The Community Arts Program (CAP) at Columbia provides The Creatives Project’s arts education curriculum to the youth and senior residents of Columbia Residential. TCP supports youth and elders with direct hands-on arts experiences through personalized instruction from TCP resident fellows. TCP encourages each fellow to explore his/her discipline with students, teachers and community members through a variety of components that include customized workshops, classes, lectures, community events, and mentorship.
As part of their residency outreach requirements, Artists Sara Santamaria, Jessica Caldas, Adam Forrester, and Maria Korol created specialized educational experiences for our students at various Columbia residential properties in Fulton. The video above is an example of the claymation videos created by our student’s under Sara’s direction.
.Power Animals Led by Andrew Catanese
Power animals, familiars, or animal guides come out of shamanistic and animist traditions globally. They act as helpers to a particular person, guiding them in their pursuit of some goal. This course introduces the basics of the concept by having the participants identify a goal they have for themselves or a way they would like to be and choose a animal sidekick whose qualities would help them reach that goal. Each participant then creates a mask of their animal. The course creates an opportunity to talk about “who we are and how we would like to be”, and produce a physical object that reflects what children see in themselves.
Grid Painting Led Maria Korol
A painting and collaging activity that focuses on the grid as an organizational structure. Employing a variety of of tones and textures, the students will explore monochromatic color theory. Students will also build engaging compositions using geometric shapes while utilizing tearing and cutting techniques. Participants will engage in a close study of density and value, as well as elements of design like symmetry and, rhythm.
Cyanotypes Led by Adam Forrester
In this project, students are invited to consider sunlight as a component within their own process of image making. Through this process students are introduced to the magic and discovery of utilizing light to create an image of their own choosing. Depending on the availability of materials and number of students, ideally I would like students to create a small 8.5 x 11 inch Cyanotype to keep for themselves. Some examples of Cyanotypes utilizing objects (cassette tapes, flora) are included below
Inflatable Sculptures Led by Sara Santamaria
Participants will created inflatable sculptures! Transforming 2D designs into 3D inflatable sculptures is an Introductory 3D design workshop that gives immediate hands-on experience with spatial reasoning that also involve participants in an open-ended process. This activity is a great way to explore working and thinking with materials in three dimensions.
OUR HISTORY WITH COLUMBIA
Columbia Residential is a housing development and management company focused on providing quality and affordable housing for low and moderate income seniors and families. Since 2016, Columbia Residential’s Resident Services’ Team has partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Human Services Mobile Summer Food Program to support several communities experiencing food insecurity.
For the first time in 2018, Columbia Residential partnered with TCP to enhance this summer food program at the West Highlands site with a series of TCP’S carefully curated visual arts workshops. Jimia Head, Regional Resident Services Manager for Columbia Residential, shared:
The impact of the inclusion of the unique skill sets of the TCP Fellows into our existing summer food program cannot be understated. The summer food program has experienced a 189% increase in overall participation and an increase from an average of 6 weekly participants to an average of 17 since the launch of TCP partnership in 2018. While the numbers are impressive, what’s even more remarkable is the impact the overall program has on the youth. Youth had an opportunity to create story lines, explore stop motion animation, explore the relationship between the sun and photography and much more. Youth gained confidence, learned new skills, and released their creativity all summer long for FREE! I can’t count the number of thank yous we have received from parents and children alike for this thoughtful exposure to safe and inspiring program content. It has been a pleasure to partner with TCP on this important initiative and we look forward to strengthening that partnership in 2020.