20 Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective cultureAudiovisual Education for young people

Videomuseums 2010-2012:

a partnership between

two European educational

regions

Nikos Govas

Synopsis

The Videomuseums project was developed in 2010-2012 as a Comenius-Regio European programme. It aimed to create and develop a partnership between two European regions, Eastern Attica, Greece and Frankfurt, Germany.

The Directorate of Secondary Education of Eastern At-tica, Greece and the Directorate of Education of Frankfurt, Germany, along with other partners (local associations, mu-nicipalities, NGOs etc.), developed educational procedures which led to the production and exchange of audiovisual messages and the creation of Videomuseums by using film, sound and drama/theatre techniques.

Between 2010 and 2012 students from secondary schools collectively researched, chose and recorded items they believe should be preserved from their personal, natu-ral, man-made or social environment. These items were short 4min videos and formed a school’s own Videomuseum.

In the first stage, these video-exibits were created and shared only locally. In the second stage, staff and students travelled to partner region in order to record, in location,

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PART A: Videomuseums: the project & the partnership

items based on issues chosen by the local partners. In the third stage both region communities recorded their views on jointly developed issues. Finally, all items/exhibits were shared locally and internationally to present the views of their own community-region and of the community of the other region in the partnership.

Such messages of the relevant communities, are ex-changed among other EC members (via Internet, confer-ences, festivals, networks etc.) in order to facilitate aware-ness, understanding and knowledge of the different cultures participating in the European community and improve struc-tures and ways of cooperation between educational authori-ties, schools and external institutions and experts.

A. Introduction to the Videomuseums concept

The Videomuseums project is a development of a previous work by Menis Theodoridis as is reported in his article “Youth Videomuseums of a community: the background of a pro-ject”.1 According to Theodoridis, knowledge and comprehen-sion of alternative languages has always been thought of as a significant tool facilitating ideological and psychological differentiation for young students. Thus, the international language of media should be an obvious target of formal education, given the effectiveness and complexity of mes-sages conveyed by this language. It has been realised that younger generations grow in a society, where the flow of in-formation and, even more so, opinion manipulation through media, constitute a major threat for individuals, who, not

Teachers’ training, TV studio techniques, MOK Frankfurt 9/2011

22 Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective cultureAudiovisual Education for young people

having developed the necessary skills to perceive, organise and evaluate such an information influx, become victims of propaganda and consumers of cheap cultural substitutes. However, apart from the above general awareness of the is-sue, not many proposals have been put forward to deal with the need for systematic teaching and media language within the formal curriculum. Should comprehension and produc-tion of audiovisual texts be regarded as a separate subject, like History or French or, perhaps, audiovisual expression could be used as a communicational tool within the subject of History or the subject of French? Should schools seek for media teachers and, if so, what would an adequate profile be?

Theodoridis considers this project an attempt to tackle some of these questions and suggests alternative solutions. He views a media literacy project not as an isolated school subject, but rather as the combined outcome of educational activities incorporating other areas of knowledge. In this sense, the use of media language is viewed as a skill exercised whenever communication, accumulation and exchange of information, public opinion measurements, research and campaigns on social issues are involved. He believes that hands-on experience, for example, of the ways TV news is being produced would not only be a fascinating “laboratory” attraction but also a means to develop understanding of the actual methods for handling information, thus, understand-ing the degree to which an information receiver can become a passive, hopeless consumer of products designed to deter-mine his/her own life.

As one of the activities for our young participants con-centrates on the ways and techniques of electronic journal-ism productions, another activity is planned to be more of an exercise in presenting questions and issues expressing social and environmental concern. For this purpose, we chose the notion of “Videomuseum”. That is, we invite young partici-pants to choose, record and present “items” (Video-exhibits) they believe should be preserved from their natural, man-made or social environment. The selection of the subjects is to be decided by the students themselves, and the limit of 4 minutes for every video exhibit is of great importance, since it necessitates the examination and evaluation of the world in which they live daily, but have never confronted with the critical eye of the “researcher”.

As Theodoridis explains,

«… the idea of a Videomuseum derives from our aim to establish a new concept of recording and presentation of the natural or cultural environment which will be mainly expressed on the level of awareness and active involve-ment of the individuals taking part. The emphasis does not fall upon the placing of the object in a display case to be consumed by non-participating passers-by. On the contra-ry, the emphasis is upon active engagement of the person involved in a series of decisions made by them regarding “what” in their opinion has to be preserved. At the same time, preservation acquires symbolic and purely ideologi-cal dimensions, since on the video it is not the object that is preserved but its image. This means that the selection of

Teachers’ training, script writing techniques, Athens 2010

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PART A: Videomuseums: the project & the partnership

this region run risks of social exclusion and their resources are minimal. Regional Secondary Educational Authority and its Cultural Projects Department consider all projects which encourage creativity as a priority. They recognise the need for positive examples and good practices and encourage the schools to record them.

