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The Sights and Sounds of A4L’s Summer Camps

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SSCA visual arts camp SSCA visual arts camp SSCA visual arts campSSCA visual arts campSSCA visual arts campEven 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.

SSCA visual arts camp-COVID-19 precautions

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

A4L's Harold Wood entertains at the ASYMCA Operation Hero campOver at Operation Hero’s Armed Services YMCA camp, Harold Wood showed off his magic to a wowed crowd.

Teaching artist Beverly Taylor and an ASYMCA camper Creating at the ASYMCA camp

Creating at the ASYMCA campAnd 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

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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!)

Open Norfolk Hits the Spot for Safe Community Gatherings

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The need for safe, outdoor places for people to gather and a desire to have the arts play an important role in those spaces have come together in two innovative “neighborhood spots” in Norfolk.

As part of the Open Norfolk initiative, Arts for Learning artists are offering free workshops in dance, hip hop, scat singing, and more at the spots located in the Norview and Broad Creek neighborhoods. Today from nine a.m. until noon, drop in for a workshop in African Fusion dance by Jasmine Marshall at the Broad Creek spot, 1200 Roberts Road. At the Five Points spot at 6123 Sewells Point Road, you can enjoy Joél Casanova’s hip hop workshop today, also happening from nine until noon.

Hanging out at the Broad Creek spot with Joel Casanova (left), Open Norfolk volunteers, and Hillary Gentry (right).

“Each and every one of the instructors that have been on site has been very engaged with the community and really knowledgeable about what they’re doing,” says Hillary Gentry, project manager for Open Norfolk. “Arts for Learning has a variety of different programming, which is really fantastic because it meets the needs of various people.”

Open Norfolk began as a way to help businesses adapt to Virginia’s COVID-19 rules that allowed restaurants to offer outdoor dining. With funding from Cincinnati-based YARD & Company, Open Norfolk helped map the outdoor areas that could be utilized and provided signage and seating to restaurants. The program then moved to its next phase of creating neighborhood spots, based on the growing evidence that outdoor spaces are much safer environments in this COVID-19 crisis.

Joppa Whitehead leads a Dance FUNdamentals workshop.

The neighborhood spots offer resources and programming in four areas: health and wellness, recreation and fitness, education, and arts and culture. Pop-up food pantries, a mobile barber, an educational program on bees, and fitness boot camps are all part of the services offered at the neighborhood spots, free for the community to enjoy. The Arts for Learning workshops are a vital part of that programming.

It’s more than just food and beverage that fill our soul,” Gentry says. “Having a well-rounded experience in our spaces is something that we really value. We recognize that arts and culture is something that our brains need to fully develop.”

So what’s next for Open Norfolk? With the news that Norfolk Public Schools will be virtual learning only for the first nine weeks of the fall, the neighborhood spots may have a role to offer children and youth who will be missing in-person interactions. If funding permits, Open Norfolk could provide safe spaces for students to gather and have fun, whether it’s enjoying the arts or playing kickball. Gentry notes that staff members at the neighborhood spots are careful to follow all CDC guidelines for safety and adults are always on site to supervise.

For a schedule of upcoming Arts for Learning workshops and other events, visit the Open Norfolk website. And enjoy this snippet of A4L’s Joél Casanova from last week’s Broad Creek spot.

Happy Campers

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Thanks to a very generous grant by the United Way of South Hampton Roads, we’re pleased to announce we’re providing special performances and literacy-based arts programming to the children of service men and women at the Armed Services YMCA in Virginia Beach.

It feels so good for our artists to be working directly with students again (with all safety protocols being followed, including fewer campers than in years past.) On Mondays, campers can look forward to performances by our artists, with a field trip to WAVE Church’s outdoor picnic area.

Kicking it off last week was musician Gary Garlic with a dynamic steel drums performance.

Tuesdays through Fridays, a rotating group of our teaching artists will work in classrooms with campers  ages five to twelve divided into three age groups. This week, teaching artists Joel Casanova, Jasmine Marshall, and Joppa Whitehead will present Dance for Life workshops. Campers will learn (in an extra fun way!) core literacy concepts they’ll need as school resumes in the fall—our curriculum has been adapted to combat the expected negative effects of learning loss from the “Covid Slide.”

Watch out for many more pictures and stories of summertime fun and success.

Thanks again to the United Way of South Hampton Roads for making this programming possible through its United for Children campaign to expand summer access to learning.

Cheers for our ACE Theater Arts Residency

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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.

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

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