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RAISE Up in Hampton City Schools

May 21, 2025 By Cindy Sherwood

“As a teaching artist, when we meet a kid, they’re a whole entire person. They have experiences and not all those experiences are pleasant, so coming to the classroom with that mindset and knowing that they carry baggage with them as do we… it’s about approaching them with compassion but also recognizing that they’re more than just their trauma.” Jackie Adonis, Arts for Learning Virginia Teaching Artist

Nancy Eason’s second grade class at Armstrong School for the Arts, where Jackie Adonis worked as a RAISE resident teaching artist.

When Jackie and A4L’s Valerie Davis worked in Hampton City Schools’ classrooms this spring, they came equipped with two years of intensive training focused on student well-being and trauma-conscious, healing-informed teaching. Their residencies were part of a five-year, multi-state initiative developed by Young Audiences/Arts for Learning (National) called Responsive Arts in Education (RAISE). The program takes teaching artists and puts them in the classroom with educators to help integrate the arts into the curriculum.

“Young people are hardwired for the arts. Arts integration training and these strategies align perfectly with learning goals for all subjects. We appreciate the efforts of Heather Goode, principal of Moton Early Childhood Center, and Dr. Tiffany Geddie-Suggs, principal of Armstrong School for the Arts, for providing unique opportunities like this in HCS,” said Kelly Dee, HCS visual and performing arts curriculum leader.

In twice-weekly sessions, Jackie Adonis worked side-by-side with Armstrong’s Nancy Eason, a second-grade teacher. The two developed lesson plans together, and Jackie established relationships with children in the class.

“The best part was watching each student’s character development over time,” Jackie said. “Seeing their progress was absolutely breathtaking. I saw shy students get out of their shell.”

Jackie demonstrated ways to integrate different aspects of theater in the classroom. Kids voted and chose a book to make into a play, which Jackie adapted and students performed in front of a large audience at an A4L community engagement night.

“We Don’t Eat Our Classmates” featured T-Rex characters and a theme of friendship. Children created the sets and costumes, with one student sewing the dinosaur tails and another student composing music for two sections of the play. Students who chose to be on stage memorized their lines, with only the narrator using a printed script.

The RAISE experience for Jackie was “more than just a play or playing some theater games with them when I was in the classroom. We were reinforcing literacy. We want to build strong learners,” she said. “We were also helping the kids explore. They get to try something new; they get to challenge themselves to go out of their comfort zones. How do they know what they’re good at unless they try something different?”

The community engagement night also highlighted Jackie in a different role, sharing her Filipino culture by teaching kids and family members Itik Itik, Dance of the Duck. Three other A4L artists— Ashley Ault, Dai Poole, and Gary Garlic—also presented rotating workshops for an estimated 250 in attendance. Click here to view pictures of the evening by J.B. Digital Photography that are free to download: https://bit.ly/RAISEArmstrongphotos

At Moton Early Childhood Center, A4L’s Valerie Davis worked twice-weekly this spring with a group of 20 four- and five-year-old children.

“I love working with the little ones,” Valerie said. “They’re like sponges and they absorb so much. I got to teach them some songs and some different ways of saying hello and goodbye in a different language. And they loved that. They eat that up. So, to see them absorb the story and then be able to give it back to me the same way I gave it to them is incredible.”

She said she always brought her drum to class, calling music the “catalyst” for engagement with these early learners.

“I’ve had students where the teacher has said the student doesn’t really participate in different activities, but when I come in, by that second day, the student who was very quiet, very shy is eager to tap that drum and to do the songs.”

Arts for Learning also hosted a community engagement night for Moton Early Childhood Center, with rotating A4L workshops by Jackie, Gary Garlic, Dai Poole, and Amanda Wallace. Click here to view and download free photos: https://bit.ly/RAISEMotonPhotos

For Valerie, implementing RAISE techniques in the classroom is more difficult when she’s there for a single session, as opposed to the longer-term residency at Moton. For Jackie, a Virginia Beach resident, the biggest challenge of her RAISE residency was a more pragmatic one that many of us can relate to: “The traffic driving to and from the Peninsula. But honestly, once I was in the classroom, everything was smooth sailing.”

Many thanks to our RAISE partner, Hampton City Schools, for their tremendous support. Plans are still being formulated for Arts for Learning’s final year of RAISE, which is described as “a five-year, multi-state project designed to address the current, urgent needs of young learners through forging a new model of development and partnership for teaching artists and school support teams, who work together on in-depth, customized, trauma-informed and culturally responsive-sustaining arts in education residencies. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.”

Young Audiences’ Melissa Gawlowski Pratt, YA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations, developed the RAISE initiative (pictured second from left). She met with A4L’s Aisha Noel (third from left), Valerie Davis (far right), and Moton educators to observe the program in action this spring.

We appreciate Young Audiences/Arts for Learning’s support and guidance throughout RAISE, which has included site visits for selected staff members to New Orleans and Denver, lesson plan swapping, and discussions of implementation related to evaluation and best practices.

