Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Reinventing Summer School

A new and encouraging trend has started in Toronto and is gaining momentum this summer. A few high schools are providing some interesting summer school programs for kids who want to get ahead in credits and have an amazing experience at the same time. As discussed in this Post article, Eclat School of Performing Arts is focusing on drama and writing, Blyth Academy will have kids working with art, photography, animation and film at the A.G.O., the R.O.M. and Tiff Bell Lightbox and Outward Bound Canada is participating as well, offering courses as part of their Urban Discovery program.

These sounds like some exciting and diverse classes, very different from when I was in school and kids mostly went to summer school because they failed math!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

"Make good art." (Neil Gaiman)

In this commencement speech for the University of the Arts, Neil Gaiman shares some insightful and inspiring stories and ideas about working in the arts. The Magic Pony blog features the video here.

The main idea: "make good art" seems simple but is based on profound truth, "when things get tough... make good art." Some of the other highlights for me: his words on failure and success in the arts, how he "learned to write by writing", how we are living in a "transitional world" where "the nature of distribution is changing" and how "you have the ability to make art, the ultimate lifesaver."