Canvas E-Newsletter Autumn 2016 - Creative Connections

Please enjoy our fall Canvas E-newsletter!

A Letter from our Founder & President

The beginning of the school season is always an exhilarating time for all of us at Creative Connections.

This Fall is no exception!

With the help of the US State Department, the State of Connecticut, and foundation grants awarded to us over the past several months, we are excited to launch the following initiatives:

· Lifelines/Aspectos Vitais – a “live” travel exchange (our first!) connecting high school students in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon with their peers in Bridgeport, Connecticut exploring ecology, culture, and the arts

· Middle East Connect – focused on a part of the world crying out for greater cultural understanding, this pilot exchange will take place between students in Norwalk’s Center for Global Studies Arabic Program and their counterparts and the Khelda School in Amman, Jordan

· AVID After-School ArtLink – a program for underserved Westhill HS students in Stamford, Connecticut preparing to be “first-generation” college attendees. After the exchange, AVID students will serve as docents in the community art exhibit they design and mount

· ClassroomLink – our new asynchronous online video and content sharing platform being piloted by our US/Japan ArtLink partners, allowing partnering classes to readily exchange photos, comments and videos with one another

And all of this on top of our ArtLink programming this Fall connecting over 3,000 students from around the world!

A hearty thank you to all of our partner educators, advisors, friends, and supporters for helping us bring cultural awareness and global understanding to an increasing number of young people around the world.

We couldn’t do it without you!

Warm regards,

Alan Steckler, Founder & President

Grab your passport – we’re heading to Brazil!

In collaboration with lead applicant Stepping Stones Museum for Children, and our colleagues at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, we’ve received a highly prestigious Museums Connect grant.

This grant is administered by the American Alliance of Museums and funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Ours is one of six projects to be awarded a grant this year!

This grant supported project, entitled Lifelines/Aspectos Vitais: The Convergence of Arts, Ecology and Culture in the Amazon and New England, will allow a group of local high school students to engage in a scientific and cultural exchange with students living in the Amazonian rain forest.

Museu Parense Emilio Goeldi – the internationally-recognized research institution and museum based in the city of Belém in the northern state of Pará – will be our partner in Brazil.

This year-long exchange will immerse Connecticut and Brazilian teams of high school students and teachers in the international exploration of watersheds as ecological, cultural, and economic lifelines.

Based on the ecological principle that “everything is interconnected” students and teachers will participate in:

· Focused cultural artwork exchanges and videoconferences between teams, and arts-based presentations in each community

· Reciprocal travel exchanges, including visits to museum host cities and to a research station in the Caxiunana National Forest of the Brazilian Amazon; scientific study cruises on Long Island Sound; and cultural visits to historic maritime communities on the Connecticut coastline

· Digital storytelling projects to encourage participants to reflect upon their experiences and to share what they have learned with the younger children within their communities

· Online and onsite exhibitions at each of the project museums

We are grateful for this tremendous opportunity to partner with our neighbors who are also working to engage youth in a way that promotes global citizenship.

This is especially meaningful as we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in the New Year! What a wonderful way to have the impact, and reach, of our work recognized.

We will be sure to keep you updated as this unique project unfolds!

Photo: Students and teachers traveling to the research station in the Caxiunana National Forest of the Brazilian Amazon

“Won” of Eight

In collaboration with lead applicant Westhill High School’s Fine Arts Department, we have been awarded a Regional Initiative Grant (REGI).

REGI will allow us to bring ArtLink to Stamford’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) after-school program which helps students prepare for college eligibility.

We are proud to share this quote from the award letter with you, “The standard for the awarded grants was very high and the panel was unanimous in its decision.”

Out of 21 applicants, eight received an award.

We are incredibly honored to be part of this innovative funding partnership which will give underserved students access to the arts. It will also allow us to expand our reach to after-school programs.

This competitive matching grant is administered by the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County and is funded by the Connecticut Office of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

You’re Invited to our 2016 International Children’s Art Show

“My Community, My Point of View”

Please join us at the

Opening Reception

Friday, November 4, 2016

5:30pm – 7:30pm

Silvermine Art School, New Canaan

Please RSVP to: Polly Loughran

The art show will be on display for the month of November 2016

Inside the Classroom

A note from ArtLink teacher Lori Woodruff – Western Connecticut Academy for International Studies, Danbury:

“We (the fourth grade students) rotated around our circle, looking at all of the artwork, discussing, and wondering.

The kids were amazed. The conversations were AMAZING!

Because of you, 70 children have now broadened their perspectives in ways that I didn’t think possible!

I wish you could have been a fly on the wall in that gym today, when our kids were all talking about our partners:

– “They eat a lot of fish!”

– “They have every day streets like we do!”

– “Do most grandparents live with the Japanese?”

Just when I think it can’t get better, IT DID!!! This was the BEST YEAR YET! We all have YOU to thank.”

Our Classroom Heroes

Thank you to our incredible classroom sponsors!

Last month we asked our community to help us bring ArtLink and Rainforest ArtLink to those classrooms struggling to raise the required program fees.

We were absolutely humbled by the generous response.

With the support of these sponsors, five underserved classrooms will be able to experience ArtLink this year!

– Diane and Rob Fried

– Jack and Rilla Neafsey

– Sally and Everett Schenk

– David and Lisa Schlakman

– Alan and Debbie Steckler

We continue to add deserving classrooms from across the country to our waiting list.

To learn how you can support a classroom, click here or connect with Polly Loughran, ArtLink Program Director, directly.

Welcome Annette!

Annette L. Thompson has joined the Creative Connections team as Office Assistant.

A graduate of The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, she brings formal artistic training; over 20 years of marketing, promotions and design experience; and a lifelong passion for community service to our organization.

For over 10 years she has volunteered with the Norwalk Mentor Program and for the past five years she has served as President of the Board for the Norwalk Mentor Scholarship Fund.

We are pleased to connect Annette’s professional background and passion for community service with the students and teachers we serve.

Connecticut Continues to Support Creative Connections

We have been awarded a Supporting Arts in Place (SAP) grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA).

SAP supports arts organizations and municipal arts offices as a way to strengthen the state’s nonprofit arts industry.

The receipt of this grant is significant.

It is with the continued support of the state that we are able to bring ArtLink programs to Connecticut’s classrooms – helping our students enrich their education in order to become global citizens who are prepared to learn, live, work, and thrive in the 21st Century.