Stacking Joy!

Program Partners: Creative Praxis and Burlington, NJ Quaker Meeting House & Center for Conference

Presented by Creative Praxis and taking place at the Burlington, NJ Quaker Meeting House & Center for Conference, this interactive workshop will focus on how school educators and teaching artists can counteract burnout and compassion fatigue in their teaching practice.  Participants will also explore practical, actionable ways that they can infuse joy into the work they do with their students, and how to appropriately empower students to process and understand challenging social dynamics while still enjoying their lives.  APLI cohort members will also discuss ways that their specific art form can be utilized to address these issues. 

Date: January 26, 2024 | 10 AM - 3 PM

This workshop will take place at the Burlington, NJ Quaker Meeting House & Center for Conference - 340 High Street, Burlington City, NJ 08016

About the Partners: Creative Praxis is an art-based, healing-centered, joy-filled training organization for youth, educators, and community members working towards liberation. They are facilitating a shift towards a liberation approach to education, community engagement, and youth work.

Their methodology is grounded in 6 educational humanistic approaches for the cultivation of liberation in both theory and in practice. The 6 approaches (Community Building, Art Infusion, Anti-racist Education, Restorative Practices, Trauma-Informed, and Ethos) work in tandem in every training or workshop to provide a holistic learning experience.

This experience moves participants towards individual transformation while examining the ways in which they engage with their communities and the systems at work in our society.

Our host, the Burlington, NJ Quaker Meeting House & Center for Conference is a meeting and worship space that is available to the public.  The Center for Conference functions as an event venue, retreat or camp and The Meeting House functions as a place for worship or weddings.

An Introduction to Neurodiversity and Various Learning Modalities

Program Partners: Susan Coll-Guedes and the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey

Presented by Susan Coll-Guedes and taking place at the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey, APLI participants will learn about Universal Design for Learning, constructivist teaching approaches, and strategies to understand and increase student engagement.  In addition to discussing various ways that the arts can foster various forms of education and engagement, participants will learn about ways to develop more democratic and inclusive learning environments, and they will also discuss teaching strategies that increase student independence, and self-efficacy. 

Date: February 26, 2024 | 10 AM - 3 PM

This workshop will take place at the ESCNJ Professional Conference Center - 1660 Stelton Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854

About the Partners: Susan Coll-Guedes is an educator, advocate, and speaker who inspires communities to create more democratic and inclusive schools. Susan specializes in Arts Integration, Universal Design for Learning, and teaching strategies that increase student engagement, independence, and self-efficacy. She is trained in the identification and correction of learning disabilities (LDTC) and certified as Elementary School Teacher N-8, Art K-12, Students with Disabilities, and School Supervisor. Susan is the President of the National Art Education Association Special Education in Art Interest Group and adjunct faculty at Moore College of Art & Design and Temple University where she teaches Special Education and Arts Integration.

Our host, the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (ESCNJ) is the largest Educational Services Commission in New Jersey, providing educational and business services to over 700 school districts and municipalities throughout the state. ESCNJ operates six of its own schools for student’s ages 3-21 with autism, multiple disabilities, and at-risk behaviors, including two with onsite clinical support services.

Teach with GIVE: Exploring Artistic Equity and Inclusive Practices

Program Partner: New Victory Theater

In this workshop, led by members of New Victory Theater, participants will explore inclusive practices through the GIVE guide, an extensive library of resources that support educators in creating inclusive learning spaces and liberated learning environments for students with and without disabilities. GIVE Facilitators will lay the foundation of this work through an active exploration of Disability History and Justice. Participants will then reflect on arts access for students with disabilities in their learning spaces, vision the arts access they’d like to see, and find GIVE resources that can support their vision of access. GIVE workshops aim to model inclusive practices in their facilitation and center participant voice, experience, and peer to peer learning. 

Date: March 25, 2024 | 10 AM - 3 PM

This workshop will take place at the ESCNJ Professional Conference Center - 1660 Stelton Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854

About the Partners: New Victory brings kids to the arts and the arts to kids in and beyond New York City. Powered by New 42, whose mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone’s life from the earliest years onwards, New Victory connects its audiences to new cultures, artists and stories through its international programming online and in its historic Times Square theater.

Our host, the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (ESCNJ) is the largest Educational Services Commission in New Jersey, providing educational and business services to over 700 school districts and municipalities throughout the state. ESCNJ operates six of its own schools for student’s ages 3-21 with autism, multiple disabilities, and at-risk behaviors, including two with onsite clinical support services.

Incorporating Culturally Affirming Curriculum

Program Partner: Count Basie Center for the Arts

Presented by Count Basie Center for the Arts, this workshop will focus on how school educators and teaching artists can align their teaching practices with information and resources that amplify and center the historical context, lived experiences, and cultural legacy of their students.  Not only will participants explore ways to showcase the art forms that have been traditionally excluded from educational settings, but they will also explore ways that their particular art form can be leveraged to investigate and explore many facets of their students' culture.    

Date:  April 26, 2024 | 10AM - 4PM 

This workshop will take place at the Count Basie Center for the Arts - 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701 

About the Partner:  Count Basie Center for the Arts is New Jersey’s premier center for the cultural arts, dedicated to fostering powerful, inclusive artistic experiences, and creative exchange of ideas.

The Basie’s mission is to inspire, educate, and entertain through its distinct and engaging cultural and artistic offerings that reflect the diversity of the region.  As a nonprofit organization, the Basie is committed to enriching the community’s quality of life by generating opportunities for participation in the arts, partnering with schools, collaborating with other mission-based organizations, and driving regional economic prosperity.