Norfolk Public Schools Archives - Arts for Learning Virginia

An Artistic Tribute to Marty Einhorn

May 17, 2023 By Cindy Sherwood

A very special—and poignant—Arts for Learning performance this month honored the life and legacy of former board president Marty Einhorn.

A4L’s Rita Cohen performed A World of Song and Dance as a free performance in memory of Marty, who died in 2021 at the age of 63. After Marty’s death, Arts for Learning received many gifts in his memory. A board subcommittee decided those donations should be used each year to underwrite a school performance and small stipend for the school’s music educator. Arts for Learning selected Norfolk’s Granby Elementary as the first school because it was where Marty was inspired to learn to play the trumpet after watching a Young Audiences’ performance.

“Granby is a school that is deep, rich with tradition and love of learning,” said Denise J. Green, principal. “Mr. Einhorn was inspired as a youth in this building—he attended here in the 60s, so you’re talking more than 50 years ago. This is a great legacy to leave for the students to be inspired, just the way that he was inspired when he was a young boy. I hope that today was the ignition for some students that they will have the same love for art and music.”Marty’s wife Susan, son Will, and parents Barry and Lois Einhorn attended the memorial performance, which included a tribute to Marty and the impact he made during his life.

“It was so nice to see his generosity and his musical ability and love for music honored here today,” said Susan Einhorn. “I try to be half the person he was. He was the most generous person in the world. And every day I just feel so lucky to have spent most of my life with him.”

A number of A4L board and staff members also enjoyed the program, remembering the man who was a friend to all and passionately devoted to Arts for Learning’s mission of quality arts education.

Board president Beth Hazelette called Marty “the backbone of our organization for as long as I can remember.”

“Marty did so much to make sure we have programming for children. It’s very special that we were able to come back to his school and honor him here. And even though the children were little, I think they understood why we were here.”

Martin (Marty) A. Einhorn passed away February 18, 2021 after contracting COVID-19 while battling cancer. Marty was a founding member of Norfolk CPA firm Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer and an active community and arts advocate who served on the boards of 14 separate nonprofits during his lifetime. After becoming involved with Young Audiences in the mid-1980s, Marty first served as president of the Board of Directors in the early 1990s and was later re-elected in 2011. Marty received our Volunteer of the Year award twice, sharing with us his time, financial resources, creativity, and leadership skills. We are thankful we could use the funds donated in his honor in a way that furthers his legacy.

To give to Arts for Learning in Marty’s memory, please use this link to donate online, https://young-audiences.networkforgood.com/projects/174292-annual-fund-68, or send a check to Young Audiences of Virginia, 420 N. Center Drive #239, Norfolk, VA 23502.

IDEAL Evening at the Chrysler Art Museum

May 12, 2023 By Cindy Sherwood

Pictures are worth a…. you know the rest. Enjoy these wonderful photos of the student art exhibit, performances, and reception at the Chrysler Museum of Art as the IDEAL (Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages) residency wrapped up for upper elementary students at Norfolk’s Lindenwood, Portsmouth’s Westhaven, and Virginia Beach’s College Park schools.

It truly was an IDEAL evening as students shared their art for family, friends, educators, and community leaders. Throughout the residency, students created art that explored and expressed their unique identities. The public can view the beautiful artwork through June 11.

We thank all of our partners who made the first year of this residency possible: the funders–with special thanks to our major funder the Hampton Roads Community Foundation–teaching artists; residency stewards; Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach public school divisions; Chrysler Museum of Art; Richmond Ballet; staff and board of Arts for Learning; families; and most of all, the students. We hope they’ll remember this special night forever.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Arts for Learning Style)

March 15, 2023 By Cindy Sherwood

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 12^th grade!

Residencies

Strings Impact kicks off at Lakeview Elementary in Portsmouth.

John Jenkins leads Strings Impact students at Lakeview Elementary.

Strings Impact: Fourth through sixth graders at three elementary schools in Portsmouth have the opportunity to learn the basics of playing the violin—without having to pay or rent an instrument. Strings Impact is one of our longstanding residencies, and we’re so happy students at Churchland, Lakeview, and Simonsdale are participating in this after-school opportunity. Students from each school will perform concerts for family and friends in May.

Strings Impact at Churchland Elementary, led by teaching artist Tina Culver.

IDEAL, Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages: Older elementary students from three school divisions—Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach—are also busy after school in a new residency.

