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The Sights and Sounds of A4L’s Summer Camps

August 7, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Even though the pandemic and Tropical Storm Isaias aren’t making it easy at times, kids are learning and creating and having tons of fun at summer camps where our performing and teaching artists are working. Check out some of the scenes from the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts’s visual arts camp, which wrapped up last week. Thanks to Carly Holmes for taking these wonderful pictures. This week’s stormy weather has pushed theater camp to next week.

With all of our in-person camps, we’re observing strict safety protocols to keep campers, artists, and staff members safe.

Over at Operation Hero’s Armed Services YMCA camp, Harold Wood showed off his magic to a wowed crowd.

And in teaching artist Beverly Taylor’s class, campers learned about different musical instruments and made their own while joining in a song with some great advice for us all. Click here to listen and enjoy!

One Book, Two Book, Red Book, Blue Book

July 29, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

You can bet there are some big smiles hiding behind the masks—children at Virginia Beach’s Armed Services YMCA camp are the proud owners of some brand new picture books, thanks to a Women United book group who donated them to the United Way of South Hampton Roads (UWSHR). UWSHR is underwriting Arts for Learning’s residencies at the camp which is reserved for sons and daughters of members of the military.

Arts for Learning weaves age-appropriate literacy concepts into its curriculum, so the book giveaway was a natural. In true A4L fashion, teaching artists Lenecia Porro and Gary Garlic made it a fun educational experience instead of kids just being handed a book. In Lenecia’s Artsploration class for five and six year olds, kids drew numbers from a toy cauldron and had to match the numbers with the correct book. In Gary’s Poetry and Percussion class for seven and eight year olds, kids had to identify musical instruments from clues that Gary shared.

No matter whether it’s Pete the Cat or Pop-Up Dizzy Dinosaurs that’s sparking kids’ imagination, hats off to these generous donors and the United Way (hats that may look a lot like the red and white striped one below!)

A Creative Collaboration: Suffolk Center Art and Theater Camps

July 23, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Get set for a rush of creativity flowing out of Suffolk starting next week. We’re thrilled to again collaborate with our partners at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts (SSCA) to offer in-person camps for children ages six to twelve, with Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 measures in place to keep everyone safe and healthy. The camps offer a chance for kids to interact with their peers while learning and having creative fun.

Our teaching artists have led the camps for the past seven years. At next week’s visual arts camp, teaching artists Jerilynn Ruger, Matt Harrison, and Joppa Whitehead will mentor campers on the fundamentals of drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage. At the theater camp, teaching artists Katherine Willet, Jerilynn Ruger, and Jennifer Gammill will share the fundamentals of theater, costume design, set design, improvisation, scene writing, and more. At each camp, students will have the opportunity to share their work with their families at the end of the week.

These photos from 2013 give a glimpse of the fun kids have at the camp. A4L’s longstanding partnership with the Suffolk Center began that summer and has strengthened ever since. In 2018, Arts for Learning named the Suffolk Center its “Partnership of the Year” for the unique summer camp collaboration.

“We partner with Arts for Learning because they have talented and brilliant instructors who spearhead a week of creative fun while weaving in the need for art, the history of art, and the execution of art in our everyday life,” says Gavin Harper, SSCA Program and Education Manager.

The visual arts camp starts this Monday, running from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. through Friday, July 31. The theme is “Our Future.”

We had decided on the Our Future theme before COVID-19 hit,” Harper says, “so what an interesting and pertinent time for students to think about their future and how the world will be affected and how art can be a source of light in a dark time.”

Campers will work on pottery, graphic novels, Picasso shapes/Cubism, pop art, splatter painting, and paper mosaic, and will also learn how art is translated to dance. A final art show will cap off the week, with artwork also to be featured in a new virtual exhibition for family and friends to view.

The theater summer camp will run from August 3-August 7, with campers learning how to act, sing, and dance. Our teaching artists will work with students to write, rehearse, and produce a ten-minute musical that they’ll present on stage at the Center’s Birdsong Theater. The historic 530-seat auditorium offers plenty of space for family members to social distance while they enjoy the show. The Center may also offer a virtual option by live-streaming the performance on its Facebook page.

To make sure campers have a fun, safe week interacting with their peers, Suffolk Center camp staff members will proactively follow guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Campers will have their temperature taken upon arrival and will work in small groups. Hand sanitizers and wipes will be available to campers and surfaces will be sanitized before and during camp. Both camps will take place inside and outside to allow for ventilation. Please visit www.suffolkcenter.org for a complete list of safety guidelines or email Gavin Harper at gavin.harper@suffolkcenter.org for additional information.

Registration is available on-line at www.suffolkcenter.org/summercamps/ or you can reserve a spot for your child over the phone at 757-923-0003, ext. 103. We’re looking forward to a great couple of weeks.

Arts for Learning and the ‘Covid Slide’

June 17, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

It’s known as the “summer slide,” the learning setbacks that students often experience during their break from school. This year, some are calling it the “Covid Slide,” and the effects are expected to be much more severe, particularly for vulnerable children. Researchers project students could lose up to a full year of the academic growth that would normally be expected.In the aftermath of distance learning, students are likely to return to the classroom in the fall with losses of 32-37% in reading and 50-63% in math.

The losses aren’t spread evenly among all students. Already vulnerable students are expected to suffer the most, with socio-economic achievement gaps widening further due to disparities in access to home internet connections, computers, and direct instruction from teachers.

Arts for Learning Virginia is dedicated to helping address the Covid Slide.

Our curriculum, both in-person and virtual, is designed to act as a bridge between this spring’s distance learning and fall classroom instruction. As our name implies, we’re not just an arts organization—we’re also an organization devoted to education and to promoting literacy through the arts to help students learn in engaging and creative ways. For example, a dance lesson that includes math concepts about fractions and division, without students even realizing that’s what they’re learning, can be just as effective as a teacher’s lecture.

We’ve also been deeply affected by Virginia’s stay-at-home order that shut down schools. The cancellations of spring programming were devastating for both our artists and our organization. At a time when we’ve missed out on tens of thousands of revenue, the programming demands of the Covid era are much more intense for our staff.

Will you consider donating so we can keep bringing arts education to all children, including those most in need of our support? Any amount counts in helping us fulfill our mission. Donate here.

New Partnership with Newport News Public Schools

May 21, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

For more than two months now, our program team and participating artists have joined together to create unique and engaging Take 10 videos for families to use while distance learning at home. We’re happy to announce we’re now partnering with Newport News Public Schools’ Family and Community Engagement Specialists (FACE). NNPS will play our Take 10 videos on their website and TV channel—that means students who don’t have reliable access to the internet will be able to enjoy our free programming.

We want to ensure all members of the community are informed about the availability of Take 10, so NNPS will be contacting families by phone and email. Newport News libraries are also offering WiFi at select meal sites, which offers another way for families to access our Take 10 virtual learning.

NNPS Family Engagement believes our programs provide a service that promotes togetherness in this time of home learning, as we all work together to create a digital social network that celebrates the power of the arts.

Click here for more information about FACE and its programs.

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

The Sights and Sounds of A4L’s Summer Camps

One Book, Two Book, Red Book, Blue Book

A Creative Collaboration: Suffolk Center Art and Theater Camps

Arts for Learning and the ‘Covid Slide’

New Partnership with Newport News Public Schools

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