This Highway Home, a collaboration with Courthouse Youth Arts, will work with students for at least two terms.

Students present writings, sound, photography and music, broadcast and projected in the Rushworth main street.

Six Victorian schools were selected to be a part of the extended school residencies program, sharing in grants worth $213,000 to bring the arts to the classroom.

Minister for Education Martin Dixon said the arts taught people how to think creatively, explore possibilities and take challenges in new and diverse ways.

“These skills help us in a range of areas beyond the arts, leading to higher self-esteem, encouraging teamwork and supporting social and personal development,’’ he said.

Mr Dixon said funding supported projects that would explore a range of art forms from writing to sound art, photography and music, physical theatre, performance, and an iPad-based digital artwork.

“Teachers gain skills, students learn arts skills and explore new ways of learning,” he said.

“Our artists benefit too; gaining inspiration from new collaborators engaging with new and diverse audiences across the state.”