The High School Pilot Project in Alberta

In the spring of 2007, CBC Artspots worked with several high schools in Alberta to test an instruction manual and workshop with students, to see if this toolkit would help to inspire students to produce their own short videos about the arts and artists in their schools.

Under the mentorship of the teachers and principals in their respective schools, and with practical demonstration and instruction about making short videos on the arts by CBC personnel, students went through the following stages:

• an artist identification and selection process within each school
• a review of the descriptive writing of the experience of arts producers from across the CBC who have worked on Artspots, distilled into information in a written manual, and based in part on the Artspots ‘bible’
• workshop instruction about what to consider when shooting and editing interviews and artwork
• shooting, selecting and editing their own footage

Workshop facilitators included Artspots Producers Janice Ryan, Steve Glassman, Mary Elizabeth Luka, retired CBC Camera Operator Kent Martens, CBC Alberta Editor Rod Gorda, Sound Technician Carey Opper, and Production Assistance from Chris Martin. But the students were responsible from beginning to end for their own productions, including selecting artists, securing all the appropriate rights, organizing shoots, interpreting artwork, interviewing artists, and editing the videos. Through their hard work, and brilliant creative insights, all of the students produced compelling short videos. The students subsequently offered the completed videos to CBC Artspots to be considered for featuring on the Artspots website, and here they are. We thank everyone involved for sharing their inspiration.