T+ Aesthetic Education Development Support Program for Rural Educators

The “T+Program” is a joint initiative launched by A4 Art Museum in 2022, based on the iSTART Children’s Art Festival and China Aesthetic Education Network for Rural Children, to support rural educators in improving their aesthetic education literacy and applying curatorial thinking to education.
Starting from April 2023, we will continue to summon everyone in the name of art and games, delighted to have gathered many partners with diverse artistic backgrounds to join in rural children’s aesthetic education cases. Some have achieved fruitful results, while others have been continuously improved with the support of the “T+Program”. But equally exciting is that in both rural schools and rural communities, everyone is actively exploring how to leverage their strengths and make actions more focused on stimulating children’s potential, vitality, and confidence. This direction of effort is enough to awaken our fundamental thinking on current issues such as education, art, art education, children, and rural development. I believe that while we understand the uniqueness of rural education, we can also see more passion and wisdom in dedicating ourselves to the aesthetic education of rural children.
The “T+Program” for 2023 includes the online participation of 19 rural frontline children’s educators, rural children’s education researchers, rural education public welfare organizations, and officials from art education projects. Among them, 9 serve as project leaders and curators to incubate exhibition works in a collaborative manner. In order to further experience curation thinking, with the support of the Zhejiang Zhipu Public Welfare Foundation, the “T+Program” plans a seven day study camp for rural teachers, rural children’s aesthetic education researchers, and public welfare project officials.

Playing games has never been a difficult problem for rural children. There are many places to chase and hide in fields, ponds, trees, and trees. A branch, a leaf, a stone, and a handful of soil are all props that can transform into various forms. Teachers and parents in rural schools often worry and say, “Our children are a bit” wild “and not easy to manage!” In my imagination, it is necessary for adults to cultivate fierce skills in order for them to sit quietly in the classroom and study. The students were afraid, so they obediently restrained their bodies and minds, and their thinking also didn’t let go. Perhaps this is not the way we hope to see children living in vast fields! When they were originally playing, they were both physically and mentally present, fully exerting their courage, imagination, and creativity, which are key abilities that children need to cultivate through learning today. After a thousand twists and turns, the secret is actually there.
So there was the “T+ Aesthetic Education Development Support Program for Rural Educators”, which was jointly initiated by the “China Aesthetic Education Network for Rural Children” and the A4 Art Museum. The plan aims to empower rural children and communities with more creative and integrated aesthetic education projects through long-term support for the development of rural teachers. The “T” in the “T+Program” refers to “Teacher” and also refers to education, temperature, and threshold. This plan uses games co created by rural teachers and children as a medium, allowing viewers to see the enormous potential of rural children in their meaningful “play” in recognizing nature, expressing emotions, and creating together. The exhibition hall includes a survey conducted by the A4 Art Museum towards some rural schools across the country, as well as a joint presentation of their innovative practices on games and education with six rural schools.
In these practices, play with the children, learn their new ways of playing, give them opportunities to lead the way, and explore the treasures of natural ecology, local culture, and folk art together in the unique world of rural areas! Fortunately, we saw a group of rural teachers already on the treasure hunt with the children.