Tuesday, January 27, 2009
COOPERATIVE ARTISTS INSTITUTE EVENTS/SCHEDULE - Jan/Feb 2009
Cooperative Artists Institute
Using the Arts to Solve Problems Since 1970
CAI NewsNotes is a quarterly e-communication to let CAI Core Community members and friends know about news, program successes, and upcoming activities. Please let us know if your e-mail address changes so we can keep you up-to-date on our list.
Phone: 617-524-6378 E-mail: cai@tribal-rhythms.org.
Fax: 617-522-7122 Website: http://www.tribal-rhythms.org.
CAI News Notes January/February, 2009
The Peace Drum Project:
The Peace Drum Project is going full-tilt this year with an energetic and diverse group of teens including Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors representing eight Boston high schools (Latin Academy, English High, West Roxbury Education Center, Hyde Park High, Madison Park, John D. O'Bryant, University High, and City on a Hill Charter School.) Two graduates of the project are working with us as staff this year - Alex Menjivar from Jamaica Plain is a Project Intern, and Nidia Flores from Hyde Park— who is a Junior at Regis College — will help to conduct the Spanish elder interviews and assist in transcribing their stories. Natalie Chudacoff from Lesley College is also serving as a Project Intern and 'web wizard' this year.
We started off the school year with a fun Duck Boat Tour courtesy of the Mass DRC, and we hope to continue our tradition of attending a Blue Man Group performance as well! A group of Peace Drum teens are enrolled in a Community Partnership project at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They have been visiting the museum and drawing the Court Yard and various exhibition items. Some of their work will be included in a community exhibition at the museum in June. Thanks to tickets donated by Ballet/Rox a group of Peace Drum teens and graduates were able to attend the Urban Nutcracker in December to rave reviews. And, coming up this month, Susan Thompson, textile artist from AAMARP Studios, will begin an in depth print-making series with the teens. These prints will be part of the community exhibit at the Gardner Museum as well as being on display at the Peace Drum Awards Event in the spring.
Obstacles from the weather to the economy have presented challenges in starting our work with the elders this year. We are currently scheduled to begin our interviews in February with elders from around Jamaica Plain including folks from Julia Martin House, Nate Smith House, Farnsworth House, Bromley Apartments, and— new this year— we hope to include individual elders from the neighborhoods around these buildings.
Mark your calendars for the Peace Drum Annual Awards Celebration! The festive event will take place at Julia Martin House again this year from 5-7 PM on Tuesday, June 2. In the meantime, you can check out last year's drums and read the elder's stories at http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/drum_exhibit.html. The website now gives you a chance to read all 70 stories about the lives of the elders we have worked with since 2000.
Thanks to our funders for their support this year. The Peace Drum Project would not be possible without the generous ongoing support of funders like The Janey Fund and the Alice Willard Dorr Foundation, which have both supported the project since it's beginning. This year, we were also very pleased to receive a grant from the John H. and H. Naomi Tomforhde Foundation, as well as support from many generous individual donors.
If you would like to volunteer or sponsor a youth in the project, call Susan at 617-524-6378.
Tribal Rhythms® Touring & Residency Programs:
Tribal Rhythms Residency at the Doran Elementary School in Fall River
A Tribal Rhythms Residency at the Doran School in Fall River is part of Fall River's Creative Schools project, bringing together the resources of the school, the Arts and Cultural Experiences (ACE) program, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and the Tribal Rhythms Company — an MCC Creative Teaching Partner. The Residency, runs from October through April, and will use the Tribal Rhythms Curriculum to help staff improve school climate and promote academic achievement, especially in language arts. Tribal Rhythms artists will work with the entire school community, but the primary focus is on the fourth grade students and teachers. TR professional development workshops will help teachers strengthen skills for using storytelling, dance, music, theater, and visual arts experiences with their students by connecting the artists' performances and in-classroom activities to the schools academic curriculum. Tribal Rhythms was chosen based on the program's demonstrated ability to align the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, students' need for cultural experiences, the goals of the Student Improvement Plan (SIP), and the goals of Fall River's District Improvement Plan (DIP). The project is being coordinated by a team, including TR Senior Program Developer Curtis Jones, Doran School Principal, Maria Pontes, and Doran School visual arts teacher, Rochelle Pettenati.
