Dr Kate DONELAN
k.donelan@unimelb.edu.au
Senior Lecturer, Drama Education
The University of Melbourne, Australia

Dr Kate Donelan is Head of Drama in the Faculty of Education at The University of Melbourne. She holds leadership positions in peak arts organizations, government curriculum authorities, school councils and theatre company boards. She is a former President of Drama Australia (NADIE) and a member of the IDEA Executive, serving as Vice-President and IDEA Congress Director. She is currently undertaking two nationally funded research projects examining the social impact of the creative arts on marginalised young people in schools, community and custodial settings. She was the recipient of the Inaugural Drama Australia President’s award for outstanding contribution to Australian drama education.

Intercultural education through creative arts practices

As an Australian drama educator and researcher I believe the arts offer unique opportunities for expanding young people’s cultural horizons, for transforming relationships in contemporary multicultural classrooms and for building intercultural understanding. In an increasingly dangerous and divisive world, young people need access to safe, participatory and collaborative arts spaces where they use their imaginative and creative resources to explore, embody, represent and communicate their own and others’ cultural experiences. Arts educators need to adopt a pluralistic perspective, respecting the multiple ways in which people view the world and construct their identities. Arts education programs need to acknowledge that artistic expression is embedded in socio-cultural contexts that are dynamic and evolving. Through actively engaging with a variety of artistic forms and cultural narratives young people explore new ways of thinking, and feeling. In drama young people play with different social roles and identities, and imagine themselves differently, deepening their knowledge of other societies but also questioning their own taken for granted attitudes and values. The symbolic languages of the creative arts enable young people to open up intercultural dialogue, transform their social and cultural identities, and discover the shared human values embedded within civil societies.

Kate Donelan博士

Kate Donelan博士是澳洲墨爾本大學教育系的話劇系主任。又在多個公共機構擔任要職。她曾任IDEA的副主席及會議總監。她目前正在研究創意藝術對邊緣少年的影響。

「創意藝術中的跨文化教育」

筆者認為藝術可擴闊年輕人的眼光，轉變當代教室的跨文化關係及建立跨文化理解。藝術教育也需採納多元文化角度。年輕人可透過話劇和藝術表演感受不同角色和身份，從而展開跨文化對話。