In 2009 the Castlemaine State Festival conducted the inaugural Schools Program, which brought together more than 1500 primary school students in the Mount Alexander Shire for a week of coordinated workshops and performances by leading local and guest artists.

This year the Castlemaine Festival’s Schools Program will again involve over 1500 primary-aged children from the 18 local primary schools in the Shire. Children will be engaged in an extraordinary range of multi-arts and cultural events, including traditional local Indigenous Dreaming dance workshops and ‘Saltbush’, an internationally acclaimed Italian/Australian interactive multimedia dance theatre piece.

Children will attend informative artists’ talks by exhibitors selected for the 2011 Castlemaine Visual Arts Biennial, and experience hands-on art-making with leading national and international artists, including special guest — world-renowned sculptor/printmaker Heri Dono (Indonesia).