NEA Grants $100,000 to CYD Collective Impact Initiative

May 12, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

The National Guild for Community Arts Education, on behalf of a coalition of national partners, has been awarded an NEA Art Works grant for $100,000. The award will support a collective impact initiative and the creation of the first-ever blueprint to advance Creative Youth Development (CYD).

The funds are part of more than $82 million granted in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. “The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from the National Guild for Community Arts Education and its CYD partners offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”

Creative Youth Development is a new term that brings together a longstanding community of practice that intentionally integrates the arts, humanities, and sciences with youth development principles, sparking young people’s creativity and building critical learning and life skills. Representatives of the field met in 2014, to form its first-ever national policy and advocacy agenda and charged a national partnership to oversee implementation. Initiative partners include the National Guild , Americans for the Arts, the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities, and Massachusetts Cultural Council. The blueprint project will engage additional cross-sector organizations, cultivating partners from the youth development field.

“This Art Works award is a huge honor, and a recognition of the dedicated organizations across the country offering CYD programs that support young people in developing creative skills and becoming active members of their communities,” said Jonathan Herman, executive director of the National Guild. “Our national partnership hopes to organize this field, maximize its social impact, and produce a structure to inspire more organizations to develop programs that unleash the creative potential of youth.”

See the full release.

Awards, Dance, Music, Performance, Theater, Visual Arts

4 Mass Groups Named National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award Finalists

April 26, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Four MCC-funded programs have been chosen among the 50 finalists for the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. Congratulations to BalletRox, Boston City Singers, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, and The Theater Offensive, Inc. for achieving their Finalist Certificate of Excellence – a testament to the outstanding Creative Youth Development work happening in the Commonwealth, and testimony to all of those committed to working with youth to achieve social change through the arts, humanities, and sciences.

The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, given by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, is the nation’s highest honor for out-of-school arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America’s young people, particularly those from underserved communities. This award recognizes and supports excellence in programs that open new pathways to learning, self-discovery, and achievement. Each year, the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards recognize 12 outstanding programs in the United States, from a wide range of urban and rural settings.

See the full release.

Music, Podcast, Visual Arts, Voices

Introducing Creative Minds Out Loud, MCC’s New Podcast

March 25, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Creative Minds Out Loud logo Join us for informative and lively conversations with arts and cultural leaders through Creative Minds Out Loud. Our new podcast was created to give a glimpse into Massachusetts’ cultural capital; to inform, to inspire, and to share the stories of our sector. Listen and subscribe now.

Recent episodes feature Artists For Humanity‘s Susan Rodgerson and Boston Children’s Chorus‘ Dr. Anthony Trecek-King.

Civic Engagement, Music, Voices

Giving Voice to Raw Truths

February 18, 2016 Guest Blogger Leave a comment

RAW Truth Concert. Image by Connie E, Huntington News correspondent. Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) and Raw Art Works, two nationally-recognized creative youth development organizations, came together in January for a project on “Raw Truth.” The “Raw Truth” theme was meant as a nod to the vocal power of the voice, as well as to Dr. King facing the raw social truths of injustice, and the need for using one’s voice to advocate for equity and justice. The concept of “Raw Truth” was also meant to give voice to those inner truths people don’t always get a safe space in which to share.

All BCC choirs participated in the activity and, like audience members’ of the BCC’s MLK concert, the singers were asked what their raw truths were. Many of the singers from age 7 to high school took this activity very seriously and answered in very personal ways. Singers wrote these on index cards and then the Raw Chiefs from Raw Art Works created an art piece that they painted and brought to Jordan Hall on MLK day.

A few responses from BCC’s youngest singers’ cards:

“My family can never afford camps or schools without a scholarship.”

“I didn’t help someone in need when I should have.”

“My friend got shot two months ago.”

“I don’t feel like I have any true friends.”

“My dad went to jail.”

“My great grandparents died in the Holocaust.”

“I have always been scared of the dark.”

“I am afraid of being judged by people at school, and I think it’s because I judge myself.”

