ATG Students Tell Their Stories

ATG Students Tell Their Stories

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Newsletter #44: April - June 2016

ATG Students 'Tell the Story of Ti Moune' in Cypress Hills

Students perform a scene from The Story of Ti Moune on April 7, 2016.
Photo Credit: Lauren Mirsky Tannenbaum

Love and forgiveness triumphed over death this spring as our students in Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation's Community Learning Center told The Story of Ti Moune, an original adaptation of Once on This Island presented to a packed house of friends, family, and community members. Our troupe of young actors in grades six through eight gave a memorable performance under the guidance of Theatre TA Taylor Valentine and Dance TA Victor Remak. Click below to learn more and see video from our wonderful eighth year in partnership with CHLDC in Brooklyn.

School's Out for ATG Kids

ATG students create outdoor bubble art at a visual arts playdate with Hope for Us. Photo Credit: Catt Melendez

As our programs wrap up for the school year, here's a look back at all our students have accomplished!

Brooklyn
Our 6th-8th grade students at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation's Community Learning Center completed a full year of musical theatre with Teaching Artist Taylor Valentine. In the spring, TA Victor Remak joined us to work with students on choreography.

In the fall, 8th grade students took part in our semester-long Audition Prep program to prepare them for the performing arts high school audition process. Several students were admitted to audition-based schools across the city.

Bronx
We partnered with Riverdale Neighborhood House to offer two full-year programs to middle school students at In-Tech Academy. A dance program for students in grades 6-8 was led by TA Antoine Judkins, while TA Natalie Jones guided students through a year of musical theatre.

At Hope for Us, students ages 7-11 participated in a semester of visual arts with TA Catt Melendez in the fall. This spring, the program resumed with TA Kali Dinh.

Hoboken
Our longest-running program partner, Elysian Charter School, once again hosted our semester-long theatre arts program for middle school students with TA Candace Clift.

ATG Prepares to Launch New Corporate Training Venture

Our students are excited to announce our new corporate training wing!
Photo Credit: Sy Abudu

Arts to Grow programs are offered free of charge to our low-income students. Our program partners pay an average of just 25% of our programs' true cost. Though we have relied on charitable investment during our first 10 years to cover all remaining expenses, today's ever-changing philanthropic landscape compels us to create an additional revenue stream to offset our overhead expenses. As an adaptive response, we are in the process of launching a new wing of Arts to Grow delivering customized arts-based learning and development workshops to the corporate sector. In the first quarter of 2016, we worked with a group of Inspire consultants from Bain & Company to lay the groundwork for this expansion. We're pleased to announce that a pro bono team from PwC has picked up Phase II of this exciting project. To support the costs of kicking off this new venture and become self-sustaining, we need your help.

All profits from this venture will be used to support Arts to Grow's operating expenses. Therefore, your investment in building Arts to Innovate today will help us generate revenue for Arts to Grow on a continual annual basis, ensuring we reach children in the New York metro area's most in-need communities year after year.