The whole world kin

I have just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime overseas trip. As the fortunate recipient of the Lloyd Martin Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Arts Leaders, I spent five weeks travelling to and meeting with arts organisations in London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Chicago, Washington and New York. The scholarship asks applicants to identify an issue in the Australian performing arts industry, and design an international itinerary to meet with companies and learn from international best-practice in their area of choice.

When I considered the issues that face our industry, in particular to the field of education, there is sadly no shortage of issues to research. However the most pressing issue to me, the one that was on metaphorical fire, was the Australian teacher crisis and a desire to determine how arts organisations can support teachers at a time when they need us most. Even if you don't work in education, you likely know from daily news and media that Australian teachers are overworked, underpaid, over-scrutinised, undervalued and leaving the profession in droves. While I don't think that arts organisations can solve all of the problems facing teachers, we can most definitely support them through resources, training and programs that lift teachers and their students up.

I made a list of companies I had always admired and wanted to know more about, and I set about connecting with them and organising a busy schedule of meetings. In a world where we can easily Zoom with the other side of the world, it was remarkable to be able to meet people face-to-face, explore their offices, theatres, and facilities. See their work in action, not just on a screen. Watch how other companies teach Shakespeare to students, and how they train teachers. I met with an extraordinary list of companies and organisations including; the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Chicago Shakespeare, the National Theatre, Southbank Centre, Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation, Frantic Assembly, Young Vic, Old Vic, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Folger Shakespeare Library, the Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre, Epic Theatre Ensemble and Manhattan Theatre Club.

I will say upfront that while I learnt so much from all of these companies, it was incredibly heartening and validating to find that Bell Shakespeare's work in education is indeed best-practice, in and of itself. There is no company working on the sheer geographic scale that we do, no other company that works with schools and communities in the way that we do. In each meeting I shared extensively about our work and answered myriad questions, in addition to my own research about each organisation I was meeting.

I had visited Stratford-Upon-Avon once before, but it was a swift visit and I hadn't ever fully immersed myself in the place that gave us Shakespeare. Walking the streets that Shakespeare walked, being in the same spaces that he grew up in, was incredibly moving. This time I spent three full days there, each day observing and working with the brilliant team at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. I must acknowledge the generosity and brilliance of Dr Nick Walton who scheduled me three days of activity and meetings, and is a rockstar of an educator to witness in action.

I was taken within spaces of incredible historical significance, from Shakespeare's Birthplace to the grounds of New Place where Shakespeare established his final family home, to Hall's Croft where his daughter Susannah lived with her husband, physician John Hall. Hall's Croft is now used exclusively for education purposes and not open to the general public, a very special and significant thing. I spent time in the Holy Trinity Church and its grounds, the final resting place for Shakespeare and his family. I discovered that Shakespeare and Anne's twins, Judith and Hamnet, had not been officially acknowledged with a burial and so recently, author Maggie O'Farrell who wrote Hamnet, paid for two young trees to be made for them, side by side, in the church grounds with plaques. Of special interest to me, and quite an emotional experience, was to be in the very schoolroom where Shakespeare was a student (Shakespeare's Schoolroom). I observed a school group undertake a mock-lesson in the style of education that Shakespeare would have received, including Latin recitation and peer-to-peer learning.

I spent time with the incredible education team at the Royal Shakespeare Company, in both the London and Stratford-Upon-Avon offices, led by Director of Learning Jacqui O'Hanlon MBE. The RSC's leadership in education is extraordinary, with research forming a key aspect of their work, so much so that the company has gained Independent Research Organisation status. Their latest research report – Time To Act – demonstrates the impact that the Royal Shakespeare Company's education programs has had on the language development and social and emotional development of children and young people.

Though my main reason for visiting the Folger was to meet with its education team and speak with them about the Folger Method, a proven framework for the dynamic teaching of Shakespeare in classrooms. This framework, established by Dr Peggy O’Brien, enables a student-led approach, with the teacher as ‘architect’. Associate Director of Education Liam Dempsey and I enjoyed a rich conversation where we found alignment with our organisation’s approaches to Shakespeare. The Folger’s Teaching Institute is a fascinating program to compare to our National Teacher Mentorship. I met with teacher and now Folger Teacher Educator Stefanie Jochman, who said that her biggest learning with the Folger Method has been the philosophy of “getting out of the way” of student learning. Stefanie said:

I think that my pre-Folger teacher self felt like she had to know everything and be at the ‘head of the table’ for a lesson. My work with the Folger has revealed the joy of playing ‘the architect,’ stepping back and letting the students make meaning with the text.

In New York I was introduced to companies including Epic Theater Ensemble and Roundabout Theatre Company, whose Theatrical Teaching Institute has direct parallels with our mentorship programs. Roundabout’s School Partnerships program involves an entire school being trained in Roundabout approaches, so not only English and Drama teachers receive training in making lessons more active and theatrical, but the Science, History, Geography, Maths teachers and more!

The scholarship also enabled me to see and immerse myself in live theatre, and I saw 22 shows across my five weeks of travel. In terms of Shakespeare, I saw a range of performances including seeing Sir Ian McKellen as Falstaff in Player Kings, Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe (a Groundling ticket, of course!) The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I also saw Shakespeare performed as community engagement in New York City with The Public Theater's The Comedy of Errors, performed by the Mobile Unit across a range of parks and community spaces. This production was free for audiences to watch, and was presented as a bilingual script (Shakespeare's text interspersed with a Spanish translation) filled with music and song. I saw the production in Brooklyn's Prospect Park alongside a couple of hundred theatregoers replete with picnics on a hot summer's night.

Particular highlights of other performances were, in no particular order; seeing the very first performance of the new play Little Bear Ridge Road at Steppenwolf Theater starring Laurie Metcalf in Chicago; attending the buzzy press night of Wedding Band at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London; seeing Here There Are Blueberries at New York Theatre Workshop, the latest work from the creators of The Laramie Project; the Tony Award-winning Stereophonic on Broadway; Bluets at Royal Court Theatre; Metamorphoses at Folger Shakespeare Theatre; 10,000 Dreams, a celebration of Asian American choreography at the Kennedy Center, and the explosive The Welkin at Atlantic Theatre Company.

The Lloyd Martin Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Arts Leaders is a Sydney Opera House initiative to help the next generation of arts managers tackle the increasingly complex landscape facing cultural institutions in the 21st century. The Lloyd Martin Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Arts Leaders is made possible by the Alexandra and Lloyd Martin Family Foundation, and is administered by the Sydney Opera House.