‘I want to take children outside’

Culture coach Shanna Goedhart on her work

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.’