Arts in Education

L/A ARTS
MAINE WRITES POETRY
RECENT NEWS:

L/A Arts recently completed its first annual Maine Writes poetry residency at three Lewiston Schools, a program which generated some great press in the local news.

Maine Writes is an initiative in service to the Lewiston school district, which promotes arts engagement, creation, and learning through poetry and performance. Working with elementary, middle and secondary school students, professional teaching artists from L/A Arts partnered with classroom teachers in the implementation of half year, (fifteen week) residencies with students. In partnership with New York City based organizations Global Writes and The Dreamyard Project, Maine Writes students and teachers networked via videoconferencing, digital, and social media to share learning and poetry arts with school communities from across the country.

L/A Arts held its first annual Maine Writes poetry slam event at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center the week of February 4th, 2013. Students from three classes in as many of the Lewiston public schools competed against students from the Bronx, New York City live via videoconferencing. In a spirit of celebratory competitiveness, 5 students from each competing class (chosen by their peers and teachers) performed their poems, which were adjudicated by a panel of adults and students for the merit of its poetic and performance quality. Farwell and Montello Elementary schools had a fifth grade class taking part in the event, while the Lewiston Middle School fielded a 7th and 8th grade team.

This was the culminating presentation for the Lewiston students, who had been analyzing and learning about poetic forms and devices applied through writing and performance. The students wrote and presented original poems on themes inspired by the poetic artwork they studied, and topics from their lives and community that have importance to them. All participating students received a special commendation for their work at an awards ceremony at the Lewiston Middle School on Friday, March 1st.

L/A Arts is pleased to have worked with two outstanding partners from New York City on this project, Arts in Education and technology organizations the Dreamyard Project (http://www.dreamyard.com) and Global Writes (http://globalwrites.org). The Dreamyard Project is a non-profit Arts in Education organization located in the Bronx, NYC, which since 1994, has served over 125,000 students in 100 public schools with the power of Arts in Education. Global Writes mission is to promote literacy, communication and collaboration among young people through the integration of performing arts and technology resources. This years Maine Writes program initiates its inclusion into the Global Writes community, joining schools in cities across the country (San Francisco, Chicago, New York…etc) which participate in poetry sharings, writing seminars, and professional development workshops throughout the year via teleconferencing.

SUN JOURNAL:

Students new to English to compete in Maine Writes poetry slam –
February 3rd, 2013:

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2013/02/03/students-new-english-compete-maine-writes-poetry-s/1315363

Lindsay Tice, Staff Writer
Lewiston-Auburn

LEWISTON — ZamZam Mohamed bobbed her head and moved her body, almost dancing, to the beat of her words.

Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Dembo Orthens, left, ZamZam Mohamed and Zahara Abdi will tell stories from their homeland of Somalia during the first Maine Writes poetry slam this week.

Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Aden Aden, 13, recites his poem “Home” at Lewiston Middle School on Friday. Aden, Dembo Orthens, back left, ZamZam Mohamed, Zahara Abdi, Hamza Ali and Isse Tawane will perform during the first Maine Writes poetry slam. To see a video of Dembo reciting her poem “Kalemie,” go to sunjournal.com/poetryslam.
Poetry Slam: Lewiston vs. the Bronx –
February 5th, 2013

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2013/02/05/poetry-slam-lewiston-vs-bronx/1316725

LEWISTON – Martin Steingesser, a poet from Portland, leads a group of Lewiston students in pre-performance exercises at Lewiston Regional Technical Center on Tuesday. Students from Montello Elementary, Farwell Elementary and Lewiston Middle schools are competing against New York City students via teleconference during the Maine Writes poetry slam. Steingesser has been visiting with fifth-graders at Farwell to help them prepare for the competition. Students from Kelly Johnson’s fifth-grade class at Montello went up against the Bronx’s PS 33 Timothy Dwight School on Tuesday morning. LMS students went head to head Tuesday afternoon and Farwell will compete on Thursday. “It’s a fun competition that motivates us to write more poetry,” said Josh Vink, L/A Arts’ director of arts and education.”

Poetry slam celebration set for Lewiston Middle School
Thursday, February 28th, 2013

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/connections/2013/02/28/poetry-slam-celebration-set-lewiston-middle-school/1327059

LEWISTON – L/A Arts announces the inaugural Maine Writes poetry slam awards ceremony and celebration at Lewiston Middle School from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, March 1st.

Lewiston Public School students at Maine Writes awards ceremony
March 1st, 2013
Photo by L/A Arts

MPBN NEWS:

Tales of Terror in Eloqent Verse: Maine Middle Schoolers Compete in Poetry Slam
February 7th, 2013

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/Itemld/26093/Default.aspx

Danish writer Isak Dinesen said, “To be a person is to have a story to tell.” This week, a group of refugee students from Lewiston Middle School got a chance to tell their stories in rhythm and verse….”

L/A Arts in Education Recent Press:
Two of L/A Art in Education 2012 spring programs were recently highlighted in the Lewiston/Auburn Sun Journal. A brief summary about each of the programs, plus links to the articles at the newspaper online, are below.

“We believe that every school and student is enriched by exposure to art from diverse cultures. In these performances, students learned both by being entertained by the artists, and in actually getting up and experiencing it personally; by dancing, playing, speaking and singing the music of West Africa. This process of students engaging in creative art making, while deepening their understanding of an academic subject, social studies, exemplifies what arts in education is all about.”-Joshua Vink, Director of Education at L/A Arts

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“African Drumming with Michael Wingfield”
On March 21st, Auburn Elementary students had multicultural celebration day workshops and a performance by African drumming specialist Michael Wingfield

Lewiston/Auburn Sun Journal
“Auburn elementary school students drum to a different beat”
by Russ Dillingham, Chief Photographer
Link to Article

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“African Dance and Drum”
On April 6th, 2012 at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston, Senegalese performers “African Dance and Drum” performed for the K-3, and 6th graders in the school gym.

Lewiston/Auburn Sun Journal
“Montello students treated to singing, dancing, drumming”
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal, Photographer
Bonnie Washuk, Writer
Link to Article

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Storytelling with Antonio Rocha
Feb. 27 began storyteller Antonio Rocha’s artist residency and school performances at both Montello and Martel elementary schools in Lewiston. Rocha had students write and perform original stories based on events in their lives where they made a mistake and learned a lesson from it. The residency culminated in sharing between classes, and for invited friends and family, where the students recited their humorous and well crafted stories to the delight of all attendees.

Lewiston/Auburn Sun Journal
“Lewiston elementary schools to benefit from artist residency”
Link to Article