|
|
 |
Arts & Enrichment
Enrichment Programs Add Zest to Academics
Raise the curtain. Lift the baton to start the music. Let the magic begin!
On any given day at Stone Soup programs, kids can be found working out new dance routines, dabbing paint brushes into bright color pots, memorizing lyrics to new songs or rehearsing their lines for a play they'll perform for their parents and fellow students.
The air fairly crackles with excitement and the creative juices flow.
Stone Soup's 15-year-old enrichment program allows young imaginations and creativity to soar through dance, music, theater, writing and story telling. These activities fill a growing gap in public schools struggling with shrinking budgets.
Stone Soup involves the children in eight week workshops in drawing, visual arts, music, theater and dance to expand their creative expression and critical thinking skills. In working with professional artists children begin to realize and value their own creativity.
Every child is unique; what excites one youngster may not speak to another. The enrichment program includes an array of ways kids can learn to express their artistic selves.
Stone Soup has gathered a collection of remarkable, dedicated artists and performers who continue to give generously of their talents for the betterment of our children.
Guest Artists Bring the Arts to Life!
A few of the very talented artists we work with are:
Aimee Art Productions. Founded by Aimee Young Hopkins, the production company gives high quality, enriching student workshops in theater, music, dance and the visual arts to build self-esteem and literacy among inner city youngsters who have little access to the arts. Workshops are held and are given by trained teaching artists.
City Hearts, an innovative arts program founded by Bob and Sherry Jason, has served Stone Soupers over 15 years introducing children to all art forms, dance, visual arts, drama, music, photography and theater. Through the discipline and healing of workshops and performances, City Hearts provides positive role models and inspiration to disadvantaged children, especially those who may be at risk for gangs and drugs.
Skip Cunningham, rhythm tap dancing. Mr. Cunningham has traveled all over the world as a performer and has appeared on movies, on television and on Broadway. He not only shows kids how to tap dance, he explains the cultural and historical contribution of this dance style as it has influenced today's rhythms and musical styles. He also acquaints students with the discipline it takes to make hard work look so easy.
Janeece Flint, theatrical performer. Ms. Flint holds degrees from the National Academy for Dramatic Art and from UCLA. She has produced, directed and performed children's theater throughout her career. A LAUSD teacher, she has enlightened thousands of children on the fun and creativity of theatrical performing.
Dolores Haro, artist. Ms. Haro's paintings are expressive of her life experiences and the influences of Mexican culture, which are often reflected in her paintings by the rich, vivid colors of the earth. Her work has been exhibited in many galleries throughout Los Angeles, Devoted to teaching art to young people, she leads workshop lessons in charcoal, watercolor and acrylic on canvas. For Stone Soup, she is also a popular instructor of the game of chess. An active member of her community, she currently serves as a planning commissioner for the City of El Monte.
Kiki Hecox, dance stylist. A veteran with more than 20 years experience, she has taught Stone Soup kids for nearly 15 years. Ballroom, swing, waltz, tango, cha cha, Country Western line dancing, calypso and Afro-Cuban dancing are all in her repertoire. She has won dance awards at the MGM Grand and Stardust Hotel competitions in Las Vegas as well as the Disneyland Hotel. Ms. Hecox uses dance and performance to teach children about other parts of the world and to respect other cultures. In the process, their self-esteem grows through performing - in costume -- for parents, school staff and community.
Boklim Kim, artist. Internationally acclaimed for her traditional Korean brush painting and calligraphy, Ms Kim's work has been exhibited in East Asian countries, Korea and Los Angeles. She is a lecturer on Korean Arts at UCLA and boasts a permanent exhibit at the Pacific-Asia Museum in Pasadena. She has taught painting to children for thirty years. Some of her students' work has been selected for exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Children's Museum, Korean Consulate, Korean Cultural Center and won the International Children's Art Contest in Seoul, Korea in 2000!
Marilyn McConnie, storyteller. Ms. McConnie is the founder of The Children's Storytelling Workshop for at-risk children in South Los Angeles. An artist-in-residence at Los Angeles' Best and Youth First programs, she has taught storytelling at several schools. She is a native of Trinidad and often adds music and dance to her stories, incorporating the rhythm and color of the Caribbean region. Her objectives are to get kids to use their imaginations, express themselves through the arts and instill pride in who they are.
Hataya Tubtim, artist. Ms. Tubtim currently teaches at the Art Center of Design. She is an expert in figure drawing, painting, computer graphics and printmaking. Her highly popular children's workshops this year at Los Alisos Middle School center on self-portraiture, using different approaches. Kids first draw symbols that represent themselves. From there they begin to draw realistic versions of their own faces by looking into mirrors and observing their particular features and proportions. Next, they move on to creating spirit masks of themselves and finally Ms. Tubtim guides them in exploring the abstract concepts of color, line and space in portraying particular themes.
Support Makes Arts and Enrichment Possible For Stone Soup Children
A grant from the Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation of the California Community Foundation launched Stone Soup's program enrichment component. The foundation has continued its funding since then. Thelma Pearl Howard was the live-in housekeeper for Walt Disney. Each birthday and holiday, he gave her Disney Co. stock, which she never sold. After she died, a foundation was set up to fund the arts for children.
Another Stone Soup supporter is The Cranium Fund, creators of the award-winning games Cranium, Hoopla, Cadoo, and Cariboo. Owners Whit Alexander and Richard Tait set aside "A Buck-a-Box" from the beginning to fund art for kids and visited Stone Soup In the very early years of their company.
|
|
|
