PIVOTING

Virtual Training Sessions (April 2020 – August 2022)

The next three-part series was scheduled to start on March 14, 2020, but suddenly, schools and businesses were shuttered and all in-person events were canceled due to the Covid pandemic.

Due to the pandemic closures, from April 2020 – August 2022, subsequent sessions of the Arts-based Trauma-Informed Care series were offered online to approximately 300 art teachers, school administrators, and support services personnel, teaching artists, youth development leaders, and community service providers. The online platform, partnerships with other organizations, and additional support from funders, including Save The Music Foundation, extended the reach to educators and participants outside of Newark, including other areas of New Jersey, Miami FL, and Anaheim CA.

The onset of Covid required a mindset shift for those in the planning group. In addition to the fears and health inequities that surfaced, emotions and feelings were roiled by racially motivated murders, and the protests and demands for social, economic, political, and environmental reckonings to address systemic injustice.

Everyone was on a trauma spectrum, and the needs of teachers and students became more dire. With the overwhelmingly positive feedback about the Arts-based TraumaInformed Care Training series, the planning team quickly pivoted, and like so many, turned to the online Zoom platform to continue to build community and find ways to make connections. The team considered issues of scheduling, timing, lengths of sessions, and how the medium would impact the presentation of content, the kinds of participatory activities that would be possible, and how to replicate the brave and safe space on this unfamiliar, and untrusted medium for teaching and learning.