Today we grappled with difficult questions. But after breakfast of course, not straight away.
Breakfast was a relatively modest affair. The conference centre clearly caters for a lot of diverse people, as foods with lactose, gluten, and nuts were all clearly labelled. As was anything to do with pork. Lactose free milk and cheese is not something you necessarily expect to see at your average conference breakfast table, but it seemed to be acceptable to those who like a bit of cheddar and bread first thing.
Then down to work. We first of all had to consider what kinds of structural arrangements would make for strong arts and cultural education. Did we have any concrete suggestions for ways in which arts and cultural education could be supported? My group first of all had to talk about national curriculums, or lack thereof, and the various ways in which arts and cultural education appeared in a range of European countries. Ben from Amsterdam told us about the autonomy that schools and teachers have to design their own curriculum. Lotte from Sweden told us that there was nothing called cultural education in her country, but there was something called children’s culture. We found out that the Danish government has just instituted a scheme where young people aged from 15-25 can apply for grants of up to 1500 euros for projects they want to do, rather than participate in programmes someone else has designed for them. All very interesting. In the end I think we agreed that it was pretty hard to think of single or simple structural arrangements to support arts and cultures education, and perhaps the notion of a menu of structures might be more appropriate.
Lunch. A huge amount of salad in the dining area, open to the day’s sun.
The afternoon saw a walk to a mountain hut with coffee and cake, and everyone making a personal commitment to do something to advance arts and cultural education in their country. This was followed by another discussion group, this time about the vexed question of Europe.
Was there “a” Europe? Did it have a common set of values? What were its current challenges? What might arts and cultural education have to offer? If the arts created empathy did that mean we were to be empathetic with the extreme, anti refugee right wing? If there was a European identity, how come noone felt they had one? There was little agreement at my table, with the conversation starting with whether we meant the European Union, or Europe more generally. This was followed by lengthy debates about what the arts could do, whether it was instrumental to expect the arts to “do” anything at all, and whether these were world issues rather than simply those of Europe.
Then dinner. Another table groaning with salad and vegetables. Beer for some, water for the rest of us.
Finally the evening finished off with posters from participants showing some of the work being done across the continent. I attempted to show a video but could only get it to work streaming from on my iPad. Tiny screen, a token display indeed.
As I write this before going to bed, it’s begun to rain. The clock sounds 10pm and I’m off to my monastic single bed.
patter 
Pat,
I follow your blog ‘patter’. Today, I felt so sad at my thoughts prompted by today’s post illustrating such a contrast between the liberating vistas hinted at in European curricula compared with the narrow, centrally driven, mechanistic and utilitarian preoccupations of our own educational culture. Very sad. I look forward to hearing more in your final summary…
Michael Strain
Sent from my iPhone
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I don’t think ‘fussy people’ works as a description of (a) those with allergies – in some cases, life threatening – or (b) Muslims and Jews.
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Yes I’ve removed it Anthony. I’m actually one of those people. Self deprecating Oz statements don’t translate, hasty blogging. Mea culpa.
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🙂
I guess that’s a risk of blogging – doesn’t always have the gestation period and editorial controls of other forms!
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Why is it difficult to think about the European identity? Aren’t democracy, political rights, equality, freedom of speech all a core part of that? The other countries in the world that have these same values drew them from here, not the other way round!
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Yes this view was expressed. Counter views focused on histories of nationalisms and totalitarianism, stateless groups, and current realities within several countries.
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Love that youth-led grants are in place in Denmark. Yay!
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