:: Our Arts/Animation Training Activities

Heathcote International is proud to offer an exciting training programme, to provide a range of client groups with the opportunity to train within an arts/animation context. Arts/Animation training provides clients with a range of outcomes and benefits, which they are able to prioritise within the training programme, to meet their specific training needs and interests:

Arts/Animation for Empowerment

This allows participants the opportunity to develop their personal and social skills within a flexible and unrestricted training environment, facilitating the development of autonomy and a range of empowerment skills. By using arts/animation training activities, participants work with various self evaluation techniques to enable them to express aspirations and formulate a clear direction for the future, in relation to individual training needs and employment opportunities.

Arts/Animation for Ethnic/Cultural Integration

This provides participants with the possibility of creating their own social and cultural references, within the context of vocational training. It also encourages participants to adopt new methods of communication, using arts/animation mediums, allowing them the opportunity to express personal interests, attitudes and past experiences.

Arts/Animation for Equal Opportunities

The practice of creating an arts/animation work has become increasingly attractive to women over the past few years. In particular, it allows women a means of communication and self expression using film/video that is divorced from traditional images of women "on the screen". It also allows women to adopt audio, visual and technical skills, which were traditionally considered to be more "male" skills in employment.

Arts/Animation for Employment

This relates quite specifically to providing new, vocational training skills to participants, allowing them to compete effectively in the labour market and respond to new opportunities in areas where skill shortages have been identified. Particularly within the arts/animation industry, there are consistent "skills gaps" occurring between the artists and the computer experts, providing great opportunity for newly trained personnel, to form bridges between the two areas of skill.

Arts/Animation for Economic Regeneration

This aspect of training is concerned with the development of skills on a local basis, stimulating the creation of new employment opportunities within the community. It is specifically concerned with providing complementary training to participants involved in the arts/animation training programme, to enable them to train other people within the community, share expertise and resources and thus, stimulate the creation of small businesses.

Arts/Animation for the Environment

The training of participants in the arts/animation programme, inevitably has a huge impact on the environment. In terms of the physical environment, naturally the production of art works and films may be used to enhance the seen and tactile environment. However, the exhibition of art and film also impacts on the social environment, stimulating social interaction and communication and creating a perceived environment of comfort and safety.

Arts/Animation for Everyone

This aspect of the programme is concerned both access to training and the dissemination of training results. It provides a range of client groups with access to arts/animation training and encourages them to participate in the celebratory performance and exhibition events, to share their achievements with family and friends. As a dissemination strategy, it seeks to involve a wide range of people in the celebration of the arts, and functions as a dynamic and interactive strategy for social participation and the exchange of ideas and experiences.