December 14, 2009 -

By allowing middle school youth to immerse themselves in an art form of their choosing, from discovering the joy and challenges of what it takes to run a production company to using visual arts and movement to explore the Twilight novels, these residencies are designed to engage youth in the excitement of discovery, foster a passion for an art form and to create lasting skills to help them succeed in school and in life.

The most expansive of these residencies is the K.R.U.N.K. Movement Mini-camps, a collaboration with the Hazelwood-based non-profit Center of Life. The K.R.U.N.K. Movement is a student-led music and health initiative that uses jazz, hip-hop, dance, recording engineering, visual art and equipment management to employ youth and to communicate positive messages about physical and mental health to teens and pre-teens.  These mini-camps at four PPS summer sites will teach youth how to start and run a small business that is developed from their own talents and help instill within them a work ethic and prepare them for post-high school education.

In Explore the Twilight Series, designed for middle school girls only, visual artist Alison Zapata and dancer/visual artist Staycee Pearl will work with Stephanie Meyer’s popular books to create a fun and safe place for girls to explore this romantic novel series using the visual arts and movement.

World Music and Dance, a residency taught by dance educator Olivia Kissel, will help the students explore the music and dance of the Romany people in India, Turkey and Egypt. These art forms will become a springboard for the exploration of a wide array of music and dance in its cultural context, before experimenting with those elements to create original works of art. This program is designed to inspire students to be active participants in the global community through the arts.

A world music ensemble residency, African Drum and Dance and Steel Pan Drumming, taught by Phil Webster and Gordon Nunn, is designed to nurture self-esteem through individual and cooperative achievement. Students will participate in a world music ensemble learning the basic rhythm patterns from two different styles of drumming.

The Summer Dreamers Academy for children entering 6th through 8th grades will be a five-week program occurring in July and August of 2010.

Gateway has a strong relationship of working with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, having presented arts learning residencies and performance programs for extended learning camps in 2007 and 2009, in addition to K-12 performance programs since 1957, professional development programs for arts and humanities specialists and classroom teachers, professional development for early childhood educators and aides, and arts learning residencies and mini-performance programs in every Pittsburgh early childhood classroom over the last four years. We look forward to supporting this new initiative and are excited to engage middle school learners in an immersive arts experience.