A4L’s Anna Heywood Green and Aisha Noel (second and third from left) meet with teaching artists and educators during a site visit in October 2024 to view Young Audiences of Louisiana’s RAISE program.

Filed Under: Artist Spotlight, Arts Integration, News, Residency Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, Armstrong School for the Arts, Arts Ed, arts education, Arts for Learning, Arts for Learning Virginia, arts integration, arts-in-education, Hampton City Schools, Moton Early Childhood Center, Moton Elementary School, professional learning, RAISE, residency, Responsive Arts in Education, student well-being, trauma-informed education, Young Audiences

Free Family-Friendly Art Series in Hampton

July 7, 2024 By Cindy Sherwood

  • Utpalasia
  • Taikoza
  • Katherine Willet helps children with take-home art.
  • Curtis Blues
  • Storyteller Via Goode
  • Stephanie Lask's Take-Home Poems workshop
  • Nathan Richardson as Frederick Douglass
  • Art Song Duo
  • Rainbow Puppet Productions
  • Storyteller Dylan Pritchard
  • Rita Cohen
  • Harold Wood
  • Storyteller and actor Valerie Davis

It’s almost time for our favorite family art series, designed especially for the summer! A Splash of the Arts kicks off this Saturday, July 13 from 10am to 4pm at the Hampton History Museum. Admission is free! And this Saturday is just the start—you can enjoy “Splash” on July 20 and July 27 too. With no-repeat programming, be sure to visit all three Saturdays when you’ll have the chance to interact with Arts for Learning’s professional performing and teaching artists.

“Each year Splash of the Arts is the highlight of our summer,” says Aisha Noel, Arts for Learning’s Programs and Community Engagement Manager. “It’s a great way for the community to come together to enjoy learning for the whole family, engage in interactive programs from our artists, and leave with a feeling of togetherness.”

This is the third year Hampton City Schools Fine Arts Department has sponsored A Splash of the Arts, school-age programming that showcases summer learning by Arts for Learning’s musicians, dancers, storytellers, and visual artists.

“A Splash of the Arts is an extension of our elementary arts and literacy program,” says Kelly Dee, Hampton City School’s Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Leader. “We bring Arts for Learning into the schools every year for performances that our students may not have the opportunity to see and hear, and it was a natural growth of what we do in the schools to extend it into summer learning and invite the community to come out and see performances during the summer.”

In addition to being free family entertainment, the educational aspect of “Splash” is paramount.

Arts for Learning is the premier partner to bring in high quality arts performances for our students,” Dee says. “The connections to all areas of learning—math, language arts, social studies, even science—are always present in any performance that we either bring in the school or do in the summer as well.”

So don’t miss this year’s outstanding lineup of artists—as Dee says, “The performances keep on getting better and better and better!”

Here’s a week-by-week breakdown of what you’ll see:

July 13: Move to the Filipino “Dance of the Duck;” celebrate African American history with Frederick Douglass; listen to instruments from around the world; learn the hidden meanings of traditional slave tales; experience spoken word poetry combined with live music; be awed by colorful Rainbow Puppets; or make your own puppets to take home.

July 20: Experience the thunderous rhythms of Japanese taiko drums; listen to classic stories from Mark Twain; sail the Caribbean Sea on the waves of steel drums; step into the world of improvisational theater; explore the impact of music on mental health; dance, sing, and clap to musical stories about friendship; and write and illustrate your own poems to take home.

July 27: Fall under the spell of a tricky magician; explore the legends of Mount Everest through dance and music; laugh out loud to multicultural folktales; be inspired by a powerful story of escape to freedom; get up and dance across the continents; and create your own take-home bookmark or mixed media work of art.

“We’re excited to bring 24 different performances and hands-on workshops by professional artists at no cost to attendees,” Noel says. “We can’t wait for the community to experience different cultures, create take home artwork, and enjoy some good family fun. See you soon at the Hampton History Museum.” 

Check out the full schedule of activities and performances here: https://sites.google.com/hampton.k12.va.us/familyarts/home

The Hampton History Museum is located at 120 Old Hampton Lane in Downtown Hampton. There’s free parking in the garage across the street from the museum and there’s no admission fee to the museum during Splash. Snacks will be available in the Great Hall for children and teens 18 and under, while supplies last.

Filed Under: Artist Spotlight, ArtsEd, News, Public Performance, Summer Programs Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, Arts Ed, arts education, Arts for Learning, Arts for Learning Virginia, arts-in-education, dance, family-friendly programs, free, Hampton City Schools, music, music education, performing artists, public performances, public workshops, storytelling, summer enrichment, summer entertainment, summer programs, teaching artists

Behind-the-Scenes of Take 10

May 19, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

Storyteller Sheila Arnold tests drives A4L's new lights and microphoneAt 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.

A4L staff members Aisha Noel and Aaron Kirkpatrick set up new equipment to prepare for videotaping.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!

