Our Stories

Arts for Learning Delivers Creative Summer Camps at the Suffolk Center

May 12, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

We’re busy planning three exceptional summer camps in Musical Theater, Visual Art, and S.T.E.A.M. in partnership for the ninth year with the Suffolk Center For Cultural Arts. Campers in third to fifth grades will immerse themselves in each theme as they work with professional teaching artists Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

HURRY: EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FOR EACH CAMP ENDS FRIDAY, MAY 13

NEW MUSICAL THEATER Camp ~ Lights, Camera, Action: June 20-July 1

Campers will have the chance to do it all as they explore the performing arts in a two-week Musical Theater camp—write scripts, design costumes, sing and make music, act, and dance. Campers will learn what it takes to create and participate in an original production from start to finish—and then dazzle family and friends with their unique, one-of-a-kind show.

VISUAL ART Camp ~ Arts from Around Your World!: August 1-5

Campers will experience the cultures of other parts of the world – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean – as they create multiple visual arts projects. While discovering ties between cultures and art forms and having lots of hands-on fun, they’ll also investigate their own heritage. Projects will include making a colorful patterned textile called a mola and creating clay coil pots. The week’s highlight will be an art showcase for family and friends.

S.T.E.A.M. Camp ~ Thinking Outside the Box: August 8-12

Campers will think creatively through all aspects of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) as they experience hands-on learning. Projects will include designing using 3D printers, experimenting with dyeing textiles, drawing and assembling tessellations, and so much more! This camp will help kids learn to think on their feet, problem solve, work collaboratively–and have lots of summer fun with their peers–while showing off their projects to family and friends in a special program on the last day.

“Our teaching artists have loved mentoring students at Suffolk Center’s summer camps for the past nine years,” says Anna Heywood Green, chief operations officer for Arts for Learning. “Our artists are inspired by the campers as they watch their creativity and talents flourish throughout the week—they can’t wait to see what campers will come up with this year!”

Summer camp registration is $475 for the new two-week Musical Theater camp and $275 for the one-week Visual Art and S.T.E.A.M. camps. Both full and partial camp scholarships are available. For more information and a registration link, click here: https://arts4learningva.org/summer-camps/

A Program that Makes a Real Impact

March 18, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

A Churchland student named Legend gets fitted for a violin during his first lesson.

After two years of being shut down because of the pandemic, Strings Impact is up and running again in Portsmouth Public Schools!

We’re celebrating a successful kickoff of this long-running residency that introduces fourth, fifth, and sixth graders to playing the violin, with instruments provided by the schools.

The program is taking place after-school at Churchland, Lakeview, and Simonsdale Elementary Schools, with students taking one 90-minute lesson a week for twelve weeks. At the end of the residency, each set of students will show off what they’ve learned in a special concert for family and friends.

Tina Culver, a fulltime music teacher at Churchland Elementary School, is the A4L teaching artist for the Churchland Strings Impact residency. Although she didn’t grow up in Portsmouth, she says the opportunity to learn the violin changed the course of her life.

“I had such a wonderful experience from the moment I started playing the violin in the fifth grade—I just hit the ground running, and I was involved in all different kinds of music programs within my community, orchestras, went on to the governor’s school, then went on to college and eventually took that up as a major.

If there hadn’t had been programs like this available for me, my childhood would have been so much different.”

That’s why Tina feels so strongly about programs like this that expose underserved students to quality arts education. “For Portsmouth, I feel it’s important to be a part of the program because a lot of those kids are not normally getting access to classical music or to string instruments,” she says. And by having her as a teacher, students “see someone who looks like themselves, someone who’s young, someone who’s positive and energetic, and someone who tries to make it fun and interesting.”

John Jenkins is the teaching artist for the Lakeview and Simonsdale Elementary residencies. He works as a band teacher at Manor High School in Portsmouth. Altogether, 52 students are participating in the three residencies, with a waiting list of 14 students at Churchland. The enthusiasm is high among all the students—one girl writes that she may want to be a professional violinist when she grows up!

Strings Impact began about 17 years ago after starting at Westhaven Elementary School in Portsmouth. It has rotated among different schools since then.

We want to thank the E.C. Wareheim Foundation and Portsmouth Public Schools for underwriting the Strings Impact program!

Simonsdale Elementary School principal Tammy King attends the first session of the residency.

Do you want to support arts education for students who may not otherwise experience it? You can make your tax-deductible gift by clicking here.

Chatting with A4L’s Aisha Noel

January 30, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

We’re celebrating the work anniversary of Aisha Noel, our School and Community Relationships Coordinator who started at Arts for Learning three years ago. With the pandemic creating major changes over the past two years, her job has evolved and expanded with new duties, but she still has the same positive energy and enthusiasm as when she started.

