Category archives: Education Program
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11 years ago
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Art for Progress is proud to announce their upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing. One of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, Much Ado also takes a complex look at love, relationships and searching for "self," This production will use the classic language of Shakespeare in a modern setting - demonstrating the relevance of the writer's work in present day. This incredible show will also feature some of NYC's finest actors, comedians and public servants all on stage for a good cause. After production costs - all profits will go to Art for Progress's Education Program - helping young people tap into their artistic abilities.
Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), (212) 691-1555
SHOWS:
Friday, May 29th - 8:00 pm
Saturday, May 30th - 8:00 pm
Sunday, May 31st - 7:00 pmFriday, June 5th - 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 6th - 8:00 pm
Sunday, June 7th - 7:00 pm
To purchase tickets for $25
Director: Alexis Confer
Producers: Frank Jackson (Art for Progress), Jennifer Park, Erin Marsz, Demetri Kofinas
Stage Manager: Angelica Katz
Cast: Erin Marsz, Jerrod Bogard, John Purdy, Kevin Bartini, Langston Belton, Clio Contogenis, David Shakopi, Sam Parrott, Eric Ryan Swanson, Ellen Cheney, Chablis Quarterman, Natalie Hoy, Matt Mykityshyn, Cecilia Faraut, Allison Guerra, Anders Adams, Kezia Tyson, Xiomara Rolon, and Conrad Cohen.
"Creative Culture Accelerating Social Change"
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11 years ago
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Teaching beat making and digital music production is always as much of a learning experience for me as it is an opportunity to share my techniques and skills with my students. This semester at the James Baldwin School, I have been working with a great group of kids with a very eclectic set of sensibilities. Some already have experience using Fruity Loops, FL Studio, Ableton or other production software on their laptops and tablets at home to make beats or tracks. Some are completely new to the process music making. Still others have experience playing traditional analog instruments, and are interested in expanding their musical palettes. The key guiding principle for me as I work to guide each student toward their own personal music making goals is to instill in them an ethic of making music from intention. By this I don't mean that that they need to decide in advance what their music means, or what experience the end listener will eventually have; although that is another, very interesting conversation. I simply mean that I encourage them to develop the skill of hearing the music in their heads, and having a vision of the ultimate result before setting ideas down. This is especially challenging at the present moment, because many production tools, and especially software based production methods enable us to bypass that step by using pre-existing loops and samples, and automatically time syncing them. Some even put them in tune with one another. While this allows for a n[...]
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11 years ago
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https://vimeo.com/124425796
I am sometimes asked to describe my music teaching methodology. Having done this frequently, I have distilled my basic philosophy to a few key themes, which accentuate the contrast between how I approach music education with Art for Progress, and how music is traditionally taught in public schools. There are clear differences in goals, in repertoire, and in what information is considered important to convey.
First, the goals are different at their essence. Traditional music instruction involves learning the mechanics of an instrument and the written language of music notation in order to reproduce pieces of music that have earned their place in the vocabulary of music educators, often, though not always, centuries or decades ago. There is little explanation of the relationships between the elements of music, or consideration of building skills toward creating original music. Traditionally trained players are often discouraged from improvising, and develop an aversion to it and even a fear of hitting wrong notes if they dare explore uncharted territory.
On the other hand, many untrained musicians, often referred to as self-taught, are undeterred by the pitfalls of exploration because they know it to be the path toward discovery. These include many folk, blues, rock, reggae, indie, pop and hip-hop musicians. Rather than learning music note for note from transcriptions, they develop a modular understanding of chords, scales, and riffs, which [...]
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11 years ago
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The greatest reward a teacher can receive from his students is that they exceed his expectations and do work that is inspired, inspiring, and truly reverses the student/teacher dynamic by teaching the teacher something new. I am exceptionally fortunate to have had that experience many times over as a teaching artist for Art for Progress. Two examples that stand out in my mind are: the band Statik Vision and Humanities Prep junior and chanteuse April T.
The members of Statik Vision have been studying with me for almost four years, beginning while I was at Bronxdale High in the Bronx. When I left Bronxdale and came to Humanities Prep in Chelsea, it was important to me and to AFP to continue to provide opportunities for learning to former AFP program participants who wanted to further develop their musical education. Jason McFarlane and Ramond Moreta were students in the same building as Bronxdale (Christopher Columbus HS Campus) who gravitated to the Bronxdale after school program when principal John Chase asked that the program be made open to the entire campus. Upon setting up shop at Humanities Prep the following year, I invited them and a number of other former AFP students to make the trek to Manhattan to attend sessions after-after school. They began to come regularly, and to bring friends who were both talented and eager to learn, and formed a band, T-10. I helped coach the band’s rehearsals, while also allotting time to give lessons in guitar and bass technique, jazz[...]
