With the UNLTD Kids Storytellers project, the Verbier Festival shows a long-term commitment to arts education for children.
UNLTD is driven by the conviction that access to culture from an early age is one of the keys to personal development, self-confidence and respect for others. With this in mind, Storytellers offers a series of artistic workshops and performances in schools.
with the generous support of
The Heineman Foundation
Fondation Vareille
Le Canton du Valais
Loterie Romande
Direction des écoles Martigny
Direction des écoles Montey
1,000 Young Spectators from 53 classrooms
The Festival’s education team consists of an actor, an illustrator-animator and alumni musicians of the Verbier Festival Academy. They spend almost a month visiting 53 classes in the cantons of Valais, Vaud and Neuchâtel for workshops and performances. The children discover the story of The Three Little Pigs with a twist… it is set to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Developed in consultation with primary school teachers, Storytellers offers a full pedagogical experience, including artistic workshops in the classroom and via the Internet, followed by a series of performances.
Team
STORYTELLERS QUARTET
Anaïs Soucaille violin
Çigdem Tunçelli violin
Masha Kropotkina viola
Gabriel Esteban cello
René-Claude Emery storyteller, actor
Marc Philippin illustrator
Anne Sieber-Zeller project coordinator
A Three-Part Programme
Before arriving in the classroom, the Festival team provides teachers with a preparatory material. This includes a teaching guide to assist with how to approach the story, its links with the music, the instruments of the quartet and the composer of the musical work. Children discover Beethoven, whose 250th birthday we are celebrating in 2020. At the same time, children, teachers and parents can explore Ludwig’s World: an online interactive platform specially created for the project, where they can meet Beethoven and his music in a playful way.
The second part of the programme includes a total of 49 artistic workshops presented in the classroom to prepare children for live performances. A storyteller and the Festival’s project leader present history, music and musical instruments to the students. They also work with the kids to create original illustrations to be used during the performances.
In a third and final component, Verbier Festival Academy alumni musicians give 26 in-school performances, during which children discover how music, literature and visual art mix and interact. Their drawings are used by the animator to create a live animated film that accompanies the storyteller and the musicians.
The artistic team works in 53 classrooms the schools of Bagnes-Vollèges, Martigny, Aigle, and Neuchâtel. In total, more than 1,000 children from the 2 to 6H sections attend and participate in the project. In spring 2021, the project will also be deployed in public libraries.
