The Scottish Arts Council gets ready to Glow

The Scottish Arts Council and Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) are joining forces to bring arts education resources online through Glow, the world’s first national intranet for education.

Designed to break down geographical barriers, overcome time restraints and allow schools to access innovative new educational experiences, Glow aims to bring learning to life. Using the latest technology the Glow intranet can provide unprecedented access to artists, writers and performers in real time and allow young people to interact with the arts wherever they are in Scotland.  

The Scottish Arts Council has committed £300k of National Lottery funds with an additional £100k of support from LTS to support this groundbreaking creative partnership.  

The project will be lead by new Arts Development Officer, Julia Fenby, who, working within LTS will support arts organisations to engage with schools through Glow. Julia will also lead on an innovative demonstration project involving a number of arts organisations using the new intranet and the creation of new resources to support teaching and learning via Glow.

Julia Fenby has just taken up the 23-month development post sitting within the Glow Development team at LTS. Having spent the last ten years developing the education programme at the Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture and Design, she has a strong background in arts education and how it can interface with new technology. 

Julia will be working with selected arts organisations currently in receipt of Foundation or Flexible funding from the Scottish Arts Council on new demonstration projects due to be announced later this year, which will trial new and wonderful ways to present learning through the arts.

Talking about her new post Julia said:

“Glow is creating new possibilities for learning and teaching in Scotland – it breaks down barriers and provides access to new experiences and opportunities. I am hugely excited about the potential this project has to enable arts organisations and Scotland’s schools to work and learn together in ways that have never been possible before and to demonstrate that creativity and arts processes are a fantastic way of supporting Curriculum for Excellence.”

Marie Dougan, Glow Programme Director at LTS said:

“The aim of the partnership is to explore how new technology and the unique opportunities offered by Glow can combine with the skills, personnel, programmes, resources and ideas that reside with arts organisations to enhance delivery of Curriculum for Excellence.”

Joan Parr, Head of Education for the Scottish Arts Council said:

“A key corporate aim for the Scottish Arts Council is to place the arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning and with Glow providing the world’s first national intranet for education this was a perfect opportunity for us to engage with."

“We support a fantastic range of arts education activity through a wide range of organisations. This project will allow for this activity to be profiled online through the exciting Glow initiative and for us to develop projects specifically for the intranet.”

For details of future developments of this project and other Glow initiatives sign up to receive regular Glow e-mail bulletins at www.ltscotland.org.uk/glowscotland

Notes to editors

1. The vision of the Scottish Government, Glow is managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland. The online network is revolutionising the way Scottish education is delivered. It is breaking down geographical and social barriers to allow greater joined-up working across the country, linking pupils and educators from Shetlands to the Borders, in a hive of innovative educational activity. 
2. Learning and Teaching Scotland is the lead organisation involved in the development and support of the Scottish curriculum and is at the heart of all major developments in Scottish education. www.LTScotland.org.uk 
3. The Scottish Arts Council is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) which was established by Royal Charter in 1994 and is also a Lottery distributor. The organisation serves the people of Scotland by fostering arts of excellence through investment, development, research and advocacy. Our corporate aims are: to support artists to fulfil their creative and business potential; to increase participation in the arts; and to place the arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning. We invest £60m each year, including £15 million of National Lottery funding.

Julia Fenby – Biography

For the last ten years, Julia has played a key role in the shaping and development of The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture and Design, placing education at its core. As Acting and Deputy Director she contributed to the strategic direction of the organisation and as Education Director, she led a strong team to deliver an internationally recognised programme for schools, colleges and the wider learning community.

She has considerable experience in arts administration and project management, with past projects including the Six Cities Design Festival 2007; Senses of Place: Building Excellence, a national conference and publication on school design in partnership with the Scottish Government; the cross curricular Building Connections website for the National Grid for Learning and Glasgow 1999 Year of Architecture and Design Festival.

Contact email(s)

media.office@scottisharts.org.uk

Issued by: Scottish Arts Council