The Dennos Museum Center, under a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is providing educational programing opportunities for approximately 130 students with disabilities currently enrolled at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District.
The Museum was awarded a contract under the VSA Arts Access for Kids program, which will provide admission costs for one educational performance, one guided gallery tour and art project experience, and a storytelling program with Jenifer Strauss of Story Be Told Productions. An additional 30 general education students will join groups as they explore the exhibition, Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes: Transforming Nature into Art. Programs will take place October 2013 – May 2014.
The goals of this program are to provide increased and broader access to arts experiences for students with disabilities in the Grand Traverse region; to create opportunities for students with disabilities and general education students to develop meaningful relationships through experiences in the arts; and to establish an effective partnership between multiple organizations and service providers to engage students with disabilities in the enjoyment and creation of the arts.
“Once I received information about this opportunity with the Kennedy Center, I immediately asked colleagues about finding a partner, “ says Jason Dake, Curator of Education. “From the beginning, Jill Mumford, Deb Nelson, and all of the TBAISD staff have been great collaborators and organizers.”
“This program will create some much needed arts opportunities for students with disabilities in the Grand Traverse region. I look forward to future program partnerships with the TBAISD, Story Be Told, and other service providers interested in programming for these students,” Dake stated.
TBAISD students will attend one of the Dennos Museum Center’s educational performances this season. Many have already attended the Golden Dragon Acrobats on October 4, while remaining students will attend the performance by Matuto on January 31. This fall, each class will have a guided tour with trained docents through the exhibition, Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes, where they will explore landscape art and the five senses. About half of the proposed students have visited already, with many students and teachers providing encouraging feedback about their program.
“[Our visit was] a positive experience with same-age peers in the community, as well as exposure to science and art,” reported one educator.
In conjunction with the students’ visits to the museum, they will also meet with Jenifer Strauss of Story Be Told. Strauss will engage the students with stories about the Sleeping Bear Dunes and from her Michigan Legends and Lore series, providing a post-visit program to reinforce student learning.
“I am honored to collaborate with the Dennos Museum Center, TBAISD, and the VSA Arts Access for Kids program”, said Narrative Consultant and Storyteller, Jenifer Strauss. “Storytelling is an oral art form that evokes unique mental images for each listener”, Strauss said and added, “By engaging students in the telling of a variety of Great Lakes legends, I will be providing a narrative experience intended to accompany the powerful visual images they will be viewing in this exhibit.”
Deb Nelson of TBAISD adds, “The benefits of inclusive, collaborative experiences like this project provides reach beyond the present experience. Students of all abilities experiencing the arts together has the potential of developing healthy communities who appreciate not only the arts but their own diversity.”