Original art by Elisa Kleven

Youth in Arts has been selected by the San Francisco Foundation as one of 14 arts organizations to receive a matching challenge grant to support our World Premiere 2011 production of The Paper Princess and the Piñata!

Before October 10, the San Francisco Foundation will provide a 1-to-1 match of up to $10,000 in donations received in support of this exciting new work.

Donate now to help us secure these funds!

The Paper Princess and the Piñata is based on Elisa Kleven’s award-winning book series. Youth in Arts’ Miko Lee is collaborating with Ms. Kleven and Youth in Arts Mentor Artists Miguel Martinez, Nydia Gonzalez and Zenon Barron to adapt the books for the stage.

The original musical will premiere at the Marin Center Showcase Theatre, February 4-5, 2011, with special performances for student groups and, on Saturday, for families. This project is also supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Click here for more information on this show and other performances in our Youth in Arts Presents series.

And use the Social Media icons below to share this announcement with other friends and supporters of the arts via Facebook and Twitter!

You can find the Counter at 201 Corte Madera Town Center (near REI), in Corte Madera.

The Counter flyer

Print out the attached flyer and hand it to your server when you order to be sure to support Youth in Arts. Thank you, and maybe we will see you there.

After a year of teaching, I find being a student a rewarding and comforting experience. I have become fully aware of my own cravings for structure, community, and discussion. As a part of the class Trena asked us to write reflections and develop personal and professional learning goals. This task feels HUGELY empowering and reminds me of the importance of my own reflection.

Also in the class is Caren Andrews, a talented, compassionate and inspiring visual arts teacher at the San Francisco Friends School who uses a process journal between herself and her co-teacher to encourage reflection and discussion. It hangs in the art studio, and they go back and forth writing to each other! I look forward to utilizing this tool with my inspiring team of arts professionals.

On one of the days we had the opportunity to hear a lecture by Anne Thulson, an arts teacher out of Colorado who recently presented at the 2010 NAEA Annual Conference, which took place in Baltimore and focused on Art Education and Social Justice. Thulson laid out her teaching theory, based on Paulo Freire and Marcel Duchamp, and then showed us a few projects that grew out of her pedagogy. I found myself taking furious notes and experiencing a powerful affirmation of my former artist-teacher self.

When I first started teaching in middle and high school classrooms in New York City, I had no idea what I was doing. So I approached it like an artist. I asked myself dozens of questions. I asked the students dozens of questions. I brought in provocative, contemporary work and asked the students what they saw and what they thought. We explored our surroundings, participated in active research and then transformed our research into final pieces—powerful, political, public pieces. But when I moved to California and started teaching in elementary schools I allowed many people around me to shape the way I teach, perhaps because I was intimidated by the students’ ages and abilities. I convinced myself that I was finally beginning to learn to “teach.” I didn’t approach it with the same intuition; instead, I used already-constructed curricula to lead the way. Thulson’s presentation today was a reminder that my former artist-teacher self had all the right intuitions about how to build an engaging, culturally relevant, provocative curriculum. Now I just need to reclaim that process and adapt it for my younger students.

Goals for my own teaching practice:

How can I build a K-5 art curriculum that teaches equality and respect for cultural and racial diversity?

How I can create a structured, yet flexible, curriculum that is transparent to classroom teachers, administrators, and students?

How can I help to build an arts-learning community in my school district that is focused on diversity and equity?

How can I incorporate advocacy for students of color into my own studio practice?

How can I encourage understanding and support for a contemporary art curriculum that challenges traditional concepts of art?

Hopes and Dreams for my Students:

How can I grow into a strong, capable, confident person who owns my own voice and helps to construct cultural knowledge?

How can I be ready and equipped to deal with the structural racism that confronts my past, present, and future?

How can I become a critical thinker and form my own opinions about important local and global issues? How can I address these issues through various modes of communication?

How can I bring comfort to myself and to those around me? How can I help to heal my community?

Brooke Toczylowski is a full-time Visual Arts Specialist with Youth in Arts. She teaches K-5 in the Sausalito Marin City School District.

The Global Stage also featured Native American flautist Albert Tenaya and the Filipino-Americans of Marin. Throughout the Fair, Youth in Arts is welcoming professional and community artists from throughout Marin who will share their art and traditions. Stop by and visit 1:30-8:15 through Monday, July 5. For a schedule, click here…

On Thursday, July 1, we kicked things off with Ballet Folklorico Netzahualcoyotl, followed by Native American dance by Eddie Madril and company, a bilingual spoken English and ASL storytelling presentation by Jalena Lee and Pat Sirianni, our own `Til Dawn youth a cappella, and African drumming and dance by Ken Doumbia and Jija.

Check out a few quick highlights:

Stop by the Global Stage from 1:30-8:30 as the Fair continues. A schedule of featured performers for each day is here. For tickets and all the information you need to enjoy the Fair, visit the 2010 Marin County Fair site.

Mentor Artists Ascha Drake and Evan Bissell and Artists in Schools Director Suzanne Joyal manned hands-on arts activity stations, helping children create duct tape wallets, jewelry and other original creations, along with whimsical model vehicles and musical instruments from recycled materials, including bottlecaps and postcards.

Meanwhile, Mentor Artist Brooke Toczylowski worked throughout the day with kids visiting the Fair to paint and decorate a giant collaborative world map.

On the Ben & Jerry’s Stage, audiences enjoyed sets from Youth in Arts Mentor Artists Bronkar Lee (Beatboxing/Percussion/Circus Arts), Netza Vidal (Mexican Ballet Folklorico), Ken Doumbia (African Drumming and Dance) and Eddie Madril (Native American Dance) and their respective companies, as well as Youth in Arts own teen a cappella troupe `Til Dawn. Performers also offered longer, more interactive/instructive presentations in the new intimate Global Stage space inside the Exhibition Hall.

Youth in Arts continues to present performances on the Global Stage throughout the Fair, with 25 different companies from all parts of the world featured. Come visit us and travel Around the World with Youth in Arts!

Photos above by Joy Phoenix

Second Grade Girls Having Fun!

On Thursday, June 3^rd , The Twilight After School community came together to celebrate all the visual art created during year and to enjoy presentations by our many  performing arts classes. The after school  office became a beautiful gallery filled with high quality work. In the MPR we had theater pieces, dances, choirs and a special showing of the middle school kids video project from the MYC. Following the performance there was a pizza party. It was a happy event to mark the end of the year! Youth in Arts had an amazing year running the Twilight After School Program and we hope everyone has a fantastic and creative summer!

Congratulations!!

We’ll be posting photos from our photo team as soon as they come in. Meanwhile, we invite you to post your own snaps here. Or send us a link to your web gallery (just make sure you correctly identify the event as the Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival on your site).

Here’s some incredible time lapse photography by street painter Rikki Dy-Liacco and teammates.

Enjoy–and thanks again for all your support!