Filed Under: ArtsEd Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, arts education, Arts for Learning, arts integration, arts programs, arts-in-education, Covid-19, creative learning, digital programming, distance learning, Hampton City Schools, home-schooling, Newport News Public Schools, nonprofit, Norfolk Public Schools, pandemic, Portsmouth Public Schools, remote learning, Take 10, teaching artists, VDOE, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia stay-at-home order, virtual learning, VPOST

From Crisis to Opportunity: New Digital Programming for Arts for Learning

April 29, 2020 By Cindy Sherwood

When Virginia schools were shut down in March for the rest of the school year, Arts for Learning had a dilemma—as a nonprofit that delivers its services to hundreds of schools in Virginia, how do we fulfill our mission to engage students IN and THROUGH the arts? And how do we pay artists on our roster who suddenly have no income, when we as an organization are ourselves facing a profound financial crisis?

The answer didn’t come immediately. Our program team deliberated and debated, reached out to artists and educators, and consulted with other Young Audience, Arts for Learning affiliates around the country. But amid all the uncertainty, Chief Operations Officer Anna Green says the A4L staff was certain of two things:

“The power of arts to enrich the lives of children in good times and in bad and the importance of compensating the artists who do so,” Green says. “So that’s what Take 10 became—a way to reach the students and a way to compensate the artists that enrich their lives.”

Launched on March 24, Take 10 is Arts for Learning’s new digital programming, making arts learning accessible to children and families virtually through live and recorded performances.

“I think that what excites me the most is that we have such a variety of talent,” says Aaron Kirkpatrick, A4L’s Artistic and Education Manager. “Take 10 is not a program of music. It’s not about storytelling. It’s not about visual art. It’s all of those things. So if you were to go to our on-demand list, which is growing every day, there’s a little of something for everybody, and it really speaks to the diversity of talent of everybody on the roster.”

Getting Take 10 up and running had its challenges. Although all of our artists are accustomed to performing live in front of audiences, few had experience recording on video or in teaching compact ten-minute learning segments. It was new territory, too, for Arts for Learning. Through some trial and error and a determination to figure it out, the program team dove in. Kirkpatrick made his Canon T3i videocamera available, and he and Program Relationship Coordinator Aisha Noel worked together to develop new methods for formalizing production techniques, establishing quality control and devising camera ready lesson plans, all while following social distancing protocols.

Participating artists are paid fees for time spent recording their Take 10 segments. Since A4L doesn’t have a production studio, artists record their segments at our office space in Norfolk, performing in front of a mural painted by artist Charles Williams in 1986.

Musician Tina Culver, the lead artist of the Strings Impact program and a public school teacher in Portsmouth, had to figure out how to teach the violin on video. With some help from the Pink Panther theme, she produced a Facebook Live segment that was fun to watch whether you had a violin handy or not.

“I think it’s really cool to be a part of it,” Culver says. “We’re impacting kids from a different perspective now, social media. Now we’re getting more people that are looking at it, you never know where it’s going, who it’s reaching. So I’m just glad to be a part of that. It’s just another way to reach everyone.”

The Take 10 programming is being shared widely, including by the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Partnership for Out-of-School Time. We’ve also received requests for original digital programming from library systems and school districts in Virginia. Green sees this difficult time as an opportunity. “There’s the excitement of the possibility of being able to reach students better statewide through digital means. There’s a unique opportunity for people to see a nonprofit taking a step into a place that they’ve never been before.”

“I’m loving the #Take10 initiative and we’ll definitely be directing folks to those videos!” Christine Hurlock, Youth Services Librarian for Williamsburg Regional Library

You can watch Take 10 on Facebook Live at 2 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Or you can watch recorded videos anytime on our YouTube channel.

Sign up for our newsletter so you can stay up-to-date on everything that’s happening at A4L as we work to bring new programming to your family!

Filed Under: ArtsEd Tagged With: 757 arts, 757 nonprofit, arts education, Arts for Learning, arts integration, arts programs, arts-in-education, Covid-19, creative learning, digital arts, digital programming, Hampton City Schools, home-schooling, Newport News Public Schools, nonprofit, Norfolk Public Schools, pandemic, Portsmouth Public Schools, Strings Impact, Take 10, Take Ten, teaching artists, VDOE, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia stay-at-home order, virtual learning, VPOST, Williamsburg Regional Library

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
Suite 239
Norfolk, Virginia 23502

Phone: 757-466-7555

Main Office

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

Arts for Learning Virginia Names New CEO to Lead Arts-in-Education Nonprofit

The Board of Directors of Arts for Learning, the Virginia Affiliate of Young Audiences, voted at its annual meeting to name Anna Heywood Green as CEO of the organization. Heywood Green has served as Interim CEO since January 1, following the retirement of former CEO Christine Everly. Prior to January, Heywood Green worked as the organization’s […]

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.

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Arts for Learning Virginia. 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
At Arts for Learning Virginia, we’re proud to be part of the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ Passport Program. While Passport holders typically receive free admission and 50% off classes at participating organizations, all our programming is always free—no discount needed. To learn more about our public events, check out our calendar of events page here.

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