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Arts for Learning Awarded Major Grant To Use Art to Build Community Among Students Affected by the Pandemic

July 11, 2022 By Cindy Sherwood

Arts for Learning (A4L) is pleased to announce it has received the largest grant in its organization’s 68-year history. Over the next three years, the $97,500 Cultural Vitality grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation will fund a series of arts-integrated afterschool programs at high-need schools in south Hampton Roads, guided by Arts for Learning’s professional teaching artists.

The project is named IDEAL, Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages, and will target fifth-grade students in the critical year before they transition to middle school. During the course of each ten-week residency, students will create multiple mixed media works of art as they explore various aspects of self-identity through dance, written and spoken poetry, and visual art. Approximately 270 students from nine different elementary schools are expected to participate, drawn from the Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk Public School divisions, with one school per division taking part each year. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate with students from outside of their own schools and see how they and others impact and fit into the wider Hampton Roads’ community.

Meeting twice a week in 90-minute sessions, the students in each school’s residency will be led by Arts for Learning’s teaching artists who are experts in their particular art forms. A4L’s education and program team developed the curriculum, which is tied to various Virginia Standards of Learning, including visual arts, dance, English, and social-emotional learning. The program’s highlight each year will be a collaborative art exhibit of student work from all three schools, hosted by the Chrysler Museum. 

“To bring students to the museum and show them it’s their place to have a voice is just an amazing opportunity,” said Anna Green, chief operations officer for Arts for Learning. “It may inspire them to go on and create art or find their voice in writing or in other ways, and they’ll also learn how to build pieces of community within where they live, outside of where they live, and then bring it all together into one. There will be 270 students that will see their work professionally hung in a professional museum. I can’t even bring words to how important that is, to make the museum accessible and for students to feel like they’re a part of a larger community.”

In addition to helping students develop creative and artistic talents, the IDEAL project is designed to increase students’ self-worth, while improving their academic performance and decreasing absenteeism and problem behaviors. For students entering adolescence, the year before middle school is a crossroads, as they are faced with choices that impact their future selves academically, socially, and physically. Decades of research connects positive self-worth with a reduction in risky behaviors. With studies showing the pandemic’s devastating toll on students—along with a disturbing rise in crime—the need is great to provide effective interventions that boost the self-worth of at-risk students at a critical life stage.

“We’re looking to reach the students who are struggling, to give them that hands-on opportunity to discover their voice through the arts and to broaden their view of community,” Green said. She pointed out that the fifth-graders who will participate in the first year of the project entered the pandemic as second-graders, missing out on the key socialization and building of community that typically happens during third and fourth grades.

Collaboration is a central feature of the IDEAL project: among student peers within the same school and other schools, and among Arts for Learning and its community partners—the Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk school divisions, the Chrysler Museum, and the Richmond Ballet. Partnering with the Richmond Ballet and the Chrysler will deepen each student’s artistic experience.

The Richmond Ballet will present a series of in-school performances for third to fifth graders enrolled at each school, reaching a larger community of students beyond those participating in the residencies.

The Chrysler will present a virtual gallery talk on art works that exemplify human expression, examining elements such as color, line, shape, and composition that students can use to inspire their own sketches. In addition, by hosting exhibits each year of student artwork created during the project, the Chrysler will bring together students from all of the schools, along with their families. Students will be transported to and from the event by bus at no cost, so that each has the opportunity to attend.

The IDEAL project is the largest and most ambitious in Arts for Learning’s history,” said Christine Everly, A4L’s chief executive officer. “We’re excited to partner with two other respected arts organizations and three of our school divisions in Hampton Roads.  And we’re proud and humbled that the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has placed its trust in us by funding this project.”

No student will be charged a fee to participate in the IDEAL program. The first three residencies are expected to launch in the spring of 2023.

Filed Under: COVID-19, Grants, News, Press Releases, Program Spotlight, Uncategorized Tagged With: afterschool programs, Arts Ed, arts education, dance, grant, pandemic

Rhythm and Me: Teaching with an Open Heart

November 8, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

In guiding the Rhythm and Me adaptive dance residency for students with autism, teaching artist Angela Taylor leads with an open heart and many years of specialized training.

In the program, Angela helps middle and high school students explore themes that include communication, teamwork, and self-worth through a variety of dance and body movements—all in an environment where they’re learning alongside their peers. Rhythm and Me is the first residency under the three-year Arts Adventures program, an A4L partnership with Families of Autistic Children of Tidewater (FACT) that is underwritten by a grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. During the twelve-week residency, students meet for classes two evenings a week in Virginia Beach.

Angela has been an Arts for Learning teaching artist since 2015. She’s a certified yoga teacher, with hundreds of hours of formal instruction who uses a trauma-informed approach in all of her classes. Angela has special training in working with children who have physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.

