Arts for Learning Archives - Arts for Learning Virginia

Sparking Joy

September 26, 2023 By Arts for Learning Virginia

At our Sunshine Beach Party event recently, we paid tribute to two long-time musicians, Steve Ambrose and Janet Kriner, who have retired after decades of service. One of the special moments during the event came when Board of Directors’ member Linda Dennis spoke about how Janet has inspired her as a musician. As a cellist, Janet was an original member of the Feldman Quartet in the 1950s—the quartet’s performances were the very earliest version of Young Audiences of Virginia, now known as Arts for Learning.

Linda, who’s been a board member for about eight years, retired in 2016 after teaching music in Norfolk Public Schools for 30 years. She’s a violinist in the Virginia Symphony Orchestra where she played with Janet for decades, but the two first encountered one another when Linda was growing up in Norfolk.

“My life was anything but privileged. It’s very unlikely that I would have encountered a string quartet as a child,” Linda says. “I grew up in a very working-class neighborhood, working-class schools. It’s just not something that my family did. One day when I was in the fourth grade, a string quartet came to our school for a performance, and they were from Young Audiences. Janet probably was in that quartet. I was just fascinated with this ensemble, and I fell in love with the violin myself.”

In fifth grade, Linda started playing the violin at her elementary school. When she was 13, she attended a week-long summer orchestra camp, which was new to the area. Janet worked with the student musicians as a cellist specialist, and she made a big impression on Linda.

“I just thought she was the happiest person I had ever met. She always had a smile on her face. She just seemed like she was filled with joy. She was excited to work with us. It didn’t seem to be a burden for her. She thoroughly enjoyed it. And she sparked enthusiasm with the kids as well.”

Throughout the years, Linda continued to interact with Janet as she guided young musicians, including serving as a coach for the Tidewater Youth Orchestra (now Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia where Linda played violin. But after earning a spot in the Virginia Symphony in college, Linda saw a different side of Janet, who was principal cellist.

“She had a professional persona and then a student persona. Students got all the inspiration and happiness and joy, but as a professional, she was a tough cookie. She was demanding of her section, and she was a perfectionist,” Linda says. “I loved seeing that you could be both. You could be a student advocate, kind and understanding and patient, but then you had standards for yourself, and I really respected that in her.

“She is like gold to this area. She’s just a gem. She’s done so much for kids and for teachers too. She’s inspirational to the teachers.”

Linda’s experience playing the violin when she was young—and the joy she witnessed in Janet—motivated her to teach music.

“I knew the joy that I felt as a child… it’s not an opportunity that I expected. And it just really changed the course of my life. So whatever I can do to give back and give some other child that experience that’s what I wanted to do.”

Linda gives back in a different way on Arts for Learning’s board. As someone who first enjoyed a Young Audiences’ performance 55 years ago, she appreciates the ways in which our organization has evolved over the decades, such as incorporating Virginia’s Standards of Learning into its programs.

“I really love the way [Arts for Learning] works so hard to build programs to give the students exactly what they need. I think that the way we’ve transitioned over the years to give students exactly what they need, exactly when they need it, is quite a service to the community.”

At Arts for Learning, we want to express our thanks to both Linda and Janet—two individuals who have contributed so much to the school, arts, and nonprofit communities throughout the years.

Are you interested in serving on the Arts for Learning board? We’re always searching for dedicated arts advocates who are leaders in their fields. If you’d like more information, please contact CEO Chris Everly at CEO@Arts4LearningVA.org.

Talking with Dañetta Evans, our New Artist and Programming Manager

October 15, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

When Dañetta Evans decided to pursue the arts as a career, she says there was no “plan B”; she was committed to pursuing her passion, no matter what. She may not have been able to predict exactly where that determination would land her, but we’re happy to say it’s brought her to Arts for Learning as our new Artist and Programming Manager.

Dañetta is originally from Alabama where she earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations/marketing at Alabama State University and later received her associate of arts degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Tennessee. She moved to Hampton Roads to attend graduate school at Norfolk State, where she first earned a Master of Art in Visual Studies and later her Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies.

While at NSU, she became interested in participatory art and how data collection can aid in community development and engagement. Then, she says, she wanted to learn more about the effectiveness of STEAM (Science Tech Engineering Arts Math) education. “I created some classes to see how effective it was and did the research in how STEAM and STEM worked and how I could add something to it.”

