I have been too busy with programming and outreach to even write in here, but I had a promising meeting yesterday with a guidance counselor at one of the high schools I've been visiting. The school is a vocational/technical school so they have no arts program. Students pick a trade to concentrate in, like carpentry, computers, business, child care, cosmetology, and others. Students roam the hallways carrying creepy mannequin heads sporting crazy haircuts, much like the kind my friend Tory used to have around her house when she was in cosmetology school.
I visited to drop off some flyers for our second teen advisory group meeting, which is tomorrow. I haven't even had time to write on here about how the first one went. Jessie thought that it went really well, but I wasn't sure. That's probably because I organized most of it and had a specific vision for it, a vision which I knew our first meeting would probably fall short of, but I was still hoping for something awesome. The students who came were mostly from one school, the smaller academy I visited where I met the very enthusiastic AP art teacher, who also attended. It is great to see an art teacher who is that close with her students and that passionate about their art education—when only a couple of them showed up, she was calling them on their cells, telling them to get over there. Apparently she has been hyping tomorrow's meeting, too.
There were four students there in total, two from the academy, one from a larger high school nearby, and one from a middle school nearby. Two of them were really late, they basically got there half way through. I served snacks and sodas and had everybody sign in so we can keep in touch with them (read: hound them).
My agenda was incredibly long, but I wrote it to cover topics of conversation for the next few meetings. I wanted to be able to pick ones that seem to work with the flow of the conversation. Some of my favorite topics on the agenda for the meetings, a few of which were covered in the last meeting, are:
- What are some memorable art projects that you've done in school before? What did you like/dislike about them?
- Do you think graffiti is art? Why or why not?
- What is an example of a type of dance you saw recently that you'd like to learn? Or a music video you saw that had impressive dancing in it?
- Is freestyle type of dancing something you'd like to learn from a teacher, or something you feel doesn't need to be taught?
- Do you like art classes where you make things that are functional (like making bowls and plates in ceramics) or do you like art that's more for fun and decoration, like a painting to hang on a wall?
- If you don't enjoy art now, is it something you used to enjoy when you were a kid? If so, when did you stop making art? Why do you think that happened?
We got some insightful answers. A couple of people said that their favorite projects were ones that involved a long process with many steps to it, that ended in a detailed final product. People also said that projects that had ended in some kind of gallery show or ceremony were their favorite. One kid said his least favorite art activity is anything involving charcoal, which I had to agree with. Everyone agreed that graffiti is art. One kid said that certain types of modern dance can be taught in a classroom, but having the right teacher is important. The only dance classes we've ever offered targeting youth were definitely taught by the Wrong Teacher, so hopefully hearing this from students will impact our teacher hiring process in the future.
I also asked some logistical questions about what students' after-school time looks like right now: what they do, how they get around, what time of day would work best for them in terms of classes. I also asked what the best way is to promote our events among their friends (Facebook). I think “flow” was what was lacking in the meeting, mostly because of the small number of people. It ended up being more of a question-and-answer session than a discussion group with people discussing each others' ideas. I'm hoping that with more people, and if groups of friends come, discussion will be livelier and will arise more organically.
Once the group picks up some momentum, I really want to ask the question about why we lose art as we go from childhood to adolescence. It happens to so many kids and it's part of the reason why our teen enrollment is so low. My perspective on why it happens is that art is seen as a “soft” thing and kids don't want to be “soft” (and often can't be). The fact that both of our art instructors are women who did not grow up anywhere near the center does not help. We're trying to see if two specific male artists from West Baltimore whose public artwork we admire might be able to teach a class next term in order to remedy this situation.
Back to the point of this entry, which is about the meeting I had at the vocational-technical high school. I went to drop of flyers but ended up staying for close to an hour talking with a guidance counselor about possible ways to partner with the school. Because the school is several blocks from us, and kids come there from all over the city, I wrote a proposal for a school-specific version of our teen group that could take place at the school, either after-school or during last period. This is part of my outreach agenda at the moment: to bring our programs to people, and then slowly draw them over to where we are. The guidance counselor I spoke with was incredibly receptive to our ideas and very action-oriented. She asked me to put something in writing for her and said, “When can you have it to me? Tomorrow morning?” I had it to her this afternoon and hopefully I'll be meeting with the principal next week.
My proposal makes several suggestions for ways our community center can serve students at this school. One is through the school-specific teen group, which would perhaps be the best way to form relationships with students and faculty and get our foot in the door there. The second would be to do a schoolwide mural, mosaic or sculpture, which could work with the themes and values of the school, or match a topic that students are studying in a class. My idea was for students in the carpentry, masonry, and electrical wiring trades to lead and design some kind of outdoor sculpture project, to show off their skills and gain experience and confidence leading a project and directing others. The third outreach tactic I proposed would be for us to do workshops during the schoolday on a certain art technique, like monoprinting or photo image transfers (if I could get my hands on 15 old polaroid cameras and some electric skillets, I would love love love to do an image transfer workshop). The fourth potential partnership that I thought of would be for students concentrating in Child Care, one of the vocational tracts offered at the school, to assistant teach in the classes at our center. Baltimore City students are required to complete 75 hours of service learning prior to graduating, and students would earn credit hours from their work with us.
After tomorrow's meeting, and after I've finished all the documenting of it that I need to do for administrative purposes, I will write something about it on here. And I'll try to illustrate with a photo or two.
Still to come: musings about snacks, last-minute caterpillar-making, and the birth of a sandwich board.
