Radical Optimism for Educators and Artists

Program Partner: Rodney Camarce and Perkins Center for the Arts

This workshop focused on helping school educators & teaching artists develop an intentional “optimism practice” in their personal and professional lives as an anchoring tool to cultivate student agency. With the understanding that optimism is an essential part of liberation work, and a mental health necessity, participants developed routines and traditions that enabled them to most effectively advocate for their students and help their students develop into powerful self-advocates. The goal for this workshop was for each participant to understand what optimism meant for them, understand how they can share their spirit of optimism with their community, and understand how this can empower the young people they are working on behalf of.

Date: January 27, 2023 | 9 AM - 2 PM | Perkins Center for the Arts (Collingswood location)

About the Partner: Rodney Camarce is an artist, a community arts leader, and the Engagement Coordinator for the Asian Arts Initiative. He has served multiple arts organizations through Philadelphia, PA as a visual artist, facilitator, and graphic recorder. He has served as a Co-Ambassador for the Racial Equity Network for the National Guild for Community Arts, has been a Community Organizer in South Philadelphia and the International District in Seattle, and works to build solidarity among all people in struggle, as he believes that we must this cultural genocide by any means necessary, and practice radical optimism to imagine new possibilities.

Perkins Center for the Arts is a regional, community cultural asset that enriches lives, inspires life-long learning, and offers interdisciplinary and intercultural experiences through the arts. Established as an arts education institution, Perkins is dedicated to providing exemplary arts experiences for all community members within the Perkins’ programs include comprehensive musical instruction through the Perkins Conservatory of Music; year-round visual & performing arts instruction; 12 exhibitions annually; free public concerts and ticketed concert series’; artist-led in-school residency programs; Summer Arts Camp; Perkins Folklife Center; and community enrichment projects throughout South Jersey.

Going Beyond Grit

Program Partner: Appel Farm Arts & Music Center

This workshop was a critical investigation of our beliefs around grit and resilience, and the effect those beliefs are having on students. During this workshop we engaged in a critical examination of the emphasis on grit and resilience and discussed the ways in which our framing of this topic can be both beneficial and harmful. We also explored alternative concepts that can be shared with students as methods of cultivating agency and empowerment.

Date: February 27, 2023 | 9 AM - 2 PM | Appel Farm Arts & Music Center

About the Partner: The mission of Appel Farm Arts & Music Center is to provide people of all ages, cultures and economic backgrounds with a supportive, cooperative environment in which to explore the fine and performing arts. We believe that the arts are an exciting and essential part of the learning process and that artistic talent is innate and waiting to be developed in every person.

Demystifying Decolonization

Program Partner: Creative Praxis

This virtual workshop was a thoughtful, honest, and vulnerable workshop focused on cultivating racially equitable learning spaces. In this workshop participants delved into the concept of decolonization to understand what it means, why it is necessary, and how it can be lived. Participants not only learned about the history of colonialism, but also how it effects not only our learning spaces, but also our daily interactions. APLI cohort members worked through a variety scenarios to develop a visceral understanding of how colonized thinking can appear in their teaching practices, and they also worked with the facilitators and fellow APLI members to develop new approaches.

Date: March 24, 2023 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: 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.

The Intentional Cultivation of Joy!

Program Partner: The Institute of Music for Children

This workshop focused on practical, actionable ways that school educators and teaching artists can infuse joy into the work they do with their students, and how educators can appropriately empower students to process and understand challenging social dynamics while still enjoying their lives.

Date: April 21, 2023 | 10 AM - 2 PM | The Institute of Music for Children

About the Partner: The Institute of Music for Children is guided by its vision of HARMONY – Helping Achieve Responsible, Motivated, Optimistic Neighborhood Youth – the Institute of Music for Children is building a community of high-achieving citizens who are arts lovers and arts makers through professional instruction, mentorship, and family engagement.

Each year, the Institute provides over 1,000 New Jersey youth with affordable, high-quality arts training in a creative and nurturing environment. The Institute broadens participation in the arts in underserved communities through tuition assistance, bi-lingual staff and promotional materials, and urban outreach initiatives.

With students of Haitian, African, Brazilian, Asian, Latin American and Malagasy backgrounds – in addition to African American - they strive to reflect that immense diversity in their adult mentors.

Mental Health & Wellness for the Creator/Educator

Program Partner: Count Basie Center for the Arts

This virtual workshop was focused on creators and educators – providing tools, activities, and conversations around how to replenish your creative self. The goal of this session was for each participant to engage in self-reflection, leave with at least one activity to take with them, and identify further areas where support and resources may be needed.

Date: January 24, 2022 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: The 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.

What’s YOUR Story?

