Naga educators to explore ‘creative thinking’

A Retreat for Educators at the Savannah College of Art and Design

Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | October 5  

The system of education has been confined to school curriculums for a very long time, giving little scope for creative thinking. This has hampered the development of creative capacities of students, and the need for teaching methods to inspire innovation and creativity, is a long felt need for many learning institutions.  

At a time when creative professions are barely recognized in Nagaland state, the ‘Retreat for Educators,’ an initiative of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) comes as a breath of fresh air, especially for young people who want to explore their creativity in different fields. SCAD, a university of Creative Careers (www.scad.edu) is a non-profit fully accredited American University that offers more degree programmes and specializations than any other art and design university in the world.  

For the first time, educators from Nagaland and Northeast including representatives from The Hope Academy School, The Assam Valley School and G. Rio School apart from a Photographer and a Journalist from The Morung Express will be part of the “Retreat for Educators” at Atlanta, USA in October. The trip, commencing from October 8 through October 14, 2016 will be an all paid expenses, sponsored by SCAD for the 5-member team.  

This initiative has been made possible by SCAD Executive Director, Maken Imcha Payne and Associate Director of International Admission, SCAD, Pelesino Ane Kevichusa, who are both from Nagaland and have strongly felt the importance of introducing to Nagas, the multitude of career possibilities that can be explored through an education in art and design. Towards this end, Payne maintained, “this will be a great introduction for Naga students and their parents to a marketable field of art, design and technology.”  

Kevichusa upheld that it is a given that Nagas are artistically inclined, but observed, “apart from a few artists and designers, we still don’t have many people pursuing education or careers in this field.” “I have personally seen so many talented people not being able to find a niche after having done their Bachelors and Masters and then ending up frustrated and disillusioned,” she enlightened.  

SCAD offers over 40 different degree programmes ranging from Architecture and Animation to Graphic Design, Interactive Design and Game Development to Sound Design, Fashion Design, Furniture Design to name a few. Since reaching out to every student in Nagaland is a logistical impossibility, Kevichusa said, “We decided to invite some of educators so that they could return home and share their experiences with their students.”    With many of the programs at SCAD either rated “Best” or ranked No.1 apart from being featured among the Top 10 in the US, she exuded confidence that the retreat for educators will be a great beginning for Nagas to make a lasting impact in the field of Art and Design.  

Meanwhile, Sashila Ozukum, Administrator of Hope Academy said she is looking forward to learn how to involve creativity in the classroom, which, she explained, would give her an opportunity to guide those students who are creative and have the skills that might take them further. “It is also an exposure for me to see how things are over there not just in terms of teaching but the way they do up their classrooms,” she conveyed.  

Khrienuo Moa, Managing Director of G. Rio School is expecting to “get a broader view of how to lead our students because we can only think of technical professions and we cannot think beyond that.”  

While expressing the need to update oneself, Priyanka Joshi from Assam Valley School felt that the Retreat would help her in her teaching profession and also enable her shape the careers of those students who are looking to pursue college in the field of art and design.  

With a keen interest in finding out the kind of programmes the college is offering, Photographer, Zubeni Lotha said she is going with an “open mind” while relating her own experience at a mass communication college (with a lot of so called art classes) she studied in earlier, which, in retrospection, she didn’t quite find it fulfilling. She hoped to explore and learn the programs offered at SCAD.  

Apart from the opportunity to visit the state-of-the-art facilities and see for themselves all that SCAD has to offer, the participating team from Nagaland and Northeast will be part of workshops at the Atlanta campus and experience SCAD life first hand.  

SCAD has five locations globally – Atlanta (USA), Savannah (USA), Hong Kong, Lacoste (France) and e -Learning.