January 13th, 2021

 

Aroha Philanthropies has released five beautiful new short videos on creative aging. In these videos you’ll see firsthand the camaraderie and joy that creative aging programs bring to participants, discover what makes them successful, and learn how organizations have brought in-person programs online, as they did during the production of the video series.

The videos are titled “The Essentials”,” Untapped Opportunity”, “Isolation to Connection”, “In-Person to Online”, and “Why Teaching Artists?”.

You can watch them all on the Aroha Philanthropies Vimeo page. 

The Lewis Prize for Music, a philanthropic music arts organization advancing systems change through creative youth development, has announced its 2021 awards. Over $2 million in funding will give young people access to music education, strengthen the well-being of their communities and put music at the center of efforts to establish equity. From Louisville, Kentucky to San Francisco, California, all of the 2021 Lewis Prize for Music awardees are doing extraordinary work to build community and foster engaged citizens and support the holistic growth of young people. 

We are thrilled that two Guild members, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and Hyde Square Task Force in Boston, are recipients of the $500,000 Accelerator Award! 

Learn more on The Lewis Prize for Music’s website.

Since 2010, ArtPlace America has provided leadership, inquiry, research, and support around creative placemaking occurring across sectors and segments of community development. These efforts have been grounded in a relentless commitment to equitable, people-centered and artist-led processes that engage community members in deep consideration of their heritage, identity, and assets, with a focus on locally-driven and supported approaches for future growth. This has yielded groundbreaking progress in our understanding of the role of the arts in furthering public/private goals for securing vibrant communities.

As they fulfill their 10-year mandate and sunset their operation, ArtPlace is leaving us with a new microsite that provides useful infographics and key research outtakes. The site includes a number of field scans—case studies of projects and partnerships at the intersection of the arts and transportation, immigration, public health and safety, environment, food systems, housing, workforce, and the economy. You can take a look here: www.creativeplacemakingresearch.org

The International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) And Creative Generation have launched a new hub for archived professional learning for teaching artists. It is a library of learning modules from ITAC’s Think Tank series, presented along with additional context and resources related to each speaker’s work. 
 

You can access on the archive on the Think Tank page of ITAC’s website.

Lifetime Arts has launched the Creative Aging Resource—the first dedicated place on the web to offer artists, community educators, program administrators, senior service professionals, and funders a browsable directory of hundreds of hand-curated pieces of research, media, case studies, experts and organizations related to the creative aging field. 

The Creative Aging Resource website aims to provide a hub for the field by:

• Aggregating resources about creative aging, positive aging, and community engagement

• Highlighting the cross-sector partnerships that make creative aging programs happen

• Inviting organizations serving older adults (arts service organizations, museums, libraries, arts organizations, senior service organizations, etc.) to share information about their own creative aging work, and learn about that of their peers

In addition to browsing the collection and filtering by subject, resource type, and year, site visitors can search it by keyword, as well as access original resources such as case studies, audio, and video content.

Browse resources on the Creative Aging Resource website. 

August 11, 2020

 

Destiny Arts Center was featured in a beautiful piece in the New York Times that captures how for the young artists at Destiny, dance and activism are intertwined and rooted in the traditions of Oakland. Their year-end project, a feature-length piece called “The Black (W)hole", went through a process of transformation—first in response to the pandemic, and then to join with the protests for racial justice.

"'I feel like I dance a lot harder knowing what I’m dancing for,' said Dinah Cobb, 15." 

“When I was dancing I felt like I was bringing in all the spirits from those people—George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin,” [Ny’Aja] Roberson said. “I felt like I was dancing for all of the young lives that couldn’t be with us right then and there.”

Read the full article here.

August 20, 2020

 

Although the NYC Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) was suspended this year, Creative Art Works (CAW) developed a Remote Digital Public Art Youth Employment Program and committed to providing jobs to over 50 teens and young adults as direct hires. By the end of the summer, each Youth Apprentice (YA) completed a personal digital portfolio consisting of two social justice posters, their contributions to a collection of inclusive stock photography with an emphasis on images of People of Color and the LGBTQ+ community, and a video artist statement. 

In addition to learning serious skills for the digital workplace, YAs grappled with challenging topics and crafted compelling messages about social justice issues, including racial and gender equality, animal rights, domestic abuse, child labor, climate change, family separation, mental hygiene and drug addiction, and the rising cost of health care.

The program wrapped up with two virtual culminating events which were attended by over 100 guests, including CAW board members, NYC school principals and teachers, and representatives from program partners. Thirteen YA’s were honored with awards for their art or their teamwork.

Read more and view the young artists' work here.

August 7, 2020

 

A big congratulations to Erika Atkins, who will be the new Executive Director of member Bloomingdale School of Music in New York City! Erika previously worked at Opening Act where she served for 5 years, most recently as Deputy Director, as well as at Guild members Levine Music and New Victory Theater / New 42nd Street. The Guild recently partnered with Erika as part of a planning committee made up of NYC arts and cultural administrators that conducted a survey on racial equity in arts organizations during the pandemic (look out for results of that survey and related programming soon). 

We're thrilled to see Erika's leadership continue at Bloomingdale! 

 

View Bloomingdale's announcement on Facebook here.

The San Diego Union Tribune recently profiled Villa Music (San Diego, CA) for the NEA-supported musical biography program, which "guides people living with dementia and their caregivers as they create a scrapbook and playlist to trigger memories from their lives." According to the article:

"In a partnership with the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at UC San Diego, people in the early stages of dementia and their caregivers attend weekly sessions at Villa Musica. The pair work together to create the project, along with a team comprised of a musical therapist, social workers, expressive arts therapists and [Executive Director Fiona] Chatwin."

You can read the full article here.

As arts educators adapt to remote learning environment, Spy Hop (Salt Lake City, UT) has taken a creative approach to engaging youth, both locally and around the country, as music makers. Beat Challenge is a fast-paced electronic music production program that gives students the opportunity to connect with other youth musicians, create electronic music, and discuss creations with professional musicians and mentors in a safe online environment. 

Beat Challenge meets exclusively online and students have the opportunity to sign up for a free, private server (through Discord) to use for on-going conversation and to share music with peers.

Kasandra VerBrugghen, executive director of Spy Hop was also recently featured on our webinar, How do we design for sustained learning over long periods of time? You can watch that webinar here.

Learn more about Spy Hop and the Beat Challenge here.