Young Audiences of Houston: Assistance Fund / New Programs / Announcements

YAH Assistance Fund: Mission: Donors: Supporting:

 

  

Young Audiences of Houston is pleased to announce the receipt of funding for one year of programming at the Texas Children’s Cancer Center (Total of $22,500 for 07-08), and the receipt of seed funds to support a programming collaboration at Shriner’s Hospital for Children:

After consultation with Ms. Herron, TCH Arts in Medicine Director of the Center, on the needs of the Center, specific goals were set to increase the YAH arts programming budget of the Center by 200%, and to increase the quality, effectiveness, and number of YAH arts programs per year in The Center. This translates into YAH programs for patients 1-2 times a week throughout the entire year and the ability to serve more than 2,100 children – more than double the number provided by the Center’s previous budget.  

We are pleased to announce that our pilot program with Texas Children’s Cancer Center has been fully funded by The Children’s Fund and supported by the Center. Funding will be available in June and will provide for a full year of programming at the Center. This will be an important step into Children’s Hospital programming for YAH in the Texas Medical Center. A special thank you to Dr. Richard Wainerdi, Dr. Stream, Ms. Herron, Mr. Reiter and Ms. Sealey for their support.

Children’s Hospital Programming: With the support of the largest medical center in the world, the Texas Medical Center, and as the focus of a new multi-year initiative of YAH, selected venues (Texas Children’s Cancer Center and Shriners Hospitals for Children, Houston in 2007-2008) in the Texas Medical Center serving children and their families, will receive a significant new partner in YAH, giving these hospitals access to specially designed and subsidized YAH programming for children with special needs. YAH will soon offer its hospital programming to all hospitals serving children in the Texas Medical Center, as well as hospital systems throughout the region. It is also expected that YAH will promote these specialized hospital collaborations as a model, throughout its 31 Young Audiences chapters across the nation, bringing national attention to the leadership of Houston. The goal of YAH children’s hospital programming is to use the tremendous power of the arts to spread joy, give hope, manage pain and leave positive memories for hospitalized children. In addition, as many hospitalized children are required to be out of school for extended periods of time, YAH programs also serve to enrich children’s social, cultural and academic education.

 

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New At-Risk Strategic Partnership Expands YAH Programming:

Bringing hope, inspiration through the arts to children at risk

Katy, TX - ARTreach, a non profit art and educational outreach organization in Katy, Texas announces a partnership with Young Audiences of Houston to expand programs serving Katy and the Greater Fort Bend and Harris County area.  As an outreach and advocacy organization, ARTreach has been focusing their attention on evaluating the impact the arts can have on children at risk for over five years, their work has gained national attention and the interest from a growing number of social service and welfare agencies serving children at risk.

By partnering with Young Audiences of Houston, ARTreach will immediately double its capacity to deliver quality art programs this year by accessing YAH’s roster of 65 professional artists, representing all fine arts disciplines, ARTreach will be able to train new artists to work in the field. This past season YAH brought the arts and culture to more than 330,000 children through over 2,600 high quality performances, workshops, and residences in school and community venues throughout the greater Houston area. The ARTreach/YAH partnership will expand both organizations outreach capabilities to bring the arts to neglected and underprivileged populations in Katy, Greater Fort Bend County and Houston. The organizations will collaborate in grant writing and fundraising efforts to help manage the costs related to new pilots and will be evaluating and documenting the success of art programs aimed at supporting basic therapeutic and educational objectives in the social service field.  This is exciting news for social welfare agencies and school districts in need.

Agencies and districts that will benefit from ARTreach/YAH partnership this spring include Katy Christian Ministries Crisis Center, Katy ISD/Morton Ranch After School Academy, Fort Bend ISD Mission West Elementary and MR Woods JJAEP (Juvenile Justice Alternative Educational Program) Fort Bend Juvenile Probation Department, Catholic Charities Refuge Resettlement Program, Palmer Drug Abuse Program, DePelchin Children’s Center and MHMRA (Mental Heath and Mental Retardation Authority) and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department. The new program development, delivery assistance and funding provided by both Young Audiences of Houston and ARTreach represents over $36,000 in necessary financial support for the identified campuses and agencies in need this semester.

The following represent programs developed specifically for the YAH partnership with ArtReach: 

Beat, Bang and Believe! Artist Joseph Dixon will visit children at the KCM Crisis Center

Joseph Dixon is a professional drummer and teaching artist. He designed Beat, Bang and Believe as a special workshop to teach children about traditional African rhythms while engaged in a community drum circle. Joseph’s teaching method inspires hope, promotes creative self-expression and helps build social skills and the team working spirit. For children and families in a crisis situation, associated with domestic violence or sexual abuse, Joseph’s workshop focuses on the need to communicate, to find support, surround yourself with positive people and rely on the strength of others during the most difficult times.

 

Professional Storyteller shares his stories with children going through a hard time

Professionally known as “Dante, A Teller of Tales”, Storyteller Dan Gordon shares his favorite folk stories in a stirring presentation that shares lessons of understanding differences and finding the good in all.   Learning to share stories is part of a semester long ARTreach program at Palmer Drug Abuse Program focused on introducing Art, Music, Drama and Dance to the children at risk of drug abuse, as a way to cope with their stressful situations.

 

How does an artist teach troubled youth about the importance of creating balance in their lives?

By introducing the art of mobile making!  

