Director's Statement - Calarts

15 years of CAP partnerships
in the Santa Clarita Valley
START
with a
BANG!
The Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club
The Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club, with Director Jim Ventress at the
helm, was CAP’s first partner in Santa Clarita. Programs in Modern Dance and
Photography with the Club began in 1993. Once a week, at the Club’s gym, the echoes
of basketball’s feverish dribbling and scoring were replaced by a different kind of
choreography: led by talented CalArts School of Dance alumnus Tomas Tamayo, the
Modern Dance workshop participants would rule the court, developing their own
vocabulary through the use of movement and improvisatory dance techniques.
Jim Ventress recalls one particular ninth grader who was struggling with self-esteem
issues. “We tried to get her involved in sports, arts, game room activities and nothing
was working. I would look out my window and see her coming into the Club after
school with her head down and walking slowly. Then she met Tomas Tamayo who
conducted the dance program. He was real upbeat. She decided to try dance!!! As
each week passed by I would watch her come into the Club with a little more zip to
her walk. By the end of the program she held her head high and her self esteem way
up. Many of our staff went to her performance at CalArts.”
In addition, the photography program led by CalArts School of Art faculty members
John Bache and Andrew Freeman, is still going strong. “Over the years, participants in
this class have won top National Awards through the Boys and Girls Club of America’s
National Contest. One year we took 3 of the top 4 honors”, according to Jim Ventress.
Other programs with the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club included a Voice
Program led CalArts School of Theater faculty Denise Woods, a Public Art Program
taught by CalArts School of Art faculty Karen Atkinson, a Print/New Media program
taught by CalArts School of Art faculty Robert Dansby, and Digital Art workshops led
by Chandra Khan, a Santa Clarita resident and faculty of the CalArts School of Critical
Studies. The programs, through different artistic means, allowed the participants to
significantly connect with others through the use of art. Students in the CAP Voice
Program experimented with their voices and body language through storytelling,
role-playing and improvisation techniques. The Print/New Media program provided
high school students with college-level analysis and training on current art practices
and a space for dialog about artists as engaging members of society. The Public Art
program created murals and public art pieces that energized the spaces they were
in. The Digital Art workshops allowed students to connect and share their work with
youth from Amman (Jordan), New York City, and Baghdad (Iraq) in one of the first
global experiments using top-of-the-line digital net-working technology and the
Internet in the teaching of art after the events of September 11.
The Digital Art classes offered after-school by CAP at both the Boys and Girls Club
and at CalArts were initially part of the larger Digital Arts Network, or DAN project.
The DAN project was a 10-site digital arts initiative, with two of the ten sites located
in the Santa Clarita Valley. The DAN project included the setting up and equipping of
ten state-of-the-art digital media labs for youth in ten diverse neighborhoods.
The Digital Media classes offered to high school students provide instruction and
experimentation with computers, video, multimedia, the Internet, podcasting, and
digital arts. The classes are held once-a-week, afterschool, at CalArts School of Art’s
MacLab. Shelley Stepp, the program’s lead instructor and also a CalArts School of Art
faculty member explains that “the class provides these students a safe environment
to experiment and take risks by using words and images to create visual content
and meaning. Discussions are based around bold themes such as cultural, political,
religious, cultural and social issues. We encourage students to realize that personal
voice is a way to develop strong and meaningful content in their work.”
by EVELYN SERRANO
Assistant Director of Programs, Newsletter Director and CalArts School of Art Alumna
In 1993, the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) received a challenge grant from the
California Arts Council to establish CAP’s first arts programs for youth in the Santa Clarita
Valley. As partnerships with the Santa Clarita community were just getting started and
programs were getting off the ground, CAP and CalArts’ commitment to this project was
tested. Literally. With a 6.7 magnitude, the Northridge earthquake hit the West San Fernando
Valley, the city of Santa Monica, and Simi Valley. It also shook the Santa Clarita Valley to the
core. As a result, CalArts suffered serious damage that threatened the future viability of all of
its programs, including CAP. It was through the power of ingenuity and the combined energies
of the administration, Board of Trustees, staff, faculty and student body that both the Institute
and its CAP program were able to overcome the effects of the earthquake.
