Creative programme brings dreams back to life

A creative programme established by a group of academics has seen hundreds of Christchurch children artistically engaged after the catastrophic Canterbury earthquake.
The University of Auckland’s Creative Responses in Schools programme uses the arts to help students reimagine positive and hope filled futures.
Over a number of visits, the team – along with local artists and mental health workers – includes music, dance and arts based processes, which actively engage with the children and focusses on bringing dreams back to life.
Around 600 children have attended the programme so far, and over 70 teachers have been trained to use the arts processes.
The Mental Health Foundation – along with the University of Auckland, the Christchurch Trust, Learning Through the Arts and UNESCO – now supports the programme’s continuation in Christchurch schools throughout terms three and four.
Chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, Judi Clements, says “[The programme] is an extremely practical way of using the arts to help the young people of Christchurch deal with the changes that have been happening in their local environment, build back their hope and give them some magic in their day.”
The 90-minute workshops sees five to nine-year-old children, painting, drawing, dancing and making small pieces of theatre as they imaginatively and artistically reimagine the future for themselves.