In February 2009 I, Cynthia Torto, was awarded a Winston Church Memorial Trust Fellowship grant to conduct a research project in the United States and Ghana (West Africa).
The aim of my fellowship is to visit schools in the USA and Ghana who specialise in the arts to look excellence and equality in arts education. I want investigate what excellence is, analyse the key factors and processes that may bring about excellence, identify how it is taught, methods for encouraging both excellence and equality and in turn also look at if aiming for excellence includes the goal of broadening opportunities for those who may have been held back by discrimination and economic deprivation. The fellowship aims to look at if an insistence upon merit at school-level results in an imbalanced arts sector that fosters elitism or if initiatives that try to broaden opportunities for the disadvantage, minority groups and women discriminate against those who have also struggled hard for their achievements.
I will be investigating performing arts schools at a mature stage (i.e. in the USA) and at its infancy (Ghana). My overall plans are to my plans are to utilise the information I gain from this project to a) help improve the design and quality of school’s based projects that I produce without compromising equality and diversity b) extend my network of international arts education practitioners and c) incorporate my learning into the strategic policies and plans of the arts education organisations I work for.
About Me
As a freelance marketing consultant, artistic producer and project manager, I have over eight years experience in the arts covering a range of areas, but predominantly in visual arts and music.
Since graduating from Aston University in 2001 with an Honours degree in Applied and Human Biology, I have managed marketing initiatives & major projects for Aston University Students’ Union, the NUS, DEFRA and ACFEST (Europe’s largest festival for African and Caribbean students) and worked as Marketing Officer at the Big Lottery Fund for 4 years before moving to Punch Records, Birmingham in where my responsibilities included strategic planning, international cultural exchanges, project management and the implementation of education, development and outreach strategies. I also sat on the Advisory Working Group for the Black Cultural Archives and the management team for the Njoya Foundation.
I have a particular interest in cutting edge arts practice, international development, the relationship of participatory arts to regeneration, and community engagement.
About the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust – www.wcmt.org.uk
Sir Winston Churchill died in 1965 and many thousands of people, out of respect for the man and in gratitude for his inspired leadership, gave generously to a public subscription which now funds Travelling Fellowships and Bursaries at Churchill College Cambridge, based on the Trust’s Object of:
“The advancement and propagation of education in any part of the world for the benefit of British citizens of all walks of life in such exclusively charitable manner that such education will make its recipients more effective in their life and work, whilst benefiting themselves and their communities, and ultimately the UK as a whole”.
Each year approximately 100 Fellowships are awarded for a wide range of projects. Churchill Fellows can be of any age and in any occupation. Everyone has an equal chance; a lack of qualifications is not a bar to an award as every application is judged on the worth of the individual and the merit of the project. All British citizens resident in the UK are eligible for the annual awards.
Applicants must demonstrate that their project is feasible and worthwhile, and of real benefit to their community and to the UK on return. The Fellowships involve overseas travel for between 4 to 8 weeks, but can be longer, and all travelling and living expenses are covered by a grant.
Past award winners are people from all walks of life including nurses, artists, scientists, engineers, farmers, conservationists, carers, craft workers, artisans, members of the emergency services, sportsmen and women and young people.
The Trust also awards 10 undergraduate bursaries each year at Churchill College Cambridge, as well as supporting a postgraduate Fellowship and an Archive By- Fellowship at the Churchill Archives Centre. For further details on the bursaries click here .
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is the national memorial and living tribute to Sir Winston, whose example is our inspiration.
About Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, historian, writer, and artist. He was the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and the first person to be recognized as an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, in the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War I, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He returned as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. In the interwar years, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led Britain to victory against the Axis powers. Churchill was always noted for his speeches, which became a great inspiration to the British people and embattled Allied forces.
After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951, he again became Prime Minister before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.
You can find out more about Sir Winston Churchill here:
1) http://www.winstonchurchill.org/
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill
3) http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/churchill_winston.shtml