The Tribal Rhythms Touring Company has been having a busy touring season this year. During the fall, mini-residency programs took place at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols Lower School (Cambridge) and Brimmer & May School (Chestnut Hill.) Recent TR touring programs have visited schools in Abington, Arlington, Chelsea, Hudson, Reading, Sterling, Tyngsborough and Weymouth, and have visited housing developments in Worcester, Lowell and Attleboro. Programs are scheduled between now and March in Wareham, Woburn, Sharon, Lexington, and at all of the elementary Schools in Braintree.
Tribal Rhythms programs help schools and after-school programs strengthen their sense of community and help children learn the values of caring, cooperation and respect. Activities use the Arts to help schools address a range of issues from bullying and cliques to empowering children with critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Tribal Rhythms is FUN, but it is also one of CAI's key tools for addressing some of today's most urgent problems created by family and community fragmentation. To learn more, call CAI at 617-524-6378, or go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org.
The Tribal Rhythms Community Partnership provides professional development, curriculum workshops, and residency programs to 16 Boston area OST programs. The project helps after-school staff use the Tribal Rhythms curriculum as a thematic framework for organizing activities and techniques that help children develop positive behavior. The project provides an early intervention violence prevention strategy that helps children build self-esteem and confidence, resolve conflicts peacefully, develop leadership and critical-thinking skills, and learn to express themselves through performing and visual arts. A recent series of workshops at Hawthorne Youth & Community Center in Roxbury helped to strengthen community-building and Peace-making skills for HYCC children ages 5-12. For more information about TRCP, call CAI at 617-524-6378 or go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/trcp.html.
The Partnership to Achieve Whole School Change:
School Climate Mini-Residency at Boston's Charles Sumner & Charles Taylor Schools: The goal of this winter-spring Mini Residency in both schools is to help teachers use Tribal Rhythms® and Second Step® to teach the kinds of social skills that enhance their students' learning. Within each of the participating classrooms, Partnership artist/educators use the curricula of both programs to model for school staff the teaching of empathy and impulse control and how to help students control aggressive behavior. The use of TR community-building performing and visual arts are key to the success of the residency, because they create the kind of positive relationships that make the love of learning possible. The residency will also help teachers merge social skills, academics, and the arts into seamless classroom activities to engage more of the student's cognitive, emotional, and physical ways of knowing. Children feel safe enough to learn and become excited about school and learning. For more information about the project, contact Curtis at 617-524-6378.
Board of Directors News:
At the January Board of Directors meeting, Gerry Lake of Brookline was elected CAI's new Board President, succeeding Berta R. Berriz, Ed.D. Board members thanked Berta for her long and excellent leadership as she passed the torch. Gerry, brings his experience in Accounting and Finance to the position, as well as his experience working at several arts and social-justice organizations in Boston. Gerry has been an ardent supporter and advocate of CAI's work, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2003.
CommunityWorks
CAI is part of CommunityWorks, a cooperative fundraising effort among 32 grass roots organizations committed to finding immediate and long-range solutions to social problems. Supporting CommunityWorks through workplace payroll contributions is like investing in a whole portfolio of social justice and economic change. Check out CW's website for a list of member groups, or to see if you are connected to any of the work sites or universities that have CW campaigns this year. http://www.communityworks.com
CAI Most Wanted List:
Thanks to Advisory Board member David F. Young for donating a Mac G4 computer recently. CAI still needs a Mac G4 laptop to use in programs. If you have a Mac compatible Zip Drive that uses Iomega 100 or 250 zip discs, we'd love to take it off you hands. We would even trade the box of 750MB discs we bought by mistake for 100 or 250MB discs! If you have any of these and would like to make a tax-deductible donation, call Susan or Janet at 617-524-6378.
Volunteer Opportunities & Internships:
CAI needs volunteers to help with office administration, grants development, and program support activities. If you have a few hours a week or a day, and you'd like to help out with short term tasks such as on-line research, data entry, promotional mailings, or program support call us at 617-524-6378.
CAI Internships for Spring and Summer semester to learn through working in the Tribal Rhythms Touring program, Partnership for Whole School Change, Marketing & Public Relations, and Grants Development . Peace Drum Internships will be open for the Fall of 2009. For more information check out CAI's website under Internships, or call Susan at 617-524-6378.
