Event Description
Learning at The Grange has announced Come and Create, a ground-breaking summer arts project that will see 80 school children use artificial intelligence (AI) to devise and stage an original, contemporary opera – in five days.
Developed in partnership with AI in Education, the project aims to showcase how AI can be leveraged as a powerful, game-changing ally in the creative process, by teaching students how to use it safely to amplify their own imagination.
According to Sir Anthony Seldon, Head of Epsom College and co-founder of AI in Education: “Human beings are at their best when they are challenged and have to strive to overcome those challenges. Failure to effectively harness AI could leave humans passive, compromising their critical thinking skills, so we must proactively understand and guide its use. Initiatives like Come and Create contribute significantly to our grasp of using AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, our distinct human ingenuity."
The project will run from Wednesday 21st to Thursday 29th August 2024, and comprise five days of workshops in the inspirational setting of The Grange in Hampshire. Participants, aged 10 to 15 years, will be led and inspired by an experienced team including director Karen Gillingham, composer Hannah Conway,designer Rhiannon Newman Brown and choreographer Natasha Khamjani. It will conclude with a fully staged production of a contemporary opera freshly built and wholly owned by its participants with the support of a team of professional arts educators and the aid of AI.
Director of Learning at The Grange, Susan Hamilton said: “All our programmes focus on opening young minds to fresh ways of thinking about the world by giving them the chance to create a new work from scratch. Unlike many arts organisations, we focus on the process rather than the performance. Our goal is to foster creative ownership and ideation habits that extend beyond the project and into all learning. Come and Create builds on our approach by integrating AI, which will spark ideas and discussions about the essence of crafting original art."
Alex Russell, CEO of the multi-academy Bourne Education Trust (BET) and co-founder of AI in Education, believes Come and Create offers ideal conditions for participants to explore the potential of AI and take charge of what the technology can do for them. He says: “We look forward to collaborating with Learning at The Grange and discovering what this summer’s sessions can tell us about AI’s role in creative learning. I am sure the project will suggest ways in which AI can be tailored to suit the needs of education and turbocharge the extraordinary creative abilities of young people.”
Chris Goodall, Head of Digital Education at BET and co-chair of AI in Education’s Practitioners Panel, will act as adviser on the project.
For further details, contact Susan Hamilton: susan@thegrangefestival.co.uk
