World’s top teacher uses £1m prize money to bring artists to schools

Andria Zafirakou with pupils at Alperton Community School today. They were joined by supporters including, from left, grassroots East London singer-songwriter Pallab Sarker, Marios Papadopoulos, Simon Schama, Cinta Miller, Melvyn Bragg, Meredith Ostrom, Naughty Boy, Mark Wallinger and Armando Alemdar
Alex Lentati

The world’s best teacher today launched a major campaign to bring artists into deprived London schools.

Andria Zafirakou, winner of the $1 million Varkey Foundation global teacher prize, is recruiting painters, musicians, dancers, actors, illustrators, film makers and comedians to become “artists in residence” at schools in the capital and inspire a generation of children.

Musician Naughty Boy, broadcaster Melvyn Bragg and historian Sir Simon Schama today threw weight behind the campaign, which is supported by the Evening Standard and will focus on schools in deprived communities.

Scores of artists today signed up to the scheme at the launch at Alperton Community School, where Ms Zafirakou works as an art and textiles teacher.

AP

She is using her winnings to kickstart the project after becoming alarmed at the declining number of students studying arts subjects amid funding cuts and the focus on more academic subjects in schools.

Ms Zafirakou, 39, said: “Subjects such as art, music and drama are being squeezed out of the curriculum at a time when they have never been more important. Too often we neglect the power of the arts to transform lives for the better, particularly in the poorest communities.”

She added: “I have seen those magic moments when a child is talking to someone they are inspired by — their eyes are twinkling and their faces light up. We need artists more than ever in our schools.

“We need the creatives to inspire our children and stir our teachers. When a child meets an artist the memory is with them for years — we need to get that sense of hope back into the lives of our children. You can’t get it from a textbook or YouTube video.”

Thirty London schools in areas with high deprivation will be matched with an artist in residence. As more artists join the scheme it will be rolled out across the capital and the rest of the country.

Conceptual artist and painter Michael Craig-Martin, known as the Godfather of the Young British Artists, is one of the many high-profile supporters. He said: “Andria’s generous and brilliant initiative to bring artists from all fields into direct contact with children in London’s schools is particularly welcome at a time when the arts are being downgraded in the curriculum and access denied to many.”

He said he met a “real artist” at the age of 14 and it made him realise it was possible to make a living out of art. “Very often the arts are presented as a bourgeois luxury,” he added.

“But this has nothing to do with elitism … I can’t imagine any middle-class parents sending their child to a private school that did not have provision for the arts … But children are being denied this because schools are under such pressure.”

Naughty Boy said: “Music and the wider arts have given me so much and supporting this initiative is a way for me to give back.

“I urge schools and artists across the capital to sign up so we can bring creative talent into our schools, helping the next generation to experience the transformative power of art.”

Simon Schama described art as a “vocationally necessary” subject, adding: “The future depends on creativity and creativity depends on the young. I do have a mission to make art education not just an add-on.”

Gerard McKenna, head of Ms Zafirakou’s school, in Brent, said: “We are just a fairly typical school … but on the back of Andria being named world’s best teacher there has been a huge upswell of pride in the local community.”

Armando Alemdar, the school’s head of art, said encouraging children to engage in such subjects was “the strongest way of developing confidence”. Other supporters include artists Mark Wallinger, Meredith Ostrom, Gavin Turk, and founder of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Marios Papadopoulos.

  • artistsinresidence.org.uk

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