Creating balance. This is a pretty simple idea for mobile making artist, Judy Malone-Stein as she teaches through artistic example- that for every action there is a reaction, with every choice comes a consequence, and the best lesson of all, for troubled youth who are going through a very hard time in their lives right now, is the reminder that for every down there is always an up! Learning life lessons through the art of mobile making? This engaging interactive workshop introduces science and geometry as well as basic social and life skills as only a creative artist can do it.

 

Not enjoying math?

Children at risk at the Refuge Resettlement Program in SW Houston, and children at risk at the KCM Crisis Center will take a trip down the LEGO brick road with artist Jason Poland,  a former LEGOLAND Master Model Builder, and see that mathematics can be communicated through the system of LEGO. Spatial reasoning, perimeter, multiplication, area, volume, ratio and other mathematic concepts literally become child’s play with the colorful bricks recently named “the toy of the century.” The program is designed to help students learn to manage and enjoy math concepts through creative Lego building.

Why punch the wall, or resort to other destructive behaviors?

Artist Jason Poland share the idea of using Comic strips express ideas and draw on feelings no other art medium can encompass fully. The marriage of words and images requires creative writings as well as artistic composition. Students create their own multi-paneled comic strip complete with dialogue and story, and develop original characters to populate their cartoon world. The sequential development in each panel culminates in a theme that can make the reader laugh, cry, or think about the world in a new way. Learning to communicate in an effective and appropriate manner is important. These programs support therapeutic objectives and will be offered this semester through the DePelchin Children’s Center, Palmer Drug Abuse Program and Katy Christian Ministries Crisis Center.

 

Troubled youth often say they feel unrecognizable, or lost in a crowd.  

 Time to take a look at yourself and make a self portrait! Drawing from famous art and historical portraits, students can experience the creative process of multi-media representation. By exploring symmetry and asymmetry in facial features, measurement, estimation, fractions, anatomy, and line, Artist Rona Lesserenhances each student’s ability to express mood, emotions, and characteristics through individual mediums. Through active, engaging, problem-solving activities, participants create self portraits, peer portraits, family portraits, and begin to recognize and appreciate what is unique in themselves and others.

  

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Beat, Bang and Believe

Artist Joseph Dixon visits youth at the Fort Bend County Juvenile Detention Center

Katy ARTreach/Fort Bend ARTreach has joined forces with Young Audiences of Houston to bring the youth the Fort Bend County Juvenile Detention Center a special opportunity to Beat, Bang and Believe!

This is a percussion workshop that utilizes found objects like paint buckets and plastic tubs to provide the simple drum rudiments needed to create music, using the elements and principle of tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and pattern.

Joseph Dixon is a professional drummer and teaching artist on the Young Audiences of Houston roster. He designed this ARTreach workshop to teach youth in detention the traditional African rhythms while engaged in a community drum circle. Joseph’s creative teaching method promotes creative self-expression, and is designed to improve self esteem and self confidence, and build social skills, while introducing the team working spirit.

The 3- day workshop will culminate with a staged presentation. Special guests are invited including probation officers and judges to attend the presentation being held at the Fort Bend County Probation Department Juvenile Detention Center this Friday, October 26 at 1:00 p.m.

 

How does an artist teach troubled youth about the importance of creating balance in their lives?

By introducing the art of mobile making!  

Creating balance. This is a pretty simple idea to professional artist, Judy Malone-Stein of Young Audiences of Houston.  Malone-Stein visited the Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department this month to show the youth in detention how to create balance and make “Art that Moves” as inspired by the work of Alexander Calder.

The students not only had a chance to learn about the work of a famous artist, but they also discovered through Judy’s artistic example- that for every action there is a reaction, with every choice comes a consequence, and the best lesson of all, because these youth are going through a very hard time in their lives right now, was the reminder that for everydown there is always an up!

Learning life lessons through the art of mobile making? What fun! This engaging interactive workshop introduced science and geometry as well as basic social and life skills as only a creative artist could do it… Judy Malone-Stein teaches this workshop as an opportunity to learn about mobile making through the eyes of an artist named Alexander Calder. Her workshop is available through Young Audiences of Houston and can be booked as a residency program available to kids of all ages.  Visitwww.yahouston.org<http://www.yahouston.org/> to learn more.

Judy Malone-Stein and her “Art that Moves” Workshop at Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department was made possible by Katy ARTreach in collaboration with Young Audiences of Houston and the Fort Bend Partnerships for Youth. 

 

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Professional Storyteller                         

November 21, 2007 – Storyteller Dan Gordon of Young Audiences of Houston visited Williams Elementary on Tuesday, November 20^th.  Professionally known as “Dante, A Teller of Tales”, Dan shared his favorite folk stories with the kindergarteners in a stirring presentation that shared lessons of understanding differences and finding the good in all.  “This is the second year the JWE PTA has booked this presentation for our kindergarteners, says Kim Ginn, JWE/PTA’s Performing Arts Chairman, “He brings the stories to life, and our students find themselves participating in the tales!”

Following the PTA sponsored presentation at Williams; Katy ARTreach sponsored the same presentation for the students at Sundown Elementary. Sundown Elementary School’s presentation of Dante, A Teller of Tales was made possible by Katy ARTreach volunteers, community donations and generous assistance funding made available from Young Audiences of Houston. PTA’s interested in booking a presentation like this may contact Young Audiences of Houston www.yahouston.org. If your school lacks resources or volunteers to help bring cultural arts programming like this to your school contact Katy ARTreach to find out ways we can help. www.katyartreach.org

 

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