Year End Celebration at IS 230

01 Jun 2011, 1:20 PM by keith, Middle School

Urban Arts Partnership’s two after school programs at IS 230 in Jackson Heights are both coming to a close for the school year.  The programs culminated with students showcasing work created during the year at a recent evening event for families and friends.  We’re proud of all the hard work and creativity that these amazing students have put into their projects this year!

Students in the Photo Club displayed “Epic Jackson Heights,” their original photo guidebook to their beloved neighborhood, as well as their individual photo portfolios of images taken during the year.  The book collects students’ original photos and articles about the community, including its attractions, food, culture and history.  Students presented selections from the book by reading their work aloud to the audience while images from the book were projected.  Each student received her own copy of “Epic Jackson Heights,” and a copy of the book was donated to the school library so that their work can live on within the school for years to come.

“We decided to make a book about our neighborhood, like a brochure about the neighborhood.  I really liked writing an article and taking the pictures.  I think our neighborhood is magnificent and beautiful, and the book is written in our own words.  It tells about how we feel about the neighborhood.” said 6th grader Kayla.

“I liked the way we learned different techniques to take photos that look cool.  I will remember my friends and our teacher by looking at the book we made.” remarked fellow 6th grader Amber.

“I like that our book shows how to get to Jackson Heights.  I want people who see the book to know how much work we did.  This year I learned how to take good pictures, and more about Jackson Heights.” added 7th grader Julissa.

The students also solicited book reviews from their classmates that were not part of the Photo Club:

“My favorite part of the book is how it shows and describes Jackson Heights.  I like how it’s organized.  I want people outside the area to know what Jackson Heights is like” – Syeda, 6th grade

“I like the part about the bowling alley because I go there a lot with my family.  I also like the biographies of the students because it reflects and shows how the kids are.  It’s interesting and helpful to check out the book to find out places to go.” – Ashley, 6th grade

Besides the Photo Club, students in the Mask Making Club also celebrated their accomplishments at the culminating event.  They displayed a large number of both large and small Vejigante masks that they created in paper mache.  Students painted and decorated the masks so that they represented various aspects of their personalities, interests and heritage.  The group also presented an animation they made featuring their masks, which can be seen below.    

 
“I learned how to make masks and paint them.  We also made sculptures and statues.  My favorite part was making the masks because it was fun.  I made a lizard mask with a long tongue and big eyes.” – Charlie, 7th grade

“This year I learned how to make a mask with a round shape out of recycled cardboard and newspaper.  I like painting the best because it was some time to think and decide which colors to use.  My favorite project was a sculpture of a person, and the little Vejigantes we made.” – Carolina, 6th grade

PS 48Q Final Share

31 May 2011, 11:43 AM by kaya, Elementary School

A warm welcome back to the final days of school after Memorial Day! At Urban Arts we kicked off last weekend with a lot of art shares with our schools. At PS 48Q, Elliot Montague's two film programs, Cristina Ambrose's theatre program, and Bradley Valentin's chrous class all shared their work with the afterschool community, parents, and staff. Thanks to Ms. Fletcher for hosting, and all of the PS 48Q community for helping us!

Here is a still from the 2nd & 3rd grade and 4th & 5th grade films, with audience reaction:

The Great Toothbrush Robbery

The Zombie Blues

Audience Laughs:

Next up was the theater program's original work, The Angel Play. These actors worked very hard to write, memorize, and block the play!

In this scene, all the characters are introducing themselves to the audience:

And finally, the chorus program presented a version of Tightrope that included some great choreography AND snazzy costumes!

Great job everyone, see you at the Urban Arts Festival in Queens on June 6th!!

Music Video By New Design High School Band

25 May 2011, 4:53 PM by keith, High School

"Gone Without a Trace" is an original song created by the members of the New Design High School Band. The band met after school, and during lunch during the spring semester of 2011. With teaching artist Jules Gimbrone, the students developed new parts and refined their skills on their instruments. After many weeks of rehearsing, they recorded their song using a Macbook and a portable digital interface in the science lab next door. Then, they shot the video in the hallways of their school. Check out their debut music video below!

New Design Album Covers

19 May 2011, 2:48 PM by caitlinmeissner, High School

Inspiration:

Students in the NDHS photography program, riffing off their last semester in music and using the classic Bluenote motif as inspiration, created album covers. Working with the concept of alter ego, and who they would incarnate as a musician, they took photos, edited them and used photoshop to create a representative photo cover.

See some examples here! Below you can read an example of what the students wrote to explain their alter ego musician. At the very bottom is a photogrid of each album cover created in the program-- click in to view it larger!

JULES: I’m a singer and my name is Ciel. My album would sometimes be fast and sometimes be slow. The genre is half techno and half country. My lyrics would be about life, like heartbreak. Mostly teens and young adult girls would listen to my music. Nobody hates my music. I am in between underground and world famous. My favorite city to tour is Manhattan. I also tour with a lot of famous people like Selena Gomez.

Stand-Up Comedy Master Class at IS 62

13 May 2011, 11:12 AM by keith, Middle School

The students in IS 62's "Laughter's Cool" after school theater program recently had a Master Class led by stand-up comic Dan Wilbur.  The students have continued their yearlong exploration of comedy by moving into writing and performing stand-up routines.  Dan spoke with the students about the process of writing material, different kinds of jokes and what it’s like to perform stand-up.  The group discussed how every successful joke needs to have a premise that’s something simple that everyone can understand, as well as how to find humor in life’s annoyances.  By sharing annoying or embarrassing parts of life with an audience, stand-up comics give the audience the opportunity to recognize universalexperiences that we all have in common.  The students and Dan also explored the importance of exaggeration and hyperbole in making something funny for an audience.

“They seem to be really funny kids and they understand comedy.  I bought my first stand-up album when I was 12, and it’s important for kids to learn how to laugh at themselves at this age.  Comedy helped me deal with growing up.”  said Dan.  We look forward to seeing these young comedians debut their materials on the stage soon!

“Today I learned about improv and comedy.  We learned that comedy isn’t all about jokes… it’s also about personality.  This class helped me learn more about how comics write and tell jokes.  I thought that comics just made up jokes on the spot, but now I know they work hard on writing.” – David, 6th grade

“It was really fun and entertaining.  We learned how to make jokes funnier to make people laugh.  I love working with everybody.” – Jessica, 6th grade