The town of Frankfurt in Germany plays an exception-ally important role in the financial world. There are a lot of foreigners there enjoying a very high standard of living. On the other hand, there are a lot of immigrants living in Frank-furt, quite often already in the third generation. In general, they experience a wide range of integration patterns, from full social inclusion to unbearable social exclusion. Frankfurt has an interesting mixture of ethnicities and people with quite different social background. Schools in this area mir-ror these different social structures in the city. The Regional Educational Authority has succeeded in encouraging schools of different social backgrounds and academic levels to par-ticipate in the project. So the project has, amongst others, the aim to make students from different social and academic levels work together and therefore reduce social exclusion within this project.

The Educational Authorities of both regions continu-ously try to support schools in taking part in projects which encourage their creativity not only within the curricular work but also beyond it.

In this partnership each region joined with one Edu-cational Authority to coordinate the project locally, a num-ber of secondary schools to create the Videomuseums of their area, several local municipality authorities to promote and disseminate the outcomes and NGOs for training and consultancy.

In particular, in Greece, the main partners included:

The Directorate of Secondary Education of Eastern At-tica Greece (DSEEA) as coordinator

Fourteen secondary education schools

Five Municipalities

The Karpos – Centre for Education and Intercultural Communication

The Hellenic Theatre/Drama and Education Network (TENet_Gr)

an item as a subject for the Videomuseum would also au-tomatically constitute and modify a subsequent everyday behaviour of those who chose it. That is, an active environ-mental consciousness is formed, since conscious selection of a number of elements in the environment presupposes that the people adopt them and are concerned about their preservation.

It should be noted that the notion of the Videomuseum broadens the meaning of “preservation” in the students’ minds, since it can contain any item from their natural, man-made and living environment such as a narration by an elderly person or the recording of remembrances of a specific event through a series of successive interviews etc. Furthermore, the Videomuseum can be supplemented and/or revised over one or two years by new video units, so that various local topics will be revised, so that the product can evolve dynamically, reflecting at each stage the most recent concerns of the students on those matters. Special educational drama techniques are being used to trigger and reveal the group’s views regarding the final selections of issues to be treated as “video-exhibits”, while special at-tention is being paid upon the distinction between a young student’s Videomuseum and that of an older person.

This concept of the Videomuseum also offers a methodo-logical research tool for cultural comparisons and socio-logical research. The prospect of depicting the preservation priorities of a community will provide the opportunity for statistically valid and reliable comparisons both on a lon-gitudinal basis and between communities of a different cultural, economic and social profile.” 1

B. The Project, the Partnership, the Regions and the

Partners

In school year 2009-2010, the Videomuseums project was applied in a small number of secondary education schools in the region of Eastern Attica, Athens, Greece. It included teachers’ training, support by media experts and a festival where all student films were presented and commented. In the following years, 2010-2012, the project with the title “The Youth Video Museums partnership: recording traces of our subjective culture” was further developed as a Comenius-Regio European programme aiming to create and develop an educational partnership between two European regions, Eastern Attica, Greece and Frankfurt, Germany.

Eastern Attica, Greece is a region which covers the north and east outskirts of Athens and includes over 35 municipali-ties, with 140 secondary schools. It is an ancient area which has a strong archaeological and historical background. Addi-tionally, it is outstandingly interesting due to its natural and man-made environment, as it has expanded in a rather cha-otic way between the margins of a metropolis (Athens City) and the nearby mountains burned recently (Parnitha Nation-al Forest, Penteli Mount etc.). Lastly, it has an exciting social background as a big percentage of its population arrived in the area as refugees or immigrants in the recent years result-ing in a mosaic of cultures. Students from the schools of

24 Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective cultureAudiovisual Education for young people

Other collaborating institutions included two Parents’ Associations.

In Germany, the main partners were:

The Directorate of Education of Frankfurt, (Staatliches Schulamt Frankfurt am Main – SSFFM)

Four secondary education schools

The School Theatre Studio Frankfurt (Schultheater-Studio Frankfurt – STS)

The Media Project Centre – Open Channels – MOK Offenbach/Frankfurt (Medienprojektzentrum Offener Kanal – MOK, Offenbach/Frankfurt)

C. Objectives of the Partnership

The partnership linked the two European regions, Eastern Attica, Greece and Frankfurt, Germany via educational pro-cedures which led to the production and exchange of audio-visual messages and the creation of Videomuseums by using film, sound and drama/theatre approaches and techniques.

