152. Spring News 2016
Dear friends, family and fans,
We have exciting news from Talking Hands Talking Feet! This year we are doing our first multiage arts integrated residencies in two Santa Fe public schools; we did a professional development intensive for teachers at the MSU Riley Center in Meridian, Mississippi; we have been invited to Israel to conduct a summer camp, teacher trainings and public performances in July; and this fall we break ground on new construction for an expanded and more versatile Humming Grove Center.
Arts Integrated School Programs in Santa Fe
We are excited to be working in Nava Elementary and Eldorado Community School doing original curriculum based performing arts residencies. These are 12 week programs which culminate with a performance for school and community. The funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Mexico Arts and local donors.
At Nava it is “Human Body School” with 2 second grade classes and 2 fourth grade classes. Many of the songs are bilingual. The children are generating much of the content ~ from lyrics and rhythmic patterns to choreography representing body systems. The final performance will be May 5th 1:45 pm.
At Eldorado it is “Wild and Free”, exploring animals and ecosystems, sustainability and care for the earth, with special emphasis on endangered species. This is also a multiage program with a first grade, a second grade and a fourth grade class. The children are exploring technological application of images and video for this production as well as generating much of the content and choreography. The final performance will be May 13th 6pm.
Professional Development
We are honored to have been invited to the MSU Riley Center in Meridian Mississippi to conduct a one day intensive teacher training with 30 educators in January. It was a remarkable success, the theme for which was based on our “Human Body School” curriculum accompanied by a newly released CD, videos and engaging lesson plans.
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We feel a kindred mission with Kennedy Center partner organizations like the The Riley Center in Mississippi and ALTO – Active Learning Through Opera in Santa Fe. It is an honor to be working with such gifted teaching artists and education visionaries.
Our mission is to help teachers catch the way of arts integrated methodology which is key to an education renaissance in this country and around the world.
We have further professional development workshops scheduled for Week of the Young Child in Louisville, Colorado in April and…..We are proud to announce that we have been invited to Israel to do a summer camp, interactive performances and teacher training workshops in the month of July! This will be followed by a summer camp and teacher training in New York on our way back home to New Mexico.
Summer Camps at Humming Grove
For 12 years now, we have developed a five acre property southeast of Santa Fe, to become a versatile facility. Every summer we host our “Kaleidoscope” and “Cadence Company” day camps for up to 20 participants each week. These camps are an utter delight, each one with its own unique character, always culminating with a performance for friends and family. They are the highlight of summer for many young lives.
Humming Grove Center
This year, we are raising funds to expand our facility to include bed and board options for camp and conference participants. Yes, conferences! ~ of many kinds including various training workshops, video and audio recording projects plus music, dance and theater intensives.
This is a multi-phased project towards becoming a residential facility with a versatile workshop and performance space, sustainably designed architecture, hybrid solar, water harvesting and permaculture food gardens.
Our recording studio is busy as always this year with special audio and video projects. The vision of songstoeducate.com is to provide teachers around the world with a vital online resource to help employ the music and movement arts in their curriculum as a daily practice. This substantial body of work spans from early childhood through primary school ages and continues to provide rich and relevant content for children of the 21st century.