THE CHILDREN'S PARTY: Think Tank Sessions Come to Arts Centre Melbourne

Arts and culture collide in the Children's Party: Think Tank Sessions, a series of workshops for passionate young people by Alex Walker (House of Muchness) and Ben Landau at Arts Centre Melbourne's The Channel from June until November. Civics and citizenship study jumps out of the classroom and into action during dynamic, practical sessions for 9 - 12 year-olds. The material created in the eclectic think tank sessions will feed into future iterations of The Children's Party, a theatrical experience showcasing the powerful perspectives of children in Australia's first child-led political party.

Young people will be asked to respond to timely provocations and exciting stimulus to work out their stance on current hot topics. They will tackle questions including "What is the role of the young person in shaping our world?" and "What do you have to offer as a child?"

The participants will then be charged with the task of how to inject their voice into the arena. They are asked to think about the tactics and strategies that can catapult the position of the young person into the frame. Young participants will engage in brainstorming, research, physical theatre, storytelling, speechmaking, discussion, problem solving, performance and presentation.

The sessions are the work of Alex Walker, a youth arts practitioner focused on making live art with young people where the spheres of art and politics intersect and Ben Landau, an artist who creates interactive experiences and performances that deconstruct social, political and cultural assumptions to spur agency within the audience. Landau's work challenges and investigates the world according to children, adults' assumptions and expectations of children, and ultimately puts kids in control.

Together the pair created The Children's Party, Australia's first child-led political party. Supported by a set of advisors, speech writers and experts, the pint-sized politicos brought their message to the people at the inaugural Children's Party Convention. Part participatory art project, part social provocation, part the juiciest episode of Q&A, The Children's Party flips the adult-child hierarchy on its head.

"I'm excited to continue the exploratory process of The Children's Party during the Think Tank sessions, working with young people to investigate new ways of elevating their ideas and showing adults what leadership means,' says Landau.

In 2016 Walker founded the House of Muchness (HOM), which is a centre of artistic practices for the creative wellbeing of young people. At HOM, she has established a culture which breeds safe, creative risk-taking and artistic experimentation. She uses arts processes to arrive at new material which reveals the contemporary condition of young people and their complex relationship with the world.

"Working with children in this context is thrilling. Rather than adults teaching young people how the world works, they are given license to unleash their potent and ancient wisdom. They have an inherent creativity of approach that is radical and necessary and it's a privilege to be witness to it,' says Walker.

Arts Centre Melbourne presents
The Children's Party: Think Tank Sessions
by Alex Walker from House of Muchness and Ben Landau
June - November 2018
11am, 24 June, 29 July, 26 August, 16 September, 7 October and 11 November
Arts Centre Melbourne, The Channel
Recommended for children aged 9 - 12 years
Book: artscentremelbourne.com.au or 1300 182 183

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