This post is by guest blogger Tasha Speed, Museum Education & Public Programs, African American Museum
The Junior Docents at the African American Museum had a blast this summer supporting “Discovering Nature and Art,” the Museum’s summer enrichment camp held from June 6-July 15 for 70 elementary-age campers. Docents assisted campers with creative learning activities, exciting fieldtrips and much more. The docents also helped with Dallas ISD’s Thriving Minds Summer Camp, which brought nearly 2,000 middle school students to Fair Park, offering guided tours of the Museum and its collections. But it wasn’t all work and no play, docents were treated to a special performance of Dallas Summer Musical’s Guys and Dolls.
The African American Museum launched the Junior Docent program in March to give high school students hands-on experience as museum curators. Twenty-five students from Dallas-area schools participated, and went through training that taught them about the history, philosophy and practices of museum work. All the docents received a stipend for their work this summer.
For additional information about the Junior Docent Program visit our website at www.aamdallas.org.
Today I had the opportunity to visit Choices Leadership Academy and attend their end-of-summer camp performance. Over the past four weeks, 42 middle school students were immersed in the world of ancient Egypt. They learned about the country's geography, history and culture through core academic studies in math, English, science and history.
Their culminating performance, called Journey Down the Nile, encompassed original music, dramatic performances and visual art on topics like the rulers and gods of ancient Egypt.
As part of the visual art component of the program, students created a giant, three-dimensional map of the Nile River and designed and hand painted the Egyptian themed shirts you'll see them wearing in the photo slideshow below.
Perhaps most enjoyable was the final scene - So You Think You Can Egyptian Dance, where students performed songs they had written about the lives of King Tut and Cleopatra.
Thanks to these talented students and their instructors for their thoroughly educational and entertaining performance!
Yesterday, 185 fourth and fifth graders from Wells Elementary in Plano kicked off their SLANT 45 project with help from Bank of America, a SLANT 45 title sponsor, and Dallas Cowboy Felix Jones.
Students participated in a variety of activities as part of the "Hunger No More" initiative, including creating holiday cards for the elderly and decorating and stuffing lunch bags for Meals on Wheels recipients.
Click here to see a video of the students in action.
Remember this post about SLANT 45 art workshops at the Dallas Museum of Art? Well, guess what: the first round of workshops has been completed, and some fantastic community service-related artwork came out of it! Here are just a few of the pieces created by participants at the July 16th "Late Nights at the DMA" event:
Mark your calendars for the next Late Nights workshops on August 20, September 17 and October 15. We'll see you there!
It's not Friday but we still wanted to share photos of some of the kids at the Charles Rice Learning Center participating in the Thriving Minds Summer Camp, as well as some of the artwork the kids created. This camp was a joint partnership with South Dallas Cultural Center. Hope you enjoy!
Join us at the Dallas Museum of Art for professional artist-led workshops for the whole family! There are sessions for SLANT 45 participants on Saturdays (see schedule below) which will allow kids to complete the reflective art component of the program in a variety of mediums - under the direction of local artists Lesli Robertson, Will Richey, and Jill Foley. Reflective art is required of all participants, so come out the DMA and let professional artists help your team create something to be proud of! Participants will also receive FREE admission to the museum.
There will also be special sessions for adults at the immensely popular Late Nights at the DMA. Visitors will be given the chance to create "Secret Service" postcards to highlight the unseen acts of kindness they've done or seen others do to better their community, with the help of artists like Sara Cardona, David Herman, Jr., Adriana Martinez and Ann Marie Newman.
The community service-related art will then be shared with all of North Texas as it tours alongside the SLANT 45 art exhibit (including pieces like these) from D/FW Airport to NorthPark Center to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and even a stint at the State Capitol. Mark your calendars with the dates below - we'll see you at the DMA!
