stretching elasticity

In his lecture/ paper Bart van Rosmalen explores new artistic driven approaches on professional development of teachers in higher arts education. He builds his practical proposals on his recently published PhD: The Return of the Muses, Public Values in Professional Practices (2016). Van Rosmalen introduces the concept of three voices that can help professionals in higher arts education stretching elasticity in their work in the context of permanent change: the voice of the practice, the voice of inquiry and the voice of the artist. Making is the central word here that comes back in different qualities.

Stretching Elasticity

A three voices professional perspective for teaching artists in higher arts education

How is the teaching artist in higher art education going to respond in his work to the themes of the conference: curiosity, hybridity, research and social change? This challenge goes far beyond learning a few new skills, far beyond following a professional course. The mentioned innovation in higher arts education asks for a profound and transformational change driven by the key-players of the arts-educational process themselves: the teaching artists.

Curiosity

With the Voice of the Artist I deepen the understanding of the notion curiosity. How does curiosity originate, when and how does it start to flame and how does it become sustainable? I will explore the fundamental freedom of the artistic voice, the potential to be independent and autonomous in contributing to who we are and what we share through making. I will explore the notion of curiosity as bridging between the desire tot create and the desire to learn.

Hybridity

The Voice of the Practice focuses on making connections, on making together in co-creation and collaboration going right through or passing beyond boundaries of disciplines. What can this voice of the practice mean in relation to the issue of hybridity? What can it do in the growing dynamics of diversity between people? What ways of working together fit the concept of hybridity? I will deepen the idea of co-creation literally as making-together as well in conversational forms as in giving more attention to using materials and physicality in how we work. From here I relate to the strong and upcoming demand for boundary crossing between disciplines and practices and will do suggestions for building a new repertoire of working

Research

With the Voice of Inquiry I unfold a making approach to research fitting the regular and normal practices of teachers in higher arts education. Real pearls of practical and often tacit knowledge are to be found in what the teachers do when they actually teach. The Voice of Inquiry stimulates to open up educational practices and make ways of working visible towards each other. This goes together with a simple and effective methodology of ‘stepping in instead of stepping out’, ‘the principle of collecting’, ‘making reflection of practical experiences’ and ‘attention for the person of the maker’.

Social change

In my conclusion I will bridge the empowerment of these three voices with increasing outreach to society and social change. New forms of collaboration and elasticity in the interplay with an audience and partners in different contexts are enabled through working with the three voices inside out.

Bart van Rosmalen