2014 AIAS activity
THE VALUE OF OUR NETWORK
:
RE-INVENTING THE AIAS
Globalisation and the media have changed the need for and use of international networks and meetings. Nowadays a network as the AIAS needs to have a clear goal and additional value to its participants to survive and stay appreciated.
One of these goals for the AIAS could be the development and enhancement of the quality and level of the curriculum.
This would basically mean a shift of the emphasis of the AIAS cooperation from more practice lead workshops for advanced students and professors into the development of education and curriculum.
The provisional outcome of recent interviews about the future of the AIAS showed the need to investigate the possibility to exchange art and design education in a more effective and economical way.
The AIAS network should focus on partnership based on schools that are willing to aim for a strong curriculum that can be tested on an international level. This would result in a joint development where participants can learn from each other to establish a strong international curriculum, which is highly important while training our students to actively participate in open sources like newspapers, magazines and internet.
Eventually this should also result in an exchange of staff and professors who will take care of leading workshops at one of the member schools and have a more positive and durable effect on the exchange of education within our Association.
This could also mean that – motivated by the interaction with these professors – the students will understand better why they have chosen for a specific school in regard to their international ambitions.
In the end this will lead to professional skilled artists/designers, who can flourish on an international recognized professional level and more sophisticated platforms like art en design manifestations worldwide.
As one of the AIAS founding Academies, the recently appointed new director of AKI ArtEZ – Enschede, The Netherlands, Ronald Kox and professor Wouter Hooijmans – active partner in several AIAS activities in the past – are willing to take the lead to start up the debate between the members of the AIAS. This debate should have a mutual benefit for all participants, both smaller independent Art Schools and Schools that are part of a larger organisation.
In our opinion this emphasis on an international curriculum is an urgent new direction in the development and survival of the AIAS.
At first, the concept of this new AIAS formula can be developed by a small group of concerned participants from the association followed up by a successive phase in which we will call for the know-how and experience of all our members.
The outcome will have to lead to a concrete proposition for the future of the AIAS during a conference with the members in 2014.
We hereby invite you to give us your highly appreciated thoughts about this new goal for the future of the AIAS network.
Please send your comment to :
elsnieuwenhuis@aias-artdesign.org .
We are looking forward to a fruitful and vivid discussion. Therefore, please also indicate if you would like to participate in the small group to take the first step to develop this new formula.
Amsterdam, November 2013.
Els Nieuwenhuis, Secretary General.