Cultural Education Ninjas – C:ED Talks

Cultural Education Ninjas – C:ED Talks

On Thursday 12 June 2014 New Brighton’s Light Cinema provided the venue for Curious Minds’ inaugural C:Ed Talks conference.  Delegates from across the education and cultural sectors came together to celebrate the completion of the first year of the SLiCE (Specialist Leader in Cultural Education) programme in the North West.

Over 100 delegates were treated to an inspiring and thought provoking day of debate and dialogue which began with key note speeches from Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the South Bank Centre and Professor Fred Deakin from University of the Arts London.

SLiCE was brought to life on the Big Screen via twelve visual case-studies, short-films highlighting the benefits gained by schools working in partnership with cultural organisations.

Virginia Tandy, Chair of Curious Minds Board of Trustees; Andy O’Brien, Head of Accrington Academy and Professor Victor Merriman, Director of Research in the Department of Performing Arts at Edge Hill University made up the expert panel tasked with debating the what, where, how and why of culture and cultural inspiration.

Lunch and a short stroll down a sunny New Brighton promenade led to the Floral Pavilion where delegates heard from Drs Hiett and Smears about the initial findings of the research and evaluation of the SLiCE programme and finally from Andrew Vaughan, Learning Manager at the Whitworth about the power of partnerships.

The day was summed up perfectly by Jim Johnson from Peshkar who used his 2 minute platform to implore all present to fly the flag for Cultural Education.  A huge cheer greeted Jim’s call to arms “you’re all Cultural Education Ninjas!”

Curious Minds are currently recruiting for SLiCE Year 2  and still have a couple of vacancies, so if you work in a Teaching School and are keen to build on your cultural offer, are a middle or senior manager then please contact jude.bird@curiousminds.org for more information.

You can view a film of the day below:

Presentations from the day can be found here: C:ED Talks Presentations

The Visual Case Studies by SLiCE schools can be found in our SLiCE section of our website. Click on each schools name and view the film: SLiCE Visual Case Studies

Alternatively visit our YouTube Channel: SLiCE YouTube

A selection of images from the day can be seen here: C:ED Talks 12 June