Youth & Family Saturday workshops (RSVP at 469-621-8989):
July 17, 11am - 1pm
August 14, 11am - 1pm
September 18, 11am - 1pm
October 16, 11am - 1pm
DMA Late Night workshops:
July 16, 9:30 - 11:30pm
August 20, 9:30 - 11:30pm
September 17, 9:30 - 11:30pm
October 15, 9:30 - 11:30pm
Big Congrats to the Stockard Middle School cheerleaders, who won 2nd place in the Six Flags Cheerleading Competition on May 1, 2010! These gals have been working hard in their cheerleading club under the leadership and direction of Erin Adams and Jessica Weems, Thriving Minds after-school staff.
...the SLANT 45 documentary - filmed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Birnbaum! Over the next eight months, Birnbaum will be producing and directing a film all about SLANT 45 - the kids, the projects and the impact. He's already gotten footage of students at Clarke Elementary School in Fort Worth working on their "Future of the World" projects, including sprucing up their school by painting over graffiti. He's filmed a group from the Episcopal School of Dallas making emergency care packages with the Red Cross. He's even gotten down in the dirt with the after-school program at Ireland Elementary in their brand new community garden.
All these projects and more will be on display on the BIG screen next January. As Birnbaum puts it, "The opportunity to make a documentary about this ambitious project is the sort of thing a filmmaker dreams about...we look forward to revealing the individual stories of kids and communities that SLANT 45 represents." And we look forward to seeing it - don't you?
Stay tuned to the Think Big blog for more information on where and when the movie will be playing - and make sure you register your team TODAY, and perhaps we'll be seeing YOU on the big screen!
Staff, board and volunteers rallied together last weekend in support of Big Thought, Thriving Minds and SLANT 45 at the City Arts Festival. While students from Thriving Minds after-school at Titche Elementary performed a Jackson Five/Rockin' Robin tribute onstage in Centennial Hall, children and families gathered around the Big thought table to make pet rocks for the kiddos at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.
In addition, representatives from the Super Bowl community service project, SLANT 45, were on hand to recruit and inform children and families about getting signed up and started on a service-learning project (you can sign up, too - right here!). And finally, we had a fantiastic children's art exhibit, sponsored by Prudential, that featured a mural, oil paintings, ceramics and reverse plexiglass portraits, among other things!
It was three VERY busy days, but they were also very rewarding. One volunteer shared a heartwarming story about a shy 4-year-old who stopped by the table to make a pet rock. After some coaxing, he collaborated with this volunteer to make a fantastic concoction of googly eyes, pom-pom balls and feathers - in JUST the right places. His father and grandparents were very pleased to see him interacting, and told our volunteer so. Cool, huh?
If you missed the City Arts Festival, stay tuned to our events calendar for other opportunities to come out and see what's going on in your neighborhood through Thriving Minds, SLANT 45 and other programs. Stories like the ones above are what inspire us to continue exploring new ways to make imagination a part of everyday learning for everyone.
Alexis, Veronica, Anthony and Alyssa (pictured above, left to right) are students in an afterschool program for at-risk kids at George C. Clarke Elementary in Fort Worth. These four students are the leaders of four SLANT 45 projects taking place at the school which all tie into the theme "Future of the World."
The students themselves decided what their projects would be and with whom they would partner: Veronica is leading a graffiti cleanup project; Alexis is concentrating on gang prevention; Alyssa is leading a beautification/trash pickup project and is working with Anthony, whose group is creating a recycling program the proceeds from which will go to charity.
On Wednesday, these children and their school were host to a meeting of the SLANT 45 Action Team, a group of business professionals, educators and others who help with outreach. Each student spoke briefly but passionately about why they feel these issues are problems in their community and their plan to address them. Members of the Action Team were particularly struck by how these children are so quick to give back even though they themselves are in need - and that is the beauty of SLANT 45. It gives elementary school children the chance to get to know more about their community, identify and fill a need and spark the spirit of giving that will follow these children through their adulthood.
If you know an inspiring group of youngsters who are ready to give back to their community, sign up at www.slant45.org/. All kids who participate will be invited to attend an extra-special celebration event at Cowboys Stadium in January 2011. Register today!
