Half a million dollars to encourage creativity in our schools

A total of $527,395 in funding from the Creativity for Schools program will be given to schools, arts organisations and individual artists who submitted applications in 2 categories: collaboration and residency.

The collaboration category awards up to $60,000 to projects and/or programs designed to connect Western Australian arts organisations and creative practitioners with schools. The residency category awards up to $20,000 to projects involving artists in residence in school environments, with activity covering about 25 days of engagement per school.

The Creativity for Schools program brings together schools and artists in our community to use creativity and practical learning experiences across the Western Australian curriculum to provide students with tools that they can apply to other areas of their learning.

There were 14 successful applicants in the April 2023 round of funding — 8 in the collaboration category and 6 in the residency category. The projects encompass a variety of arts processes including; music, sculpture, art, animation, writing, Aboriginal language and culture and puppetry to engage students across their curricular learning. 

The Creativity for Schools funding is designed to stimulate students’ critical and creative thinking as they engage in culture and arts projects and, at the same time, develop skills that they can apply to other areas of their learning. The program is also a way of sowing the seeds for the growth of the arts and creative industries in Western Australia, by inspiring young people to discover and develop their creative potential. It provides an opportunity for them to learn from seasoned professionals through creative projects and helps them realise how it can improve their critical thinking skills and general wellbeing.

Students of all ages, from kindergarten through to Year 12, will benefit greatly from this valuable funding towards their creative learning and critical thinking.

Successful applicants

Successful applicants for Creativity for Schools program — collaboration category:

• Australian Baroque Ltd — Contemplate, Create and Animate to Vivaldi — $59,963
• Breaksea Incorporated — “Aliwah Bardinar! Look-out Rosella!” — $60,000
• Ellenbrook Cultural Foundation Incorporated — Ellenbrook Arts Creativity for Schools Residency Program 2024 — $60,000
• Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Ltd — PICA Connect: Learning Many Ways — $59,904
• Perth Symphony Orchestra Limited — Karratha Voices — $59,852
• Southern Forest Arts (Inc.) — Boodja Ni: Listening to Country | Listening to each other — $60,000
• West Coast Steiner School — Indonesian Creative Cultural Partnership - Gamelan and Wayang — $11,040
• Yiyili Community Indigenous Corporation — Yiyili Community Creative Learning Program — $52,900.
  

Successful applicants for Creativity for Schools program — residency category:

• Angela Rossen — Wetland Discovery and Celebration Project with Leeming Primary School — $20,000
• Burns Beach Primary School — Digital Storytelling Project — $19,904
• Hammond Park Secondary College — Cockburn Chronicles, Sculpting Stories and Inspiring Minds — $17,550
• Kenneth Paul Allen — Junkadelic Workshops with the Balcatta SHS Education Support Program — $20,000
• Moorine Rock Primary School — Connections to Culture — $6300
• Sophia Lark — Engaging and Empowering Children Through Words and Art at Armadale Primary School — $19,982.