For 15 years, CAP has collaborated with the local community to provide high quality, free-ofcharge
arts programs for the young people of Santa Clarita. Glenna Avila, CAP’s Director, is
passionate about sustaining the program’s partnerships in CalArts’ immediate community:
“CAP links the neighboring communities of Valencia, Newhall, Saugus, Castaic, Canyon
Country, ValVerde and Agua Dulce to CalArts, strengthening the perception of CalArts as not
only a significant community resource, but as a partner and good neighbor, working closely
together with the youth and the families of the Santa Clarita Valley. I believe that all large
institutions should be responsive to the needs of their communities.”
Over the past 15 years, nearly 7,500 Santa Clarita Valley youth have participated in after-school
CAP arts programs and over 30,000 have participated in CAP performances and workshops
held in many Santa Clarita Valley public elementary, junior high, and high schools.
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra
Paul Sherman, a CalArts alumnus of the School of Music and gifted oboist has been
instrumental in the strengthening of the 15-year partnership between CAP and the Santa
Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra, for which he is the Associate Conductor. “The SCVYO
began its existence at CalArts under the directorship of the great Italian cellist, CalArts
School of Music faculty and member of the famed Roth String Quartet, Cesare Pascarella.
When I was a young musician I was a member of this orchestra myself. In the 1990’s the
orchestra moved to College of the Canyons where it has continued to be closely tied to
the music school up the hill.” Robert Lawson, the orchestra’s long time conductor, is also a
CalArts School of Music alumnus. They have always drawn teaching talent from the ranks
of CalArts music students.
Paul Sherman, who will become the orchestra’s new conductor and director of the
organization as Maestro Lawson focuses his energies on the new Santa Clarita Symphony,
greatly appreciates the advantages of the orchestra’s collaboration with CAP: “In this
project we are jointly hiring some of the best young players and teachers from the music
school student body in the sections of woodwinds and strings. They attend Saturday
rehearsals with the intermediate orchestra to lead very valuable weekly master classes.
They also attend Monday evening Philharmonic advanced orchestra rehearsals to lead
classes and actually sit and play in the sections.
“No other orchestra in Los Angeles has such an intense and rewarding teaching program
and the results are telling. This year our orchestras are sounding better than ever
thanks to the hard work and dedication of these fine musicians and teachers. By getting
weekly attention specific to their instrument and then sitting in rehearsal next to an
accomplished musician, not far removed from their age group, the students are able to
hear how they should really sound and get those valuable insights only another performer
on their instrument can offer,” says Paul Sherman.
For the past 15 years, CAP has been offering free Saturday music classes for Santa Clarita
Valley students on the CalArts campus and producing two music recitals annually.
The CAP Saturday Music Program, coordinated by CalArts School of Music alumnus
Drew Jorgensen, offers 20 weeks of workshops for elementary, middle and high school
students from the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra, and the Newhall, William S. Hart,
Castaic and Saugus School Districts. Classes include world percussion, strings, jazz and
vocal ensembles, music theory, computer music, composition among many others. The
classes meet at the CalArts School of Music’s practice rooms and they are taught by
current School of Music BFA and MFA students.
Susan Allen, CalArts School of Music Associate Dean, has been this program’s faculty
advisor since its inception. “This music program echoes the rich educational offerings of
the School of Music at CalArts, with improvisation, world music, innovative ensembles, as
well as traditional performance and theoretical training. In reciprocal benefit, local youth
receive free instruction while our students gain valuable experience in teaching their art.”
