Beginning in 2021 Mass Cultural Council will partner with EdVestors to extend the offer of services, expertise, and resources of the Youth Arts Impact Network (YAIN) to organizations across the Commonwealth. Through this expansion, Mass Cultural Council aims to support the state-wide Creative Youth Development (CYD) network with critical support in a time of changing program delivery models and focus areas.
Continue reading Youth Arts Impact Network Expands to Public-Private Partnership
To create systemic change, steps need to be taken for alums in the field of Creative Youth Development (CYD) to enter into, inform, and begin to change the often closed-off worlds of power and privilege in philanthropy.
With a desire to learn and deepen our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of Mass Cultural Council, we wish to provide opportunities for CYD alums to find support with each other, to utilize and build platforms for their voices and visions, and to work together to build more equitable programs, networks, and systems.
Continue reading Wanted: BIPOC CYD Alumni to Serve on New Youth Council
Throughout the summer, Mass Cultural Council hosted weekly, national calls for the Creative Youth Development (CYD) field. Major themes that surfaced in those calls included the issues of equity and funding.
Continue reading Report on Equity in CYD Funding
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, 74 Creative Youth Development organizations in Massachusetts were forced to pivot, without preparation or training, to remote programming. These organizations faced a unique set of challenges in working with communities which were disproportionately affected by the virus and with young people who were already experiencing significant and systemic challenges in their lives.
Continue reading What We Learned From CYD Organizations During COVID-19
An amazing thing happened in March of 2020 – with no preparation, no warning, and no training, teachers around the world had to pivot toward creating learning experiences with empty classrooms and studios. There was no policy. Guidelines were late in coming. But the change happened. Teachers at the Community Music Center of Boston moved most of their lessons online, teachers at the Community Music School of Springfield began making YouTube videos of lessons for students to access asynchronously, and education staff at Barrington Stage Company facilitated four hours of youth-developed theater on Zoom.
Continue reading Teacher Voice during COVID-19
Creative Youth Development (CYD) programs serve some of the most vulnerable youth in Massachusetts. Often these are young people for whom home and school have not been places of support but, instead, the source of trauma in their lives. During the current pandemic, however, many of these youth are sheltered, or trapped, in place in these homes. Early on, when CYD organizations were striving to stay connected to young people, it became very clear that they many were not engaging with arts, humanities, or interpretive science programs that had been such a vibrant part of their lives. They were receding into themselves as a self-preservation mechanism while we as a field were trying to draw them out. This was a simple reminder of something we all know: Young people, all people, need to have their basic needs met – food security, housing, and health – before they can engage fully and creatively.
Continue reading Creative Youth Development Serves Our Most Vulnerable
One of the key challenges for Creative Youth Development programs during COVID-19 has been the cancellations of culminating events showcasing the work and growth of young people in these programs. Theater performances, concerts, art shows, and open houses all of have been called off, diminishing the feeling of accomplishment for young people and losing a vital opportunity for the organizations to do fundraising.
Continue reading The Show Must Go On
A new program from Mass Cultural Council is stepping into a significant and systemic gap in the youth arts ecosystem. The Creative Youth Development Teaching Artist Fellowship Pilot Program supports teaching artists in Creative Youth Development (CYD) programs throughout Massachusetts through a series of group learning sessions, site visits, and grants.
Built on the model of the Music Educator and Teaching Artist (META) Fellowship, a partnership of The Klarman Family Foundation and Mass Cultural Council, this new pilot program covers all disciplines in the arts, interpretive sciences, and humanities. By balancing individual learning and artistry with the development of a tightly knit community of practice, the CYD Fellowship has immediate impacts in the classroom and long-term impacts for the field.
The new pilot program launched last week at Central Square Theater and was led by world-renowned teaching artist Eric Booth. Throughout the year, CYD Fellows will address identified areas of need in their work as teaching artists, including youth worker training and work in trauma-informed practice.
Participating teaching artists were nominated by the following organizations:
The META Fellowship, a partnership between Mass Cultural Council and The Klarman Family Foundation, is the first program of its kind to convene a statewide community of music educators and teaching artists.
In an effort to make the learning of the Fellowship more broadly available, we are pleased to announce that the META Fellowship web site is now live. The site contains resources that were created to meet shared needs in classrooms throughout the Commonwealth and a list of professional development opportunities that Fellows utilized during the pilot program. As the second cohort of Fellows complete their Fellowship, more resources and tools will be added.
Join Mass Cultural Council for a two-part Trauma-Informed Practice Training with the Riverside Trauma Center.
The goal of this comprehensive two-day training is to prepare teaching artists and leaders in the cultural sector to deliver basic behavioral health disaster response skills to young people that have experienced trauma from large-scale disasters or critical events such as homicides, suicides, accidental deaths, and similarly distressing events. Participants will be presented with the evolution of efforts to assist survivors following trauma and provided with an overview of the human stress response and how it affects the choice of interventions with distressed individuals. The Post-Traumatic Stress Management (PTSM) continuum of interventions and the eight core functions of Psychological First Aid (PFA) will be taught.
The training comprises two 6.5 hour days. Participants must commit to both days. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available.
Friday, October 18: Boston Children’s Museum
308 Congress St, Boston, MA
Saturday, October 26: Community Art Center
119 Windsor St # 6, Cambridge, MA
9-9:30am: Registration, coffee etc.
9:30am-12pm: Session time
12-1pm: Lunch
1-5pm: Session
The training is free and limited to two representatives per organization.
For more information, contact Erik Holmgren at 617-858-2731.