Teaching artist Jennifer Graham with students at Norfolk’s Lindenwood Elementary.

Lindenwood Elementary students getting started in their IDEAL residency.

Students are participating in year one of IDEAL where they’re exploring identity and community through poetry, movement, and visual art. Students are being led by A4L teaching artists Cindy Aitken, Gary Garlic, and Jennifer Graham at Lindenwood Elementary in Norfolk, Asiko-oluwa Aderin and Nathan Richardson at Westhaven Elementary in Portsmouth, and Jackie Adonis and Valerie Davis at College Park Elementary.

In May, students will showcase performances and artwork at the Chrysler Museum, with their art pieces to be professionally hung in a gallery for a month for the public to view!

The Chrysler Museum’s Emily Cayton talks with students visiting from Virginia Beach’s College Park Elementary.

To bring students in the museum and show them it’s their place to have a voice is just an amazing opportunity,” says Anna Green, COO for Arts for Learning. “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.”

Students at Westhaven Elementary in Portsmouth work on an art project with Emily Cayton of the Chrysler Museum.

Arts + Learning Snacks: Tessellations

Third graders at Rosemont Elementary in Virginia Beach.

Third grade students at Virginia Beach’s Bayside Elementary say thanks for their new take-home arts kits.

Third-graders at seven elementary schools in Virginia Beach have a new (and so-not-boring) way to study for their math SOL testing in May. Thanks to free bilingual art kits, they’ll get a refresher on measuring perimeter and area by following instructions to design their own tessellations. (A “tessellation” is an arrangement of shapes closely fitted together using a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping.) Thanks to support from the Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission and the Helen G. Gifford Foundation, we distributed 500 take-home kits to students in Title I schools in Virginia Beach.

And how nice to see these smiling faces!

Third grade students at Birdneck Elementary in Virginia Beach receive art kits from A4L Operations Coordinator Stephanie Jackson.

Public Performances and Workshops

Dino O’Dell gets kids hopping at Williamsburg Library.

Valerie Davis portrays Martha Ann Fields at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center as part of our free performance series underwritten by the Virginia African American Cultural Arts Center.

There’s no excuse to be bored at home anymore—not when we’re offering so many different performances and workshops, certified family friendly, fun, and fabulous. offered throughout greater Hampton Roads.

With programs offered throughout greater Hampton Roads, there’s something for all ages. Click for the latest on our Events Calendar and make sure to check back often because we keep adding more programs. We’ve had some wonderful ones lately—from the “master of tricking kids into learning,” Dino O’Dell, on tour from Kansas City to Valerie Davis’s inspiring portrayals of courageous women in history.

We thank all of those who care about arts education and financially support these programs and more—we couldn’t do it without you! Check out the list of our supporters here.

PLUS THERE’S MORE! Our teaching artists love sharing the joy of the arts with children. Here’s James Cooper leading a Geometric MOSAIC workshop in Norfolk, Stephanie Lask teaching the graphic novel in Virginia Beach, and Amy Harbin guiding Rhythm and Me students in Portsmouth!

Arts for Learning Shares Stories of the African American Heritage Trail

November 24, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

Laced with compelling stories of the real-life triumphs and struggles of African-Americans, a new video produced by Arts for Learning (A4L) is set to debut in Norfolk Public Schools. The African American Heritage Trail highlights times of historical interest in the Lower Norfolk area, now part of modern-day Chesapeake, from the 1500s through the early 1900s.

Master storyteller Sheila Arnold, a longtime member of the Arts for Learning roster of professional artists, developed the program by researching the history of the area, writing the script, and working with an A4L production team to record the video. The project was underwritten by Bank of America.

Why did some African Americans fight for the British in the Revolutionary War? Why did slaves flee to the Great Dismal Swamp? And how did a unique ship design—and stripping down to her underwear—help one unforgettable slave escape to freedom? The answers are fascinating and can be found by watching the video, which includes stories related to the American Revolution, Underground Railroad, Civil War, and Reconstruction. The culturally responsive content is aligned with Virginia Standards of Learning for grade five.

Arnold, who goes by “Ms. Sheila” as a storyteller, believes the program is important even beyond telling stories of the African Americans who helped shape the history of the Tidewater area.

Bigger than that, it looks at a continuum, which is often not looked at in history, looking at what happens in a particular place over time.”

