I’ve had some questions about how I run my workshops recently so I thought I’d type up what I’ve learnt over the years:
Planning
Focus on the unconscious learning outcome. Decide what you want the participants to understand by the end of the workshop and design the exercises to enable this.
If your workshop involves you giving a presentation, give as many opportunities for audience interaction as possible, it will keep them alert & active. Start with some easy wins (e.g. can they recognise this famous relevant person/thing).
The short, medium, long pattern of timings really works. Remember art school? You’ve got to warm them up!
As much as possible, try to add with a ‘show and tell’ ending to the workshop. When working with young people, sometimes the presentation and safe space public speaking experience is the most important but challenging part. But really, really take care of the participants when they do.
Using techniques that suit neurodiverse participants benefit everyone. Keeping choices to a restricted number you’ve pre-decided (as in you decide the parameters of the challenge).
End of workshop presentations will always take longer than you think. Also, include clean up time, you aren’t their parent.
Time and structure your workshops as best you can but expect things to change. Be flexible with the schedule.
Task structure
Lay out the plan for the workshop at the beginning and go over it so the participants know what to expect. If you can avoid it, don’t tell the participants they will be presenting their work at the end of the workshop, it can cloud their enjoyment if they worry about speaking. If some students really don’t want to, respect that. Be careful how you organise this as allowing one person to drop out can set off a domino effect. Pick a confident speaker first.
The automatic response by participants who aren’t artistically confident will be to do the most basic representation. This muscle memory will spread across the group. Using techniques that stop the participants from responding in the automatic way will free them up to make new choices, e.g. using collage to create a base body instead of drawing one.
Allow as much scope as possible for different learning styles. Some participants will have incredible imaginations and others will be far more skilled at 3D making challenges. Designing a workshop that incorporates exercises that everyone can win at least once stops you isolating your participants.
Behaviour management / Working the room
You are not their teacher, and that might surprise them. Be as real as them as you want. They are here for an experience of industry, that might be more than they ever get at school. If you are working with young people and teaching them a profession, treat the participants like you would adults in that profession. Trust them to use their phones for internet research, but tell them you are doing that. Don’t be afraid to ask them to put their phones away if you can tell they are abusing it.
The naughty kids will often give you the best ideas. A classic, but the naughty kids are often the ones with too much energy or ability and they act up as a result. You can use that in workshops, they will often surprise you.
Work the room as best you can. Finding the balance of making sure everyone gets an equal part of your time is tricky, the participants who struggle can take up much more of your time and you don't share your input equally. Sometimes that’s ok, sometimes it’s not. You will have to play each exercise by ear but you can only go as fast as your slowest participant.
Try to never say no. If a participant wants to do something a little differently, I usually ask them to justify it artistically and if that is thought through enough then I say yes. They are here to grow artistically, this is not a paint by numbers.
If needed, split the naughty kids up with number or table tactics. Get the teachers to help if you. If there is a teacher or a staff member who knows the participants well, suss them out as soon as possible, if they are on side they can assist behavioural management.
And most importantly...
Recognise the ability in anything and everything they do. Be it use of colour, ability to model make, ability to balance a space visually. Recognise the originality of the idea if the execution isn’t there and vice versa, talk about how that idea would go down in a rehearsal room or excite a maker. There’s every chance the skill these students have expressed in this workshop hasn’t been recognised in school, or if it has, you will give it a bit more clout with your professional credentials.