Extended School Residency – Essendon Keilor College

Australian Print Workshop was one of six arts organisations selected for Arts Victoria’s Extended School Residency program in 2014. The Program supports creative collaborations between arts organisations, students, teachers and school communities.

Conducted over two school terms, the Residency achieved many positive outcomes for the school community, reflected in:

  • the quality of work produced,
  • the engagement of the students and the whole school
  • professional development outcomes for teachers.

Critical to achieving these outcomes were the opportunities the program created to

  • work closely over an extended period with art professionals, and
  • access to the resources of Australian Print Workshop.

APW was matched with Essendon Keilor College (EKC), a multi-campus state secondary college providing education to students from the North and West of Melbourne. APW’s project was based at the Essendon Campus, working with Year 10 students. EKC was traditionally regarded as a school with strong sporting programs. The Principal embraced the Extended School Residency as a way for students to explore different strengths, ways of communicating and career options.

APW and EKC staff developed a print project theme that brought students together to create individual and collaborative works for the end of year exhibition.

The weekly printmaking workshops involved two APW Printing staff guiding the students through the creation of imagery and encouraging them to explore different print processes. APW staff also worked with teaching staff to plan lessons and introduce professional practices into the art studio.

In addition to the school-based workshops, sessions held at APW's Open Access Studio in Fitzroy provided an experience of a working in a professional print studio and enabled the students to produce an etching using the Workshop’s etching facilities.

The Year 11 Students responsible for organising the school exhibition learned about planning, promoting and presenting exhibitions on a visit to the APW Gallery.

The end of year school exhibition showcased the students work, as well as the video documentation of the entire project, produced by Year 11 media students. 

The Program was also successful in a specific goal of integrating Year 10 students who were joining the Senior campus for the first time.

Among the many other positive outcomes that marked the project’s success was the engagement of the wider school community through exploration of the project’s theme in all key learning areas. In addition, a significantly improved student engagement and interest in art classes resulted in an increased demand for art classes the following year.