ACT Minister for the Arts, Joy Burch, today visited Isabella Plains Early Childhood School where creativity is being nurtured through the Artists-in-Schools program.

“The children at Isabella Plains Early Childhood School are having a valuable opportunity to develop their learning capacity through working with an artist,” Ms Burch said.

The Artists-in-Schools program is an initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts, and is administered by the ACT Government though artsACT in partnership with the ACT Education and Training Directorate.

The program provides local artists with an opportunity to work for an extended period with Canberra school children, engaging them in creative inquiry and exploration.

“Isabella Plains’ students are designing and creating puppets with their artist-in-residence, Marianne Mettes. They will also perform plays written with Ms Mettes, and will have the opportunity to experience an arts project from start to finish.”

Ms Mettes, a practicing puppet artist, is one of five artists in the program. The others are:

• Geoff Farquhar Still – Canberra sculptor who will be exploring 3D form and sculpture with children at Southern Cross Early Childhood School.
• Caren Florance – Canberra book and paper artist who will be exploring design, printing and book-making with O’Connor Cooperative School.
• Michele Grimston – Canberra visual artist working with children from Lyons Early Childhood School to design and produce a quilt based on creativity in daily life.
• Mikki Trail – Canberra visual artist will be working with Narrabundah Early Childhood School children on an outdoor sculptural project for the school’s playground.