Happening Now - Sharing and developing artist educators' skills

Skill development
Collage with cut out paper hands and inspirational words from the workshop
Slide from Rhiannon’s workshop questioning how do you feel right now?

We’re connecting artists to create, develop and grow through our inspiring artists’ Continued Professional Development (CPD) programme. We’ve created an energising and supportive space to share skills and swap tips.

To facilitate the ongoing CPD of artist educators, Bow Arts delivers a programme of artist-focused CPD workshops. These peer-to-peer sessions create space for artists to share approaches from their own practice alongside practical classroom experience and training.

Hand written mind map highlighting issues that effect children, carers and teachers
Mind map from the workshop

From autumn 2024, we introduced ‘Happening Now’ sessions, responding to current global events and their impact on children, families and educators. Two sessions to date have been led by artists Nicole Morris and Rhiannon Hunter.

Nicole Morris facilitated discussions on how current affairs resonate with children, caregivers and teachers, using the provocation “What do current affairs mean to you?” to explore the relationship between art, personal experience and the constraints of institutional settings and the curriculum.

Rhiannon Hunter’s workshop explored permaculture design – working with nature to create sustainable, self-supporting systems – as a lens for understanding current affairs. Participants considered regenerative approaches to education alongside the core permaculture principles of earth care, people care and fair share, framed through equity and equality in the classroom.

4 artists in a garden surveying nature, writing in clipboards
In an outdoor green environment 6 artists standing in a circle presenting their findings on clipboards in the middle of the circle
Exploring nature in Rhiannon’s workshop

Drawing on the work of author and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer, discussions also reflected on the concept of the ‘gift economy’, indigenous knowledge systems and reciprocal relationships with the land.

In keeping with the aims of ‘Happening Now’, both sessions fostered collective dialogue and laid the groundwork for continued reflection and future conversations.

The next ‘Happening Now’ artist CPD session will take place on Tuesday 17 February with artist Francesca Telling, alongside J from No More Exclusions, a Black-led grassroots coalition movement advocating for young people who have experienced exclusion from schools.

Are you an educator interested in our public CPD programme?

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