Program Partner: EJM Foundation

To what degree should our perspectives shape the work that our students create? How do we cultivate an environment in which our students internalize the information we are looking to pass on to them, while still creating work that speaks to their reality, their perspectives, their experiences, and their aspirations? In this workshop we learned how photographer Erik James Montgomery about the mindset, process, tools, and techniques he has used to assist young people in creating works of art that are authentic, empowering, and expansive.

Date: February 28, 2022 | 9 AM - 3 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: The Erik James Montgomery Foundation creates photographic public art to inform the entire world about the world they live in. Additionally, the adolescents in our programs learn important strategies to overcome low self-esteem, unrealistic self image and sub-standard academic scores. This is accomplished through short and long-term workshops held at public schools, ​professional photography studios, correctional facilities, churches and community centers.

How To Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom

Program Partner: New Jersey Theatre Alliance

The New Jersey Theatre Alliance facilitated a brave conversation on how to model theories and best practices in creating an equitable, welcoming, and antiracist space in the classroom. The first portion of the workshop was be led by author and educator Matthew R. Kay. Participants then engaged in conversations on how to create meaningful opportunities for learning around race and antiracism that incorporates artistic elements of theatre.

Date: March 25, 2022 | 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: The mission of New Jersey Theatre Alliance is to unite, promote, strengthen, and cultivate New Jersey’s professional theatres. We advance the theatre community by developing innovative, collaborative, and engaging programs and services for member theatres and their diverse audiences.

The vision for New Jersey Theatre Alliance is to be the voice of professional theatre in New Jersey, while serving as a capacity builder, innovator, and developer of a wide range of resources to strengthen and advocate for the state’s professional theatre community.

Play!

Program Partner: Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA

Young Audiences Arts for Learning led a community exploration to discover the intersections amongst creative practices, social emotional learning (SEL), and play! The workshop was designed as an introduction to the fundamental aspects of free and guided play-based learning; activities that are freely chosen, defined by the player(s), and supported by teaching artists and teachers. Participants examined how teaching artists and teachers plan for, support, and review play as an essential aspect of healthy development and learning. Participants engaged their hearts and minds as they gained an awareness of how play informs our commitment to shared power and decision making, as well as a sense of agency, belonging and engagement. Insight into play stages and play types were included in the session’s content.

Date: April 25, 2022 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: Founded in 1973, Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA is the premier arts-in-education resource in the region, providing teaching artist-led performances, workshops, residencies, and teacher professional learning programs to schools in all 21 counties of New Jersey and the 7 easternmost counties of Pennsylvania. Young Audiences’ extensive professional artist roster represents all art forms—from dance and theater to music, language and visual arts. Since its founding, the organization has reached over 15 million children in its nearly 50-year history.

A not-for-profit organization, Young Audiences’ mission is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. Students are the center of our work. Our vision is that every child will have rich and meaningful arts experiences as part of their education. YA continually strives to create spaces that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible to all students and is committed to providing students of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences with arts education in which their creativity, cultures, abilities, and identities are validated, included, and nurtured.

English Language Learners and the Arts Classroom

Program Partner: Count Basie Center for the Arts

This workshop focused on best practices for the inclusion and success of English Language Learners within the arts classroom. A variety of techniques for all art forms were shared, so that every child can be reached and included in your arts practice. 

Date: January 26, 2021 | 9 AM - 3 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: The 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.

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQ+ Voices

Program Partner: Garden State Equality

The second workshop focused on cultivating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth within your classroom. Garden State Equality guided educators on how they can empower schools to be safe and affirming learning spaces for all students. GSE also discussed the implementation of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate and in line with current state and federal education standards.

Date: February 25, 2021 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: Established in 2004, Garden State Equality (GSE) is the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in New Jersey and one of the most successful statewide civil rights organization for the LGBTQ community in the nation. Their services include advocacy, policy work, and trainings.

GSE’s current work is informed by racial, economic, and disability justice concerns. They are working to address safe environments for youth, improvement of health services that meet LGBTQ community needs, and respectful treatment of seniors. Beyond that, Garden State Equality supports New Jersey's activist community by bringing an LGBTQ lens to the shared struggle for justice.

English Language Learners and the Arts Classroom

Program Partner: Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA

The March workshop modeled theories and best practices in Universal Design for Learning and Arts Education. APLI participants learned directly from Disabled artists, educators, and students on how to present inclusive lessons that reach every child. With guidance from the Social Model of Disability, an Affirmative Model of Disability and the lived experiences of Disability arts advocates, we have learned that an increasing number of Disabled people view disability as an identity, culture, and community, and as a result, we respectfully use “Disabled Students,” as a model of identity-first language.    

Date: March 15, 2021 | 9 AM - 3 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: Founded in 1973, Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA is the premier arts-in-education resource in the region, providing teaching artist-led performances, workshops, residencies, and teacher professional learning programs to schools in all 21 counties of New Jersey and the 7 easternmost counties of Pennsylvania. Young Audiences’ extensive professional artist roster represents all art forms—from dance and theater to music, language and visual arts. Since its founding, the organization has reached over 15 million children in its nearly 50-year history.

