Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS) will open its doors to the public on April 27 to introduce the arts to those who want to give them a try.
Through various workshops, the public of all ages can participate on April 27 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“We are on the equity committee at school and we decided that we would like the arts to be more equitable and accessible for people in Huron County,” said Julie Gillam, head of the arts department. “In Perth, we have a little bit more, but in Huron, we don’t have a lot of accessibility to the different types of art. We thought why not open the schools up for people in the community?”
Gillam said the Community Arts Exploration event is open to all ages, from elementary students, all the way up to seniors.
“[Participants] may either choose between one of two visual art workshops, which are clay hand-building or printmaking, or they may choose two of the music and drama workshops,” she said. “there’s a percussion workshop, a masks workshop, and an improvisation workshop.”
The full two hours will either be spent in the art room, or between the music and drama rooms.
“We just want [the community] to be exposed to the arts,” said Gillam. “We think it’s a huge part of education and we feel sometimes the arts are less credited in the education system. We’ve got a lot of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and we really want there to be STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics).”
Another goal of the day is to show community members that there are jobs in the sector as well, something Gillam said is a common misconception.
“We just got back from a trip to Europe this year with the kids and of course, we saw tons of artwork,” she said. “We even went to the Harry Potter studio in Warner Brothers Studios outside of London, England. Obviously, with the invention of computers and the internet, visual arts have changed. But, visual arts are very prominent in our filmmaking, webpage design, and drama is very prominent when it comes to those things as well.”
Gillam added that many students today suffer from anxiety and once they break out into the workforce, depending on the career path especially, speaking in front of others is a necessary skill. Something that’s learned and developed from taking part in the class.
“You have to be comfortable speaking,” said Gillam. “I think drama is a great way for young people to get involved in a fun way. Drama is different than theatre. Drama is about participation, it’s about learning skills that you can utilize in other aspects of your life, not just becoming a theatre performer.”
Anyone who wants to take part can contact the school at chsoffice@ed.amdsb.ca.