Students in the Thriving Minds after-school program at Comstock Middle School are leaving their mark on campus—literally. Through a visual art residency led by Steven Beck, an advanced placement art teacher at Dallas Independent School District’s Townview Magnet Center, the students are creating a large-scale mural that will remain a permanent feature in the Comstock cafeteria. The goal of the project is to instill a sense of pride in the students for their school and to bring the community closer, says Lisa Schmidt, an instructional specialist for Big Thought, which manages the Thriving Minds after-school program.
To jumpstart the project, Beck met with Comstock students to brainstorm what the mural should symbolize. The resulting images and words are representative of the unique mix of cultures that make up the student body, and the topics and issues they feel are most relevant to their lives today. Beck then took the ideas and worked with his students at Townview to develop initial sketches of the mural.
Since then, nearly 35 students from both schools have come together to work on the piece, and are committing their time after school every Tuesday and Thursday through May to complete the project. The spirit of collaboration has also spread to the community; in February, parents and teachers joined the students for two Saturdays to lend a hand. The final mural will be unveiled during a special Cinco de Mayo celebration in May.
Today's photos come from the February 16th SLANT 45 launch event at Pope Elementary School in the Arlington ISD. SLANT 45 Chairman Daryl Johnston visited the students - along with donors Ted and Shannon Skokos - to check in on their progress with their SLANT 45 service-learning projects.
Visit the SLANT 45 website to register your student group for this historic service-learning program!
Check out this awesome short commercial about Slant 45! These will start airing on Fox 4 this weekend - see if you can find one during the ad breaks between your cartoons and favorite family shows.
Kids: to sign up for Slant 45, check out the registration page with a teacher, scout leader or parent. Then get your friends together and start brainstorming about how you can make a change for the better in your community!
This Photo Friday features the students from last week's blog on the second part of their human rights residency with Art for Darfur and Today Marks the Beginning - a Campus Readiness Tour at Southern Methodist University! 4th and 5th graders from Charles Rice Elementary toured the SMU campus, interacting with representatives from the Cox School of Business, Meadows School of the Arts, Meadows Museum and Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. BIG thank you to all the professors, students and administrators from SMU, the teachers, chaperones and Thriving Minds After-School program staff from Rice, the artists and staff from Today Marks the Beginning and Art for Darfur and the staff of Big Thought (especially Shelly Bell, Manager of Events and Volunteers) for making this tour and the residency possible. The students' art will be on display at the South Dallas Cultural Center February 5th through 28th - don't miss it!
Students in the Thriving Minds After-School program at Charles Rice Elementary are participating in a special residency around Art for Darfur. The students worked with professional artists from Today Marks the Beginning, and have created shadowboxes around what they would provide if they were Great Peacemakers. Enjoy!
Today's extra-special Photo Friday is a preview of what you'll see if you atttend DaVerse Lounge at the Backbeat Cafe in Dallas tonight! DaVerse Lounge is an open-mic under-21 spoken word event that encourages youngsters to speak their minds in a healthy, positive way. Join us tonight at 7:30 or check it out on the second Friday in February and March to see what it's all about.
Looking for things to do this holiday season? Try giving back to your favorite nonprofits! Donate, Volunteer, get Hired - the possibilities are endless. These links will take you to places where you can do those things for us, but be sure to check out our 70+ arts & cultural partners, too. Every nonprofit is in need of help for the holidays and we truly appreciate the generosity and support of our community!
Library Live! has been a part of our program lineup for 16 years. This free monthly pre-literacy program takes place in every Dallas Public Library branch, where Big Thought artists present interactive, educational and culture-based literacy activities for children and their families through music, dance, storytelling and visual art.
