The commercial call-out marks a year of “regeneration” for schools’ music, drama and visual arts programs, the department said, in the aftermath of impact of COVID-19 health restrictions and natural disasters.
The benefits to the community of sponsorship were enriched opportunities for students, raised profile of existing programs among schools and parents, boosted resources for teachers and improved and equitable access for rural, remote and Indigenous students, the prospectus said.
Telstra sponsors the School SpectacularCredit:Louise Kennerley
Bidding organisations were invited to take advantage of the opportunity to support more than 500,000 students from more than 2810 schools to further develop literacy, music and drama skills.
“Over the last 18 months we have seen greater numbers of students across NSW participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge than ever before,” a department spokesperson.
“The value of the activity is greatly received by parents, schools and the students themselves. Many of the activities in the Arts Unit have a long history of partnership over many decades with both not- for-profit and the corporate sector to provide opportunities to our students across NSW.
“These arrangements are not new, there is now increased transparency and greater public visibility in how the Department promotes and communicates these partnership and sponsorship opportunities, to ensure we continue to meet public expectations for transparency.”
Telstra sponsors the Schools Spectacular. The Spelling Bee has the ABC Radio is its media partner and Macquarie Dictionary as its “official word supplier”. Previously the Reading Challenge has been supported by Dymocks, The Sun-Herald, owned by Nine, and OPSM. One sponsor had dropped out due to the impacts of COVID-19, hence the public call for expressions of interest.
Large companies and corporations try to present an altruistic motive to their sponsorship when this was part of a strategy for brand recognition and market creation, Mr Gavrielatos said.
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“We must be very careful our students are not reduced to sandwich boards as part of these sponsorship programs,” he said. “These sponsorships are not needed if your funding base is adequate.”
Tenders for the arts unit sponsorship and separately the Reading Challenge and Spelling bee close on March 28. While sponsorship from external sources continues to be a part of the spelling bee and reading challenge, the most significant costs are borne by the department, it said.
Open to all NSW students from kindergarten to Year 10 in all schools, the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge encourages in children a love of reading quality books with an element of competition.
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Launched in 2001 by then premier Bob Carr, the Reading Challenge is currently without a major private partner. Queensland’s reading challenge is sponsored by a superannuation company and the online book retailer Booktopia.
Premier’s reading challenge and spelling bee on the lookout for sponsors
Source: Philippines Alive
