News
Summer events at Shakespeare’s Globe to explore the power of language
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lobe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe will mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible this summer with a season of special events entitled The Heard Word: Pulpit vs Playhouse. The season, which runs from 3 May to 22 September, includes lectures, pre- and post-show discussions with actors and directors, staged readings and active drama-based workshops for children, and is designed to complement the 2011 theatre season and its theme, The Word is God.
A series of lectures by leading international scholars, running from June to August and presented in association with Southwark Cathedral, will mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Speakers include David Crystal, Arnold Hunt, Bryan Crockett and Diarmaid McCulloch, whose lecture on Thomas Cranmer is dedicated to the late Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark, who initiated the series. Professor Graham Holderness of the University of Hertfordshire is the 2011 Sam Wanamaker Fellow and will give a special lecture entitled Bible Babel, at 7.00pm on Tuesday 14 June. The lecture will consider the special relationship between Shakespeare and the King James Bible, and explore the reasons why the two works have been continually,
though not always rationally, interconnected. On Thursday 23 June, Howard Brenton will discuss his acclaimed play Anne Boleyn in the light of his fascination with Tyndale’s Bible. Anne Boleyn returns to the Globe this summer after its sell-out run last year. John Wolfson’s annual talk, on Thursday 18 August, will explore the more secular short story collections that provided Shakespeare with much of his source material.
Between May and September, Globe Education’s Read Not Dead series will present staged readings of rarely performed plays, also reflecting the season’s biblical theme and exploring the repercussions of the Protestant Reformation. Playwrights featured include George Peele, Gervase Markham, William Simpson and Christopher Marlowe. Leading academics will provide introductions to the evening play in Setting the Scene presentations on selected Tuesday and Thursday evenings throughout the theatre season. Meanwhile, Talking Theatre, taking place on selected Wednesdays and Saturdays 20 minutes after the matinee performance, will give audiences the chance to meet members of the cast and creative team in free post-show discussions.
Competiton celebrates the creativity of young people with autism
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eechwood College marked World Autism Awareness Day with the launch of a national art competition that will showcase the creativity of young people with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The competition, Create! Art for Autism, seeks to dispel the myth that those with an ASD cannot be creative and encourages young people to express themselves in 2D, 3D and digital media.
The competition, open to all young people aged 11-25 years who are formally diagnosed with an ASD, will show that art can significantly improve the lives of those with an ASD, facilitating experiential-based learning and instilling in young people lifelong skills that significantly improve their quality of life and future prospects.
Darren Jackson, Principal of Beechwood College states, “We have seen how engaging in art and creativity programmes can transform the lives of young people who previously struggled to make themselves heard. Though there is a common misconception that creativity is beyond the reach of those with an ASD, we know that our students are not in the minority”.
The competition’s judging panel includes Brendan Stuart Burns, twice winner of the National Eisteddfod Gold Medal in Fine Art and lecturer at The University of Glamorgan; Lucinda Bredin, editor at Bonhams Magazine; Hugh Morgan OBE, Chief Executive of Autism Cymru; and Darren Jackson, Principal of Beechwood College. The judges will choose six finalists in each category of 2D art, 3D art and Digital Media art.
All 18 finalists and their guests will be invited to attend a high profile awards ceremony in Cardiff to celebrate the creativity of all contestants and announce the three final winners. In order to recognise the tremendous work that schools undertake, both the winning individuals and the school supporting the young person will receive prizes. In addition, a ‘Teacher’s Choice’ award will enable teachers across the UK to choose which of the 18 finalists they consider to have produced the most creative work. The finalists’ work will then be rolled out into a national art tour open to the general public and hosted in prestigious galleries, first at The Old Library in Cardiff and later in London during the summer and autumn. The competition closing date is June 10. Finalists will be announced on June 24 and the awards ceremony will take place in Cardiff on July 24. Both specialist and mainstream schools will be encouraged to take part.
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www.education-today.co.uk
ChildsPlay workshops on selected Saturdays will provide eight to eleven year olds with an active introduction to Much Ado About Nothing. The children will take part in storytelling and art activities, before joining the groundlings to watch 15 minutes of the matinee performance which their parents and guardians are attending.
The 2011 theatre season, The Word is God, runs at Shakespeare’s Globe until 2 October.
TDA appoints new Chief Executive
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n 7th April the Chair of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, Christopher Baker, announced that Stephen Hillier has been appointed as the new TDA Chief Executive.
Christopher Baker said: “Stephen’s skills, combined with his experience of working on the training of high quality teachers, make him the perfect fit for the role of TDA’s Chief Executive. “We are delighted to have found someone of Stephen’s calibre to drive forward the TDA’s vision and priorities. I have every confidence that he will sustain and develop the Agency’s strong reputation and will support the smooth transition of the TDA’s functions to a new Executive Agency. On behalf of the Board and all our staff I warmly welcome Stephen to the TDA.” Stephen Hillier said: “I am both excited and honoured to have been chosen to lead the TDA. I look forward to building on its excellent achievements, securing better quality and more efficiency in the initial training and continuing professional development of our teachers. “The agency’s close working with schools and training providers will ensure that we recruit the best people to teaching and that they get the best possible preparation to teach. That is how we shall help improve the life chances of children across the country.”
May 2011
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