Mannum Community College
Mannum Community College is located in the Mid Murray region of South Australia. With an enrolment of 352, the student body includes students from various cultural and linguistic groups including Aboriginal and Anglo-Saxon. Mannum Community College is an R-12 School, that was recently formed by the amalgamation of Mannum Primary & Mannum High School, in January of 2006.
In addition to the renovation of the school’s buildings, landscaping and equipment, there was also time invested into reviewing and reflecting the school’s practices and values. The school policies were modified so as to reflect the R-12 students and a set of school values were developed for everyone to use. The school values, based on the acrostic RIVER are: Respect, Integrity, Vitality, Excellence, Responsibility. These values formed the focus for the school’s AIS project.
PROJECT COORDINATOR: Mikelle Miegel
ARTIST: Bob Daly & Kalyna Micenko
PROJECT: RIVER arts
Aims:
The aims of the RIVER arts project were to celebrate the success of the school’s recent amalgamation and to showcase the school’s values to the community through a whole-school community celebration. The project sought to provide students with access to quality arts experiences and the opportunity to interact and collaborate with professional working artists over an intensive two-week project period. Working with artists Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko, the students would have the opportunity to participate in visual art workshops and to showcase their work to the Mannum community at their own RIVER arts celebration event.
The RIVER arts project sought to:
- Create a positive climate for the school’s future together as an amalgamated site
- Establish the arts as a vital tool for successful learning in all areas across the curriculum
- Provide students will have the opportunity to celebrate themselves and their peers as artists and learners
The Artists:
Artists, Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko of SpinFX Australia, were the joint recipients of the 2005 Education and Arts Ministers’ Awards for artists with demonstrated success in working with teachers and students in department schools. Both Bob and Kalyna have significant experience working on large-scale community projects across a range of visual arts genres including murals, fire events, sculptures, parades and puppetry. With their breadth of experience and love for regional SA communities, Bob and Kalyna were selected to help pull together the school’s RIVER arts celebration.
The Process:
In its initial stages, staff worked to familiarise students with the school’s values. Bob and Kalyna then led students and staff through the initial concept design stages through to a series of hands-on creative workshops. During the workshop process students worked in collaboration with one another, and the middle school students were buddied with Junior Primary students to create:
- Yrs R/1 River fish lanterns
- Yrs 2/3 Costumes & bird puppet armatures
- Yrs 4/5 Emu costumes
- Yrs 6 Shadow puppets
- Yrs 7/8 Ute frames & fire picture structures
- Yrs 9/10 Large lantern structures, decorating lanterns and costumes
The groups then worked to workshop and rehearse performance pieces including:
- Yrs R-3 Movement
- Yrs 3/4 Eagle, Magpie, Crow Dramatisations with large puppets
- Yrs 4/5 Emu Hustle Performance
- Yrs 6 Shadow Puppet Play & Earth Amoeba Performance
- Yrs 7/8 Construction of Fire Pictures
- Yrs 9/10 Lantern Parade
In addition, the Year 12 School Captains and a junior primary student worked together to script and rehearse a performance piece titled River Rat. Band rehearsals were also conducted for the recording of the school’s RIVER value song and a group of Aboriginal students rehearsed their story telling, didgeridoo playing and Indigenous welcome for the event opening.
Outcomes:
Over a period of two weeks, students worked with Bob and Kalyna to develop, create, prepare and perform a visual extravaganza. Students’ created five large lanterns showing the value letters of RIVER, these were paraded at the beginning of the performance and later attached to tinnies, illuminated, and floated on the river at the end of the event. The performance provided students with opportunities to be involved in a range of scenes.The project provided our students with an opportunity to participate in an exceptional arts experience.
The students appreciated themselves and their peers as artists, performers and learners, and developed new and existing skills in the arts and in other areas including: values; Asian cultures and perspectives; and mathematics. This project generated a high level of student engagement and excitement and provided opportunities for integration with other school programs – including the school band.
Through their work with the artists, students continued to develop their understanding of the place of arts within our society and the place and the role of the artist. This project also successfully increased the staff’s awareness of the depth of the arts within the school curriculum and encouraged the involvement of the broader community.
Highlights:
One of the project highlights was the way that students, parents and the broader community embraced this project. The RIVER arts performance provided a vehicle for students to celebrate their achievements with their peers and their community and was embraced with great enthusiasm by all.
One of the most memorable moments from the performance was the event’s dramatic conclusion as the Year 7/8 students entered with large fire torches and lit the bottom of the shadow puppet screen revealing three large fire pictures and the illuminated R.I.V.E.R lanterns, floating on the river.
‘It was a great idea to have the artists come, it was a spectacular event and probably one of the best things Mannum has had for years. Thankyou for making the RIVER launch happen.’ Students
‘The students were involved in the design, fabrication and presentation of puppets, costumes, props and fire effects. They loved every minute of it’ Artists
‘To be involved in the process was a highlight for our school but the event was a highlight for us and the wider community’ Project Coordinator
310 students were involved in this project.