In these audiovisual messages (videos) students from secondary schools, in cooperation with local partners (lo-cal associations, municipalities, etc.), present their collective views of their own community-region and of the community of the other region in the partnership. Students contemplate their views on the culture they live in, publicise them, and compare and exchange these views with those of students from a different culture in Europe. They notice differences in their views and the diversity of cultures in their region and in Europe. They use arts, especially video and drama for their survey, reflection and creations. Methods on combining drama and video work in education are developed and ex-changed between the local and international partners.

Themes to be explored become items for preservation, expressing the students’ own views of their personal and collective culture. The project invites young participants to choose, record and present “items” (video-exhibits) from their natural, man-made or social environment they believe

should be preserved. Such audiovisual messages of the rel-evant communities, referred to as Videomuseums, are ex-changed initially among schools of the partnership and later among other EC members (via Internet, conferences, festival, networks, performances etc.) in order to facilitate awareness, understanding and knowledge of the different cultures par-ticipating in the European community.

The partnership aims to develop educational concepts through: a) Media literacy via learning to use tools, recording through personal view (deciding priorities etc.), understanding sub-jectivity (i.e how I record my space and how others do) and critical awareness of the audiovisual products offered (TV, radio, Internet etc.) b) New approaches on media literacy via combining it with drama education. A complete new range of methodology was developed within the project. c) Intercultural sharingd) Future partnerships. The Videomuseums project including drama work is an open and expanding project which can involve other communities from Germany and Greece but more importantly, create links with other countries, too. A number of institutions in other European countries have al-ready shown interest in the concept and are being prepared to create further partnerships and networks.

D. Organisation and Methodology

i) Creating local networks – Artists in Schools The Videomuseums is a project for teachers and students in secondary education (13-17 years old). It uses film and drama skills and techniques and sets the conditions for filmmakers and media experts to work together with teachers. In each region the schools involved are organised in a local network. Head teachers and administrators are briefed well ahead and agree to support. One or two teachers from each school are responsible for the project in their school and undertake it on a voluntary basis. These teachers form the network’s “Ped-agogical Team”. The filmmakers who offer support to schools

Teachers’ training, camera shootings, Athens 10/2010

Teachers’ training, planning the shooting, Athens 10/2010

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PART A: Videomuseums: the project & the partnership

Coordination Team (education officers and media/drama experts)

Pedagogical Team (teachers)

Artistic Team (filmmakers and drama pedagogues)

ii) Stages of the Partnership During the fisrt year, video exhibits were created and shared locally. At the beginning of the second year, staff and stu-dents travelled to the partner region in order to record, in location, items based on issues chosen by the local partners. During the second year, schools developed more video-exhibits on themes influenced by the other region’s Vide-omuseums or on jointly developed issues. At the end of the second year, all items/exhibits were shared locally and inter-nationally to present the views of own community-region and of the community of the other region in the partnership.

International Media Education Conference, Goethe Institute, Athens 5/2012

form the network’s “Artistic Team”. Organisation as well as pedagogical issues are being addressed by the project’s “Co-ordination Team”. These three groups of people have regular meetings. The Coordinators from each region form the Part-nership’s “Steering Group”.

Although in a Comenius-Regio programme the main target group is the teachers, it has been strongly supported that the project concept is strengthened when representa-tives from the students of one country visit and record the concepts of the local youth. This part of the project adds a strong intercultural element since representatives of the two groups will actually meet and their perception of each oth-er’s way of recording will be questioned or enhanced. Thus, pupil-centred and project-based learning approaches are key to this partnership.

In Greece, the project is offered as an extracurricular ac-tivity. Students and teachers worked outside school hours, on a voluntary basis.

26 Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective cultureAudiovisual Education for young people

In detail, the stages of this partnership were:Planning: organisers, consultants, local officials and

teachers from both regions meet to discuss and decide on the tools and procedures to be developed and shared, and about possible evaluation methods.

Training: practical media and drama seminars are or-ganised in each region for teachers and filmmakers involved.

Implementation/monitoring – artists in schools: stu-dents in each school develop procedures of sharing their views and conclude to the final “themes to be preserved”. Several approaches are used in order to find the themes, including drama education techniques. More specifically, processes involve: filming, editing and creating the “school’s videomuseum” as well as drama work on the topic. Students are monitored and assisted by consultants, media experts and drama teachers.