She also was the liaison between her classmates and the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Virginia when the club wanted NSU art graduate students to create various art classes for different clubs. She loved it—“Not only did I get to do my own artwork, but I got to see the change in the students and the change in my classmates too.”

The art education part of it—it just took my heart. I saw firsthand the character development that took place in the students from the beginning of class to the end of class. I decided then—while I’ll always be a practicing visual artist, the education part was super important.”

Organizing community art events was a major part of NSU’s program. Among other projects, Dañetta helped organize pop-up shops at the NEON Festival in Norfolk, participatory art at the Hermitage Museum, and a 93-foot-long mural inspired by African American history that’s located inside Calvary Baptist Church in Virginia Beach.

At Arts for Learning, Dañetta’s role is to work with the artists on our roster to help develop innovative arts education. Creating community—as she worked to do at Norfolk State—is a major priority.

“I love to create community with our artists, when we come together, share resources, and if I can offer any sort of professional development. And also add to the roster—where do we need some extra artists to help step in?”

Those are the big goals: create community and grow the roster.”

If you’re an artist who’s interested in joining our roster, please click here for details on how to apply.

Fun Facts about Dañetta: She loves trains, especially the sounds they make. And she collect sounds. “Most of the time they’re stored on my phone so if I’m walking around and I hear something, I’ll record it. I think it started when I lived in Nashville. I walked out of a museum and the church bells were going and I thought, ‘Man, I really like that sound.’ So I just started recording it and continued to record the sounds.” And as an artist, who knows? She says “someday I’ll do something bigger with it.”

Cheers for our ACE Theater Arts Residency

June 11, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Mikayla and Sabrina at the ACE performance — Mikayla and her friend Sabrina enjoy some well-deserved snacks after the ACE performance of “Courage and Kindness.”

It’s been six months since the end of our After-School Creative Enrichment (ACE) theater residency at Norfolk’s Bay View Elementary School, and we look back fondly at this pilot program for third through fifth graders. Students worked together with their peers, educators, and A4L artists as they learned all aspects of theater staging. But that’s not all—the program focused on social-emotional skills, too. Parent Brittany Cottrill says the program made a real difference to her daughter Mikayla, now a rising fourth-grader.

“I could see my daughter’s confidence and understanding of emotions greatly increase during this program. She helped out behind the scenes and was very proud of herself. She showed compassion at home towards me in ways I hadn’t seen before. Mikayla also looked forward to being at practice!”

Students gave high marks to the program, with their own assessments showing:

93% gains in creative expression
90% gains in student-to-student connectedness
88% gains in student self-worth

At the end of the residency, students presented a program called “Courage and Kindness” to parents, friends, and teachers. Mikayla, who chose to work behind-the-scenes, helped out when there was a blip on stage and a student dropped a prop.

“They felt so bad. I tried to help them with their feelings. I liked the performance because people on stage were helping each other.”

Warching the ACE performance — An appreciative audience watches the performance of “Courage and Kindness” at Bay View Elementary School in Norfolk.

“I was touched by the presentation. It brought out a lot of talent of the kids,” Brittany says. “It was awesome to see some of the children that we’ve known for years break out of their shell and use the acting talent that you wouldn’t ever know was there unless they were presented with this opportunity.”

Skits focused on how to show compassion to others. One particularly moving skit featured the real-life story of a student who had invited her whole class to her birthday party and then faced the disappointment of no one showing up. Stories like this helped teach the ACE participants how to be kinder and more empathetic toward others.

“With the specific skit, it was really just showing how friends can show friends compassion and be nice to one another in several different situations,” Brittany says. “I just really noticed Mikayla showing that at home towards me, like if it had been a long day and I was trying to get things done and on a schedule, her being more compassionate and more willing to help.”

The United Way of South Hampton Roads (UWSHR) helped fund the ACE theater residency. We thank them for making this project possible.

If you’d like to support our work in bringing arts education to children, please donate here.

A Salute to Teachers

May 27, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

As the end of this most unusual of school years comes to a close, we want to recognize the educators who are vital partners in our mission of arts-integrated education. Teachers have experienced challenges they never could have dreamed of, as they were forced to leave their classrooms and teach students via video technology.

