Youth art school
Youth art schools are extracurricular institutions of cultural education especially for children and young people. There are around 400 of these youth education institutions in Germany, and the youth art schools across Europe have joined forces in the arts4all network . The core offer of the youth art schools includes courses, projects and open offers in all art branches. The aim of the youth art schools to offer “all arts under one roof” is to support young people in their personal development. The Federal Association of Youth Art Schools and Cultural Education Institutions (bjke), founded in 1983, now represents 400 member institutions in 13 regional associations. 650,000 children and adolescents in Germany use the educational offer of the youth art schools.
term
The word “youth art school” has gradually spread in the (old) Federal Republic of Germany since the late 1960s. With German reunification in 1989, the number of institutions in Germany skyrocketed. Similar word coining are "art school", "creativity school" and (especially in the eastern federal states) "folk art school". The Czech folk art schools were also the inspiration behind the founding of the first youth art schools in Wesel (1968), Wuppertal (1969) and Oederan (1967), as were the Flemish and Dutch visual arts schools and creativity centers. In Europe, the name “youth art school” has not spread because, in addition to the largely introduced all-day school, extracurricular youth work, unlike in Germany, has not been able to establish itself as an independent field of institution. The European youth art school network has therefore agreed on the name "Art Schools", which differentiates itself differently depending on the national tradition. The spectrum ranges from the "visual art schools" in Finland to the music and art schools (developed primarily in Norway and the Netherlands) up to the “youth art school concept”, which aims to bring “all the arts under one roof”. Own, in the district culture anchored concept traditions have developed in French-speaking Belgium widespread "Centers d'expression et de créativité".
concept
After the publication of the “Memorandum of Youth Art School” in March 1967, different institution profiles emerged in Germany, among which the name “Youth Art School” ultimately prevailed. Against the background of youth policy, it stands for a variety of disciplines and methods, multimedia and open access (art and culture for all children and young people). However, this does not mean that all institutions are already in a position to offer every child and young person the full spectrum of cultural education. The “art school conception” discussed earlier (as a facility analogous to the music schools for the visual arts) has not caught on in the area. “Music and art schools” (an increasing trend in Germany in recent years) are usually music schools, under whose roof other art branches are also offered.
distribution
Since education and culture in Germany are a matter for the federal states and the youth promotion legislation is also carried out at the state level, youth art schools in the Federal Republic have developed in three phases or not. Active youth promotion planning makes the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia the "motherland" of youth art schools in Germany. Since the 1970s, supported by numerous federal model tests, a relatively homogeneous landscape of around 60 institutions has emerged today. The 1980s and 90s are characterized by active state developments, particularly in Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Saarland and in part also in the “art school state” of Lower Saxony, whose facility landscape is still strongly characterized by voluntary work. Among the new federal states, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt in particular were involved in this phase. Particularly active at the moment are Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which in 2009 regulated the "state recognition" of art schools for young people and guarantees real third-party funding for the institutions from state funds, and Rhineland-Palatinate. The Rhineland-Palatinate funding initiative for the establishment of a youth art school deserves particular attention because this state is particularly advanced in all-day school development and at the same time specifically promotes the structural development of extracurricular educational partners in cooperation with the Rhineland-Palatinate Cultural Office . A similar need is emerging in Saxony, but without triggering targeted funding initiatives. So far, the state of Bavaria, which is exemplary in terms of music school funding, has shown itself to be extremely cautious, the development of which is declining on a national scale and is largely carried out on a voluntary basis or by individual municipalities. There are regional associations in 13 federal states, and 400 youth art schools are active nationwide in Germany today.
Funding legal framework (Germany)
In Germany, the Federal Child and Youth Welfare Act (KJHG), passed in 1990, defines “cultural education” as one of the priorities of youth work (extracurricular youth education) in Section 11 and imposes on the federal states “an even expansion of facilities and offers” Contribute to youth work (§ 82). Whether youth art schools are actually institutions for child and youth welfare within the meaning of SGB VIII is viewed differently in the federal states. Only a few federal states (such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg) have passed state legal regulations that expressly regulate the existence and funding of youth art schools. The Enquête Commission on Culture in Germany of the German Bundestag explicitly asked all federal states to do this in its final report (2007). The implementation of this recommendation for action is made more difficult by the fact that responsibility for the promotion of extracurricular youth education between the youth , education and culture departments is regulated differently from state to state. The Brandenburg Music and Art School Act, for example, does not refer to youth welfare. The political demand for the design of cultural education as a "cross-sectional task" has so far not paid off in terms of funding law. The German Association of Cities , which in 2003 issued an orientation guide in favor of the greater spread of art schools for young people in Germany, supports the development of "funding legislation" in the federal states, but is reluctant to regulate other "mandatory tasks" under state law.
literature
- Youth art school and cultural educational institution. A guide. German Association of Cities. 2003
- Erhart, Peise-Seithe, Raske: The youth art school . Cultural education between play and art , Regensburg 1980
- Mechthild Eickhoff: youth art school. The manual. Concepts, structures, organization. Federal Association of Youth Art Schools and Cultural Educational Institutions (ed.). Unna 2003
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website of the networking initiative Arts4All - youth art schools in Europe at the state working group for cultural pedagogical services in North Rhine-Westphalia