COURTESY OF YOUNG AUDIENCES OF VIRGINIA, INC.
Flip
the Switch:
I
n 2010, Young Audiences of Virginia touched the lives of over 250,000 students throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. The visiting Teaching Artists didn’t let their audiences sit. They allowed them to become engaged by touching and feeling instruments; drawing a picture of them in one of their favorite moments of the experience; creating their own story, or their own song. All of a sudden each child found their voice or path to inner well -being in an Art they had never encountered until that day. The switch was flipped, the light turned on. That was the day the healing in their lives began. There are many stories to tell, some almost miraculous, that parents have requested remain private. Others want to share the moments their children became “alive” because of an interactive experience with an Art form. Meet students Malana, Myles, Shelby, and a dedicated teacher, Anglelita Benitez. Here are their stories of Leadership, Self Esteem, Autism, and a Physical Disability.
Malana: Leadership Malana became a student in Young Audiences’ Arts 4 Learning String Residency program. In this program a Teaching Artist spends six weeks with students, after school to experience an art form that is new to them. At the end of the residency, the students perform for their fellow classmates, teachers and parents.
Healing from the Inside Out with Interactive Creative Arts
B Y B I L L G R I G G S , Executive Director
Have you ever wondered what makes that “light” in someone’s mind finally turn on? All of a sudden they understand a concept that had evaded their grasp. A Teaching Artist has just flipped the switch. 4
Hampton Roads Bravo!
Think about it. You are an elementary student who is handed a string instrument without frets (markings to determine where the “notes” are) and you have to learn how to make music with it. Even in college, I found learning to play the violin difficult, at best. Needless to say, my playing sounded more like Jack Benny on a bad night. As a Teaching Artist, one never knows what the student will take away from the experience. It is not the intention to make them professional musicians, although,