Using the Arts to Solve Problems Since 1970
CAI NewsNotes is a quarterly e-communication to let CAI Core Community members and friends know about news, program successes, and upcoming activities. Please let us know if your e-mail address changes so we can keep you up-to-date on our list.
Phone: 617-524-6378 E-mail: cai@tribal-rhythms.org.
Fax: 617-522-7122 Website: http://www.tribal-rhythms.org.
CAI News Notes January/February, 2009
The Peace Drum Project:
The Peace Drum Project is going full-tilt this year with an energetic and diverse group of teens including Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors representing eight Boston high schools (Latin Academy, English High, West Roxbury Education Center, Hyde Park High, Madison Park, John D. O'Bryant, University High, and City on a Hill Charter School.) Two graduates of the project are working with us as staff this year - Alex Menjivar from Jamaica Plain is a Project Intern, and Nidia Flores from Hyde Park— who is a Junior at Regis College — will help to conduct the Spanish elder interviews and assist in transcribing their stories. Natalie Chudacoff from Lesley College is also serving as a Project Intern and 'web wizard' this year.
We started off the school year with a fun Duck Boat Tour courtesy of the Mass DRC, and we hope to continue our tradition of attending a Blue Man Group performance as well! A group of Peace Drum teens are enrolled in a Community Partnership project at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They have been visiting the museum and drawing the Court Yard and various exhibition items. Some of their work will be included in a community exhibition at the museum in June. Thanks to tickets donated by Ballet/Rox a group of Peace Drum teens and graduates were able to attend the Urban Nutcracker in December to rave reviews. And, coming up this month, Susan Thompson, textile artist from AAMARP Studios, will begin an in depth print-making series with the teens. These prints will be part of the community exhibit at the Gardner Museum as well as being on display at the Peace Drum Awards Event in the spring.
Obstacles from the weather to the economy have presented challenges in starting our work with the elders this year. We are currently scheduled to begin our interviews in February with elders from around Jamaica Plain including folks from Julia Martin House, Nate Smith House, Farnsworth House, Bromley Apartments, and— new this year— we hope to include individual elders from the neighborhoods around these buildings.
Mark your calendars for the Peace Drum Annual Awards Celebration! The festive event will take place at Julia Martin House again this year from 5-7 PM on Tuesday, June 2. In the meantime, you can check out last year's drums and read the elder's stories at http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/drum_exhibit.html. The website now gives you a chance to read all 70 stories about the lives of the elders we have worked with since 2000.
Thanks to our funders for their support this year. The Peace Drum Project would not be possible without the generous ongoing support of funders like The Janey Fund and the Alice Willard Dorr Foundation, which have both supported the project since it's beginning. This year, we were also very pleased to receive a grant from the John H. and H. Naomi Tomforhde Foundation, as well as support from many generous individual donors.
If you would like to volunteer or sponsor a youth in the project, call Susan at 617-524-6378.
Tribal Rhythms® Touring & Residency Programs:
Tribal Rhythms Residency at the Doran Elementary School in Fall River
A Tribal Rhythms Residency at the Doran School in Fall River is part of Fall River's Creative Schools project, bringing together the resources of the school, the Arts and Cultural Experiences (ACE) program, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and the Tribal Rhythms Company — an MCC Creative Teaching Partner. The Residency, runs from October through April, and will use the Tribal Rhythms Curriculum to help staff improve school climate and promote academic achievement, especially in language arts. Tribal Rhythms artists will work with the entire school community, but the primary focus is on the fourth grade students and teachers. TR professional development workshops will help teachers strengthen skills for using storytelling, dance, music, theater, and visual arts experiences with their students by connecting the artists' performances and in-classroom activities to the schools academic curriculum. Tribal Rhythms was chosen based on the program's demonstrated ability to align the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, students' need for cultural experiences, the goals of the Student Improvement Plan (SIP), and the goals of Fall River's District Improvement Plan (DIP). The project is being coordinated by a team, including TR Senior Program Developer Curtis Jones, Doran School Principal, Maria Pontes, and Doran School visual arts teacher, Rochelle Pettenati.