One mom shared that her 13-year-old son, Jesse, had been incredibly anxious going to the program for the first time, saying she can’t even remember how many events, clubs, camps, and workshops he’s signed up for have “backfired on us” in the past. But that’s not what happened this time:

“When we came to pick him up, I was preparing myself for what has become the norm for us. Some type of issue – either from him or from the program. But the first thing we noticed is that he was still participating – like really participating. That alone made my heart smile – though I knew better to ask him how things went and the zillion other questions I always want to know. So, here is the most amazing part of all. I didn’t even need to ask because this is what my son told me as soon as we were in the car”:

I liked it. It was fun. Honestly, I went in expecting the worst, but I got the best.” Jesse, age 13

As for Angela, she says that she’s “so grateful for the opportunity to share, learn, and grow with these amazing young artists.”

The residency concludes in mid-December with a special “perform and inform” event for friends and family.

Read more about Angela here. To inquire about booking her to come to your school or community center, please call School and Community Relationships Coordinator Aisha Noel at 757-961-3737 or email Programs@Arts4LearningVA.org. The Rhythm and Me dance residency can be adapted to all abilities and ages of children and teens, from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Filed Under: Artist Spotlight, ArtsED for Exceptional Students Tagged With: adaptive dance, Arts Ed, arts education, autism, dance, special need students, teaching artist

Hotter than July!

July 15, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

Our artists love being back in front of families and children with in-person performances, and there are so many free public programs for you and your kids to experience. Here’s a quick look at what’s happening during the next couple of weeks, starting tonight!

Dylan Pritchett

Thursday, July 15 from 6-6:50 pm, Newport News Public Library. Enjoy a performance of “Anchor Tales” by storyteller Dylan Pritchett (moved indoors in case of stormy weather).  Please register here: https://www.library.nnva.gov/264/Events-Calendar

Jasmine Marshall

Saturday, July 17 from 10-11 a.m., Abram Frink Jr. Community Center, 8901 Pocahontas Trail, Williamsburg: Dancer Jasmine Marshall will get you up and moving in this high-energy workshop, “African Fusion,” which blends West African and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. No dancing experience required! Stay for more fun as the Williamsburg Regional Library celebrates its new Bookmobile! https://www.wrl.org/event/funfest-at-abram-frink/

Harold Wood

Wednesday, July 21 from 10-10:50 a.m., Williamsburg Regional Library, downtown Williamsburg: Magician Harold Wood performs “The Magic Library.” https://www.wrl.org/event/harold-wood-the-magic-library/

 

 

 

 

 

Dylan Pritchett

Saturday, July 24 from 2-2:50 p.m., Chesapeake Public Library, South Norfolk Memorial branch: Storyteller Dylan Pritchett presents “Essential African Threads.” https://events.chesapeakelibrary.org/event/5252884

 

Sheila Arnold

Tuesday, July 27 from 6-6:50 pm, Chesapeake Public Library, Indian River branch: Storyteller Sheila Arnold presents “Old School Classics.” https://events.chesapeakelibrary.org/event/5223390

 

Gary Garlic

Wednesday, July 28: It’s triple entertainment by Gary Garlic as he performs his “Caribbean Dreaming” steel drums program at three locations in a single day. He starts off at 10 a.m. at WRL’s James City County branch at 10 a.m. https://www.wrl.org/event/gary-garlic-caribbean-dreaming followed by a 1 p.m. show at the downtown Williamsburg branch. And he wraps up with a performance at the Poquoson Public Library at 4 pm. Register here: Poquoson Public Library-Gary Garlic

Video Programs

Want to stay home and watch a program from the comfort of your own living room? Norfolk Public Library is hosting videos by J&J Dance  and Arabic folk singer/dancer Karim Nagi. Click the links for details!

Filed Under: Artist Spotlight, Arts Integration, News, Summer Programs, Virtual programming Tagged With: 757 arts, arts education, dance, free programs, music, public programs, storytelling

#TBT Rhythm and Me: An Adaptive Dance Residency

September 3, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

As Virginia public school students get ready to head back to school next week, many will once again be experiencing virtual learning. We take a moment to look back on this Throwback Thursday to a time last winter before Virginia schools shut down and our artists worked with students in-person.

#TBT

Sometimes a single moment can illustrate the power of an Arts for Learning program.

That was the case at Rhythm and Me, an adaptive dance residency that connects students living with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Students from throughout Portsmouth Public Schools are transported to Simonsdale Elementary School twice a week to learn the basics of dance and movement, with a focus on key health concerns associated with ASD, including non-verbal communication.

A4L teaching artists Jasmine Marshall and Natasha Leshanski have been working with a group of students since early February. Natasha, who leads the yoga portion of the program, says it’s the “very opposite” of typical classroom learning, where students are expected to be self-contained as they lean over desks and aren’t free to move around. In Rhythm and Me, students exercise, stretch out, and open their bodies, Natasha says it’s also “helping them feel less vulnerable about opening up emotionally by literally using their whole body.” That process may be more challenging for students living with ASD who can feel uncomfortable with certain types of movement or with touching or being touched.

