Nikki Veszpremi - Special Education Consultant @ Epic Arts
Interview, Thoughts and Comments
How would you describe inclusive arts?
I would describe inclusive arts as access to a
creative world despite diversities, disadvantages and differences. Having the
opportunity to be expressive and a place where individual creativity is valued.
We are all creative people and inclusive arts enables everyone to express their
creative ideas and to have these ideas accepted. Inclusive arts also enables us
to see the world through another persons eyes and to learn from them and
understand them more. For example one of the students I work with has Downs
Syndrome and he produces very unique artwork, often using blocks and squares in
his drawings. Having seen work by other artists with Downs Syndrome, I see a
similarity in their work and it makes me wondered if this is how they do see
the world, it give me an insight in to what it might be like to be like him.
What do you think are the things that you do or think that make
successful inclusive arts happen at Epic Arts?.... Can you give me an example?
Personally I really value creativity and
working in the Special Education Project, I like to see the students have the
opportunity to be children and to explore their own creativity as this comes
naturally to them. We use creativity and the arts as a way for the students to
learn and explore at a level in which they can all develop. We constantly try
to find new ways to encourage the children to be expressive and to experiment
through the arts. We use the arts and creativity very much as a learning tool
in the project and it features in the way we teach all things, even literacy
and numeracy.
One thing that I do find different working in
inclusive arts in Cambodia from the UK, is that the arts is seen as one thing,
it's is very prescribed and there are very clear 'right and wrong' ways of
doing different art forms. When working with children with learning
difficulties, they may not do things in the 'traditional' way and then this is
just seen as wrong. I had to educate my team a lot at first about how to allow
the children the freedom to express and create and it didn't matter if it
didn't fit with the example or the ‘normal’ way of doing something, I had to
encourage the staff to celebrate the diversity and the individual creativity of
each student.
Because of the very prescribed way in which
the arts works in Cambodia, it's difficult for people to accept things that are
'out of the box'. If you can paint a 'traditional' painting of Angkor Watt in a
set way, you are a good artist, if you can dance a 'traditional' dance in a set
way you are a good dancer. There is no deviating from this set artistic
framework and if you do then it's not 'good' or 'right' art. This attitude and
understanding of the arts in the country has probably been the biggest
challenge I have faced and helping the staff I work with to accept the
individual creativity of each student has been difficult, but they understand
it now and are embracing all the ideas the students come up with.
I feel my attitude towards inclusive arts is
that arts is for everyone and that each person has a right to be creative and
been seen as a creative person. Working with the students in the Special
Education Project I find that working out what their individual interests are
is very important, I need to know what they like and don't like and what things
they get excited about. Knowledge about my students is invaluable, I need to
know what they like, what they need, whether they like to listen to music or
draw certain things; and then I can encourage them creatively. I must also be
aware of my reactions, my facial expressions and body language and not let them
seem negative or critical. I can offer advice and support and positive
feedback, but I am very aware that a facial expression or a simple comment can
feel like negative criticism of an individual’s creativity, which can have a
huge affect on a person.
What do you think other people need to do
or think to make successful inclusive arts happen?
I think overall, people working in inclusive arts need
to have a positive and enthusiastic outlook and a sense of acceptance of
people. There needs to be an understanding of human expression and the value of
each person’s unique creativity. An understanding and an acceptance of people
as humans beings regardless of diversity, followed by being adaptable and
flexible outlook, enables successful inclusive arts. I think particularly in
terms of the arts, it's important for people to be able to take what they see
as art and then allow that to be changed or altered according to the person you
are working with, art is many things and does not have to have boundaries. The
beauty of inclusive arts is that it can teach us so much about what it means to
be human and have human expression and about each different human perspective of
the world from which we can then learn and grow and develop.
I see examples of acceptance, adaptability and flexibility on a regular
basis at Epic Arts. It's interesting being based in Cambodia as there is such
little understanding of diversity, disability and being different, it's not
celebrated, being the same is the norm and people are fearful of differences,
but at Epic there is space for individuality through creativity and difference
is celebrated. This attitude pushes prejudice aside on a daily basis, whether
it is a dance performance, an art lesson or people in the office, the
understanding and acceptance of people as individuals is clear.
There is also an importance put on teamwork and how people’s strengths
can be combined to achieve something beneficial to everyone at Epic Arts. Staff
and students are aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses and most
importantly accept these and see how each strength can benefit the team. There
is also a tremendous amount of respect between people at Epic Arts, even if
people don't understand exactly what each other is doing, or trying to achieve,
there is respect for everyone's contribution to the main aims of the
organisation.
Have you ever experienced this yourself
and can you give me an example?
