National Guild For Community Arts Education

Enrich your conference experience with a behind-the-scenes look at some of Boston’s exemplary community arts education providers. Visits include facility tours and overviews of each organization’s key programs and inner workings—a great opportunity to be inspired, gain new ideas, and build relationships with your peers.

Tours take place on Saturday morning, November 12. All tours include transportation and depart from and return to the Sheraton Boston. Tickets are $15 and must be purchased when you register.

Dance: Boston Ballet

Saturday, November 12, 9:30am - 11:30am 

Boston Ballet School promotes excellence in training and creates access to dance, resulting in a lifelong love and appreciation of the art form. Through three state-of-the-art studio locations, the BBS provides the highest-quality dance education through four core programs: Children's (ages 9 months-7 years), Classical Ballet (ages 8-19), Pre-Professional (ages 13-19, audition only), and Adult Dance. Other programs like City Dance, Taking Steps, and Adaptive Dance extend the ballet’s educational efforts into the schools and community, engaging thousands of additional students each year. The visit will include a studio tour, classroom observations, presentations on the school’s unique model and dance education philosophy, and a Q&A with school director Margaret Tracey and administrative director Michele Carreiro. Join us for an inspiring morning at BBS’s beautiful South End headquarters!

Music: South Shore Conservatory

Saturday, November 12, 9:00am - 12:00pm

South Shore Conservatory is the largest community school of the arts in New England. Now in its 40th year, it serves more than 2,700 students at two campuses. Members of the conservatory's leadership team will demonstrate the school's Continuum, a philosophical and programmatic structure designed to engage students from birth through adulthood while accommodating those entering at any age. Built on a large early childhood base, the school's programs prepare young students for private instruction and foster participation beyond the private lesson. Programs branch out in multiple directions to allow older students to pursue varied interests in music, movement, and drama. The focus and flexibility of the Continuum informs parents, students, and faculty about options and possibilities for individualized and evolving interests. South Shore’s Hingham campus houses a 300 seat covered amphitheatre, as well as wonderful teaching and ensemble spaces and a beautiful hall. During the tour, you’ll enjoy opportunities to observe —and perhaps participate in—programs in music, dance, and drama, ranging from a Music Together class for parents and children ages 0-3 to an adult jazz/open mic session. Information on South Shore’s program development procedures will be shared with plenty of time for questions and dialogue. 

Theater: The Theater Offensive and Huntington Theatre Company

 Saturday, November 12, 9:00am - 12:00pm

The Theater Offensive’s (TTO) True Colors: Out Youth Theater program is a unique model for theater education and social change made up of at-risk lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and straight allies, most from urban neighborhoods in Greater Boston area. Programming takes place in a safe and accessible location on neutral gang turf in Copley Square in Boston, which will be the location of our visit. Delegates attending this site visit will learn about the program model and how through this program LGBT and allied youth are trained in theatrical techniques and civic leadership for social change to produce safer schools and thriving neighborhoods. True Colors is a youth-driven program, with troupe members taking an active role in all aspects of program planning and execution that has also provided the inspiration for OUT in Your Neighborhood, a series of programs and projects aimed at serving community members of all ages. Join TTO’s Executive Artistic Director Abe Rybeck and Director of Programs Evelyn Francis to learn about this groundbreaking work, see youth in action at an open rehearsal, and hear about the importance of location for this kind of work.

The Huntington Theatre Company, celebrating its 30th anniversary, creates world-class theatre productions for an audience of more than 130,000 and reaches youth and underserved audiences throughout the Greater Boston area through its nationally recognized education and community programs. One of its premiere education programs is a 10-year collaboration with the Codman Academy Public Charter School in Boston’s community of Dorchester. This partnership integrates Huntington’s current productions and plays from the Huntington’s canon into the Codman Academy core humanities curriculum, and provides the school’s ninth and tenth grade students two full days each month of the academic year in residence at the Huntington to study all aspects of the theatre. Learn more about this exciting arts and education collaboration during your visit to the Huntington. Members of the Huntington’s Education Department and faculty and staff of Codman Academy will discuss the beginning of the partnership, its development, achievements and challenges. They also will share a short video of one of the elements of the program, Codman’s 10th graders participation in the statewide and national Shakespeare Competition. There will be ample time for questions and answers.
 

Visual Arts: Museum of Fine Arts and Diablo Glass

Saturday, November 12, 9:00am - 12:00pm

Museum of Fine Arts

The Museum of Fine Arts’ Studio and Community Arts Program involves Bostonians in the artistic process through hands-on instruction. During this visit, we’ll observe studio art classes held in museum galleries and dialogue with MFA education staff about how teaching artists can leverage museum collections to enrich studio instruction. You’ll learn about the museum’s diverse array of studio art classes and other educational programs including community art engagement exhibitions with visiting professional artists and international exchanges.

Diablo Glass School

For our next stop, we’ll head to the Diablo Glass School, where students learn glassblowing, flame-working, fused glass, stained glass, and cold working techniques. Diablo offers classes to the general public, schools, colleges, community centers, and social organizations. The school partners with the Museum of Fine Arts, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and many other Boston-area institutions, providing students of diverse ages and backgrounds with access to professional class glassmaking facilities. Enjoy a studio tour and glass working demonstrations while dialoguing with Diablo’s leadership about the school’s programs, partnerships, and inner workings.

Youth Arts: Artists for Humanity & Institute of Contemporary Art

Saturday, November 12, 9:00am - 12:00pm

Artists for Humanity

Founded in 1991, Artists for Humanity (AFH) empowers and employs Boston teens in an intensive program of arts, creativity, and enterprise. AFH partners youth with professional artist mentors to design, create, and sell fine art, industrial design, and digital graphic services. Within fully staffed studios, equipped in seven artistic media, youth and mentors collaborate on creative projects--many specifically commissioned by clients. Through this process, young artists develop entrepreneurial skills and introduce audiences to their voice, vision, and virtuosity. AFH apprentices have produced fine art and creative products for Boston’s largest firms and organizations. The Artists for Humanity EpiCenter, opened in 2004 in the Fort Point Arts District of Boston, meets the highest levels of sustainability set by the U.S. Green Building Council. This LEED Platinum building, named one of the Top Ten Green Buildings in the country, and one of Five Most Beautiful Buildings in Boston, informs youth about issues of environmental stewardship and serves as an inspiration and backdrop for their creativity. The Artists for Humanity EpiCenter provides a fitting venue for perhaps the largest permanent collection of youth-created fine art and design in the nation. The AFH model is now being disseminated internationally as organizations use their framework of responsibility, respect, and positive relationships to empower young people in their communities.

Institute of Contemporary Art

One of the first contemporary arts institutions in the United States, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) has championed new art and artists for nearly 75 years, identifying and supporting many of the most important artists of our time and connecting them to the Boston community. Since opening its current facility in 2006, the ICA has significantly increased public access to contemporary arts, immersive arts education for teens, and Boston’s waterfront. Teen education is an institutional commitment at the ICA and its design, location, exhibitions, and performances create opportunities for deep engagement with teens through innovative programming. The ICA Teen Education Program provides urban youth ages 13-18 with meaningful connections to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process through a spectrum of programs offering many levels of participant engagement in digital media, art-making, and school-based curricular activities. Visitors will learn about the ICA’s programs for teens, tour the Bank of America Art Lab and Paul and Phyllis Fireman Family Digital Studio (a classroom space devoted to new media education for teens), hear how technology is used in teen programs, and meet with key staff members in the Department of Education. If time allows, there will also be an opportunity to view the ICA’s current exhibitions, including The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl and Catherine Opie: Empty and Full.