Local Presentations: the Videomuseums and the drama work are shared locally in festivals and/or other events.

Exchange: Staff (teachers, consultants, filmmakers) and students travel to the partner region in order to record items based on issues chosen by the local partners. International training is taking place as partners from both regions share experiences and ideas about the project.

New Implementation/monitoring includes the editing and creation of the new Videomuseums and the finalisation of the drama work based on commonly developed issues. It also includes peer-monitoring as one way of publicity within the schools and the partner regions.

Presentation: performing and sharing of all products lo-cally and internationally.

Documentation, evaluation and dissemination: in-cludes conferences, evaluation reports and publications (website and print).

iii) Work Plan of the Partnership 2010-2012The school year 2010-2011 included:

Local partners meetings in both regions.

A 4-day seminar-meeting in Athens for coordinators and media experts from both countries.

A 35-hour training workshop for teachers and young filmmakers in each region.

Research within the schools involved (locally). “Items” for filming were collectively decided. Drama work was included.

Website started being built.

Filming, editing and finalising the Videomuseums (each school in each region). Monitoring and support by media experts.

The 2011 Festival and sharing events among the groups locally. Presentation of the Videomuseums2011 partnership in each region as well as the “making-of” the films.

Website with “Videomuseums 2011” updated.

Steering Group meeting in Frankfurt for mid-term evaluation.

The school Year 2011-2012 included:

A 5-day meeting and workshop in Athens for coordi-nators, teachers, media/drama experts, filmmakers and a small group of students. German and Greek students film in the same locations.

A 5-day meeting and workshop in Frankfurt for co-ordinators, teachers, media/drama experts, filmmakers and a small group of students. German and Greek stu-dents film in the same locations.

Schools edit the material brought from the country of visit to produce Videomuseums based on partners’ items and on jointly developed issues.

A 35-hour training seminar for teachers.

Research within the schools involved (locally). New “items” for filming are collectively decided based on re-sponses and comments on videos of the other region.

The 2012 Festival and more sharing events for all “Vid-eomuseums 2012” locally and internationally. Schools, local communities, municipalities are invited.

International Conference in Athens (invited experts from other institutions)

Documentation: A book has been published.

A website with all Videomuseums updated and finalised.

Evaluation meetings and writing of reports (in both regions).

E. Outcomes, Dissemination, Sustainability

The partnership organised: 1) Sharing events in both regions: training and dissemi-

nation for students, teachers and trainers among participat-ing partners’ institutions.

2) Festivals: local, international. The project and the outcomes of the partnership were presented at the annual “Τalking Images” student film festival organised by DSEEA in Pallini, Attica, Greece and at the local school film and theatre festival in Frankfurt.

3) Websites: The official website of the partnership is: www.Videomuseums.eu. Other sites used locally are: http://dide-anatol.att.sch.gr, www.karposontheweb.org, www.theatroedu.gr

4) Conferences: An International Media Education Con-ference was organised in Athens in May 2012.

5) Documentation, publicity. A book has been published and is available on the web.

The VideoMuseum Partnership is an open and expand-ing project. It created links with other countries and devel-oped networks. The results and the “good practices” are shared locally and interantionally with more schools and mu-nicipalities creating more school partnerships. Schools con-tinue working within the same concept after the end of this partnership. Every year, new schools join in the Videomuse-

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PART A: Videomuseums: the project & the partnership

ums concept. Teachers, media experts and education officers designed a procedure for their students which can eventually be applied in other European regions, too. Teachers involved gained experience and specific skills that they can apply af-ter the end of this project. Local networks between schools, educational authorities, municipalities and NGOs have been established to be used for further projects. Good practices as well as teaching procedures are documented and evaluated for dissemination. A range of methodologies which combine media work and drama techniques was explored. Festivals and Conferences were organised and designed to last (lo-cally and internationally).

produced. Two Student Film Festivals were organised and a webpage was designed and updated.

