14 August 2026
Arts Week 2026: Creativity, Collaboration and a Celebration of the Arts
This year, Arts Day evolved into something even more ambitious, with activities spread across an entire week and reimagined as “Arts Week 2026”. The program provided our Year 8 students with the opportunity to step outside their usual timetable and immerse themselves in a diverse range of creative experiences, led by professional artists and practitioners from across the Arts.
Throughout the week, students participated in seven engaging workshops: TheatreSports with Eden Trebilcock, Physical Theatre with Jethro Pidd, Interactive Percussion with Nick Parnell, Ceramic Animals with Annabel Hume, Painting Australian Flora & Fauna with Dana Kinter, Creative Writing with Will Kostakis and a highly collaborative workshop with James and Eric to create an Animal Orchestra.
The boys embraced these experiences with tremendous enthusiasm, and the quality and creativity of the outcomes produced across the week were outstanding. It was wonderful to see students working beyond the familiar boundaries of the classroom, experimenting with new materials and processes, taking creative risks, and learning from professional practitioners.
A particular highlight was the Animal Orchestra, a collaborative installation that brought together the students’ creativity, problem-solving skills and capacity to work as a team. The resulting work is full of character, humour and wonderfully unexpected details. It will remain on display as part of the End of Year Arts Showcase, and I warmly encourage parents of Year 8 students to take the opportunity to see it in person. The photographs simply do not do it justice; the attention to detail and humour of the piece really need to be experienced firsthand!
I firmly believe in the importance of the Arts within a broad and liberal education. The Arts provide students with opportunities to develop not only artistic skills, but also the critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication and problem-solving capabilities that are increasingly important in a rapidly changing world.
For our boys in particular, creative experiences can provide valuable opportunities to explore ideas, take risks, experiment, make decisions and discover different ways of thinking and communicating. Importantly, they also demonstrate that there is rarely one correct solution to a creative problem; instead, success often comes through curiosity, persistence, collaboration and a willingness to try something new.
Arts Week is one part of a broader commitment to Arts education at St Peter’s College. Our Artist in Residence program, cocurricular options, extensive range of Arts electives and SACE offerings provide students with opportunities to engage deeply and meaningfully with the Arts throughout their schooling.
I am incredibly proud of the way our Year 8 students embraced Arts Week 2026. Their enthusiasm, creativity and willingness to collaborate made the week a wonderful celebration of what can happen when students are given the freedom and opportunity to create.
Ms Adele Turner
Head of Arts