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11 years ago
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Art for Progress is proud to announce their upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing. One of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, Much Ado also takes a complex look at love, relationships and searching for "self," This production will use the classic language of Shakespeare in a modern setting - demonstrating the relevance of the writer's work in present day. This incredible show will also feature some of NYC's finest actors, comedians and public servants all on stage for a good cause. After production costs - all profits will go to Art for Progress's Education Program - helping young people tap into their artistic abilities. We hope you can contribute towards this important work and look forward to seeing you at the show.
We need your support to present 'Much Ado About Nothing'!
Your donation will go to:
•Theater rental
•Our musicians
•Rehearsal space and rehearsal pianist
•Publicity
To thank you for your support we have the following perks:
•VIP tickets to the show
•Signed programs and posters from our cast and crew
•An invitation to our wrap party
•A private concert in your home
•And much more!
Any funds we receive will go towards paying our production costs. Any additional funds past our goal plus all tickets sales will go directly to Art for Progress in support of their educational programming.
Please help us spread the word about our fundraising campaign, Arts for Progress: Much Ado About Nothing, and our upcoming performances!
•Share our[...]
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11 years ago
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Given the racial landscape of the US in recent months surrounding the decisions in both the Michel Brown and Eric Garner cases, RESPOND which is currently on view in Brooklyn at Smack Mellon, really gets at the heart of the matter. Smack Mellon organized the show given the public response to the controversial verdict in the grand jury decision not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Garner. Garner was killed on July 17th in Staten Island when a New York City police officer put him in a choke hold.
Smack Mellon directors Kathleen Gilrain and Suzanne Kim, changed their exhibition schedule to accommodate this show. The show features the work of two hundred artists and the gallery received over six hundred submissions for the exhibition. The 200 pieces of art fill the Smack Mellon space to an overwhelming capacity. Almost every square inch of the gallery is being occupied by a work of art. Many of the works are displayed salon style in the two story high gallery space. The works in the RESPOND show are diverse and feature a range of artists and mediums including video, sculpture, installation, photography and even textile work.
Skinned by Hannah Hart
Given the show's theme and the overwhelming response to the call for work, the pieces featured in the exhibition are on point. Some of the artists featured in the show include Dread Scott who has also had work shown at the Whitney Museum of Art, Heather Heart who currently has work on view at the Brooklyn Museu[...]
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New York City 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, Art for Progress (AFP) will bring its support and celebration of equality during NYC's Gay Pride Weekend, with "Artists 4 Equality" June 28th through 30th, 4-11pm. The organization's second annual music and arts festival will take place at Solar One Park, located in Manhattan on the East River at 23rd Street. Featuring live bands, DJ's, performance and installation art, along with great food, beer and wine, it will be a top destination during NYC's Pride Weekend.
Solar One Park is the perfect outdoor summer venue for the festival which will kick off on Friday evening June 28th. The opening night will feature live music performances from some of the most exciting emerging artists in NYC including the super talented Ellis Ashbrook, while Saturday's focus will shift to DJ and electronic music culture with DJ/Producer Hector Romero headlining the evening. On Sunday, NYC Cielo resident DJ/Producer Tedd Patterson will headline the night as both live music and DJ's share the stage. Cutting edge performance and installation art will be featured all three days as we turn the park into a virtual adult playground of art & music.
Confirmed Artists: Hector Romero, Tedd Patterson, Ellis Ashbrook, Michael Alan, Kim Holleman, Idgy Dean, Andy Slate, Roxy Cottontail, Kevin Graves, Daniel Maldonado, Gatto, Lachi, Cat Del Buono, Tunacola, Berette Macaulay, Bass Control, Comandante Zero, Sindy Butz, Bonesugar, Caridad Sola, Atilla the Hun,[...]
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PHILOSOPHY
While public schools in New York City have been working hard to meet federal and state mandates for student test scores, arts education programs have become scarce. At Art for Progress, it is our mission to reverse this trend by delivering quality Arts Education programs to the students of New York City’s public schools. Our programs are designed and implemented by professional educators and teaching artists who have a wealth of experience in arts education in public schools and community-based after school programs. In addition, Art for Progress works closely with teachers and administrators at client schools to design programs for students that deepen their understanding of core subject areas. Through arts education, students make connections between material covered in class and their community; they will explore other cultures and examine human experience from a variety of perspectives and artistic forms.
In 2008 the our Arts Initiative became official when teaching artists began residencies in New York City public schools. The first beneficiaries of this innovative program were Landmark High School in Manhattan and Shorefront Y After- School Stars @ PS 225. At Landmark High our artist in residence designed a weekly visual arts elective for students in grades 9 and 10. In addition, AFP developed a multidisciplinary arts and humanities curriculum that worked in conjunction with Landmark’s Global Studies program. The purpose of this curriculum was to provide st[...]
