As educational institutions, conservatoires remain largely unresearched and, crucially, relatively unchallenged. In particular, research has paid little attention to in-depth studies of culture, so that not enough is known of the cultural practices that characterise and shape a conservatoire education. This article addresses this gap through seeking to understand the constructed nature of the ‘learning cultures’ - the cultural practices through which students learn - of a UK conservatoire. Working within an ethnographically-informed case study, multiple qualitative methods were employed to collect in-depth data. Key findings from a four-phased analysis procedure reveal that the conservatoire’s learning cultures are constructed across four intertwined features: (1) learning cultures of performing specialism, (2) learning cultures of social networking, (3) learning cultures of musical hierarchiesand (4) learning cultures of vocational position taking. Implications of the study are discussed, and recommendations made for the introduction of creative and reflective spaces for learning in the conservatoires of the future.
LINK
This article discusses some characteristics of the educational framework of the programme and tries to compare the results of the programme as reported by graduates with the 'professional competencies for Sustainable Development’, as formulated by DHO (the organisation for Sustainable Higher Education in the Netherlands). Because of the strong international character of the programme (students from more than 50 different countries in all continents of the world graduated since 1996), a specific issue of concern is the applicability of the Dutch Sustainable Competences in an international setting, and the implications for the teaching and learning approach. The experiental learning theory and the learning styles as defined by Kolb (1984) and the cultural dimensions as described by Hofstede (2009) are used to check this. Results from short online interviews with graduates all over the world illustrate the results of this comparison.
MULTIFILE
At the age of a failing economic system and undeniable evidence of the effects humankind has had over the planet, it is necessary to look for alternatives to the way we live locally. This article explores the use of designing narratives and metanarratives to co-create imaginaries serving as the needed alternatives. This research starts by considering the historical factors to understand how industrialisation and the loss of traditional practices created a culture of disconnection from Nature in the Girona area, but also looks at why people start now reconnecting with it. The analysis is the foundation for speculative design practices to co-create a new local narrative of connection and regeneration. The project adopted the Integrative Worldviews Framework and used paradoxes to create possible future worldviews based on historical factors and literature. Citizens participated in conversational future-visioning workshops to develop and evaluate their local imagery of the previously created worldviews. This conversation-based exercise evidenced the potential of paradoxes in destructive futures to create imaginaries of regeneration. These imaginaries merge and form future stories. From the future narratives, the practice created cultural artefacts embodying a new culture of connection based on storytelling, traditional jobs, and a mythological understanding of Nature. Finally, as observed at the end of the project, these artefacts allow citizens to adopt them as their culture and expand their current worldview.
DOCUMENT
The eleven Universities forming the KreativEU consortium agreed to the common goal of establishing a fully European University, that places the creative potential derived from Europe’s cultural heritage at the heart of its teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities. Committing to a long-term institutional, structural and strategic cooperation the partners will jointly implement an ambitious yet inclusive vision for transforming the study of culture, identity, memory and heritage for the benefit of society. Building upon this strong foundation, KreativEU will provide innovative concepts, methods, and solutions to address both current and future challenges, contributing to a sustainable and harmonious future for communities and the environment alike. KreativEU recognizes the inseparable interconnection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as the interwoven nature of local and national traditions, crafts, cultural practices, and folklore. The alliance is dedicated to formulating cutting-edge educational and research programmes that reevaluate these elements and their associated ecological surroundings, the lived environment, especially in the context of the digital age. This ecocultural vision serves as the foundational principle guiding KreativEU's efforts, ensuring that a new generation of EU citizens working together across cultures, borders, languages, sectors and disciplines will be educated. Students from the KreativEU are expected to be leaders of change and enablers of societal transformation.To reach this vision, the KreativEU Alliance will work towards the completion of 8 work packages (WP1 - Governance and Management; WP2 - KreativEU Education; WP3 - KreativEU Research; WP4 - KreativEU Culture with and for society; WP5 - KreativEU Knowledge-creation and design network on Smart Sustainability WP6 - KreativEU Heritage European campus; WP7 - KreativEU Mobility; WP8 - Communication and Dissemination).Collaborative partners:Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Escola Superior de Gestão de Tomar, D.A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Johoceska Univerzita V Ceskych Budejovicich, Universita Degli Studi di Camerino, Universitaet Greifswald, Pilitechnika Opolska, Universitatae Valahia Targoviste, Trnavska Univerzita V Trnave, Sodestorns Hogskola, Adana Alparslan Turkes Bilim VE Teknoloji University
My research investigates the concept of permacomputing, a blend of the words permaculture and computing, as a potential field of convergence of technology, arts, environmental research and activism, and as a subject of future school curricula in art and design. This concept originated in online subcultures, and is currently restricted to creative coding communities. I study in what way permacomputing principles may be used to redefine how art and design education is taught. More generally, I want to research the potential of permacomputing as a critical, sustainable, and practical alternative to the way digital technology is being taught in art education, where students mostly rely on tools and techniques geared towards maximising productivity and mass consumption. This situation is at odds with goals for sustainable production and consumption. I want to research to what degree the concept of permacomputing can be broadened and applied to critically revised, sustainable ways of making computing part of art and design education and professional practice. This research will be embedded in the design curriculum of Willem de Kooning Academy, focused on redefining the role of artists and designers to contribute to future modes of sustainable organisation and production. It is aligned with Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences sectorplan masters VH, in particular managing and directing sustainable transitions. This research builds upon twenty years of experience in the creative industries. It is an attempt to generalise, consolidate, and structure methods and practices for sustainable art and design production experimented with while I was course director of a master programme at WdKA. Throughout the research I will be exchanging with peers and confirmed interested parties, a.o.: Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL), RUAS Creating 010 kenniscentrum (NL), Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (NO), Mikrolabs (NO), Varia (NL), Media Arts department at RHU (UK), Media Studies at UvA (NL).
phōnē – Giving Minority Languages a Voice is a project application to safeguards and promotes cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe. We will connect people who belong to a language minority in their countries with European values across language and cultural borders. 10 institutions will cooperate for the first time, breaking new ground for the RML theatre sector and improving their standing nationallyand internationally. phōnē will be the first ever major international collaboration between theatres working for minority languages.“Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory and values. They are an essential component of our identities, and a building block of our diversity and living heritage.”The loss of a language means not only the loss of a basic element of communication, but also of a complete system of knowledge developed over time. The disappearance of a language also means the loss of a unique, unrecoverable universe associated with a particular environment. It means the loss of diversity.Phōnē wants to make an active contribution to the vitalisation of endangered minority languages. In order to keep endangered languages alive, theatre is one of the most suitable media because it provides a space for language, but also because it uses non-language-based forms of communication. In this way, theatre in particular makes it easier for people who do not yet have a confident knowledge of theminority language to get started. This will safeguard cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe. Strengthening the cultures and their languages will also strengthen the economic basis of the theatres working in these minority languages.phōnē is aiming for three main objectives to strengthen theatre in its role of vitalising endangered minority languages.A – Giving Minority Languages a voiceTogether we will search for narratives that tell about the people in their minority language region. Thestories are about and from people who live and work in remote regions of Europe and are written anddeveloped in the respective minority language.B – Giving Minority Languages a European stageThe developed texts need a stage to reach the widest possible audience. As different as the expectednarratives will be, so different will be the stages (outreach / site-specific / digital) on which they are presented.Different formats support the goal of addressing the broadest possible audience in the communitiesand involving them both passively and actively in the use of their minority language.
