In-School Residencies

Arts Corps residencies offer a series of classes held during school hours to introduce artistic skills and concepts or to integrate art into an academic subject area. Residencies are guided by a dedicated teaching artist working in collaboration with a classroom teacher for one or more academic quarters. In addition to the students routinely benefitting from deep learning through unique art forms in the school day, in-school teachers also benefit from the learning opportunity of working alongside a professional teaching artist.

Quick Links:

• Structure and Expectations
• Course Offerings
• Cost

Structure and Expectations

• Sessions per week: 2 (ideally)
• Time per session: 1-2 hours
• Hours per quarter: 16 or more total; 5 minimum per class
• Expectations: Ideally, the teaching artist will work with the same group of students for the entire quarter, providing time to build trust and develop artistic skills among students. However, it is possible to divide the instruction among two or three classes provided that each class receives at least five hours of instruction per quarter.
• Benefits of program type: Whether it be to enrich a core academic subject area or introduce artistic skills, concepts and the practice of creative habits through learning a specific art form, residencies offer sustained arts learning in the school day. Students benefit from deep learning through the arts in their regular school day, while in-school teachers benefit from the learning opportunity of working alongside a professional teaching artist.

Course Offerings

Arts Corps and program partners find a variety of ways to bring residencies to their schools. For example, we often pair a dance residency with a gym class or offer a poetry residency through a language arts class. Arts Corps can also pair a teaching artist with an art teacher to collaborate on a specific student project such as a mosaic, mural or musical. Arts Corps also encourages music teachers to consider our drumming residencies as enrichment opportunities for existing bands and ensembles.

Although residencies are typically paired with existing subject areas, each course can also stand as its own class or subject.

Here is a sampling of prospective residencies for the 2008-2009 program year:

"Brazilian Dance - Story of a People"
with Dora Oliveira
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a social studies or gym class.

Students will explore and discover combinations of different Brazilian dance movements. The emphasis is on creating dance movements while showcasing the panorama of Bahian dance styles. Bahia is a state in Northeastern Brazil that still preserves authentic Afro-Brazilian dance and community. We will take a dance journey with students that will expose them to the historical context of Bahia daily life and culture through folk dance styles to samba-infused hip-hop.

Break dance with Jerome Aparis
This residency is best for middle and high school youth and would pair well with a gym class.

The purpose of break dancing is for students to gain self-confidence and skill and to hone their creativity. Participants will learn the history, foundation and fundamentals of break dancing. They will be asked to share themselves and their talents as well as work together to build a strong unity among their group as they collaborate on choreography and performance opportunities.

"Brazilian Rhythms" with Eduardo Mendonça
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a social studies or history class. It is also an ideal enrichment component for a band ensemble or music class.

Experience the variety and power of the rhythms from Brazil in this class led by Brazilian musician, composer and educator Eduardo Mendonça. Participants of all ages and levels of ability will be introduced to several traditional grooves such as samba, baião, afoxé and Samba-Reggae. Percussion instruments will be made available, and a brief historical perspective will be given for each of the rhythms. The focus is hands-on experience, allowing participants to feel the inner workings of Brazilian music in an intuitive and spontaneous way, often using vocalizations and call-and-response methods to incorporate in the musical experience.

"Pan African Drumming and Dance" with Bob Frazier
This residency can be tailored for any grade level would pair well with a social studies, history or math class. It is also an ideal enrichment component for a band ensemble or music class.

This residency is as hands-on as it gets. Students will become acquainted with the way sound and music works, the history of music, music as mathematics and the many ways music affects our daily lives. By the end of this residency, students will have learned African and Pan African styles of drumming and dance steps, poly-rhythms and rhythmic subdivisions.

"Writes of Passage" with Vicky Edmonds
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a language arts class. Teacher training workshops are also available in connection with this residency.

"Writes of Passage" is a series of classes on using the art and practice of writing as an opportunity to bring our truest voice to the page and to the world. Participants will use poetic elements and phrases as a way of moving into the center of themselves and then write from there - the deepest and most genuine place in our lives.

This residency improves our relationship with writing, with ourselves and with the world as we are heard with respect when we share our deepest truths.

"Poetry Slam!" with Karen Finneyfrock
This residency is designed for middle or high school students and is well-suited for collaboration with a language arts teacher.

Students will learn to heighten powerful words through the engaging art of poetry slam. Through watching veteran slam poets, learning the social history of slam, engaging in writing prompts and getting hands-on performance training, students will be versed in the form and gain confidence in slam performance. Tips on local outlets for performing poetry in public will also be available.

Shakespeare: "A Gracious and Bewitching Kind of Action" with Darren Lay
This residency is designed for middle or high school students and would pair well with a language arts class.

This compels students to take Shakespeare's text up on their feet from the actor's perspective. This crash course is drawn from 15th and 16th century evidence of the actor's work in Shakespeare's day. Schedule now, and this residency may be coupled with a rendition of "Romeo & Juliet" performed by The Young Shakespeare Workshop.

"Acting as Storytelling" with Tina LaPadula
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a language arts or social studies class.

The goal of all good acting is to tell a great story. Students will learn to access characters from within and set the stage with improvisation, theatre and writing exercises that explore the personal stories of the students and the world around them. Participants in this class will collaboratively create skits and monologues with a goal of creating an ensemble performance or bringing to life themes and books they are already exploring. Students will stretch creative boundaries and amaze themselves with what is possible!