The Tribal Rhythms Touring Company has been having a busy touring season this year. During the fall, mini-residency programs took place at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols Lower School (Cambridge) and Brimmer & May School (Chestnut Hill.) Recent TR touring programs have visited schools in Abington, Arlington, Chelsea, Hudson, Reading, Sterling, Tyngsborough and Weymouth, and have visited housing developments in Worcester, Lowell and Attleboro. Programs are scheduled between now and March in Wareham, Woburn, Sharon, Lexington, and at all of the elementary Schools in Braintree.
Tribal Rhythms programs help schools and after-school programs strengthen their sense of community and help children learn the values of caring, cooperation and respect. Activities use the Arts to help schools address a range of issues from bullying and cliques to empowering children with critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Tribal Rhythms is FUN, but it is also one of CAI's key tools for addressing some of today's most urgent problems created by family and community fragmentation. To learn more, call CAI at 617-524-6378, or go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org.
The Tribal Rhythms Community Partnership provides professional development, curriculum workshops, and residency programs to 16 Boston area OST programs. The project helps after-school staff use the Tribal Rhythms curriculum as a thematic framework for organizing activities and techniques that help children develop positive behavior. The project provides an early intervention violence prevention strategy that helps children build self-esteem and confidence, resolve conflicts peacefully, develop leadership and critical-thinking skills, and learn to express themselves through performing and visual arts. A recent series of workshops at Hawthorne Youth & Community Center in Roxbury helped to strengthen community-building and Peace-making skills for HYCC children ages 5-12. For more information about TRCP, call CAI at 617-524-6378 or go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/trcp.html.
The Partnership to Achieve Whole School Change:
School Climate Mini-Residency at Boston's Charles Sumner & Charles Taylor Schools: The goal of this winter-spring Mini Residency in both schools is to help teachers use Tribal Rhythms® and Second Step® to teach the kinds of social skills that enhance their students' learning. Within each of the participating classrooms, Partnership artist/educators use the curricula of both programs to model for school staff the teaching of empathy and impulse control and how to help students control aggressive behavior. The use of TR community-building performing and visual arts are key to the success of the residency, because they create the kind of positive relationships that make the love of learning possible. The residency will also help teachers merge social skills, academics, and the arts into seamless classroom activities to engage more of the student's cognitive, emotional, and physical ways of knowing. Children feel safe enough to learn and become excited about school and learning. For more information about the project, contact Curtis at 617-524-6378.
Board of Directors News:
At the January Board of Directors meeting, Gerry Lake of Brookline was elected CAI's new Board President, succeeding Berta R. Berriz, Ed.D. Board members thanked Berta for her long and excellent leadership as she passed the torch. Gerry, brings his experience in Accounting and Finance to the position, as well as his experience working at several arts and social-justice organizations in Boston. Gerry has been an ardent supporter and advocate of CAI's work, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2003.
CommunityWorks
CAI is part of CommunityWorks, a cooperative fundraising effort among 32 grass roots organizations committed to finding immediate and long-range solutions to social problems. Supporting CommunityWorks through workplace payroll contributions is like investing in a whole portfolio of social justice and economic change. Check out CW's website for a list of member groups, or to see if you are connected to any of the work sites or universities that have CW campaigns this year. http://www.communityworks.com
CAI Most Wanted List:
Thanks to Advisory Board member David F. Young for donating a Mac G4 computer recently. CAI still needs a Mac G4 laptop to use in programs. If you have a Mac compatible Zip Drive that uses Iomega 100 or 250 zip discs, we'd love to take it off you hands. We would even trade the box of 750MB discs we bought by mistake for 100 or 250MB discs! If you have any of these and would like to make a tax-deductible donation, call Susan or Janet at 617-524-6378.
Volunteer Opportunities & Internships:
CAI needs volunteers to help with office administration, grants development, and program support activities. If you have a few hours a week or a day, and you'd like to help out with short term tasks such as on-line research, data entry, promotional mailings, or program support call us at 617-524-6378.
CAI Internships for Spring and Summer semester to learn through working in the Tribal Rhythms Touring program, Partnership for Whole School Change, Marketing & Public Relations, and Grants Development . Peace Drum Internships will be open for the Fall of 2009. For more information check out CAI's website under Internships, or call Susan at 617-524-6378.
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