This group is committed to providing opportunities for Ruyton parents to support the Art Department and enable parents to meet and interact with other families whose children are passionate about Art. Anyone interested in joining is welcome at any time!
Committee
This year has been one for building the community awareness of FORART and what we can offer. It has been encouraging to welcome many new members to the committee, representing a good cross section of the school — from Year 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
We have also initiated a co-operative relationship with Trinity Friends of Art. This is a new group, started this year by parents at Trinity who have a very interesting programme of events planned and we have undertaken to promote and support them wherever possible.
Events
Street Art Tours: Due to high demand, we hosted one more CBD Street Art Tour this year. Each time our guide has taken us on a slightly different route and discussed a variety of subjects, highlighting the many and complex issues surrounding Street Art and graffitti. These tours are organised as informative and friendly outings, and not as fundraising opportunities, and we have managed to keep prices down accordingly. The cost has been $10 per person, to cover the cost of our guide.
Collingwood Galleries Tour: This walking tour was a great day out which was informative, and extremely interesting. We had about a dozen people from the Ruyton community join us. Each gallery was very generous in providing nibbles, drinks and most importantly, background information about the art and artists represented. This is a wonderful day out, whether you are a collector, maker or admirer of art. There will another tour in October which we will certainly be promoting.
Muse Exhibition: Once again we organised catering for the opening night, and managed the senior girls who had volunteered to be our wait staff. Thay did a great job and were very professional in their attitude and presentation. This year, a larger committee ensured the work was spread a little wider and I thank all those who prepared food for the event: Meredith Squires, Lynne Cullen, Karen Van Zyl and Kerri Mazzocco. We also contributed the design for invitation and posters (based on artwork by VCE student Ali Franet) as well as preparing artwork for the real estate boards that promoted the exhibition to the wider community.
Musings Newsletter
The new editor for the newsletter is Lynne Cullen, who will be taking on the role for 2010.
We will again publish and distribute our newsletter once per term. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase some of the students' acheivements, as well as the work of our staff and some ideas for extension activities outside the school.
The Editor is always happy to receive items of interest from anyone in the school community!
Art Captain
The committee is unanimous in its desire to promote the idea of an Art Captain for Ruyton. This year, our focus on the establishment of an Art Leadership position has seen some success. Initial discussions have led to the drafting of a “position description” for the role. Senior girls have been approached and are enthusiastic in their support for the concept. The next stage will be to establish a committee structure for interested students to join. They will need to elect a leader, demonstrate there is genuine interest and enthusiasm within the student body for such a group and establish an ongoing commitment to the goals of the committee before there can be any consideration of the role becoming a “Captainship” in the future. We welcome the establishment of a student connection for the members of FORART. We feel this will enable us to better support the Art Department if we are working on initiatives that are driven by student demand, rather than our own ideas of what might be of interest. Likewise, the student Art Leader will be able to communicate on our behalf with the wider student body.
Artist in Residence Project - Fundraising
We are looking at opportunities to raise funds to support an Artist in Residence for 2010. Several ideas have been considered and the committee has agreed on one proposal to take to the school for approval. This will be a priority for the new year, and we will be working closely with Mr. John Stafford and Mrs. Carolyn Anderson to ensure we develop an event that supports the goals of the department, the school and the artists involved.
Register of Creative Talent
We intent to compile and maintain a register of talent from within the Ruyton community to be used as a resource for Art staff, students and FORART to reference. We ask that anyone who is willing to be included, or knows someone who should be, to please contact one of the FORART committee members.