This year, Library Live! is sponsored by Target, a corporation known for its generosity and dedication to community giving. The program is overseen by Ann Symns, Big Thought's Program Operations Manager. Each month, Ann books different artists for each of the 26 branches of the Dallas Public Library. Just in the past month, preschoolers in Dallas have had the chance to make a song with musician Doc Gibbs, practice yoga with Lynn Moon, learn about nursery rhymes with Dorayne Breedlove and much more.
Library Live! is one of our most important programs because it is meant for children at a critical developmental age - and their parents and caregivers. The techniques taught in each program are replicable by parents, so the learning continues long after the families have left the library. Thanks to the generosity of Target and the hard work of our Big Thought artists and staff like Ann, we are able to offer a pre-literacy program to the children of Dallas that will help them develop the critical skills they need to succeed in life.
Please extend a hearty "Welcome Back" to our After-School guest-blogger, Judy Danielson! Judy's kiddos have been hard at work getting ready for the holidays at Mills Elementary. Here's a sneak peek at what they've been up to this month:
Last week was another week of adventure and learning in Thriving Minds After-School Program at Mills Elementary. On Monday, fourth and fifth graders worked on their team building skills. All of the students have been writing their own short plays and are doing an outstanding job. Kindergarten and first grade made turkeys from oranges and felt pieces. Second and third grade had Mad Science on Wednesday and learned about optical illusions. The children have been earning tickets for good behavior, following directions, being a good leader, being kind, etc. On Friday we had our Reward Store, where my office turns into a Chuck E. Cheese-like store where the children can exchange their tickets for prizes ranging from candy to pencils to stickers to Hot Cheetos! For some, it's the only time they have their own "money" to spend and the decision-making process can be brutal. It is a great incentive and in a roundabout kind of way, a math lesson to figure out how many prizes you can get for your tickets.
On Saturday evening, I gathered some friends and we headed off to Barneys New York at NorthPark Center to see the "Have a Witty Holiday" window art. Our afterschool students at Mills participated in a project with Barneys to provide art for their Holiday Windows. Under the direction of artist and instructor Junanne Peck, the children painted canvases of the funniest person in their lives, or the person who makes them laugh. The visual presentation of the children's paintings is outstanding. The kids all did such good work and Barneys has done a fabulous job displaying their work.
I am so proud of my kids, and people were stopping to look in the windows! How cool is that? Of course, like any proud Mother Hen, I let people know that my afterschool kids created the paintings. Most of the salespeople in Barneys now know me and all about Thriving Minds After-School, too. I encourage all of you to go to Barneys and see the windows. I know you will be touched. I can't wait to share all the pictures I took with my kids and their families!
Judy Danielson
Community Site Manager, Mills Elementary
Thriving Minds After-School
*Editor's note: The Barneys window displays of the children's art from Mills, Tatum Elementary and Long Middle School will be up throughout the holiday season. Stop and take a look while you're doing your Christmas shopping - it's quite a sight to see!
Our journey continued with a weekend of support preceded by a lovely champagne-and-hors-d'oeuvres kickoff party at the brand new Louis Vuitton flagship store at NorthPark Center. The event was hosted by Kimberly Schlegel-Whitman, Daniel Lalonde, President of Louis Vuitton North America and Patrick McCarthy, Chairman and Editorial Director of W Magazine. Our Manager of Events and Volunteers, Shelly Bell, said, "The party was really great; we had a lot of Board members and donors there who truly enjoyed it. Everyone chatted about Big Thought and had a wonderful time!" Part of the proceeds from the full weekend's sales are being donated to us so that we can continue our programs for the children and families of Dallas.
Finally, self-taught Dallas artist Chris Judy and his team chose Big Thought as a beneficiary for the launch of his new set of giclee prints. The party, held at Bella Restaurant in the Uptown area, was well-attended. Patrons were energetic and excited to learn about Big Thought and see Judy's latest artwork.
We are so grateful to have been chosen to be a part of all these wonderful events. Thank you to all who appreciate our work and are inspired to help us continue making imagination a part of everyday learning. Stay tuned for more on the art exhibit in the Barneys New York windows next week!