"Clowning and Circus Arts" with David Crellin
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a gym class.

Students will learn basic circus skills such as object manipulation, tumbling and clowning. Through structured games, vocal and body exercises, costume and makeup, students will gain confidence and skills in the art of "goofing off" in public. By the end of this residency, students will create a basic clown identity that is personal and meaningful to them.

"My Neighborhood" with Darwin Nordin
This residency is best suited for 3rd to 6th grade students, and would pair well with a social studies class looking at maps or a language arts class exploring ways to write about a place.

Students will create a multi-leveled, multi-layered map book of their own neighborhood or others they are familiar with and close to.

This residency is intended to encourage students to pay attention and witness to their neighborhoods, as well as celebrate the many things that surround them. Students will do this by drawing aerial-map-like representations of their neighborhood as well as creating, drawings, paintings and collage.

Students will create a series of "spreads" that reveal the many dimensions of their neighborhood. These will be stack-bound to create individual board-like books.

"POP-UPS, GIZMOS and AUTOMATA: an exploration of art with moving parts" with Darwin Nordin
This residency is best suited for 6th to 12th grade students and would pair well with a science or math class.

This residency introduces students to the concepts, principles and practices of works of art that have moving parts.

Students will begin by exploring paper engineering. As they explore these skills they will be exposed to simple physics and the construction and application of some common moving parts - levers and linkages, gears and pulleys, springs and counter-balances.

Students will be exposed to examples in art (past and present) as well as the world around them. They will use the knowledge and skills they gain to invent contraptions and gizmos of their own.

This residency is intended to promote thoughtful and directed tinkering and is an excellent way to help students understand and practice powerful studio thinking skills, some of which include envisioning, persistence, observation and exploration.

"Visual Poetry" The Potency of Word, Text and Image" with Darwin Nordin
This residency is best suited for 8th to 12th grades and would pair well with language arts, social studies and media studies.

This residency explores the interplay between word, text and image in many dimensions. Students will view and discuss examples from art history as well as contemporary culture and be led through a variety of art-making activities guiding investigations into the nature of language and communication, the intersection of text and content, and the symbolic and signal power of images.

The residency will involve students in drawing, painting and collage to create books, posters and even small sculptures.

* Photography and other digital media could be added in sites with suitable computer access and support.

"Creative Clay" with Monad Elohim
This residency is best suited for 1st to 6th grade students.

Elementary school students will have the opportunity to build their confidence and raise their self-esteem in their everyday lives through fun, creative and energetic experiences creating clay sculptures. This class will help each child explore their untapped, unlimited potential, including techniques that will help them discover their latent creative power and how to use this gift to shape clay sculpture and possibly the world.

Monad's creative sculpture activities help promote in the student a positive outlook about their future as well as a rich knowledge about the basic fundamentals of clay sculpture.

These creative methods are valuable tools that can be an aid to help build a life filled with rewarding and fulfilling opportunities to shape the futures of students.

"Photography and Mixed Media" with Vesna Pavlovic
This residency is best suited for 6th to 12th grade students and would pair well with language arts, social studies and media studies.

The goal of the class is to introduce students to the medium of photography and the basics of visual composition. In this residency, students will learn to look at and talk about their images and discover ways to appropriate and combine their images with other media. Some examples include working with images and text in storytelling, images and drawings in creating cartoons, using prints and paint and other materials to produce collages or just taking photographs about selected themes. Class sessions will include slide presentations of prominent photographers and discussions about their work in relation to student work. Class will culminate in a school exhibition of student work. This class can easily be adjusted to fit a specific theme or need of the school/program as well as student perspectives and interests.

"You Can DRAW!" with Lauren Atkinson
This residency can be tailored for any grade level and would pair well with a history, social studies or science class.

Anyone can draw, but from an early age, many of us lose confidence in our ability to depict the world around or inside us because our drawing doesn't look real or we compare our drawing style to someone else's. This workshop will guide students in discovering or recovering their mark through play and exploration of many materials in a fun, physical and imaginative journey. Students will learn the tricks of the trade while being introduced to the drawing styles of many artists and cultures through history and gain confidence in making their mark.

"You Can Draw and SCULPT, Too!" with Lauren Atkinson
This residency can be tailored for any grade level.

In this follow up workshop to "You Can DRAW!," students will explore the world of soft sculpture. Drawings will be transformed into imaginative, three-dimensional forms and creatures. While learning basic sewing, binding and weaving techniques using recycled materials and found objects, students will piece these materials together through hands-on methods that are engaging and fun.

"Color Theory and Printmaking" with Tomás Oliva
This residency is best suited for 1st through 6th grades and would pair well with a history or social studies class.

Through a series of several hands-on projects, students will explore the relevance of texture and color throughout art history. From cave paintings to contemporary art, the participants will examine the science of color, printmaking, bas-relief and a combination of all of them along with corresponding examples of masterpieces from art history.

"Mixed-media Mosaic Mania!" with Shannon Andersen
This residency can be tailored for any grade level.

In this residency, students learn about the history of mosaic and will develop mosaic techniques utilizing composition and design.

Participants will explore a variety of materials and possibilities while making their own handmade tiles. Youth will work together on a collaborative installation piece. Classroom or school themes can be incorporated into this residency easily, including nature, flora, fauna, culture, recycling and much more.

Cost

To learn more about our fee structure, please view our rate sheet.

If you are interested in partnering with Arts Corps, please fill out this online partnership inquiry form, or .