When Aisha was first hired, she primarily coordinated after-school programs while a different staff member handled bookings and programs that took place during school hours. Now Aisha schedules programs of all types, while keeping in close touch with our community partners—schools, libraries, and community centers—something that plays to her strength of being able to relate to all sorts of different people.

“My job has evolved from what I originally did, and it’s always changing. It keeps me ‘unbored,’ because I like change, but I also feel more sure of myself now,” she says, noting that she’s been able to act as a resource for newer members of the A4L program team.

When schools shut down in March 2020, it allowed Arts for Learning to diversify its program offerings by developing multimedia options, something Aisha says she’s glad we’ve been able to incorporate.

Aisha helps set up lights during the early days of A4L’s recording of artists’ programs. She’s seen here with Aaron Kirkpatrick, former artistic and education manager.

“Even though COVID has been rough with trying to reschedule programs and all of the mitigation strategies we’ve come up with, I think we’ve done a great job.”

We did it with a smile and pride. And at the end of the day, this is for the kids.”

She says there’s been another positive change from the last couple of years.

“One good thing about the pandemic—you got time to slow down and think about what you want to do. Going back to school was one of them.” In September, Aisha started remote learning at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to earn three certifications in arts management: Core, Professional, and Leadership. She hopes to finish within two years.

Giving back to her community is extremely important to Aisha. “I want to show people that you don’t have to be a statistic. I grew up with a single African American mother in downtown Newport News, and I’ve been able to travel and do different things because art has opened so many doors, and I want students to have the same doors open to them.”

I want them to be able to see themselves in the Picassos of the world. I also want them to know that the world is much bigger than 757. It’s much bigger than the 23607 zip code, and they can do anything. They say music is the universal language. I would say art in general is the universal language.”

Aisha is from a musical family where everyone sings, but she’s the only one involved in theater. When she was in middle school, she wrote and directed a play for her church, which was presented as an evening of dinner theater.

“For them to support me and cultivate my vision… I think every kid needs that support from an adult, to cultivate their love for something, to really sow a seed for a person’s future.”

Aisha is a proud alumna of Heritage High School.

A mentor for Aisha was Laura Gilbreath Lloyd, her drama teacher at Heritage High School in Newport News who now teaches at Christopher Newport University. Calling her a “second mom,” Aisha says Mrs. Lloyd advocated for respect for all the jobs in theater, not just for performers on stage. That approach helped spark Aisha’s interest in arts administration, which included an internship at the Signature Theatre in Arlington. She wrote the following in tribute to Mrs. Lloyd last May for Teacher Appreciation Week:

“I am forever grateful to Mrs. Laura Gilbreath Lloyd, my high school drama teacher. She nurtured my passion for performing arts and cultivated a respect for art administration. Mrs. Lloyd created a haven for her students that allowed us to express ourselves, learn valuable life lessons, and mature into healthy young adults. It was truly a pleasure to be your student then, but I count it an honor to be your friend now. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, Mrs. Lloyd!”

Performing in “It’s a Wonderful Life” with the Williamsburg Players.

Among other credits, Aisha has performed with the Williamsburg Players and in a production at the historic Attucks Theatre in Norfolk. She also completed a two-year acting program at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Washington, D.C.

Aisha and fellow acting students at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.

Aisha says that theater is her “happy place” and that being involved in drama at school helped her overcome a disability she was ashamed of as a child–she’s completely deaf in her right ear.

“Being in theater allowed me to not be ashamed of it,” she says. “But it also helped me pronounce words better. I can’t hear words phonetically like everybody else does because of my deafness so being in theater made me practice, practice, practice those scripts so that my speech was better.”

Here at Arts for Learning, working with Aisha is a joy, something that our community partners who interact with her have discovered for themselves.

We wish Aisha a very happy third work anniversary and a fulfilling and productive year ahead in both her career at A4L and her higher education!

Fun facts about Aisha:

Favorite types of theater: Greek and commedia dell’arte.
Favorite role played: L’il Bit in How I Learned to Drive.
Favorite TV show: Criminal Minds.
She loves reading and just finished Michelle Obama’s Becoming, calling it “phenomenal.” “I really like seeing what inspires people to do what they do.”
She loves travel and adventure!
She and her mother are very close. Aisha calls her “my heart.”

Remembering A4L’s Tina Lassiter

January 18, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

At Arts for Learning, we’re mourning the loss of a beloved staff member, Tina Lassiter, who passed away on January 10 after a long illness. Tina served as A4L’s Finance and Administration Manager for the past three-and-a-half years, but as CEO Chris Everly says, she was much more than that.

“She was really an ambassador for us, which you wouldn’t typically think of for a finance and administration person. Everybody came away from an interaction with Tina feeling better about our organization. What she was doing wasn’t merely entering numbers for us. She was helping to build the organization and ensure its financial stability.”

