Archibull Prize 2011

Congratulations to the 20 schools in Western Sydney who have been selected to participate in 2011 Archibull Prize.  

6 PRIMARY SCHOOLS  including Maraylya Public School, Macarthur Anglican School ,Windsor Public School, Schofield Primary School, St Michael’s Catholic Primary School and RIDBC Alice Betteridge School

AND

14 SECONDARY SCHOOLS including Richmond High School, Caroline Chisholm College, Colo High School. Rouse Hill Anglican College, Muirfield High School,  Northholm Grammar School, Model Farms High School. Terra Sancta College, Crestwood High School, Cranebrook High School, Hurlstone Agricultural High School, Quakers Hill High School, Castle Hill High School and St Ignatius College will be eyeing off the ultimate reward

This year builds on the successful 2010 Archibull Prize pilot that started with an anticipated five schools program and grew to fourteen schools due to demand for the program from schools and supporting sponsors.

HOW IT WORKS

Each successful high school will be provided free of charge with a life size fibreglass cow on which the students create an artwork about the selected theme. 

Each successful primary school will be provided with a life-size fibreglass calf on which the students create an artwork about the selected theme. 

To ensure students and teachers are well equipped and briefed on the program each school will be assigned a Young Farming Champion.  The Young Farming Champion will come to your school to present the program to your students and provide a personal insight into their farming experiences.  In addition, schools will have access to a kaleidoscope of paddock to plate professionals.  The school is also provided with paint materials and a resource kit at no cost.

This year we are asking the students to

•               create an ‘Archibull Artwork’ that embraces the theme:-

‘Bridging the Rural – Urban Divide – What does it take to feed Sydney for a day sustainably.”

•               Produce a weekly web blog which documents the journey of the artwork. .

•               Produce a short video to raise the profile of Australian farmers.

•               Produce a ‘PowerPoint’ for publishing via the LandLearn NSW website which communicates the importance and relevance of student sustainability learnings with a focus on a whole systems’ ( i.e. “cradle to grave” from “A to Z” from “start to finish”) approach. Research how these whole systems work and why are they so important for sustainability.

OUTCOMES

The student groups will enter their project work to win the ‘Archibull Prize’ – which uses creative arts to engage the students and the wider community in discussions about agricultural sustainability and natural resource management. The result will see our next generation of consumers, decision makers and leaders having a deeper understanding of the future challenges that face our primary industries and the community more widely.

“When planning for a year, plant corn; for a decade, plant a tree; for a lifetime, educate people”~Chinese Proverbs

Young Farming Champions leading the way for young people

What inspires you about farming? I think it’s an easy question to answer in the minds of enthusiastic, young farmers—but if it’s the first time you’ve tried to put it into words, there’s often a lot to say.

Our ten young farmers from NSW recently gathered for a workshop centred on Bridging the Rural–Urban Divide. They answered questions like the above, and talked about why and how they could help inspire students and urban people about agriculture.

The Young Farming Champions learned about their audience, of ‘city people’, through listening exercises; they learned about tricky issues in agriculture and the future and perceptions of those issues; and they learned about themselves as leaders, speakers, and inspiring young people.

Jenni Metcalfe and Sarah Cole (Econnect Communication)  helped facilitate the workshop along with the fantastic organisational skills of Kirsty John and Loran Blades from Event Directors.

As a rural-but-not-agriculture kid myself, I certainly learned a lot from the workshop too.  said Sarah

So what’s the next step for these Young Farming Champions? Well, they’re in the middle of making videos and presentations for the kids they’ll speak to in schools, and then will head into those schools to talk about Art4Agriculture’s Archibull Prize. We can’t wait to hear about their successes and their experiences with the Archibulls.