Forty students are expected to follow a one-week forum to better understand how to communicate and be motivated by developing contemporary designs related to Creole tradition.
The workshop, to be held at Belonie school, are targeting pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 with a range of grades, but the general public are welcome to join.
Architect Michael Schwarz will be leading this workshop along with the help of members of the National Arts Council (Nac) and teachers of the school.
Practicing this profession for 25 years, Mr Schwarz has been a professor for 15 of them and he has taught in the Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Dubai and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
This German lived in Dubai for 15 years before he moved to Seychelles in January to set up an architectural consultancy and studio called FuturelabSEZ.
Speaking to Seychelles NATION on Thursday he said this initiative is greatly being supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports.
He has visited Seychelles several times on holidays before but then came back last year in August to check the market and decided to settle down here after living in big cities all his life.
Mr Schwarz said that starting a new life here is not as easy as someone would expect especially when he is an expatriate.
He explained how the concept of the workshop came about after he had moved here a couple of months ago and started to understand more about the country.
“There is a big difference when you are a tourist on holiday in a country where you find wonderful hotels, food, environment compared to when you actually live there. I’ve come to realise that Seychelles faces the same challenges as other countries in the world such as problems in social life, social network, labour market and the youth.
He observed that the government is working very hard on these challenges and from all of his years of teaching he gathered that the main issue with the youth is their motivation and manner of communication.
“When I get freshman in my university the main thing is to motivate them for something and they have a different means of communication which is through Facebook or other social media outlets. What is happening nowadays, is that if a 17 or 18-year-old is not using Facebook then he should ask himself questions like ‘why not’ but at the same time there is this problem where someone is 50 and sharing every aspect of his life on Facebook, this person should also be asking himself questions,” he said.
This workshop is for pupils to start being motivated and communicate through artwork at an earlier stage in life and show them that life has more to offer.
“The idea is to let them express themselves and communicate via their architecture or any form of art so that at the end of the workshop out of the 40 pupils at least one or two will be interested to pursue architecture which could affect their lives in a positive manner,” he said.
He said that after pitching the idea to Minister Vincent Meriton, he was very enthusiastic to provide his support which was very essential for the conception of the forum.
For Mr Schwarz, the process is more important than the goal because the process means thinking and architecture is a very good example to start the thinking process and be able to follow their thinking to be able to find better solutions to help them.
The classes will be held at Belonie secondary school from 9am to 3.30pm but the first session on Monday will start at 11am following the official opening ceremony.
The 40 pupils will be divided in five classes of eight and they will be offered simple tasks such as making models of houses with paper or spaghetti aside from other forms of artwork.
According to Mr Schwarz, this is only the beginning but discussions are still going on about where the next workshop will be held.
Source : Seychelles NATION