Young People and the Arts Australia
ASSITEJ Australia
YPAA is the Australian peak body for practitioners who engage children and young people in the Arts.
Our mission:
Young People and the Arts Australia (YPAA) broadly represents, adventurously activates and sustainably develops professional arts and cultural practice with children and young people through high quality nationwide services to practitioners and organisations.
Our vision:
YPAA is internationally positioned as a portal to Australian arts and cultural practice
YPAA is relevant to and effective for our strong and sustained membership
YPAA is a strategic cultural enterprise, with secured funding streams
YPAA is chief advocate for arts practitioners working with children and young people
YPAA advocates for children and young people’s right to arts and cultural experience
2009 program update
Professional Development Forum: PLANNING SAFER PROJECTS
Fri 31 July, Perth WA
Application form here
Planning Safer Projects is a half day forum devoted to exploring the risks and unpredictability associated with engaging children and young people in the arts. It will address State and National protocols and laws that artists and arts workers have to work with.
The speakers will focus on diverse arts and cultural practice that is for and with children, young people, their families and communities. The forum will cover 3 broad themes of philosophical values and principles, physical spaces and technological ideas and responses.
This forum is designed to instigate conversation between emerging and established practitioners, sharing strategies to plan for safer projects. With safety and risk taking being an ever present imperative in the arts, it is important to keep updating our knowledge of this field and learning from each other.
Speakers:
Simon Spain: Creative Producer, ArtPlay & Signal, The City of Melbourne
Sam Fox: Director, Hydra Poesis
Jane Ardern: Manager Education & Information Services WorkSafe, Dept of Commerce
Sonja Basic: General Manager, Propel Youth Arts
All participants are invited to book an optional meeting time with any of our speakers, to ask specific questions or get more information about certain topics, or share project ideas. Please book this meeting when you return the application form with payment.
Cost:
YPAA Members: $30, $15 conc
Non-Members: $40, $20 conc
RSVP with payment by Fri 24 July
YPAA 2008 Annual Report
Please download from both these two links to view the complete 2008 YPAA Annual Report:
YPAA Report (pages 1-12)
YPAA Report (pages 13-36)
Calling for expressions of interest:
Blueprint Groups…
What is a Blueprint Group? These are networks of arts practitioners who work with children and young people, in a range of ways who live and work across Australia. These groups of practitioners function like a “community of practice” who will meet either electronically, face to face or via the phone up to 4 times a year to participate in lively curated conversations.
Some definitions of a community of practice:
“The concept of a community of practice refers to the process of social learning that occurs and shared sociocultural practices that emerge and evolve when people who have common goals interact as they strive towards those goals.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice
“A loosely coupled group of practitioners who work and learn together around a certain broad topic over an extended period of time.”
www.flexiblelearning.net.au/aboutus/jargonbuster.htm
“According to Etienne Wenger “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”
https://www.ehealthontario.ca/portal/server.pt
After ASSITEJ 16th World Congress and Festival in Adelaide in 2008 many practitioners were really interesting in making more time to connect on an intellectually and practical level with like minded practitioners. They were asking YPAA to facilitate the meeting of these arts workers across state and territory boundaries and provide a framework for exploring practice and evolving areas of our practice.
The term Blueprint refers to the “plan” or the map that practitioners can develop as to how these practice areas might grow, change and morph into the future. For example performance for babies and very young children was a major discussion point during the Festival, for some it was exciting and very new, for others their daily practice. There are several practitioners working with this age group of children and developing exciting and innovative programs. A Blueprint Group could bring these practitioners together to share knowledge and experiences and provide an environment for learning and mapping how this area of arts practice will evolve.
The 5 groups identified by YPAA as areas of practice include:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practitioners
• Arts practitioners working cross culturally
• Artistic Directors and General Managers working with and for children and young people
• Emerging arts practitioners in Youth Arts – referred to as the “next generation”
• Performance for the very young
If you are interested in joining one of these groups, please email Lenine at info@ypaa.net, identifying one or more of the groups that most interest you and a brief biography, explaining your area of practice. Expressions of Interest close on 15 June 09 (extended date). Feel free to contact the YPAA office to ask more questions about this process and the requirements of participation.