A video excerpt of Chorus members being led through a “Raw Truth” conversation:

Amplify, Awards, Civic Engagement

MCC Launches “Amplify” to Fund 12 Youth-Led Community Projects

January 20, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

We also have our social imagination: the capacity to invent
visions of what should be and what might be in our deficient
society, on the streets where we live, in our schools.

– Maxine Greene

Today the MCC introduces Amplify Youth Voices; a new initiative to raise the voices of young people whose creative expression is driving positive change in communities across the state.

Amplify grants provide support for projects designed and executed by young people in programs that are currently receiving YouthReach or SerHacer funding. A total of $11,440 was awarded with each grantee receiving up to $1,000.

Amplify projects include:

Actors Shakespeare Project, Boston – To lead a group of youth to create an original play based on Shakespeare’s plays.

BalletRox, Boston – To create a Soca Dance for the Spontaneous Celebration’s Wake up the Earth Festival on May 7^th, 2016.

Books of Hope, Somerville – To solicit work from fellow competitors at the Louder Than a Bomb poetry festival to publish into an anthology.

Community Art Center, Cambridge – To curate a portion of the ‘Do It Your Damn Self’ National Youth Film Festival in Cambridge and host screenings for young people at a Cambridge public school and MIT.

Community Music School of Springfield, Springfield – To follow the musical journey of 200 students in Chestnut Middle School’s El Sistema-inspired program by creating a video diary for the fellow students, parents, and administrators at the school.

Community Music School of Springfield, Springfield – To follow the musical journey of 40 students in Duggan Middle School’s El Sistema-inspired program by creating a video diary for the fellow students, parents, and administrators at the school.

Express Yourself, Beverly – To lead Express Yourself participants in creating large scale public art exhibition at the Cummings Center in Beverly.

Mass Audobon, Lowell – To create a two-day event in Lucy Larcom Park to introduce youth and families to the parks in Lowell and help young people move away from screens and into natural settings.

Performance Project, Springfield – To co-create a new physical theater piece for 10 youth participants entitled ‘Tenderness’.

Raw Art Works, Lynn – To partner with The Food Project in Lynn to bring healthy food and food education to participants in RAW’s Creative Youth Development programming.

Sociedad Latina, Boston – To lead the creation of a community art exhibit entitled ‘Quien Soy Yo’ (Who I am)

Worcester Youth Center, Worcester – To lead a visual arts program developed for other youth at the Center who have not engaged with art making, entitled YouthARTWorkz.

Awards, Opportunities & Resources

Apply Now for 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards

January 14, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is accepting applications for the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards.

The 12 award-winning programs this year will each receive $10,000 and an invitation to accept their award from the President’s Committee’s Honorary Chairman, First Lady Michelle Obama, at a ceremony at the White House.

After-school and out-of-school time arts and humanities programs are encouraged to apply. Access the online application.

Completed applications will only be accepted via the online process and are due by Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 5:00 PM PST.

Showcase

“Strictly Business – Women of Influence” Engages Young Women in Dialogue

January 13, 2016 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

strictly_business graphic
For the past year, young women at Artists For Humanity (AFH) have been working on “Strictly Business – Women of Influence,” a project profiling women as decision makers in today’s society.

Through “Strictly Business” AFH provides an opportunity for young women to engage in a dialogue with women across a variety of industries, to hear first hand stories of success, and to give them access to positive role models, with the aim of inspiring them to become their own advocates and to advance their future.

The young woman at AFH have interviewed:

Martha Coakley, former Attorney General, Massachusetts
Debbie First, PR & Communications
Karen Kaplan, Chairman and CEO, Hill Holliday
Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental Affairs, United States Department of Homeland Security
Jean Kilbourne, author, speaker and film-maker
Barbara Krakow, owner Krakow Gallery
Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy, City of Boston
Joan Y. Reede, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School
Shirley Lord Rosenthal, Former Senior Beauty Editor of Vogue
Sally Susman, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Pfizer
Kelly Talamas, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Mexico & Latin America

Check out their bi-weekly online publication.