Arroyo Seco Junior High School
Twenty-five English Language Learners from Ms. Juliet Fine’s class at Arroyo Seco Junior High School
get to work for ten weeks every Fall semester with a group of talented graduate students from the
CalArts School of Theater through a partnership with CAP that is now in its third year. The program
covers a wide array of theater and language-based games, exercises and a myriad of writing
activities. The workshops end with a performance of original work in CalArts’ Modular Theater, in
front of the entire School of Theater student and faculty body.
Ms. Fine appreciates the effect these workshops have in her students’ self-esteem and academic
commitment: “There are observable physical and emotional changes that have taken place with
these students. Their confidence has grown considerably and it is evident in their body stature. They
are more comfortable in their own skin and with their language abilities. The program has given them
strength. Before the program began, students lacked confidence in their oral language skills; they
wouldn’t participate in classroom discussions, nor communicate with other students. And, they were
not aware they could use their bodies and their voice as a tool of communication. Without time to
think about inhibitions, they just act and move towards the set goal of the performance.”
She also mentions that the workshops have “filtered into the camaraderie that has formed between
the students in class. They are respectful of one another as classmates and as performance
partners. They have a common understanding and have shared a common emotional experience.
When they first come into my classroom, they are resentful of being placed into an English Language
Development (ELD) class where they, unlike other students in our school, have two hours of English
class. These students are second language learners of English and need two hours of English and
remediation. There is a stigma with this type of class, which dissipates thanks to these workshops.
They collaborate in performances once a week and really put themselves out there to be creative
and free. They have learned to concentrate on one task and have learned about the idea of freedom
of expression through art. Lastly, these students have developed lifelong learning goals within the
arts and plan to eventually go to college. After ten weeks, they have discovered new self-worth
through the art of theater. This language experience through the arts has been priceless.”
The CAP/William Hart High School Creative Writing Program
Their Word
is the Bridge
In May, 2006, students began fighting in the cafeteria of Hart High School, in
Newhall, a working class, mostly Latino township in Santa Clarita, California.
What sparked it is not so relevant- jealousy, disrespect, rivalry. What is
significant is what happened afterward. The fight burned through the campus,
and at its end, riot-gear clad police closed the campus, helicopters swirled
overhead, teachers were locked inside their classrooms with students, and
administrators were perplexed.
Local newspapers added to the chaos, reporting “black and Hispanic students
fighting against white students,” and the trail of comments left in the online
forums showed hardening opinions: “Just goes to show why whites need to stick
together!” and “La Raza got to fight those damn hueros! Viva La Raza!”
Considered the “flagship” school of the local district, Hart High School now
appeared to the world as a campus torn by racial strife, begging broader
questions about the area’s social attitudes and politics.
What caused this racialized “riot”? Demographic shifts over the last decade
had radically changed the student body. What had once been a primarily
white school has become 40% students of color, with the majority of these
students being of Latino heritage. The teachers however, were over 90% white,
as were administration and campus supervisors. Also, over 90% of the ASB,
or Student Body government was white. Academically, very few students of
color were in the highest achieving, advanced placement classes, meaning
that achievement gaps were racialized as well.
Put together, the campus experienced conditions of segregation, where the
student body was dividing along racial lines both socially and academically,
with little being done to intervene. It is little wonder then that the fault
lines which were tacitly recognized by segregated classes and a segregated
cafeteria exploded in pent up rioting.
Two graduating classes later, very few students remember the “riot” as papers
called it. A “Peace Pole” erected to consecrate a future of “peace and unity”
was placed in the center of the campus. A student group, called Change of
Hart, composed of primarily students of color, organizes monthly “diversity”
events. A parent group, called “Padres Unidos”- United Parents, meets monthly
as well, to bring the voices of Latino parents into the mainstream. However,
the imbedded issues of academic and student segregation remain.
Located in Newhall, a majority Latino community, the demographic swing
within the school will certainly not slow down- if anything, it will accelerate
toward a Latino majority.