Within the Special Education Project, we try to give
the students as many different experiences as we possibly can. I believe it is
so important to give people a range of experiences regardless of ability and
that people shouldn't be fearful of doing this. We have done boat trips and
cinema visits with the students, which have had their challenges due to nature
of things in Cambodia and the very restricted access to places. But that is
also the joy of it, that here you can just give things a try without having to
fill in a million risk assessment forms. I think it's important for my team to
have the attitude that they will give it a try, as the students experience is
so important and if we can make something happen for them with a little bit of
rethinking then we should.
What is great about doing trips or when our students
do work experience outside of the centre, is that they are out in the community
doing things and people can see it and have a clearer understanding of what
people with disabilities can do, which is a major point here in Cambodia.
What do you think people do or think that
can stop successful inclusive arts from happening?
A negative attitude to an activity can prevent people from benefiting from
it and then because they are not open to the activity they miss out on the
experience. If this attitude is coming from the participants themselves, this
takes all the skills of the activity facilitators to encourage and attempt to
take away fears or worries and enable the participant to engage in the
activity.
I think a belief that people cannot do something before they even try stops
inclusive arts in its tracks, the attitude of just trying something first and
attempting to work out a solution is the most important thing in inclusive arts
practise. Also that any work that is created is valued and shared, whether this
is for a public audience, for a parent or even just between peers; sharing,
showing and bringing value to someone’s creative output is key to inclusive
arts practise.
This idea of sharing creative work is a major element of what we do in the
Special Education Project. It's so important that students are able to share
what they have done with their parents and at the end of each term we invite
parents to come and see work displayed or watch a performance that has been
created by the students. Parents are able to see what their child can do, which
again here in Cambodia is so important as many parents believe their child just
can not do anything and does not have a value in society because they have a
disability. The sharing of creative work is as much about educating their
parents of the student’s capability as it is celebrating the student’s success.
Have you, yourself, ever experienced any
of the things you say can stop successful inclusive arts from happening?
In the past working in the UK I have come across many
incidents where someone has been excluded because of a disability and
unfortunately arts in schools seems to be an area that is particularly bad for
this. I have worked with a number of students with a physical disability or a
visual or hearing impairment who are integrated in to mainstream school and
when it has come to working within an arts department I have experienced
teachers saying there is no point in a student doing an art class because they
can't see, or there is no point in doing music as they can't hear, or there is
no point in them joining dance because they are in a wheelchair. I found this
very frustrating, but I also understand that teachers have so much to think
about and all the individual needs of students need to be met.
When I was in the UK, I had to fight on a number of
occasions for a student I worked with to be able to participant in the arts at
his school and with some very small changes and adaptations this was able to
happen and the student was able to be creative in the same way as any of his
peers. This
was an example of making a decision about what someone can or can't do before
something has been tried or the person themselves has been spoken too. Making
these decisions and assumptions creates exclusion in the arts. For many of
these students (students with disabilities) having time to join an arts based
class in school is the only chance they get to be creative and expressive and
it gives them a platform to talk about how they are feeling. Saying they can't
join can add to them feeling more isolated and excluded and overall not valued.
What I think what is important about arts being
inclusive and people with a mixture of abilities and backgrounds joining
together, is that they can make a physical product of their creative partnership,
whether this is a performance, a piece of music or a picture, they can physical
show how the partnership and interaction has worked. Through this it is easy to
see the result of the inclusive creative process and what interactions have
taken place. The arts can be a way of showing how inclusion can work and how
people can learn from each other by creating something unique that can be
shared with others.
You say people should not make
assumptions of what people can and cannot do when exploring inclusive arts. Have
you ever seen that happening at Epic Arts or outside of Epic Arts?.... Can you
give me an example?
I find Epic Arts to be the most inclusive place I have ever worked. I
like the way that inclusion and art combine together. I think that the beauty
of the arts is that it doesn't need to be focused on the person who creates it;
it is about the art itself. If someone has a disability or doesn't, it does not
make someone's creative output more or less important. What is very clear at
Epic Arts is that people value each persons creativity equally, just because
someone has a disability doesn't mean their work is better or should receive
special credit or attention because the person who made it is 'disabled'. The arts
provide an equal meeting point for everyone and the focus becomes the
individual creativity of each person and the issue of disability moves to the
background.
