Conveying New Learning Through a Workshop Series

　Just like a fashion show, isn’t learning in the digital age conveyed through visual displays? That was the inspiration behind the workshop series. The first session, held in January 2004, drew 500 participants. Attendance at the ninth event, held in March 2013, reached 100,000 people—a 200-fold increase.
　We believe that more and more parents are seeking to nurture their children’s creativity and expressive abilities, and demand for these activities continues to grow dramatically every year.
　
　Thanks to the creativity and originality of the people involved, the workshop collection continues to evolve every year. One year, the event featured a wide variety of special projects. Nobumichi Tosa of Maywa Denki hosted the exhibit “Let’s Make a Chihuahua Whistle!” Lily Franky taught an illustration course. The Masahiko Sato Lab at Tokyo University of the Arts offered “Flipcard Animation,” a seminar on how to create cartoons that can be viewed in the palm of your hand. Uruma Delvi, the creator behind the hit “Bottom Biting Bug,” spoke on “Making Cartoons for Parents and Kids!”　Recently resigned Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama participated via video message, and a special election was held in which parents and children could vote.
Hoping to create a mecca for creative and expressive activities for children, the festival also features programs from overseas. South Korea’s Noridan, a performance group that tours around the world—including the U.S., the U.K., Russia, and Hong Kong—promoting innovative public performances, creative educational activities, and community design projects, gave a performance using musical instruments made from recycled materials and held a creative workshop.
　Percussion and wind instruments were arranged inside a car made from scrap wood featuring a whale motif and on a fish-shaped bicycle; as they moved around, a percussion performance began. An enormous, ghost-like puppet also joined the performance, expanding to fill the fantastical space in the midst of the parents and children who sat in a circle watching. After the performance ended, the children played the percussion instruments and personally experienced the world of Noridan.
Bologna, Italy’s mobile, experiential theater troupe “Laminarie” also participated. Laminarie produces various art projects and plays around the world, as well as workshops for children. As the children experienced various elements such as sound and color, expressing themselves through simple body movements and gestures, they were able to participate in the exhibition “Coreografia infinita – Choreography Without Limits.”
　As they combined their own movements with those of other children, the possibilities expanded and evolved into something new. By clapping their hands and stomping their feet, they amplified the sound. Combining the children’s noise with the Italian speech, they encountered a form of expression they had never experienced before.
　
　The Kids’ Workshop Award, which selects and publicly recognizes outstanding, original workshops that stimulate children’s creative and expressive abilities, was established with the goal of promoting and developing children’s workshops.
　Each year, outstanding workshops are recognized based on three criteria: creativity in strengthening children’s creative and expressive abilities; timeliness in cultivating skills and perspectives that will be vital to children in the future; and originality in incorporating previously unseen ideas.
　Artist Kiri; Japanese Television’s Toshio Tsuchiya, known as “T Producer” on “Advance! Radio Boys”; Yoshimoto Kogyo executive Hidenori Nakai, who served as manager for Sanma Akashiya and “Downtown”; NHK commentator Hide Nakaya, known for his work as a caster on “Digital Stadium,” among other roles; Daisuke Yanasawa, Representative Director and CEO of Kayac, Inc.; and Ichiya Nakamura, a professor at Keio University, served as judges.

　A symposium on the question “Can we establish a framework for researching ‘Creative Education,’ which enhances creative power?” featuring Stanford University professor Sherry Goldman was also held.
We believe this event has grown to the point where it attracts domestic and international attention as a global initiative.
　We also believe that holding the event annually has contributed to the increasing proportion of digital projects. This demonstrates that the practical use of ICT in children’s education is on the rise. Consequently, with input from the conference on fostering a sense of security on the internet, the ICT Literacy Zone was established two years ago. Companies such as NTT Docomo, KDDI, Y! Mobile, Emobile, SoftBank Mobile, Yahoo, DeNA, and GREE all participated. A variety of workshops and internet security symposia that make practical use of personal computers, mobile phones, the internet, and tablet computers are held.
　
　“Make it together.” That is another theme of the workshop collection. Participants create a giant rainbow dragon out of scrap wood. They create a large rainbow to decorate a tunnel. They use vinyl tape to create a corridor dedicated to a childlike spirit.
Projects created by everyone in attendance are displayed throughout the exhibition hall.
　To begin with, the workshop collection itself is a project built by everyone together: school teachers; university faculty; museum staff; artists; all kinds of researchers and engineers; professionals from the internet, television, newspaper, education, and game industries; administrative staff; students; mothers; fathers; grandmothers; and grandfathers. And, leading the way, the children.
　Exhibitors, attendees, and approximately 1,000 volunteers all worked together to create this space. The workshop collection is a place for children’s creativity and expression, and at the same time, it is a place for everyone involved in the workshop to come together and meet one another.
　We want to connect activities that are scattered everywhere, and we want to create an environment where all children in Japan can participate in creative and expressive activities! This “play space,” where people who share these deep passions can freely use both traditional, analog means of expression and cutting-edge digital technology, is filled with their enthusiasm every year.