For those who thought history was boring, well, then here's an initiative – ‘Kids at MoCA’ – started at the Museum of Christian Art (MoCA), situated at the Convent of Santa Monica, Old Goa, which is aimed at making history interesting.
Curatorial Associate and Educator at MoCA, Benjamin Monserrate, informs how this programme seeks to introduce children to an important aspect of Goan heritage by allowing them to interact with objects in MoCA’s collection, and supporting their understanding of the art objects and interpretations through storytelling and visualization.
“Children will have an opportunity for holistic development through a combination of hands-on learning activities through workshops, walks, competitions, presentations and more with expert facilitators,” he says throwing light on the initiative.
DEVELOPING KID'S CREATIVE APTITUDE
MoCA believes in being a space that encourages learning and creativity among children.
In the past, they conducted several activities for children, such as crafting with shells, leaf printing, lamp-making inspired from the MoCA collection, young collector’s day and many other programmes.
‘Kids at MoCA’, however, takes things a notch higher. It has been designed for children between 5 to 15 years with various monthly activities with an aim to create a curriculum to develop the creative aptitude of children and learn about history and heritage, through art.
The main intention to target this age group through ‘Kids at MoCA’ is to bring children into the museum space and make learning fun, explains Benjamin, adding how this formative age group enables one to engage with children and make them understand heritage that is a part of their everyday lives.
A PEEK INTO A WORKSHOP
An example of one such activity MoCA had recently was ‘Talking Tails’, which was a story-telling and collage-making workshop where participants toured the collection of Christian artefacts and objects in the museum with a storyteller discovering stories behind the artworks.
Taking their newfound knowledge about the art as inspiration, they created characters that motivated their own stories using collage and drawing as a medium. The activity concluded with an exhibition of their artworks and stories, narrated by the participants, informs Benjamin.
The next activity on the anvil is the puppet-making workshop and performance, led by artist Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal on October 1 and 2, 2023 from 11 am to 4 pm.
This is being held in collaboration with My Mollem (An initiative of concerned citizens to save Goa's wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks from proposed infrastructural projects that will affect the wildlife), says Benjamin, and will be an immersive two-day workshop, where young puppeteers will work with writers and artists to script, produce and perform their own puppet show, inspired by the nature-themed motifs and stories at MoCA.
Parents and participants can sign up for activities of ‘Kids at MoCA’ by sending a whatsapp message to +91 83088 05399. They will also receive updates about monthly activities. Participants do not need a membership to register.
CONTACT
E-mail: museumofchristianart@gmail.com
E-mail (events): mocagoaevents@gmail.com
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Website: www.museumofchristianart.com