Creative Community Hub Artist in Residence (CCHAiR) pilot project

Creative Community Hub Artist in Residence (CCHAiR) pilot project

The Australia Council for the Arts, Australia's premier funding arts body, received $5.2 million in the May 2008 Federal Budget to be allocated over four years in order to
support a new initiative where professional artists participate as artists in residence (AiR) in schools to improve young people's access to quality arts education programs. The Creative Community Hub Artist in Residence (CCHAiR) 2009 Pilot project undertaken in three state
primary schools in Ipswich was one of these AiR's funded by Arts Queensland through the Australia Council for the Arts. This paper seeks to examine the impact of the CCHAiR project
administered by the Primary Arts Network Ipswich (PANI), one of two Queensland organisations that were recipients of the Australia Council's initiative for bringing artists into
schools.
A modified multiple perception analysis (Ecker & Baker, 1984) incorporating a grounded theory approach (Corbin & Strauss, 1990) was adopted so that both qualitative and quantitative data could be used to provide useful interpretations regarding the impact of the project for all participants. The data gathered throughout the CCHAiR Pilot Project provided important information to improve the experience of artist in residence in schools for future projects of this kind. This paper seeks to provide insights into the implementation of these types of complex projects in schools through presenting the perspectives of the Artists, Teachers and Principals who were interviewed as part of the research evaluation. These perspectives are categorised under common themes which were found across the three groups of interviews undertaken.
The findings revealed similarities between the perspectives of the Teachers and Principals, although there were some distinct differences related to the relationships the
Teachers established with the Artists which gave greater insight into their working methods. The Artists revealed that they had learned a lot from working in the school context but at times felt constrained by the very factors that Teachers contend with on a daily basis. The
significance of this research is its contribution to promoting the importance of creativity, providing opportunities for the professionalisation of Artists within the education sector and giving students from low socio-economic backgrounds equitable opportunities to find
success through personal expression.

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