A not-for-profit organization, Young Audiences’ mission is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. Students are the center of our work. Our vision is that every child will have rich and meaningful arts experiences as part of their education. YA continually strives to create spaces that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible to all students and is committed to providing students of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences with arts education in which their creativity, cultures, abilities, and identities are validated, included, and nurtured. 

Creation as Celebration!

Program Partner: Appel Farm Arts & Music Campus

Our last workshop will focus on Social Emotional Learning and fostering a culture of joy for arts expression. Join Appel Farm, the students of Creativity CoLaboratory Charter School, and workshop presenters from the Year 1 APLI cohort in this empathic, joyful celebration of all things arts!

Date: April 17 & 18, 2021 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Virtual

About the Partner: The mission of Appel Farm Arts & Music Campus is to provide people of all ages, cultures, and economic backgrounds with a supportive, cooperative environment in which to explore the fine and performing arts. Appel Farm believes that the arts are an exciting and essential part of the learning process and that artistic talent is innate and waiting to be developed in every person. Over the past 60 years, Appel Farm has delivered transformative arts and learning experiences as the arts education leader in South Jersey.

Social Emotional Learning and the Arts: Exploring Connections and Implications

Program Partner: FEA, Arts Ed NJ, and NJPAC

High quality arts education is a powerful catalyst for social emotional learning. In this session, participants will explore how learning in and through the arts fosters social emotional growth and contributes to positive school culture. The natural alignment between arts education and the five social emotional competencies will be closely examined through colorful examples, demonstrating the many implications. This session will empower teachers and administrators to cultivate connections between their arts programs and the New Jersey Social Emotional Competencies with greater intention, in order to impact the student experience.

On November 11, 2019, the APLI cohort joined a large group of educators at the FEA Conference Center in Monroe, New Jersey. Those gathered participated in activities designed to establish a shared working language of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and to engage in examples of SEL within the arts. The cohort participated in two hands-on arts learning sessions including NJPAC’s Dancing Classrooms and Hip Hop with Purple Haze.

Creativity Consultant Institute: Decolonizing the Classroom

Program Partner: Young Audiences

Through creative teaching strategies and arts enhancement demonstrations, this workshop will explore how educators can harvest and share a Culturally Responsive Mindset.

On January 11, 2020, the APLI cohort joined a large group of teaching artists and educators at the Jay & Linda Grunin Foundation, Ocean County College, Toms River, New Jersey. Those gathered participated in activities and presentations designed to establish a shared working language of Culturally Responsive Teaching, Arts Enhancement, and Creative Teaching. 

Teaching artist and storyteller TAHIRA led the workshop in an arts-rich conversation on decolonizing the arts classroom. The cohort participated in one of three hands-on arts learning sessions including Maxine Lyle and Aughtney Khan (step dance/US Wiggins), Molly Gaston Johnson and Jacob Winterstein (poetry and visual art/Perth Amboy VoTech), and Josh Campbell and Cheryl Marinari (Between the World and Me/G.E. Woehr).

United We Discover

Program Partner: Young Audiences

The workshop’s intention was to broaden participant’s understanding of the Social Model of Disability and Arts Equity, model theories and best practices in Universal Design for Learning and Arts Education, support teaching artists, classroom teachers, and arts specialists as they develop services to best reach Disabled students.  

Multiple presenters included workshops with disabled artists that included audio drama, juggling, dance, relaxed performances, etc. Celebrate the Children, Heidi Latsky Dance, and others were key presenters and performers. Keynote address on the Social Model of Disability was presented by Christine Bruno, Disability Coach and Inclusion Specialist. 

On February 26, 2020, the APLI cohort joined a group of YA teaching artists and educators at Morris-Union Jointure Commission. Those gathered participated in activities and presentations designed to establish a shared working language of the Social Model of Disability and Arts Equity.

The cohort participated in several breakout sessions throughout the day, as well as a discussion about the language surrounding Disability.

Trauma Informed Care

Program Partner: Arts Ed Network

This three-part virtual workshop series identified trauma and the foundations for a trauma informed approach to arts education. Session topics included: What is trauma?, healing-centered approaches to arts education, self-care for instructors/educators, promoting resilience, and creating safe virtual spaces. 

APLI Fellows met on Zoom throughout the month of June for this three-part workshop. Trauma Informed Care was facilitated by Lauren Meehan (Arts Ed Newark), Sanaz Hojreh (arts education and arts nonprofit management consultant), Linda Andino (licensed social worker), and teaching artists Sheikia “Purple Haze” Norris and Rachel Alban.