Culture in the classroom

Fergus O'Byrne sat tapping his foot as he played the concertina.

In front of him, fellow musician Jim Payne showed the Grade 6 class at St. Paul's Elementary how to dance a jig round and round.

The musical duo visited the L'Anse au Loup school last week as part of the ArtSmarts program, designed to teach subjects through art and artistic expression.

Mr. Payne and Mr. O'Byrne held four sessions a day - for Grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5 and 6 - which included lessons about singing, storytelling, dancing and about the instruments they use.

Grade 6 student Tamara Belben said the sessions have been different than being in the classroom.

"We were doing the dancing today, we weren't sitting there the whole time, we were singing along," Ms. Belben said.

"I'll definitely keep singing all their songs and I'll keep practicing their dances, especially at my birthday party - I'm going to get everyone to do it."

Shawna Normore, a Grade 3 student, preferred learning about the instruments Mr. Payne and Mr. O'Byrne use, particularly the concertina and the banjo.

"It was really fun to have Fergus and Jim come into our school and talk about the instruments," Ms. Normore said.

"It was interesting when he played the banjo with the things on his fingers."

Her favourite part of their visit was watching the performance at the Lawrence O'Brien Town Centre in L'Anse au Loup on March 24.

Mr. Payne and Mr. O'Byrne also played a show at the long-term care facility in Forteau the following day.

The two visited the Labrador Straits as part of the ArtSmarts program in 2001; four years ago they visited Mary's Harbour, Lodge Bay and St. Lewis.

They like to visit remote areas because the larger centres have access to a wider range of art.

"The main thing for us is to come in and be respectful of the local situation, the local culture and material, and in a way we're trying to be a conduit for them to connect with their own (cultural environment)," Mr. Payne said, adding that local material and cultural connections are important.

"We try to use material also that's local to the region that we're in...the songs, for example, that have been made up along this coast, tell the story of the coast, and that includes their parents, their grandparents and their great grandparents and how people survived here and so on, so it's important for them to get a sense of all that."

For that reason, Mr. O'Byrne added, the two make a point to acquaint themselves with older artists within each community they visit.

"Really, in a small community, it's just another way of connecting, especially when the next day you can go into the school and perhaps meet one of the grandchildren of one of those singers," Mr. O'Byrne said.

Local art and culture is important to preserve. They are trying to inspire the kids in the communities to be story tellers and to preserve the local material.

The best way to pass that message along is to have fun, Mr. Payne said.

"In a way we're trying to sow seed and see how it grows long-term," he said.

"If we just inspire one young person to take an interest in the music, who knows? It could go anywhere from giving somebody of a sense of who they are to somebody who might decide out of it to take up music for a living.

ArtSmarts is in its 11th year; this year alone the project will travel to 26 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, not to mention the countless areas across the country.

The programs primary funder is the provincial government, through the department of education and its cultural connection strategy, designed to connect youth across the province to their culture and to artists.

"ArtSmarts makes it a direct part of teaching any subject area, because these kids are learning about social studies and they're learning about history and they're learning about storytelling," said Ken Murphy, program manager for Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

The Grade 4-5 storytelling session held in the town centre library on March 26, Mr. Murphy pointed out, counts toward language arts.

"It's meeting the direct curriculum goals, so the art's ingrained into the whole teaching and learning process, and that's what's unique about ArtSmarts."