Researchers: Emiel Heijnen and Nadieh Graumans-Tighelaar, with the cooperation of Melissa Bremmer
In collaboration met DOX, Kunstloc Brabant and the Academy of Theatre of Fontys University of the Arts.

Which theatrical forms do we find outside the established theatre institutes and how could they inspire our theatre education? This question forms the starting point of New Canons, a research project that is designed as a professionalisation process for theatre teachers, Over the course of six months, a mixed group of approximately 16 theatre teachers will collaborate. During meetings, they will become acquainted with the basic principles of Authentic arts education and Teacher as conceptual artist, with which they will experiment during theatrical exercises and when creating innovative lesson designs. The self-developed lessons will be continually tested in one’s own personal practice, documented and evaluated. The professionalisation process will be concluded with a joint artistic presentation for an audience. This presentation will serve as a lively sampling of the most appealing theatrical experiments that those participants have developed during the process. The research will map out the (learning) experiences of the participants: What are their experiences with authentic arts education and to what extent do the concepts Authentic arts education and Teacher as conceptual artist provide theatre teachers with guidelines for innovating their teaching practice, and integrating their artistic practice and work as teachers?

In this Lesson Study, the combination of citizenship education with arts and culture education is given concrete form, based on the educational design model of lecturer Emiel Heijnen (lecturer Arts Education, Amsterdam School of the Arts) and the research of Hessel Nieuwelink (lecturer Citizenship Education, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences).
The approach is based on the principles of Lesson Study: supported by experts, a group of mbo teachers goes through an educational design cycle together, including through observations to see how students experience the jointly designed lesson. Because the same lesson is carried out at different mbo schools, the participating teachers form a research group in which experiences are shared and discussed.

The Amsterdam Museum is being renovated. An important part of the renewed Amsterdam Museum is a museum for and by children. But what exactly will the programming and museum spaces look like? What do children need to make these spaces their own and really use them as a place for artistic reflections on the city and their place in it? To answer these questions, during the period 2023-2025, the Amsterdam Museum will work together with Amsterdam children aged 9 to 12 to design the new Amsterdam Museum for and by children through the ELJA Children's Museum Lab. Besides attending lab sessions in the various districts of Amsterdam, working together on artworks and curating exhibitions, the children involved will be given a voice through a children's sounding board group and children's director. In this way, they help open the eyes of the public and staff and make the museum the place for children. But above all, making and looking at art provides opportunities for the children to reflect on themselves, their environment and the world. The Amsterdam Museum and ELJA Foundation are asking the Arts Education lectorate of the Amsterdam School of the Arts to guide the three-year trajectory towards a children's museum with training and research. The trainings for artists and museum educators, prior to the lab sessions, are based on the principles of 'wicked arts assignments' (Heijnen & Bremmer, 2020). The research was designed in phases with exploratory ('nurturing') research in the first year and impact research in the second and third years. To carry out the research, the professorship commissioned Urban Paradoxes (Sandra Trienekens).

View the full overview of publications and presentations of Emiel Heijnen.