In conclusion, this artistic research has provided valuable insight into how one can create an engaging artistic project for children. Through the theoretical part and the collaboration with Jenny and Nicolas, the project has evolved from a plan to a concrete workshop. The final workshop format consists of three exercises and an introduction. Through multiple try-outs, these exercises allow us to play and adapt to the needs of the audience, making each workshop unique.
The final workshops gave us valuable insights into how the relationship between adults and children develops in the creative process. By letting the children take the lead, we embraced a new approach that challenged our preconceived notions as musicians, encouraging us to move away from logical conclusions and embrace the unexpected. This shift required us to be more open in our verbal communication, asking objective questions and responding to the children's ideas without trying to steer the workshop towards a particular outcome. The experience highlighted the importance of adapting to both the children's creativity and the unique dynamics of each group. Ultimately, the outcome of the workshops depended on our ability to improvise with both verbal tools and audience response, making each session a dynamic, co-created experience.
In addition to the process being an attempt to make co-creation more accessible to children, the project has also helped me clarify my role as a performer and helped me define goals for my own artistic development. By working with the children and encouraging creative exploration without boundaries, I have taken the same approach into my own artistic work, which has changed both my attitude to what I create, but also to music in general.
Through this year-long process, together with my musicians, I have found a solid starting point for this project, but even though we have developed these workshops and the method the work is still under development. As a further development of this project, Nicolas, Jenny and I will continue to organize these workshops. We are already in the process of planning more workshops in 2025, the first one already happening in February. Through this we will further develop our verbal and communication skills, as well as dive deeper into the creativity of children. All these tools will be used to continue the development of this method of co-creation.
A longer-term goal is to be able to concretize that method even more and thus teach it to more musicians so that they can create spaces where people have opportunities to explore. This will also involve adapting the workshops for different age groups and creating workshops for adults and not just children.