FOCUSES ON NATURE AND ART

The interdisciplinary approach taken by the ALTANA Cultural Foundation’s education program makes it possible for school students, artists, teachers and course instructors to collaborate across subject areas – collaboration that always provides direct engagement with artists and art. The participating youngsters thus experience the visual arts, literature, music and dance in a way that allows them to make ongoing use of all their senses. KulturTagJahr (CultureDayYear) is a joint project of the ALTANA Cultural Foundation, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft and the State of Hesse’s Ministry of Education. Partner institutes from the cultural realm include Ensemble Modern, The Forsythe Company and Schauspiel Frankfurt.

The Forsythe Company first participated in this project during the 2009/2010 school year, at the invitation of the ALTANA Cultural Foundation. That year’s project, called NaturPassagen (NaturePassages), was a pilot effort successfully carried out with school students at Frankfurt’s Bettinaschule. In 2010/2011, the project continued at the Bettinaschule with the new name NaturNotizen (NatureNotes). As of 2011/2012, Frankfurt’s IGS Nordend took on the role of partner school, a role it will continue to play in coming years.

IGS Nordend
KulturTagJahr focuses on nature and art

IGS Nordend is a secondary school in Frankfurt for students with and without disabilities. As part of KulturTagJahr (CultureDayYear), the school’s eighth-graders are exploring the topics of nature and art during weekly sessions being held throughout the 2012/2013 school year. For a full day once a week, the students draw, write, dance, photograph and make music in a way that addresses both topics. The project is organized by the ALTANA Cultural Foundation in cooperation with Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft, the State of Hesse’s Ministry of Education, Ensemble Modern, the Forsythe Company, Schauspiel Frankfurt and students completing their master’s degree in contemporary dance education at Frankfurt’s University of Music and Performing Arts.
This is the second year that the program is being offered at IGS Nordend. For 14 years the inclusive school in Frankfurt’s Nordend neighborhood has been providing classroom instruction to students with and without disabilities. Collaborative instruction is one of the main pillars of the school’s pedagogical approach, along with team-based structures, a focus on self-organized learning and all-day class schedules (not yet the norm in Germany). KulturTagJahr is thus a logical, enriching extension of the school’s overall concept.
KulturTagJahr began with a two-day excursion to Museumsinsel Hombroich near Düsseldorf, where students first met the artists chosen to work with them over the coming year. Providing opportunities for observing nature and engaging with art, the project has continued back home in Frankfurt, where the students are exploring the city’s urban environment and its natural surroundings, and visiting the Museum Sinclair-Haus in Bad Homburg. Supported by professional artists, dancers, musicians, writers and actors, the youngsters are posing the question: How can nature be interpreted through and integrated into the contemporary arts?
The students are keeping a record of their observations and ideas in their own NaturNotizen (NatureNotes), a term first used by the artist Lyonel Feininger for his sketches of natural subjects. Nature thus serves as the catalyst for creative work, with the notes providing inspiration for artworks, musical compositions, poems and choreography.
This is the second year that NaturNotizen are being kept by students at IGS Nordend, an artistic undertaking that has already had a positive impact on the school. “The project has added a new cultural dimension to how our students view the world,” says Uwe Gehrmann, the school’s assistant principal. “It gives 100 young people the opportunity to engage with today’s art world one day each week for a year – and thereby gain valuable experience. Each and every youngster has developed significantly as a result.”

Project duration: August 24, 2012 to June 30, 2013
Performances at Frankfurt LAB: June 28, 29 and 30, 2013
KulturJahrTag day: Thursday
Participants: 100 eighth-grade students
Partners: IGS Nordend, ALTANA Cultural Foundation, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt, Ensemble Modern, The Forsythe Company, Schauspiel Frankfurt, University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt