Jan. 2, 2019— Silver Bay Elementary School is the recipient of a program that will infuse the arts into its students’ educational experience, a unique opportunity being funded by a grant from the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation.
Over the next five years the school will be working with Young Audiences Arts for Learning, a not-for-profit organization serving students in pre-k to grade 12, their teachers, and their families to provide the best in arts education for children. The group will host monthly performances at the school as part of the YA Arts Lab Intervention Program.
This program will help teachers incorporate art mediums into their curriculum. Young Audiences’ mission is to inspire young people and to expand their learning through the arts, with a goal of fostering the creativity of every child while encouraging them to be productive and caring human beings. Music, dance, theater, literary, media, and visual arts programs will be culturally diverse, curriculum-based, and measurably effective.
The school kicked off the YA Arts Lab Dec. 18. Denyce Mylson from Young Audiences and Kelly Fliller from the Jay and Linda Foundation were present to help celebrate and implement the inaugural event, which was “The Principals of Hip Hop: Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun.”
The performance, led by Hip Hop Fundamentals, focused on youth empowerment, diversity, creativity and working together, which is embodied in hip hop’s four principles. Students, staff and the principal participated in this hip hop performance.
“It was an incredible experience to be able to see the Hip Hop Fundamentals presentation in action,” said Fliller. “Everyone was engaged from the students to the teachers. In addition to seeing– and participating in– some pretty cool hip hop dance moves, students learned about diversity, working together and even got a bit of a history lesson. You could feel the excitement in the room and everyone is looking forward to the next Young Audiences Arts for Learning ARTS LAB presentation. We are off to a fantastic start with what it sure to be an extremely impactful program!”
The New Year will bring more exciting arts-infused opportunities for Silver Bay, as its YA Arts Lab expands and evolves.