Tuesday 18th May sees the launch of a new DVD showcasing a major arts in childcare project that has been taking place across the Highlands and Islands over the last two years.

The ArtsPlay project worked in consortium with the childcare sector in the Highlands and Islands to provide a programme of training for childcare workers and artists. The idea behind the project was to ‘train the trainers’ to make use of the arts within childcare activities.

The project has developed new skills and increased the confidence of childcarers to nurture pre-school aged children’s development, and to stimulate their creativity and personal development through early and continued involvement in the arts. Over the course of the two-year project, ArtsPlay has involved 71 childcare groups, 228 playworkers and 98 artists across the region.

The ArtsPlay project came to an end in March 2004, and a new DVD has now been created to create lasting benefit from the project, and to ensure that models of best practice identified by ArtsPlay can be passed on to others, both within the region and internationally. It does this by enabling individual artists to explain how they work with children, and by showing them working with pre-school groups.

ArtsPlay was developed by HI~Arts, the arts development agency for the Highlands and Islands, and is supported by The Community Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Local Childcare Partnerships across the region. The project has now assisted in the establishment of ArtsPlay Highland, an organisation that will provide a model for other areas in the use of arts in childcare.

For more information about ArtsPlay click here.