeskus Konserttikeskus, Finland.

What can the Students as organisers programme contribute with?

  • Participate in the curation and selection of art and cultural events in the school
  • Organize and run cultural events, giving artists and audiences the best possible experience
  • Make sure that artists and audience feel they are being well treated in the school
  • Make the cultural experience known throughout the school
  • Provide efficient assistance to the artists - the students know their way around the school should practical questions arise

What do the children gain from this?

  • Ownership to the cultural life in their school
  • Acknowledgment from fellow students, teachers, artists
  • Skills in organizing and running cultural events
  • Responsibility, planning skills and ownership to activities
  • Communication skills, capability to speak in front of a crowd, courage!
  • They will be producers of cultural events!
  • Cooperate skills in working with children from other classes/age group than their own

What’s in it for the school?

  • Responsible and engaged students
  • Confidence in the abilities of their students
  • In time, fewer/easier work tasks in relation to running cultural events at school, though some extra time and work is to be expected in the beginning
  • An opportunity to let the students try something different and participate in other activities
  • More dialogue, sense of community and equality in the school
  • The students get the opportunity to try a different and more practical way of learning
  • A school profile with active and engaged students
  • Local ownership

Want to know more about how to get started? Download Levende Musik i Skolen's intro folder to the Danish Students as organisers initiative, KulturCrew here

This article was brought to you by the Blackboard Music Project. The aim is to share and strengthen our joint knowledge around concerts for young audiences. We hope that you have found it interesting and please feel free to drop us a comment to let us know what you think.

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