AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Skirball Cultural Center, School and Teacher Programs Proudly presents:

Teaching Our World Through the Arts, 2009-2010

Become an Arts Educator-even if you can't dance or sing!
No prior experience required.
Teach core subjects using music, drama, movement, film, photography, and other media.
Learn arts-based techniques to help bring your curriculum to life.
Develop activities and lessons around visual and performing arts presented in your school community.
Teaching Our World through the Arts is a multidisciplinary program comprised of four distinct strands, each covering one specific genre of the arts. Each strand consists of four full Saturdays of highly interactive training as well as a live performance or exhibition tour-at no additional charge!

Teachers may register for any combination of up to four strands. Coursework includes classroom time with fellow educators, gallery tours and performances at the Skirball, and homework focused on developing activities for you and your students.

Strand One: MUSIC
Four Saturdays • September 12, October 24, November 21, January 9
Enjoy artist-led workshops that provide teachers with vocabulary and teaching tools for connecting music to language arts, math, science, and history. Experts in the field will discuss the rich cultural histories of the featured performers and the musical genres they represent, from Portugese, fado and Cape Verdean, morna to jazz and music from the 1950s and 1960s inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. Participants will experience live performances by Cape Verdean Portuguese singer/songwriter Sara Tavares, members of the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, and others artists TBA.

Strand Two: VISUAL ARTS
Four Saturdays • October 17, November 14, December 12, January 23
Guided by professional artists, teaching artists, and art historians, explore the building blocks of visual art through presentations and workshops in photography, architecture, drawing, and other media. This year's visual art strand now includes film! Led by film educator Frank Guttler, whose company Lights, Camera, Learn aims to promote film as a teaching tool, teachers will gain hands-on experience in filmmaking that can be applied directly to classroom instruction. They will also explore the photography exhibition Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968, take part in a portrait drawing workshop with artist, Mike Mahon..

Strand Three: THEATER
Four Saturdays • February 6 and 20, March 6 and 20
Discover how the art of theater can serve as a way to teach poetry, history, literature, and other subjects. Facilitated by renowned artists such as The Watts Prophets and Gin Hammond, and teaching artists from Outlaws and Justice, workshops in this strand will help teachers develop skills in improvisation, collaboration, creative drama, process drama and dramatic play to make their classroom curricula come alive.

Strand Four: DANCE
4 Saturdays • April 10 and 17, May 1 and 15
Explore the cultural significance of diverse styles of dance, from salsa to rumba to Brazilian drum dancing. Dance artists such as Contra-Tiempo and Viver Brasil, movement experts, and cultural historians will teach tools for integrating dance into the classroom.

Fees range from $20 to $200

Schools that send 3 or more staff will receive a 50% reduction in course fees for each participant (this offer excludes single class registration).

Skirball members receive a 25% discount

Teachers participating in one or more full strands will have access to possible admission scholarships for one (1) corresponding Skirball performance program for their students.

Registration begins now and is open until classes are filled

For more information visit www.skirball.org or contact Emily at emahon@skirball.org or 310-440-4737.