And They Act, Sing and Dance, too!

Last week I shared pictures from our acting workshops - a new summer program feature. The workshops provide an 'acting' introduction to our summer theatre camps. In one week 25+ students work together to perform full-length dramatic or musical productions.

We keep numbers pretty low so each student gets a speaking/singing role and a specific task during production.

Our camps promote team work, responsibility and self accountability (okay, and a lot of fun, too!). Every child has a job, from character role to strike duties. Team work gets the job done!

You won't find fancy costumes or sets at Creative Arts. That's not our style. We feel it's more important for kids to experience the entire production by making props, sets and costumes. When the show ends, kids are extremely proud of what they accomplished, and parents enjoy the life lessons we teach!

Acting requires confidence. We feel creating actors means building a child's self confidence. That's why each student has other responsibilities in addition to character roles. Plus it's more fun, too! It is a challenge, yes, but we feel they can handle it - and they always do!

Art & Theatre Workshop Week

Scenes (get it?) from our workshop week.

In Acting Through Games students practiced acting skills by playing games!
What skills are learned and practiced by playing games? Plenty!
Pantomime, teamwork, vocalization, eye contact, improvising, imagination, creativity...oh, the list goes on and on or until you lose interest and move on to viewing pictures.
Why deliver these great skills using games? Games are fun! It's okay to laugh when something is silly and to learn through play. After all, fun is contagious!

Every time I checked in with the class and instructors, everyone was smiling, laughing and learning. I had to capture it on film! For the most part, this was challenging because kids - especially theatre kids - love to ham-it-up when a camera is present...but I caught some candid shots!

After each game, everyone would gather 'round and discuss what happened!

Great group of kids = great, fun week!

Sizzling Summer Solace!

Creative Arts has run summer programs since the mid-1980's. Each summer is different with constant changes in programs, teachers and students. For instance, this summer we added art and theatre workshops (so students can mix-and-match) and a chamber music program in addition to our usual camps and music lessons. It's good to change, to mix things up and try new stuff! From workshop enrollment, it seems our families like change, too!

The next series of posts will feature photos from our summer programs!

This photo montage depicts one project from the sculpture workshops. Students painted landscapes then folded their paintings to create diorama backgrounds. They sculpted characters from plasticine (the same clay used in stop-motion animation) relating to their background and placed them in the foreground.

Dioramas are fantastic learning tools! Students must create a 3D subject, think about environment, develop a back story (after all, they are capturing a moment in time), paint a backdrop from researching different habitats all while keeping perspective in mind. Ahhhh, learning cleverly disguised as fun!

Our First Community Art Exhibit

Summer Intern, Amelia, organized and mounted an art exhibit at Reading House of Pizza. The exhibit, Destination: Moving Forward, features artwork by visual arts faculty at Creative Arts.

Nedret Andre, Kirsten Brown, Dennis Hart, Catherine Johnson and Visual Arts Director, Jamie McDonough, all contributed work.

A small last-minute reception, for family and friends, kicked off the exhibit opening. Reading House of Pizza provided delicious pizza, calzones and salads for guests.

Creative Arts high school theatre intern, Alexander, (after devouring a slice of pizza) also attended!

Hats off to Amelia for her fantastic hard work! Destinations ends Aug 16. Another exhibit featuring work by Creative Arts summer students and EMARC adult art programs begins at the end of August. Stay tuned!
Many thanks to Reading House of Pizza for working with Amelia and Creative Arts to provide an exhibit space for community artists.

To view the exhibit visit Reading House of Pizza (next to Dandelions) at 1321 Main Street Reading, MA.

No doubt our faculty and staff have a great time teaching at Creative Arts. It's easy to assume we promote our programs to survive as a business, provide after school care or just another thing to do; that anyone or any business can do what we do.

But, we do what we do to improve quality of life, plainly stated. It's easy to forget about this as our lives and schedules grow increasingly more complex.

The truth is, learning and doing the Arts does matter. It helps merge logic with creativity, which aids in creative problem solving - a quality required in today's workplace.

That's why a group of 13ish parents started Creative Arts 32 years ago with intent of creating an organization offering training in the Arts to establish opportunities for the community to become creative thinkers.

Visual arts is more than painting a picture, music is more than playing a song, and theatre is more than reciting lines from a script. Whether we realize it or not, the Arts plays a much bigger role in our lives and society.  I present a thought-provoking video broadcast on PBS in Oregon: http://www.opb.org/teachingcreativity/.

Reading shares a proud history as an athletic town which, by the way, is important to teach and support, too. But we cannot ignore the impact of creativity in our daily lives. As the Arts slowly disappear from our schools and thoughts...what will happen to the future of creative thinking?

Why We Do What We Do

Thought I would share what we do at Creative Arts with a fun slide show. Burlington Recreation group has worked with Theatre Director Angela Merrill for a couple years now. Composed of disabled adults, the group receives theatre training to help with verbal recall, memorization, physical endurance, emotional intelligence, team work, speech therapy, socialization, responsibility and self confidence.

This year, the group wanted to perform a musical. The group auditioned for roles, built sets and made props and costumes. They did a wonderful job!
This is what I help organize and promote. We play a much greater role in increasing quality of life for all our students, including those of special needs.

Click on the link below to view the animated slide show:
Burlington Recreation's Musical

Reading Red Hat Ladies

Did I ever mention we perform a lot at Creative Arts?

A few music students and our Traveling Theatre Troupe put on a little show for the Reading Red Hat Ladies. Find information about the Red Hat Society by clicking here.

String students performed a selection of pieces from beginner, American fiddle tunes to classical.

The audience looks on...

Traveling Theatre performed "The Gingerbread Girl."

Thank you to Reading's Red Hat Ladies for this opportunity and to performers and families!

Everyone had a wonderful time!