(Richard Bach – The Bridge Across Forever)
Graphic Design Teacher
Erasmus+ Coordinator at SUPŠ Bechyně
The cooperation with EASR Porto enables me in to do what I believe has a great sense: working with people that I respect, dealing with students creative tasks different from stereotype school syllabus, sharing experiences during uncommon international meetings, speaking intensively English, getting to know the surrounding of a distant art school of high quality and therefore having the chance to learn different approach to the art education.
I am honestly very happy of the results achieved, of enthusiastic creative students and satisfied colleagues- teachers. I am grateful for this opportunity and I am hoping for others to come.
English/ French Teacher
Erasmus+ Coordinator at SUPŠ Bechyně
I am sincerely very grateful for the cooperation with the art school in Porto. This is our first KA2 project and I think we have been very fortunate as for the choice of the school. For us, this is not only about strategic partnership…but also about nice friendship we are sharing and strong connections we have been building up with Portuguese teachers and students since last year.
It’s great to see my students talking in English, being involved in activities, working together and simply “growing up” as I would wish them all to become – open-minded, independent persons, eager to travel, to get to know other cultures and people.
Multimedia Teacher
Erasmus+ Coordinator at EASR Porto
The exchanges, facilitated by ERASMUS+, allow a very important academic and cultural enrichment. This KA2 projects, of strategic partnership between schools, are extremely precious to participating students and teachers, as they allow access to new learning components and a valuable exchange of knowledge and practices that would not be possible otherwise.
This particular project with SUPŠ Bechyně school was a truly satisfying experience, full of novelties and adventures. It was particularly interesting to see the development of students and open and warm way they accepted the challenge.
At the SUPŠ Bechyně team, I extend my sincere gratitude.
Design Teacher
Erasmus+ Coordinator at EASR Porto
With the development of this project in cooperation with the Bechyne’s school I establish a very rewarding experiences for my performance as a teacher. This project allowed us to know a new culture, new knowledge about different techniques and processes.
However the most important aspect in this project beyond the involvement of all stakeholders was the friendly relationship established. This relationship allowed a greater involvement and enrichment of the affective aspect inherent in this project.
Multimedia Teacher
Participant Teacher at EASR Porto
The journey of this project was extensive but productive.
Students had the opportunity to explore new techniques, in new class contexts, simultaneously earning a greater appreciation for cultural sharing in the development of artistic projects.
The nature of the activities demanded, from the participants, a greater commitment to new forms of collaborative work, where cultural differences were put to the test, ending in a very enriching experience.
Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Bechyně (SUPŠ Bechyně, Czech republic)
Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis of Porto (EASR Porto, Portugal)
The project Erasmus+ KA2 has been supported from the funds of the European commission and it allows a two-year cooperation between the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts of Bechyně and Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis of Porto. We have many points in common, indeed: both schools were founded in 1884 as one of the oldest art schools in the country and we share very similar study fields (graphic, ceramic, industrial and multimedia design).
The project was called Re: ART TRUeSTory, suggesting only by the name that our aim in two years is to create an animated story that will be inspired by both our cultures, written by students, technically and artistically produced, promoted on posters, accompanied by their own logos and all in all, actively created both by Portuguese and Czech students.
School exchanges, visits of our typical towns, art museums, galleries, and workshops will become part of the work on the project. Our aim is to involve students from all study fields, due to a large spectrum of activities that are involved in the project work. We intend using English as a communication language; however, we are also looking forward to learning bases of another European language.
We strongly believe that Erasmus+ project will achieve what we are expecting, i.e. it will join more closely our school with a foreign school, it will motivate our students to use their skills more practically and creatively and that students will be more interested into speaking English, travelling, broadening their minds and creating friendship with people all around the world. We do hope that the project will be successful and we all will learn as much as possible!
Re: ART TRUeSTory
….we write the story of our personal lives and the history of our schools…
Thanks to international meetings and exchanges we may create new friendships, share our personal and teaching experience, basing on mutual understanding between us. Here below are the key words appearing in the name of the project, or to be read between letters that represent our common goals:
Re (as a written, oral or art response to situations, impulses, information, facts)
ART (as a means of our common work)
TRUE story (are our thoughts about others reality or concepts? do we base on experience or prejudice? we also have a lot of dreams, imagination to be perceived and followed)
or THROUGH story (language as a tool for any kind of communication)
or TRUST (in the others, in one’s personal experience, in gaining self-confidence)
the whole leitmotif of the project is STORYTELLING (storytelling represents an important form of interpretation of ideas and a way of approaching human beings; thanks to brainstorming, discussion we would like to write a common story, to construct together the knowledge about Czech/Portuguese culture)
The Secondary Art school of Bechyně was established in 1884 as the first Czech ceramic school. The former study fields were stove-making, pottery and ceramic painting. In 2009 the school was renamed as Secondary School of Arts and Crafts – Bechyně (SUPŠ Bechyně). Nowadays, more than 200 students are studying in four main art specialisations (ceramic, industrial, graphic and multimedia design), in a three-year vocational study field (producer and decorator of ceramics). The studies are designed for students from 15 to 19 years. Next school year a two-year distance post-high study field, called Technology of ceramics, is going to be open for future students.
Since the beginning of its existence the school has brought up more than 3900 graduates – many successful artists, craftsmen, technicians and renowned art teachers among them. The school was especially significant in the development of the ceramic industry in Bohemia, Moravia and in Slovakia. Moreover, the school hosts biennial international ceramic symposia, taking place since 1966 with the cooperation of our school, organize public summer ceramic courses, days of open workshops and art exhibitions where works of both students and teachers are displayed.
The school is equally open for international cooperation. There are various successful international projects running on (exchanges with art school in Trento, Landshut, Porto), the school supports internships in international companies (Laufen s.r.o). Our effort is to readjust the education to changing demands of the time, to modernize teaching and to raise creative graduates who would be able to succeed in the domestic and international competition.
The current Soares dos Reis School of Arts was officially established in January 1884, and designated at that time as Industrial Design School Faria Guimarães do Bonfim. Its activity began a year later in poor facilities of a small housing building. In 1887, a new building was meant to hold the school, that changed its name to Industrial School Faria Guimarães. But the constructed building was delivered to the Asylum of Abandoned Girls, keeping the school in the old facilities.
In the year of 2008 the School as moved to new facilities located in Major David Magno Street. A school campus composed of several new buildings, comprising classrooms, workshops and support facilities, features excellent conditions and high availability for a modern, twenty-first century school.
As Specialized Artistic Teaching School, Soares dos Reis – currently named Soares dos Reis School of Arts – is dedicated to the teaching and practice of the visual arts and mainly offers four specialized art courses: Audiovisual Communication, Communication Design, Product Design and Artistic Production. These four courses, directed solely at the level of high secondary education (before college), resulting in three grades – 10th, 11th and 12th – are oriented in a double perspective: study prosecution in technological specialization courses or higher education (university or polytechnic) and placement into the active, working life. The knowledge and learning of the students are guided by a team of teachers with specific and pedagogical training in the arts, as well as teachers of special techniques in various technological areas, that are a valuable heritage and an asset for the School teaching quality.
The International Projects Department (IPD) at Soares dos Reis School of Arts, aims to promote the mobility of students, allowing an opening of educational and professional horizons through exchange of values, knowledge and experience. In the context of education internationalization, the IPD ensures the internal organization and dissemination of information about the programs / initiatives and mobility partnerships between institutions, respective lines of funding and application procedures.