A Different Kind of Partnership

Cultural Institutions and Schools: Working Together

At the UNESCO World Conference  in Seoul¹ at the end of May 2010, the significance of cultural education as a basis for learning and research was re-evaluated. Some 2000 cultural and education experts identified strategies that tended to open up better opportunities for personal development through cultural education.

KKA contributed to the discussion with its experiences in intensified cooperation between cultural institutions and schools. According to Barbara Neundlinger, Head of Arts + Cultural Education, KKA is part of a trend in this respect: cultural education in the school context is not sufficient; youth centres, museums, adult education facilities and other institutions also have to contribute.

Against this backdrop, cultural and educational institutions as well as political decision-makers face the challenge of facilitating cultural participation for all segments of the population. The focus here is on children and young people, for whom access to so-called high culture is not a matter of course.
Experience has shown that cooperation between cultural institutions and schools is highly beneficial in this respect. Trend-setting examples are, for instance, the Berlin initiative “Patenschaften Künste & Schule” or the KKA programme “p[ART] – Partnerschaften zwischen Schulen und Kultureinrichtungen”² , both of which are devoted to the support of partnerships between cultural institutions and schools. In each case, a school and a cultural institution engage in cooperation over a period of several years – an undertaking which, since it is time-consuming and involves two very different institutions, is not always a friction-free process. However, the positive aspects predominate: The cultural institutions experience the schools and their problems, become familiar with the interests of the pupils, and are able to draw conclusions about how to approach young people in order to acquire them as audiences in the long term. The schools – and thus the pupils – are not presented with a prepared programme, but are expected to actively seek exchange. They are thus given the opportunity to shape the cooperation according to their own interests and obtain insights into real processes of work and production in their chosen institution.
In Austria, numerous other projects aimed at facilitating access to cultural activities have also been carried out. One of these is – in the context of the introduction of free admission to Federal Museums for children and young people – the initiative “Cultural Education with Schools at Federal Museums 2010”³ , which supports, above all, projects that are attractive to culturally disadvantaged pupils. Moreover, the diverse projects being carried out in cooperation with artists in schools on a daily basis pursue similar objectives: all of them are aimed at awakening the interest of children and young people in the manifold possibilities of cultural life and encouraging them to participate actively in cultural processes.
/KKA Editorial Staff

 ¹ At the UNESCO World Conference in Seoul in May 2010, KKA conducted the workshop “Participatory Arts Projects at Schools in Austria”. www.unesco.org/culture/en/artseducation 
² Vera Popper, Christiane Spiel: “Evaluationsbericht p[art] – Partnerschaften zwischen Schulen und Kultureinrichtungen. Juni 2010.” An evaluation report on partnerships between schools and cultural institutions, available in German only. May be ordered free of charge from KKA or downloaded at: www.kulturkontakt.or.at/part
p[ART] has already supported 23 partnerships.
³ “Kulturvermittlung mit Schulen in Bundesmuseen 2010” (Cultural Education with Schools at Federal Museums 2010): The initiative supports museums in fulfilling their educational mission, particularly with respect to school classes, which until now have taken little advantage of the possibilities offered. KKA developed and coordinated the initiative on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture. 31 individual projects are being supported at all Austrian Federal Museums in 2010. www.kulturkontakt.or.at/bundesmuseen