At Epic Arts there is the idea of inclusion in many areas, whether it's
in the Inclusive Arts Course, in the office or in the Special Education Project
with our inclusive class that enables those students who are excluded from
local schools due to never having access to education. It's not inclusion that
is restricted to 'disabled and non-disabled' there is a notion of overall
inclusion of all people at Epic Arts. The benefits of this are huge and the key
element is an overall appreciation of human beings and individual people. There
is an understanding that all people have their strengths and weaknesses and
they come in a variety of forms, our goal is to accept these strengths and
weaknesses and adapt to them. I think this notion of inclusion at Epic is seen
in its most honest form in the humour within in the organisation. There is a
great sense of fun and a lot of light-hearted banter and even this is equal,
there may be jokes about someone wearing glasses, or the colour of their hair
or their disability; everyone can be joked about in a fun way, there is no fear
of being politically incorrect – everyone is included - everyone is fair game!
…………………………………………….
What
has this told me about the inclusive arts practice within this activity at Epic
Arts? What are the key themes?
Individual Creativity
Nikki
introduces the idea of individual creativity at the start of her interview, stating
that in inclusive arts it’s important that each person’s individual creativity
is valued. She also talks about the individual creativity of each of her
student and how she enjoys seeing them explore creative ideas with freedom.
Nikki also discusses how in Cambodia people have a set way of doing art and
that there is a right and a wrong way. She had to educate her staff to see the
value of each persons creative expression and move them away from the idea of
right and wrong and towards to idea of individual creative expression and the value
of this
Knowledge
Nikki talks about
how she finds through artwork created by her students that she gets an insight
in to their world, and hopes to understand a little more about them and their
view of the world. She believes that other people’s creative expression can
give us more knowledge about them. She also explains that the way in which she
works with the children encourages them to gain knowledge through the arts in
areas such as literacy and numeracy. She also says that she needs to have a
good knowledge of her students, know what interests them and what they like to
do the most. In finding out more about the individual she can work out how to
encourage and include them more.
Body Language
Nikki notes
that when working she must be aware of her body language and facial
expressions. She says she can be saying all the right things to promote
inclusion and inclusive arts, but if her body and facial expressions do not
convey this, people can feel as though they are not accepted.
We are Human
Nikki says that
to make inclusive arts successful, we must strive for an understanding an
acceptance of human expression and accept people as human beings regardless of
diversity. She says that through art we can learn about what it means to be
human and what each human’s perspective is of the world
Adaptability
Nikki lists adaptability
and flexibility in the attitudes she feels are needed for successful inclusive arts
practice. She discusses this in terms of activities, but also in our own idea
of art and the way we view art; this to needs to be adaptable and flexible too
in order to accommodate everyone’s creative expression
Disability in Cambodia
Nikki notes the
difference in Cambodia compared to other places she has worked by raising the
issue of diversity and disability. See says that in Cambodia, being the same as
everyone else is what everyone strives for, people do not want to be different.
Epic Arts is trying to change this attitude by celebrating and encouraging
diversity and difference in all areas, not just disability. She touches on
disability in Cambodia too when she explains how important it is for parents of
her students to see what their child can do. She feels that in Cambodia the
Special Education Project is educating the parents and the community as much as
educating the children.
Teamwork
Nikki says that
teamwork is a key element of the work at Epic Arts and that there is an
understanding of people’s strengths and how these can be combined to make a
successful team with a common goal. She says this is evident in all areas of
work within Epic Arts
A ‘Can Do’ Attitude
Nikki promotes
the ‘I can do it’ attitude with her staff and students and despite difficulties
with access in Cambodia; she encourages everyone to make it work so that
students can have different experiences and adventures
Share
Nikki explains
the added benefits of the students taking trips outside of the center and them
also doing work experience at local businesses. She says that because the
students are out in the community working or joining an activity, they are
sharing with everyone what they can do. Nikki mentions the importance of sharing
artwork created by the students to give the work value. This can be sharing
work with their parents, their peers or an audience.
See Ability
Nikki sees that
one of the main things that can stop inclusive arts practice is deciding that
someone cannot do something before they have even been given the opportunity to
try. She encourages people to just try something first and to work out a way of
doing it rather than saying that someone just cannot do something. Nikki gives
an example of this happening in her past as well, when a student she worked
with was told he could not do anything in the arts department at school. She
says that often by making decisions for people of what they can and cannot do,
this can isolate them further.
Creative Interaction Cycle
Nikki talks
about how she sees that art created in an inclusive setting can be a physical
representation of the creative process and interactions that have been experienced.
There is something that can be seen, heard or touched that is a physical
product of a creative interaction cycle between a group of people.
Equal
Nikki explains
how she sees that the arts can be an equal meeting point for people and that in
viewing art created by disabled and non-disable people there should be equal
value placed on what is created.
Humor
Nikki says that she sees
the idea of inclusive working in all aspects of the work at Epic Arts, but that
it is most evident in people’s humor. Jokes and what is joked about is equal
and inclusive, no one is left out of this and there is no feeling of not being
able to laugh and joke about people because of a disabili
No comments:
Post a Comment