“Kids really don’t get a continuum, and that’s why they get confused and ask if Harriet Tubman knows Martin Luther King,” Arnold says. “I hope it will lead to teachers and students wanting to know what happened over time in their own areas and with other ethnic groups as well.”

For the 2021-2022 school year, NPS fifth grade teachers have exclusive access to the video, which is divided into five segments for easy classroom implementation. Teacher guides to facilitate discussion are included for each segment. A4L is providing the video at no charge to the thirty-one NPS elementary or combined elementary/middle schools, which have more than 2,100 fifth graders enrolled.

Arnold and the A4L staff designed the program in collaboration with Norfolk Public Schools’ history/social studies specialist Christopher Mathews, a former teacher of the year at Bay View Elementary School who is also on the A4L artist roster. The African American Heritage Trail features curricular connections to American history, character education, language arts, and reading.

Arts for Learning’s CEO, Christine Everly, calls Arnold’s program one of the best that the organization has ever offered. “We’re thrilled to offer stories few have ever heard before about the important contributions of African Americans with ties to our area. And we’re very grateful to our sponsor, Bank of America, for providing us the financial support to develop this important project.”

The Chesapeake Convention and Visitor’s Center has developed a driving tour and podcast along the African American Heritage Trail, as well as a brochure that describes the points of interest along the route. The Center is providing free brochures to all NPS students who view the video in their classes.

Watch the trailer of the video here:

Arts + Learning Snacks: Meals for the Mind

May 6, 2021 By Cindy Sherwood

Take art supplies, mix them with heaping portions of creativity, and serve them to elementary-aged kids hungry for a break from screen time—that’s our winning recipe for Arts + Learning Snacks, which are now being delivered to area elementary schools. These art activity kits have the right ingredients for kids to use their hands and minds to make an art project by themselves or with their caregivers.

Five Norfolk public elementary schools have received the first batch of Learning Snacks, which feature instructions in English and Spanish on how to create a mini-comic. A4L’s comic artist Matt Harrison designed the curriculum, which includes supplies and calls for students to invent characters, plots, and settings as they write and draw their own comic adventures.

A number of artists and board members have stepped up to help assemble the snacks, following all COVID-19 safety precautions.

A4L board member La-Neka Brown helped assemble the snacks at our Norfolk office.

Rainbow Puppets’ Wesley Huff and David Messick were hard at work putting together the snack bags.

Storyteller Via Goode and board member Diane Gibson had the honor of delivering the first snacks to five Norfolk elementary schools: Jacox, James Monroe, Lindenwood, Tidewater Park, and Richard Bowling.

Another Learning Snack, the “Zen of ‘Za,” will be distributed soon. The snack is custom designed for students with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), tying movement of the body with lines in art; activities include students stretching to “make a pizza” and creating a decorative “pizza” out of the art materials supplied. A4L dancer Jae P Renee is creating supplemental videos with visual instructions for students. Two hundred of these snacks are headed to the Portsmouth Autism Resource Team (PART) for distribution. The Zen of ‘Za will also be provided to a number of schools for use by kids in kindergarten through third grade who don’t have an ASD diagnosis.

The two current Learning Snacks—with a new one now being developed—will be distributed for free to more students via additional elementary schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia Beach Public Libraries, the Newport News FACE office, and community sites in Portsmouth.

There’s a little added bonus for Norfolk’s PB Young Elementary School from the Snacks’ initiative. Thanks to Office Depot’s “Give Back to Schools” program, the school has received $115 in rewards from the money we’ve spent to purchase supplies for the kits.

The snack kits give under-resourced students a break from screen time and the challenge of a hands-on arts project that aligns with Virginia’s fine arts and literacy Standards of Learning. Would you like to help bring more Learning Snacks to children in economically disadvantaged areas of Hampton Roads? Click here to donate.

Do you want to learn how you can bring Learning Snacks to your school, library, or community center? Start by clicking here for more info!

We’re grateful to our partners who are underwriting the cost of these “meals for the mind”—thanks to Aldi Smart Kids, the E.C. Wareheim Foundation, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the Portsmouth Service League, and the Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission for their major support of this new initiative.

An Artistic Tribute to Marty Einhorn

IDEAL Evening at the Chrysler Art Museum

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Arts for Learning Style)

Arts for Learning Shares Stories of the African American Heritage Trail

Arts + Learning Snacks: Meals for the Mind

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