“I sometimes feel like this, and I really feel a lot of courage after seeing this performance.” 5th grade student, Bridgewater, NJ
These were the words of a student who’d just experienced an assembly performance “A Seat for Rosa,” performed by Yearning To Learn Inc through Young Audiences New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania (YANJEP or simply Young Audiences). In the performance, a child tells his aunt about a bully on his bus, and she gives him advice by recounting the tale of Rosa Parks and the events that led to a revolution in racial justice. This poignant Yearning to Learn Inc. production includes many songs of the Civil Rights era and brings this historical time to life. Through this exploration of the Civil Rights Era, students learn how individuals can work together to fight injustice and oppression.
This month, ArtPride New Jersey is highlighting the non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting and empowering children like this 5th-grade student, who raised his hand and bravely shared his feelings during the Q&A after the performance – in front of 200 of his peers. I recently spoke with President and CEO Michele Russo to learn more about Young Audiences.
Young Audiences’ mission is to “inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts.” Since 1973, it has been their vision to “work toward a future where all children in the region engage in quality arts learning that nurtures creativity, expands cultural awareness, and fosters the development of critical thinking skills.”
In the last year alone, Young Audiences worked with over 400 schools and approximately 265,000 children where they enabled students to:
- EXPERIENCE high quality art by professional artists
- UNDERSTAND the art form and its role and context in the world
- CREATE art and explore the creative process
- CONNECT the arts and creativity to life and learning
Michele Russo speaks passionately about what Young Audiences offers. She explained how important the arts are to child development, noting that there are numerous studies that show how much more engaged students become when they’re participating in the arts. As the name implies, Young Audiences caters the majority of their programming to engage directly with students in the comfort of their own school, offering assembly performances, residencies and workshops. These programs range in art form including dance, music, theatre and visual arts, and many of them focus on fostering Social Emotional Learning (SEL), language arts learning, and community building. The entirety of their offerings can be found in their comprehensive Resource Guide.
Teaching and performing artists are essential to how students’ experience the arts with Young Audiences. Their roster includes professional teaching artists who are dedicated to their creative practice and are equally dedicated to education.Young Audiences also offers Professional Learning opportunities to educators within the school system, in addition to the bounty of child learning-oriented programs.
“Many teachers, especially in elementary grades, are incorporating the arts into their classrooms. It is pivotal to support our educators as they seek creative ways to nurture their students and foster a love of learning.Our artists can support them in incorporating creative learning into their teaching to make it more engaging.”
The team at YA is committed to bringing programs to as many schools as possible, and to making the arts inclusive of all learners. “We’re committed to arts education for all students, so we fundraise and innovate constantly. For schools that have financial need, we have opportunities where they can apply for funding from us. Between our fundraising efforts and our marketing efforts, we try to be as accessible as possible to every school. And every school who wants to work with us, we do our best to work with them.”
Young Audiences also has unique programming that ensures the arts are accessible to all students. “United We Discover” has a goal of uplifting disabled identities and building connections between students in a school where they may typically be in different classrooms based on their IEPs or 504 plans.The program features artists who identify with disability, and engages the whole school in inclusive arts practices. One example is a photography residency, where students create self portraits that capture what they want the world to know about them, their strengths and their dreams. This experience fosters students’ agency, self-expression and the chance to tell their own story.
Nothing worth having comes easy, and as might be expected in the world of nonprofit arts education, there are challenges. School budgets are not always adequate to fund artist-led experiences. Philanthropic sources of funding for arts and arts education programs are currently strained. Add to this a contracted timeframe dedicated to arts education within a school’s curriculum and it becomes easy to see where difficulty lies — but there are ways to help!
Young Audiences encourages individuals and organizations to get involved in their local school districts, connect with arts education advocacy organization ArtsEdNJ, and of course, connect with ArtPride New Jersey to advocate with the rest of the arts community.
Russo emphasizes that this is an organization whose work “boosts confidence, empathy and self management [in children]. The arts reduce anxiety, encourage engagement and encourage community. That is universal, always needed but is especially important now with the increases in anxiety and depression in young people.”
As we spoke about the programs Young Audiences offers, we began to reminisce about our own childhood experiences. Each of us retained clear memories of the time a performance troupe visited our elementary schools. These memories from many years ago are natural evidence of how formative the arts can be and of the “pure joy, wonder, and creativity” that embody the work. Michele Russo and Young Audiences are motivated to face the day-to-day challenges and ensure that every child throughout the state has access to this hands-on model of arts education.
For more information, visit yanjep.org, and their resource guide for opportunities to work together.
