ABOUT THIS MEDIA PORTAL
Written in Norwegian and created by Norway Communicates for the DKS Telemark as part of The Wild Telemark, this Media Portal features valuable film, photo and media career information for young students.
Contributors include:
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Steven Van Zandt (Lilyhammer, Sopranos), his educational initiative TeachRock and cooperation with DKS Telemark.
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Ian Brodie with a portfolio including film photography with major productions such as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and many others.
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Per Ole Hagen, award-winning Getty photographer, University of Oslo instructor, with a long career with the national broadcaster NRK with a focus on legal rights and musicology.
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David John Smith, Founder of Norway Communicates.
The Media Portal also includes hands-on film tips information from young filmmakers aimed at helping other young filmmakers as well as information about DKS Seminars and activities such as the DKS World Heritage Photo Competition.
Go to the Student Media Portal (in Norwegian) here
DKS TELEMARK AND STEVEN VAN ZANDT
Created by Steven Van Zandt, and with a Founding Board of Directors that include Martin Scorsese, Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation (RRFF)’s TeachRock educational initiative operates in all 50 US states.
Steven Van Zandt says,
‘In 2007 I created the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and the TeachRock education program using music as the most accessible, effective, and lasting method of creating a common ground for communication between teachers and students.’
The June 2019 agreement signed with DKS Telemark is TeachRock’s first international educational agreement. The signing event held at Petter Stordalen’s hotel The Thief in Oslo also marked an agreement with the Oslo-based Edvard Munch High School).
According to Steven Van Zandt, ‘This is a very important step for us. We are committed to make a difference in education in Norway.’
NATIONAL PLANS AND WORLD HERITAGE
DKS Telemark has already begun the process to integrate the Teachrock teaching initiative into a regional high school based in Skien (Skogmo vgs.), and cooperation with Edvard Munch is the first step towards bringing this initiative to the national Norwegian level.
TeachRock is also working with DKS Telemark to create the first-ever foreign language lesson plans. In process, these lesson plans will focus on the Rjukan-Notodden World Heritage, the other on the Bluestown Rising story of the town of Notodden that has created one of the most respected music festivals in the world – The Notodden Blues Festival.
DKS Telemark
DKS Telemark is part of the national Kulturtanken initiative in Norway helping school students from Grades 1 - 13 in Norway experience professional art and culture, a collaborative project between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research.
The Cultural Backpack has been part of the Norwegian government's cultural policy initiative for the elementary school since 2001. Through events and activities students will have the opportunity to experience, become familiar with and develop an understanding of professional art and cultural expressions of all kinds.
A focus on film and media is now considered a priority within DKS, an element of cultural activities where required of high quality, and reflect the full breadth of cultural expressions:
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Performing arts
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Visual art
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Music
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Film
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Literature
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Cultural and World Heritage
TeachRock (Rock and Roll Forever Foundation)
Currently, with over 150 lesson plans covering literally all aspects of core-level education, TeachRock asks young people what music they are listening to. Then their interest is used to get them excited to learn and discuss social affairs, history, politics, civil rights, injustice and other topics that matter in society.
‘At the time TeachRock was founded there had been major budget cutbacks within the arts all through the United States. People said that we didn’t have a chance to succeed. But we didn’t give up, we knew that it was possible. And we were right,’ explains Steven.
A series of TeachRock – DKS Telemark seminars have already been organized, with more to come in the Autumn of 2019,
For more information about Steven Van Zandt’s TeachRock educational initiative, visit teachrock.org