Art programs for 3,500 in-need New York children

Happy Fall!  School is back in session and Arts For All has a full season of programming underway, thanks to your generous support!

Our Literacy Through the Arts Program is in full swing at both PS 15 and Hamilton Heights School. Literacy Through the Arts is an ongoing program which focuses on increasing kindergarten through second grade children’s phonemic awareness and letter recognition through a multi-arts curriculum focusing on movement, music and visual arts in order to improve their reading, writing and verbal expression.

Some of our other programs include a Haiku and Visual Arts Workshop for second-graders at PS 163, run by artists Vidho Lorville and Shawn Shafner, an after-school drama program for fourth-graders at PS 69 in Staten Island and on-going dance and drama workshops for second-graders at Weeksville elementary school in Brooklyn. Special events this fall include hosting a mask-making table at Halloween parties for both New Alternatives for Children and the Puppetry Arts Theatre’s Halloween Carnival in Park Slope.  Also, this fall our annual Audience Project will bring a professional production of “Pinocchio” to over 2,500 under-served children in New York City. For a complete list of our fall programs, click here.

Earlier this year, Arts For All Teaching Artist, Franklyn Strachen, spearheaded our first Documentary Creation Project at Incarnation Children’s Center.  The 3-day intensive workshops taught young people living with HIV/AIDS the tools to express themselves through video.  Franklyn shared his thoughts on the overwhelming success of this program in a recent post on Arts For All’s blog. 

Here is a snippet of that blog. (click here to read the entire post.)

“FS:I recently worked with the Incarnation Children's Center in Washington Heights. The center houses children living with HIV/AIDS. I worked with a group of about 10 students ranging from the ages of 7 to 21. The hardest part of working on this project was my own fears and expectations of what these children would be like. Sick, angry and upset with the world is what I was prepared for. What I encountered were kids. Regular kids. AIDS was a part of their life but it wasn't their life. They were very opinionated and considered the space theirs. It made it easy for them to show me around and document what they felt was important.  

AFA: How did this experience affect you?  Are there any moments that stand out?

FS: My preconceptions about living with AIDS were shattered. Considering how much information I have lived with concerning the subject I have never interacted with people who have it so intimately. These children have the same dreams and flaws that all kids have. I was happy to learn that. I learned that not only do they want children they can have AIDS free children. When I returned a week later to drop off the DVD the comfort level and excitement to see me again stood out for me.” 

 Read the rest of this interview here.

In addition to our usual fall programming, Arts For All hosted a Professional Development day for all of our teaching artists, key volunteers and staff on September 8, 2013. The overriding refrain of the day was “we’re here for the kids.”  The PD day was informative, community-building and overall, a huge success!  Arts For All is fortunate to have such a talented, committed and professional team of teaching artists, staff and volunteers.

Thanks so much again for your belief in the work that we do.  With your help, Arts For All is bringing artistic opportunities to over 3,500 in-need kids in New York City this year!  We welcome any feedback you might have on programs or any ideas you might have for bringing our message to a wider audience.

All the best,

Jessie Kilguss
Development Associate
Arts For All