Page 761 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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school students in singing and choir programs. Of particular interest is that these students were taken to aged care residences for them to entertain residents. But entertaining residents was only part of it. These children, not even in their teens, would spend time talking with residents, hearing their stories and learning about what it was like to live in the olden days.
Of even more interest is that the music engagement program helped these children build social skills. They often came from disadvantaged backgrounds and it helped them to build self-esteem, to make them better students academically. It helped them to build respect amongst children. It actually helped make disruptive students more cooperative and more engaged with other students, their teachers and their learning. But this Labor-Greens government did not see any value in the music engagement program.
Let me finish with just a few words about some of the other Canberra arts organisations and what they are doing to engage and develop young artists. It is only a very select few organisations that receive government funding. Most of them run on the smell of an oily rag but do extraordinary things. Young Canberran authors have done well in the young writers awards. Our Canberra Youth Orchestra has done well as it trains groups and is producing the next generation of fine music performers.
The Woden Valley Youth Choir has celebrated 50 years of developing young Canberra singers. The Canberra Children’s Choir trains children as young as eight years old. Canberra Youth Theatre has a range of programs to develop young performers and technicians. And yes, I acknowledge that the government provides funding to some of these organisations.
There is a string of arts organisations that have programs for young artists. Strathnairn, in my electorate of Ginninderra, does, as does the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation through its emerging artists prize exhibition and of course the ANU school of art does, particularly through its emerging artists scheme. And I need to place on the record that my son is now a student at the ANU school of art and perhaps one day he will benefit from the emerging artists scheme award as well. Here’s hoping. This Assembly supports this scheme through the Speaker’s art award, and it was always a great pleasure and a highlight of my years as Speaker to be able to participate in that.
Dance in Canberra is well served by organisations like Ausdance, not to mention the myriad dance schools across Canberra. We saw Canberra-born Drew Hedditch become a lead dancer with the Australian Ballet last year. We can go through a whole range of other organisations that mentor young artists of various sorts: Ickle Pickle theatre company; Phoenix Players, where some of my children got their first experience of treading the boards; Free-Rein Theatre Company and their mentoring program, just to name a few.
There are some big names that have come out of the Canberra arts scene who have been nurtured in this town. There are dozens, hundreds more, beside little community groups and passionate individuals all making a difference in our community,
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