By Laura Kirkpatrick
The conference is open to everyone, and runs from 8:30AM – 4PM, on May 1st, at Ani DeFranco’s Babeland and Hallwalls. It is sponsored by Youth Audiences of Western New York (YAWNY) in collaboration with Starlight
Studio and The Art Partners Program of the Art Education Department, Buffalo
State College. Registration is open to the
public, as the conference focuses on the diverse ways art and education can be
used to reach people, especially people with special needs, “at-risk”
youth, and incarcerated individuals, in addition to fostering an understanding
of the diverse ways there are to learn.
Headlining the event are two renowned experts who extol the many
ways art in education can be therapeutic. Keynote speaker Lucy Andrus is
Professor of Art Education and Art Therapy at Buffalo State College and founder
of
The
Art Partners Program. Her breadth of
expertise includes the scholarship of teaching and learning, diversity and
multiculturalism, art education for children at risk and those with special
needs, urban art education and therapeutic teaching. Andrus has been
awarded the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the President’s
Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Equity and Campus Diversity.
Keynote performer Gayle Danley, the 2006 Young Audiences
National Artist of the Year, and 1996 International Slam Poet Champion, is a
poet who can “coax cathartic self-expression out of some of the most unlikely
students.” Ms. Danley has worked locally with youth at Renaissance Campus
and Compass House.
Participants can register for three workshops from an offering
of topics ranging from the visual arts to classical drama in the classroom. A
complete list of the workshops can be found here. Dale Davis, a writer/educator and advocate
for young people will run workshops on her pioneering use of hip hop culture as
an educational tool to teach literacy and communication skills. Davis is founder and executive director
of The New York State Literary Center and a founder the Association for
Teaching Artists and New York State Poets in the Schools.
“In
the past, we’ve focused on teachers and educators,” says Cynnie Gaasch,
Director of Development for YAWNY, but she emphasized that the conference is
for the public and not just for those involved in teach the arts. “The reach of
art is more diverse than that. Pretty much everyone can learn things
better when learning through art. This conference will open us to the diverse
methods of learning that the arts present.
For
a full list of participating artists and teachers see the YAWNY web site. Click here for information on submitting student art work.
The
cost for the conference is $25 for college or university students; $25 for
Young Audiences teaching artists; $45 for everyone else. Register by April 22nd.