ACTA (Fr), 2+ Stichting 2+/2 Turven Hoog (Netherlands) and Starcatchers (Scotlan)aim is to research, experiment and respond to the needs of toddlers in approaches to creating art for the very young across the 3 countries. The three partner organisations are each recognised in their countries as being leading organisations in the development and creation of theatre for the very young. Through the delivery of this project, they will share their skills and expertise across the 3 countries supporting artists to engage with very young children and childcare professionals, responding to this crucial period in the development and creativity of the child and also informing the development of new artistic practice. The project will offer young artists from each country who wish to develop their artistic practice in the creation of art for toddlers, a well-rounded training process allows them to experiment and share their learning. Reflections and evaluation will be shared more broadly in each country, connecting across sectors including Early Childhood professionals, researchers, children’s organisations, policy makers and other artists and arts organisations. The project will allow 6 young artists and 3 members of the organisations to visit each country over 6 training periods comprising: - 3 study trips in order to discover the social contexts and methods applied in each country. Early childhood professionals, key partners in this project, researchers and specialists will be invited to participate which in turn will build their knowledge and understanding. - 3 practical residences in the very heart of the European early childhood structures, linked with sharing events to work towards the development of a European network. The organisations are fully embedded in the project: they will provide ongoing support to the young artists, evaluating their methods and findings and, at the same time strengthening their organisational collaboration on a European scale. This process aims to meet the needs of young artists: building knowledge and understanding through a supported process, having time and space to experiement, being able to experience and being able to share their practice with colleagues on an international level. The artists will be able to engage directly with the very young children as an audience, as a collaborator in their process. The different childcare settings in each country will present a new context for the artists . The exchange that will take place between artists and with the children and Early Childhood professionals in each country will nourish artistic practice and encourage the artists to push the boundaries of the work they want to make. The artists will be encouraged to develop a concept for the creation of a new production that would be developed after this project has taken place. Participating artists will be accompanied by researchers who will observe and contribute to the evaluation of the project. They will consider the different contexts presented by each country: the community, the early childhood settings and professionals, and how the artists engage in each country. They will also reflect on how the artists practice evolves across the duration of the project as they build greater knowledge and understanding and exchange with their peers. We will disseminate to a wide audience the reflections of the processes and findings that take place. Sharing events will be offered in each country enabling a wide audience of interested professionals from across arts and Early Years sectors to engage with the project and hear directly from the artists, researchers and the early childhood professionals from the settings involved about their experience in the project and the impact that engagement with artists has on very young children. We will use a website and social media to disseminate information about the project to a wide audience and enable others to learn from the processes taking place and in doing so inform wider good practice in making artistic work for and with the very young. This project will delivered collaboratively between the 3 partners who have known each other for several years. The experienced teams of each organisation mean that the project will be effectively managed and fully supported for the duration. We hope that through this project we will develop an approach that can be replicated and as such we want to encourage and develop the presence of artists in Early Childhood settings in Europe, and encourage the complementary working that can take place between artists and Early Childhood professionals. We hope to develop an European network of culture and early childhood professionals, who understand the important role that arts and artists have to play in supporting our youngest children and who will advocate for continued engagement with artist and for the provision of high quality experiences for the very young both in their own countries and across Europe
The reflection on early childhood and contemporary artistic languages was initiated thanks to founding initiatives that brought together the defendants of the need for art for toddlers from the 90s, artists finding in this search for fundamentals for the use of toddlers and in the meeting with them and adults accompanying them to feed their own work. At the same time, they consider the toddler as a spectator in his own right, finally recognized as being thinking. In spite of this interest, the question of the address to the young public still remains very little present in the initial French training of the artists, the schools to aim professional take only too rarely into account this dimension, while forgetting its stakes! The artists who take on this challenge are in need of recognition, accompaniment, experiences of territories and enriching and concrete meetings, sharing on the European scene. Multiplying points of view and approaches - here at European level - allows us to compare policies, methods and to advance the reflection on the relationship of artists, art and young children in their places of daily life. Artists must also confront the most relevant artistic languages in this period of the beginnings of language. Nonverbal disciplines are rich in meaning, without language barriers. This also allows the organizing structures, involved in these practices for several years, to discover and train themselves in new methods and strategies for connecting and supporting artists, to be closer to the stakes to be able to accompany to the better the artists they wish to encourage in this direction with their local early childhood partners. Participants: 3 Scottish artists Kim Donohoe, Brian Hartley and Matt Addicott added to the project as residencies progressed, 1 Starcatchers member (Rhona Matheson, chief executive) and a university researcher Ben Fletcher Watson from the University of Edinburgh to enrich the reflections of artists from his research on theater Young Audience and Very Young Audience 2 Dutch artists, Anne-Beth Schuurmans, Jasmin Hasler and 1 member of Stichting 2+ (Ingrid Wolff, Artistic Director) 3 French artists, Aurore Cariou, Judith Bouchier-Vegis and Léa Noygues who joined the project as the residencies progressed, 1 ACTA member (Laurent Dupont, artistic director or Sylvaine Durivault, administrator), 1 person accompanying person (Sylvie Rayna, trainer and university researcher who accompanies the artists on the stages of the training), and 6 professionals of the early childhood.