In the early weeks of the program, Natasha had been encouraging students to create more independent yoga poses, but it wasn’t quite working. She introduced the concept of partner poses, including one called “lizard on a rock,” with the person on the bottom kneeling in a child’s pose and the person on the top leaning back and extending their arms to the ground.

Teaching artists work with a second-grader in the Rhythm & Me dance residency.A second-grader named Seth was fascinated. Natasha says he’s often not interested in certain activities and will choose to run laps around the classroom instead. This time, though, was different. With Jasmine stretched out in the child’s pose, Seth climbed on her back as the “lizard” and Natasha supported him as he balanced himself. He then tried out the post with other students, connecting with them in a brand new way.

“It was the first time Seth had relinquished control over his body, so when he was laying across his classmate’s back, he even was able to draw his arms up and get that full stretch. When you think about it, that’s probably the most vulnerable position you can be in,” Natasha says. “He let himself go all the way in a classroom full with people he doesn’t know very well, and so I felt like it was really a breakthrough with his comfort level with all of that.”

The goal of Rhythm and Me, Natasha says, isn’t the perfect downward dog or the precise execution of  partner poses.

“We want the kids to feel confident, we want them to be moving their bodies, and we want them to enjoy themselves. So everything else takes a back seat to those. As long as they’re willing to put themselves out there, it’s success, day after day.”

We are grateful to the Portsmouth General Hospital Foundation, the Portsmouth Service League, the Helen G. Gifford Foundation, the Business Consortium for Arts Support, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts for their funding of the Rhythm and Me dance residency.

We look forward to serving students both virtually and, when safe, in person, and we wish all students and educators a successful start to the school year. If you’d like information about our special arts experiences created for virtual learning, please click here.

 

Filed Under: Artist Spotlight, ArtsEd, ArtsED for Exceptional Students, COVID-19, Throwback Thursday Tagged With: Arts Ed, arts integration, autism spectrum disorder, back to school, dance, teaching artists

Covid-19: Hard Times and Hope for Arts for Learning

April 22, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Virginia’s stay-at-home order has changed all of our lives, in many different ways. For Arts for Learning, the impact has been profound.

For students who love our programs, there’s great disappointment. Sixth-grader Myla Stith can’t play the violin this spring because the Strings Impact program was canceled. “I was hoping I could get really good. After all these years, I wanted to show what I could do, so I’m pretty sad about it.”

The Rhythm and Me adaptive dance program was cut short for kids like Naomi Morgan, a fourth-grader with autism spectrum disorder. “She was getting the dance steps down, she was having a ball, she was having fun,” says her mother, Monica Morgan. “It was sad it ended so abruptly because she was really getting into it.”

It’s hard times for many artists on our roster too. “As a fulltime storyteller, with my backup job being substitute teaching, I’m completely out of work at this point,” says Via Goode, A4L teaching artist. Via is one of 38 teaching artists on our roster who are losing more than $42,000 in income because of program cancellations that have affected more than 16,000 students and 2,800 educators.

Strings Impact
Rhythm & Me
Teaching Artist, Via Goode

As a nonprofit organization, Arts for Learning is hurting. We don’t receive money from programs when schools are shut down. And that means we’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars that we need to keep our nonprofit afloat—money that we use to pay our artists and staff, our rent and electric bill, and everything else that keeps our business running.

Our artists and our staff have stepped up to create Take 10, new digital programming for home-schooling students that’s both fun and educational. It’s also a way for us to offer small amounts of pay to our participating artists. But here’s the problem—we don’t receive any money for producing Take 10. Since it brings in zero revenue to Arts for Learning, we can’t keep on doing it without new funding.

That’s why we need YOUR help. We want to keep providing arts education to Virginia’s kids, but we can’t do it alone. Any amount helps—will you give $10 to Take Ten? Use this link—all donations are tax deductible.

Filed Under: ArtsEd Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, arts education, Arts for Learning, arts integration, arts programs, arts-in-education, autism spectrum disorder, Covid-19, creative learning, dance, digital arts, Hampton City Schools, home-schooling, music, Newport News Public Schools, nonprofit, Norfolk Public Schools, pandemic, Portsmouth Public Schools, Rhythm and Me, storyteller, Strings Impact, Take 10, Take Ten, teaching artists, Via Goode, violins, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia stay-at-home order, virtual learning

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Main Office
Arts for Learning
420 North Center Drive
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Norfolk, Virginia 23502
Phone: 757-466-7555
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Main Office

Arts for Learning
420 North Center Drive
Suite 239
Norfolk, Virginia 23502
Phone: 757-466-7555
Fax: 757-455-9859

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Arts for Learning Style)

No, we’re not talking about this year’s Best Picture winner (although we DID love it!) We’re talking about springtime at Arts for Learning where we have so much going on—new residencies, workshops, public performances, and more for students from Pre-K to 12th grade! Residencies Strings Impact: Fourth through sixth graders at three elementary schools in […]

Join the A4L Mailing List!

Sign up to receive the latest news on arts integration from Arts for Learning! Thank you for supporting arts-in-education.

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By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Arts for Learning, http://www.arts4learningva.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

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