Affirmations, Evaluation, and Reflection

We took some time last week to bond as a team, and to collaborate on some training and planning for an exciting future at AEE.

There was silliness, affirmations, reflection, evaluation, fun, and even a birthday!

Last week the Artsedex team held space for some staff development days, where we enjoyed a mix of training, planning, social activities, and appreciation for each other. We’ve been working together as a new team for roughly eight months now, so we spent some time looking back on the year so far and our impact on the community.

Day 1 was all about reflection. We handed out gifts to each other, reminding everyone of their amazing contributions to the organisation. A presentation shown to the team told the story of our impact on young people over the past eight months, with our highlights and the occasional candid silly moment caught on camera.

Day 2 was all about evaluation. We sat down as a team to build a new evaluation tool kit, drawing upon each of our experiences of exchanging and learning with young people throughout the year. Everyone was listened to as they brought forward new ideas, and together we explored new reflection exercises that might help us to deeper understand the needs of young people in our future sessions.

Day 3 was all about affirmations. Each of us had named envelopes to write messages of appreciation to each other throughout the week. Everyone received and read these kind words, messages, and validation from each other on our third and final day, which set a happy vibe for the BBQ we shared that afternoon.

We’re now feeling uplifted and ready to continue helping young people to access creative learning, and achieve their dreams!