Culture Coaches

Since 2022, CBK Zuidoost has been participating in the Culture Coach program. To this end, structural collaborations have been established with several primary schools and one secondary school. Through 2024, the deployment of coaches in schools is focused on developing higher-quality arts and culture lessons.

CBKZO is active with culture coaches at five primary schools: de Achtsprong, Van Houteschool, Onze Wereld, de Ster (as of 2024, this school will be closed and we will enter into a replacement partnership with b.s. Crescendo), de Rozemarn, and one secondary school: Casparus College (Weesp).

The culture coach, integrated into the school team, encourages class teachers to engage with cultural subjects and connects the school’s educational program and parents with the cultural infrastructure in the school’s vicinity. The ideal is for talented children to transition from school to extracurricular educational offerings.

Below are interviews with two of our culture coaches.

Chulinya Remmelzwaal

“You truly have an influence on someone’s growth”

Chulinya Remmelzwaal is a multimedia artist and has been working as a Culture Coach at the Van Houtenschool via CBK Zuidoost since 2023. Additionally, since 2023, she has handled the coordination and curation of the ZomerSalon Royaal, the annual open exhibition of CBK Zuidoost.

“I applied to CBK Zuidoost for the position of junior curator. I was invited and they were impressed by my plan, but they ultimately chose someone else. They did want to keep my CV, but usually, you don’t hear anything after that. Shortly after, a message arrived: asking if I was interested in becoming a culture coach at schools in Zuidoost.

“I had recently graduated from the Breitner Academy in Art and Education, so this was right up my alley. And I enjoy organizing things. As a culture coach, I do all sorts of things: I teach, I organize special projects, and sometimes I support teachers during their art lessons. Last year I worked with the lower grades, this year with the upper grades.”

Fulfillment
“The work is very fulfilling. Last year, together with my predecessor, I had two classes make a film. They wrote a story, created a screenplay, and filmed it. This past year we did animation; that was also a lot of fun. For the after-school program, I set up guitar lessons. So we can now offer guitar lessons for free. I hope that can continue: last year we had a student who turned out to be incredibly talented.

“Especially in special education, it is important to bring out children’s talent in ways other than just through academic learning. And to give them the opportunity to express themselves and their emotions. They sometimes find that difficult.

“It would be wonderful if there were more offerings outside of school for students in special education, particularly for the upper grades. There are few exhibitions, performances, and workshops that align with their world. If I manage to arrange something good, I am very happy about it.”

Stimulating talent
“As coordinator/curator of the ZomerSalon Royaal, I also have a lot to organize. And I use other skills I developed as a culture coach: recruitment, networking, and collaboration. I have learned that curatorship involves much more than just judging works. I have to set aside my own taste a bit and look at things in a different way.

“The value of the ZomerSalon is that everyone can participate. It is empowering for people who have talent but have not had formal training and would otherwise never get a stage. That stimulation of talent also applies to the culture coach. I have learned that I love being in front of a class because you can truly influence someone’s growth. That is very beautiful. I therefore hope that the culture coach position continues to exist—it is truly important for this group.”

Shanna Goedhart

‘I want to bring children outside’

Shanna Goedhart is one of the culture coaches who started this autumn for CKB Zuidoost and We Are On The Move at five primary schools and one secondary school in Amsterdam Zuidoost and Weesp. ‘I try to create depth.’

The goal of the culture coach scheme is to connect in-school and after-school cultural education, refer students to organizations where they can develop their talents, and familiarize them with the cultural infrastructure of Amsterdam Zuidoost. How does that work in practice?

Connecting
Shanna Goedhart: ‘I was chosen as a coach because connecting people comes naturally to me and because I know the field. Culture coaches are usually deployed at schools where learning objectives in the field of arts and culture are not yet sufficiently met. At De Rozemarn, where I work, quite a lot is already being done: there is a visual arts teacher and there are in-school and extracurricular activities where children learn about techniques, art, culture, and nature. What I want to achieve is to take students outside: to bring them into contact with local art institutions and with art in the public spaces of Zuidoost.’

Shanna is currently working with fellow culture coach Rachied Belfor to set something up for this. ‘He is a dance teacher at Achtsprong primary school (the school opposite De Rozemarn) and we want to do something interdisciplinary. We are developing a series of lessons to introduce students to both dance and visual arts—for example, through an art performance. We think it would be great, for instance, to attend a performance at the Bijlmerparktheater and have the students interview a performer in Zuidoost. In this way, I try to create more depth.’

Building with words
But Shanna has also put students to work. ‘There was a lot of unrest in one class. I sat down with the children to talk about what was going on. They came to the conclusion that they were reacting to each other too much. They then collectively created an art installation using fabrics featuring quotes—about how you can build each other up, but also tear each other down with words. In that way, art was literally used as a means of communication.’