Dance, Voices

My Name is Eury Ortiz & This is My Story

December 16, 2015 Guest Blogger Leave a comment

Eury Ortiz I arrived in Boston from the Dominican Republic when I was 13. No one told me I was going to a new country until the day before I left. When I got to Boston, I lived with my grandmother in a housing project in South Boston. I remember it was the end of November, and I didn’t have any warm clothes. I didn’t speak a word of English.

Right away I got expelled from school for my involvement in a fight. Fighting was a common activity for me. I had a lot of anger and the streets gave me a place to express it. I was the type of kid who, if I didn’t like the way you looked at me, there would probably be a fight.

Then, a friend of mine told me about a dance program at Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF).

Once there I learned Latin dance and began to feel more and more comfortable. I started to learn English. I still had anger, but people accepted me, and if I was in a bad mood, they took the time to talk to me. Soon, I was performing dance all over Boston, and I was surrounded with positive people – teens and adults.

Eury Ortiz dancing

HSTF staff pushed me on my academics, but I still couldn’t graduate on time. The summer after 12th grade, my HSTF mentor worked with me and helped me complete high school. I started taking classes at Bunker Hill Community College, and a week into the semester, I had another incident on the streets. I was going to a party in the Lenox Street projects, and I got shot. I hit the ground to avoid a hail of bullets, but one of them caught my leg. Even though I lost a lot of blood, I was able to recover.

I realized I had to set my priorities straight, once and for all. I had to change my focus, so I threw myself into work, school, and dance.

At Bunker Hill, HSTF continued to support me through their college success program. They checked in with me every week. They even came to Bunker Hill and went to the financial aid office with me in order to get me the help I needed. I am in my final year at Bunker Hill. Next year I will attend Mass College of Art and Design to major in graphic design. Someday, my dream is to own my own graphic design company. Meanwhile, I dance. I am a member of the professional Mambo Revelation dance company. I also teach dance to middle school kids.

Published with permission from the Hyde Square Task Force.

Advocacy, Opportunities & Resources, Policy/Trends

Join AFTA’s Creative Youth Development Webinar, Tweet Chat on Sept. 15

September 11, 2015 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Learn more about Creative Youth Development as part of Americans for the Arts’ (AFTA) webinar series: “Arts Education: What You Need to Know” on Tuesday, September 15 at 3pm. MCC’s Dr. Erik Holmgren will join partners from the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities, and National Guild for Community Arts Education, to discuss this emerging field. Register for the 20-minute webinar, and continue the conversation in Twitter using #CYD from 8-9pm (ET).

Policy/Trends

New Fiscal Year Brings New & Expanded CYD Investment, Services

September 2, 2015 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

The Massachusetts Cultural Council approved a spending plan yesterday for the coming year that will invest more than $12 million in grants to nonprofit cultural organizations, local cultural councils, education programs, and working artists across the Commonwealth.

Of that spending, more than $1 million will go to supporting Creative Youth Development programs and services , including:

Funding:

Three-year grants of $15,000/year awarded to 63 organizations:

$675,000 invested in 45 YouthReach projects, which promote integration of substantive out-of-school arts, humanities, and science opportunities into a collaborative community response to the needs of young people – specifically those at risk of not making a successful transition to young adulthood.

$270,000 invested in 18 SerHacer projects, which support the growing number of intensive, ensemble-based music programs that create music as a vehicle for youth development and social change. SerHacer is the first public support system for El Sistema-inspired work in the nation.

$10,000 for the creation of a new YouthVoice Program that will provide small grants to young people in funded YouthReach or SerHacer programs to support projects that demonstrate their value as artists in the Commonwealth.

Training: The pilot of a Creative Youth Development Fellows Program to prepare young teaching artists and youth workers to be effective in the classroom, in non-profits, and in their work across sectors with schools and funders.

Research: Support for studies that demonstrate the social, academic, and economic impact of Creative Youth Development.

Resources: The Johnson String Library, which works to remove the musical instrument as a barrier to participation and as a burden to programs, families, and young people.