Art Teachers from across New Zealand will experience Whanganui’s hospitality when they attend the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educator’s (ANZAAE) 2017 Conference.
The conference is being hosted by UCOL at the Matapihi ki te Ao campus on Rutland Street 18th- 20th July 2017.
The ANZAAE conference is a three day, biennial event which welcomes teachers, researches and artists from the education sector. This year’s theme ‘Me hoki whakamuri, kia ahu whakamua, ka neke - Looking Back, Moving Forward, Looking Back, Moving Forward’ focuses on the significant drive towards digital media and moving imagery, whilst still maintaining a connection to time honoured traditions.
President of ANZAAE, Lee Devenish believes this conference is extremely beneficial as it allows Art teachers to come together as one to share their ideas and best practice;
“The ANZAAE Art Education Conference brings together the very best art teachers from around the country to share best practice. In a world where jobs are increasingly becoming automated, it is the creative human skills that will be most valuable in the future world of work. For this reason alone, all students should be nurturing their creative selves, and we believe that the Visual Arts is a natural place to do this"
The 2017 conference has a wide variety of speakers from across disciplines and across the education sector along with a number of workshops delegates can attend.
Whanganui UCOL Campus Manager Bronwyn Paul said that UCOL’s strong creative programmes backed up by passionate students and teachers, technology and purpose built facilities, makes the campus the perfect place to showcase arts and design education at a tertiary level. “To have over 100 art teachers here from around the country is an honour. This conference has been two years in the planning and we are looking forward to hosting it.”
Art & Design Professor at AUT, Dr Welby Ings, one of this year’s keynote speakers, is looking forward to giving a presentation on ‘The Power of Viruses: Teaching as productive subversion.’
“I believe that instead of micro managing the style and volume of students’ productivity, subversive approaches to learning adopted by certain Art teachers, are in fact what enable students to attain high levels of success in tertiary education. At conferences like this we often gain strength from each other because we can stand back and reassess what it means to develop artistic thinking in a nation of learners.”
Welby has written and spoken extensively on Art & Design education, learning and the power of disobedient thought. In March of this year Otago University Press published his critically acclaimed book Disobedient Teaching.
To register to go to this event please visit ANZAAE online - http://www.anzaae2017.co.nz/
“Creativity is Contagious - pass it on” Albert Einstein.