Special education teachers have had extra challenges in connecting with their students when they can’t see them in person. Anna Frassmann-Swadinsky is a program specialist for Norfolk schools, but she also works as a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Mary Calcott Elementary School. Her caseload includes a first-grader who is profoundly deaf and two third-graders—one is profoundly deaf but has a cochlear implant that allows access to sound and another who is hard of hearing. Frassmann-Swadinsky offers her students a weekly Zoom check-in, where they may read stories or do math problems together. But the normal techniques she uses when she teaches her students face-to-face, such as tapping on a desk to get their attention, don’t work on video.

“For my students who are deaf and hard of hearing, the biggest challenge is being able to engage them through video chat technology when you don’t have the ability to physically redirect their attention.”

Like many other teachers, Frassmann-Swadinsky is concerned about her students in this distance-learning environment.

I miss knowing that they’re okay. I worry about their mental health and being isolated.”

“I have one student who doesn’t have any siblings so she’s the only little girl in her house and doesn’t have anyone else to play with. I really worry about her,” Frassmann-Swadinsky says. “I miss being able to actually teach. I’m so terrified of how much we will have lost and where we’re going to start when we finally return to in-person class.”

Despite the challenges, Frassmann-Swadinsky has praise for families who are trying to educate under difficult circumstances, mentioning one family whose home-schooling includes fun science experiments and trips to places like the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Still, just about every parent now has a greater appreciation for their children’s classroom teachers. Teachers may not be risking their lives during this pandemic, but they’re showing up every day for their students and facing unique challenges.

Every teacher is trying to find a creative way to keep their students engaged and learning and to remind them that we’re still there for them.”

“The idea of calling ourselves essential workers almost sounds arrogant, even though when you look at it from an abstract perspective, we are essential,” Frassmann-Swadinsky says. “You almost feel bad about saying it—‘Oh I’m not a doctor, I’m not a nurse, I’m not on the front line.’ But I am essential, because there are millions of kids in the United States that need to learn.”

Arts for Learning wants to salute hardworking essential workers in our state in the way we know best—through art. Children can draw, write a story or poem, play music, dance, or use any other art form they choose as a way to say “thank you” to our essential workers. Click here for full details of how to enter our Artful Thanks contest!

Behind-the-Scenes of Take 10

May 19, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

At the beginning of 2020, none of us could have predicted what life would look like now in the spring. And certainly none of us at Arts for Learning could have known our Norfolk office would be turned into a makeshift video production studio.

Less than two months ago, our program team, joined by sixteen artists on the Arts for Learning roster, rallied to start creating ten-minute video segments for students learning at home, so the arts could remain part of their daily curriculum.

But there was a steep learning curve for artists and staff alike.

“It’s been a matter of working through the kinks,” as Noel puts it. From the beginning, she’s worked directly with our artists to talk through the process of creating the Take 10 videos, conversations that have taken up to two hours long and have included detailed instructions of social distancing protocols and safety measures taken before, during, and after recording. Only one of A4L’s artists had any experience producing live or recorded videos of their art. And Kirkpatrick and Noel also quickly realized they needed new equipment for better audio and video quality. The latest additions are a new directional microphone and LED lighting, made possible in part by a grant from the Community Knights Foundation.

“The quality has really expanded since the beginning of the process until now. Just watching the edited videos, it’s like, wow! Look how far we’ve come,” Kirkpatrick says. “Every session has brought with it a new lesson for me about how to approach the work.” One of Kirkpatrick’s latest projects certainly wasn’t included in his job description when he was started at A4L in January—it involved a trip to Lowe’s to buy PVC pipe and vellum paper to build a homemade light diffuser.

Noel is especially grateful to the artists who have participated in Take 10. “The fact that they have trusted us as an organization with their health is very important to me.”

“I’m just thankful for our artists’ willingness to be creative and share their art. Take 10 happened because artists said yes to trying something different.”

Kirkpatrick agrees. “We all have pent-up creativity right now. So to see an outlet be created and have artists come in and do their own thing, it’s really good vibes.”

So what’s next for our digital programming? Stay tuned, as they say in the news business. We’re working on the next phase and look forward to sharing details soon.

You can watch our Take 10 videos anytime on our YouTube channel, with music, dance, storytelling, crafts, and more to choose from.

Like what you see? We’re paying our artists to create Take 10 videos, but we don’t receive any money to produce them. Can you give $10 to Take 10? Donate here!

Sparking Joy

Talking with Dañetta Evans, our New Artist and Programming Manager

Cheers for our ACE Theater Arts Residency

A Salute to Teachers

Behind-the-Scenes of Take 10

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Sparking Joy

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