Kid’s Play NOLA
Kid’s Play NOLA is the newest satellite program from the parent organization Kid’s Play Ensemble Houston. Founded eight years ago in 2001 by Jane Weiner, Kid’s Play Ensemble Houston serves approximately 75 at-risk students between the ages of 6-18 in the Houston community. Kid’s Play is a proven effective after-school arts program that invests in children and their communities. It is not a project to create artists, but instead brings art and art education to children and youth, cultivating humanity, community, compassion, and improved mental health. The program offers a natural outlet and release through arts education and is often therapeutic for these children. Self-esteem, improved mental health and empowerment are all proven ways in which these children are enriched.
The idea for Ms Weiner’s Kids Play program began sixteen years ago when she founded the Bates Dance Festival’s Youth Arts Program. The Bates Dance Festival is a professional dance workshop in Lewiston, Maine that brings together international artists in a cooperative community to study, perform, and create new work. As a performer at the festival, Weiner began to seek out at-risk youth in the community and held dance classes for a small group of teens in the afternoons. Throughout the years, the program has developed successfully and now brings music, dance, visual arts, and creative writing to over sixty children and youth every summer for three weeks. Master artists from around the world present cultural workshops, and a professional teaching staff trains the students in dance technique, music, visual arts, yoga, and journaling. Also, educational internships are offered to future arts community teachers.
In 2001, Dana Reed attended the professional workshop as a student and was amazed by the Youth Arts Finale Performance. Inspired by what she saw, Reed started two community programs in her college town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; as well as participated in an educational internship at the Bates Dance Festival. Weiner noticed Reed’s potential and hired her the following year as a dance instructor. As Kid’s Play Houston grew, Weiner was no longer able to direct the Youth Arts Program and appointed Reed as director. Under Ms. Reed’s direction for the last two years, the program has expanded from offering a half day to a full day program of arts activities, making it available to more children in the community.
Together, Weiner and Reed have joined forces to replicate Kid’s Play Programs nationwide, starting with the city of New Orleans. Weiner chose Reed because of her prolonged work with the Youth Arts Program and her enthusiasm and passion for bringing arts to children. Kids Play NOLA will launch in June 2010 and provide a two-week (June 14-25) arts training program to thirty of New Orleans’ underserved youth, ages 6-12, at no cost to them. Kid’s Play NOLA will be modeled after the Houston and Lewiston programs and will engage students in dance technique, theater, music, and visual arts by master teachers nationwide. Teaching artists include: Dana Reed – dance, Terrence Karn – music, Gayla Miller – theater, and Lori Renee – visual arts; all of which have worked with Reed and/or Weiner before. In addition, paid internships will be provided to potential local teachers to learn techniques of teaching arts to at-risk youth and to seek out prospective hires. Teachers and interns will work together to create a new performance piece that reflects each student’s level of learning. This performance aims to enhance the student’s self-esteem by providing an encouraging learning experience in a supportive environment, culminating in a positive message for the community.
Kid’s Play NOLA will adapt successful evaluation methods from Kid’s Play Houston and the Youth Arts Program to ensure the quality of the program. First, students, teachers, parents, and school administrators will be surveyed before, during, and after participation in Kid’s Play. Second, daily meetings between Kid’s Play teachers and staff will be scheduled in order to share observations, both positive and negative, of the program. With their perspective, Kid’s Play NOLA can incorporate their thoughts into the design and development of programs going forward.
Both Kids’ Play Houston and the Youth Arts Program address a critical need for art in the community. Kid’s Play NOLA will address the critical need for arts education for underserved youth in New Orleans.