Tina showed tremendous dedication both to Arts for Learning—including finding ways to work even after she became sick—and to her family. “She always found a way to integrate her work and her other responsibilities as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother,” Everly says.

I just think of her as a bright light kind of person. She will always stand out for many of us as somebody special. And you didn’t have to have a long interaction with her to come away with that feeling.”

As a Texas-raised girl, Tina had a “heart as big as Texas,” Everly says. And for Arts for Learning staff, board members, and artists who knew and cared about Tina, her death leaves a Texas-sized hole in our own hearts. We express our deepest sympathy to her family.

We’re honored that Tina’s family designated Arts for Learning as the charity where people can choose to donate in her memory. The family will be notified of any gifts made in her honor: DONATE HERE.

Please click here to read more about Tina’s life and the plans for her memorial service.

Rhythm and Me: An Adaptive Dance Residency

December 19, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

After twelve weeks filled with growth and exploration, students in a Rhythm and Me residency in Virginia Beach shared what they learned in a special performance for family and friends, choreographing the presentation by themselves. The adaptive dance program is a partnership between Arts for Learning and Families of Autistic Children in Tidewater (FACT). The residency was designed for students to join with their peers and learn new skills in a supportive environment.

Starting in September, the students met twice a week with A4L teaching artist Angela Taylor, a certified yoga instructor. In each class, she led students in a particular dance style—ballet, hip hop, jazz, party dances and more—with each dance paired with discussion about a different life skill. The curriculum was specially formulated for middle and high school students with autism.

“We were looking at the social emotional aspects of learning, of togetherness, community, social justice, understanding each other, and being okay with who we are in our bodies,” Angela says. As the program progressed, she witnessed growth in students from week to week. One student, for example, had difficulty speaking and let her aide speak for her, but by week three, Angela saw that the girl had become confident enough to communicate by herself. “That was truly amazing to watch her grow.”

“Overall, I think that a lot of them came out of their shells and they’re just free with their dancing, free with their movements. Even some of the parents would say, ‘Oh, my child can’t do ballet.’ And I’ve always said that it’s not about the dancing. It’s about coming together and creating a community and enjoying life and having a great time. I don’t mind if the moves aren’t perfect because I’m not perfect. I just want everybody to have a good time and have a positive experience in the class, and I feel like we accomplished that.”

Parents provided overwhelmingly positive feedback about the residency. But Kara Rothman, mother to 13-year-old Jesse Elia, says she didn’t initially have high hopes for the program.

“We’ve signed up and paid for so many things that I’ve had to drag him to, but he wants to go to [Rhythm and Me], which is the first time ever. For me, it was huge because I’ve taken him to so many different places where I have to preface who we are and his quirks, and [at Rhythm and Me] he’s allowed to be quirky. It’s okay. In other places he has to be quiet or follow directions—it’s very structured—and he was always getting kicked out of stuff. Nothing ever worked, ever. Every time I’m just so grateful that he wants to be there.”

Jesse calls the program “fun, interactive, and entertaining,” and says he especially likes being with other students on the spectrum. He also says he finds the yoga portion “calming,” and the program less stressful than others.

“If I say I don’t want to do something, it’s not like I have to do it,” he says. “But I usually like doing the stuff, and it’s fun.”

Angela says her approach as a teaching artist is to “honor each person for who they are and where they stand in this world. And I think so many people pressure children like, you have to do it, you have to do it. With Jesse, I always gave him the option. I would say, ‘Would you like to join in?’ And if he said no, we just kind of moved on because I think it’s so important to be honored by your choices.”

Jesse is an only child who is homeschooled. His mother says the socialization portion of Arts Adventures was “huge.” After his first time going to the program, Jesse told his mom he had “gone in expecting the worst, but I ended up getting the best.” As for Kara’s reaction when Jesse said that:

I cannot tell you what those simple words meant to me. Well, yes, I can. It meant the world!”

Another parent, Lori Beatty, says her 13-year-old daughter, Calli Laundre, always became excited when she heard she was going to dance class.

“When I pick her up, she’s full of energy. If we get there early, she grabs her mat and she’s just ready to go. I think the whole program is great. It’s been really good for her.”

The Rhythm and Me residency was the first year of a three-year Arts Adventures partnership between FACT and Arts for Learning, with funding provided by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. The focus of the second year will be music and the third year will be visual art.

“We’re delighted to partner with FACT because the population they serve overlaps with a group of students that we prioritize reaching with our programming,” says Chris Everly, CEO of Arts for Learning. “We’re excited to be planning future collaborations.”

Arts for Learning Delivers Creative Summer Camps at the Suffolk Center

A Program that Makes a Real Impact

Chatting with A4L’s Aisha Noel

Remembering A4L’s Tina Lassiter

Rhythm and Me: An Adaptive Dance Residency

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Arts for Learning Delivers Creative Summer Camps at the Suffolk Center

A Program that Makes a Real Impact

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