City of Santa Clarita, Arts and
Events Department
Now in its sixth year, CAP’s Share the World Program brings CalArts world music
and dance ensembles to provide performances and workshops for students in
elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. The
ensembles available range from jazz, Latin jazz, Balinese Gamelan to North and
South Indian music, and African music and dance among many other offerings. The
program begins in October and continues through May.
This cultural program has been supported through a strong partnership with the
City of Santa Clarita’s Arts and Events Department, which underwrites half of the
funding needed to bring these performances and workshops to local public schools
in the six Santa Clarita Valley school districts. All performances and workshops
address the State mandated Visual and Performing Arts Standards as well as
introducing the students to a variety of diverse cultural traditions.
William Hart High School and the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission
Last year, CAP was approached by the William Hart High School administration and
by Joshua Parr, a Senior Consultant with the Los Angeles County Human Relations
Commission. Both institutions were looking to provide new programming at Hart
High School that would address the rising racial tension in the student body as a
consequence of rapid demographic shifts in the area. The CAP/William Hart High
School Creative Writing Program was designed to address this need. Through
it three teams of CalArts School of Critical Studies graduate students teach
weekly creative writing workshops to youth enrolled in Hart High School’s English
Language Development classes. Mady Schutzman, faculty member in the School of
Critical Studies, leads the program.
CAP asked Joshua Parr, one of CAP’s partners in the CAP Creative Writing Program
at William Hart High School, to contribute a piece for this newsletter about the
newly formed program. CAP is honored by the partnership with the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission and it is our pleasure to share Mr. Parr’s
article with our readers.
by JOSHUA PARR
Senior Consultant with the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
Today, the student leadership body remains the same-
while excellent kids, they do not reflect the diversity of
the student body. Nor do the activities that they plan.
And AP classes remain filled with the same group of high
achieving students as before. The segregated parent
groups also have not yet come together, though there
are plans in the works to do so. But change does not
happen overnight.
The slow accumulation of the academic, leadership and
cultural knowledge in all aspects of the campus ferments
into a less segregated campus. Students in Change of
Hart develop into recognized leaders on campus, gaining
the skills to organize Latino heritage month events, like
the schools first Dia De Los Muertos, or the First African
American heritage month. Administrators learn to integrate
these students and their knowledge into the campus, and
slowly, incrementally, a cultural change stirs.
To do so, what is often though of as “the bottom” must
be lifted to close the gap with “the top.” In classrooms,
new curriculums integrate students from various aspects
of the campus community. One such program is the fruit
of collaboration between the CalArts Community Arts
Partnership (CAP), the Los Angeles County Commission
on Human Relations, and Lockheed-Martin. Because
the least integrated, and often lowest achieving students
in the school are the immigrant populations,
it was deemed a priority to provide them the opportunity to
increase literacy, gain a voice through writing, and educate the
general student population through publishing their stories,
poetry, and art work.
A cadre of CalArts School of Critical Studies MFA Writing Program
students instructors from the CAP program enter Hart High’s
English Language Learner classrooms weekly, with writing
assignments. Relationships are built, trust grows, and confidence
levels increase as students hear each other’s stories, learn
about each other’s families. Inherent story telling abilities are
tapped into, the barriers of race, class, culture, language and
nationality all become stories in themselves.
With many from nations throughout Latin America, the stories of
these students can include immigration tales- border crossings,
life without “documentation,” and perspectives of America rarely
heard, ironically, by mainstream American society.
Over the course of the year, stories will be written, edited, and
anthologized into a publication. Once completed, the publication
will open with a reading by the students and teachers themselves,
on May 7, 2008, at the school’s cafeteria, with students reading
to parents, students and teachers.
Empowered, educated, and now, educating others, it is hoped
that this publication will be an annual collaboration to continue to
integrate the Hart campus into a safe, knowledgeable, equitable
institution providing outstanding educational opportunities for
all of its student body.
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