The participants in Eastern Attica, Greece were:

Teachers: Katerina Alexiadi (Music Gymnasium of Pal-lini), Vassilis Anastopoulos (2nd Lyceum of Gerakas), Evangelia Georgaki (2nd Lyceum of Gerakas), Katerina Gourgouli (3rd Gymnasium of Pallini), Mahi Dimopoulou (Gymnasium of Keratea), Eleni Theodorou (Gymnasium of Kapandriti), Mary Kaldi (3rd Gymnasium of Acharnes), Anastasios Krokidis (1st Lyceum of Nea Makri), Evangelia Kroupi (Gymnasium of Kapandriti), Evangelia Kirmizaki (Lyceum of Glyka Nera), Effie Laskary (10th Gymnasium of Acharnes), Triantafyllia Loukou (12th Gymnasium of Acharnes), Melpo Malamoglou (Lyceum of Marathonas), Aggeliki Mavridou (1st Lyceum of Nea Makri), Marianthi Mylona (1st Vocational Lyceum of Acharnes), Athina Sta-kia (12th Gymnasium of Acharnes), Maria Stamatiadou (Vocational Lyceum of Lavrio), Evgenia Stavrianou (10th Gymnasium of Acharnes), Alexandros Tsikolatas (Special Needs School of Nea Makri).

Media consultants: Menis Theodoridis, Maria Leonida

Filmmakers: Panagiotis Dendramis, George Didimiotis, Alexandros Georgakopoulos, Alexandros Papachristo-poulos, George Pitsakis, Louiza Stathopoulou Vangelis Vlachakis, Damianos Voganatsis, Natassa Xydi.

Drama pedagogue: Nassia Choleva

Assessment consultant: Irene Dimaki

Web advisor: Giannis Ladas

Coordinators: Nikos Govas, Eleni Kritikou

Students during a video shooting, Acharnes, Athens 2011

F. The 2010-2012 Partnership in numbers and its

people

In Eastern Attica Greece: 433 students and 20 teachers from 14 secondary education schools, 2 media consultants, 9 film-makers, 1 drama pedagogue, 1 assessment consultant and 2 coordinators. There were offered 171 hours of teachers’ training and 400 hours of student assistance and monitoring by filmmakers. There were 27 student films produced. Two Student Film Festivals and one International Media Educa-tion Conference were organised. A book has been published (in Greek and English) and all material was uploaded to 3 websites.

In Frankfurt, Germany: 100 students and 4 teachers from 4 secondary education schools, 1 media consultant, 4 film-makers, 2 drama pedagogues, 1 web designer and 3 coordi-nators. There were offered 170 hours of teacher training and 135 hours of student assistance and monitoring. 55 student films, a major theatre play and over 10 theatre scenes were

28 Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective cultureAudiovisual Education for young people

Nikos Govas is a theatre/drama pedagogue with a long experience in teachers’ training. He has taught in schools and worked as an actor, musi-cian and director with a number of theatre com-panies and music groups in Greece, Australia, Ger-many and the UK. In 1994, he founded Theatre Lab Company in London (“Hellenic Foundation Award 1997”) and in 1998 the Hellenic Theatre/Drama and Education Network (chair-president 1998-2008). He is the editor of the Education and Theatre Journal (Athens, Greece), and member of the Edi-torial Board of the Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (UK). He was a member of the first Coordination Committee (2006-2007) of the European network of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA-Europe) and member of IDEA’s Project Committee (2005-2007). He has worked as a theatre/drama tutor in many In-Service Teachers’ courses, Universities, Theatres, Associations etc., and has published and edited many books and articles on drama education (international award “Grozdanin Kikot 2002”). He holds the post of Cul-tural Programme’s Coordinator for the Directorate of Secondary Education of Eastern Attica (DSEEA-Gr), supporting schools in extra-curricular pro-jects, training teachers and developing networks.

The participants in Frankfurt, Germany were:

Teachers: Martin Bach (Klingerschule), Anna Gektidis (Liebigschule), Elisabeth Menelaou (Ludwig-Börne-Schule), Katja Pahn (Ernst-Reuter-Schule 1).

Media consultant: Nikolas Hamm

Filmmakers: Annika Lorz, Esther Kuhn, Sabine Wester-hoff-Schroer, Merlin Heidenreich

Theatre/drama pedagogues: George Slimistinos, Niko-las Hamm

Web designer: Daniel Bagel

Coordinators: Marion Wessling-Bagel, Nikolas Hamm, Joachim Reiss

The Partnership’s Steering Group: Nikos Govas, Marion Wessling-Bagel, Eleni Kritikou, Nikolas Hamm, Menis Theo-doridis, Maria Leonida, Joachim Reiss

www.Videomuseums.eu

Notes

1. Theodoridis, M. (2012). Youth Videomuseums of a community: the background of a project. In N. Govas (Ed.), Videomuseums – recording traces of our subjective culture. Audiovisual Education for young people. Athens: Directorate of Secondary Education of Eastern Attica.

Students’ training, sound recording workshop, Athens 10/2011