“During the month of February, the PS 155 school community came together to showcase our love for Black History month, social justice, and family, in our Festival of Love celebration. Creative Art Works organized a family engagement event that was engaging and afforded our families an opportunity to bond with their children, demonstrate their love for family and, most of all, embrace joy.”
— PS 155 Assistant Principal Ayo Mendez-Torres
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Even though the day was overcast in Upper Manhattan, the environment inside PS/MS 278 was sunny and full of excitement for the culminating event of Creative Art Works’ after-school program in mixed media. After making art twice a week for most of the fall semester, students were finally able to present their work to their families in a lush pop-up gallery. Standing poster boards displayed finished works, while works in progress, rough drafts, and trial prints, all representing the artistic process, covered tables in the school library.
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“What I truly hope students take with them from this program is increased confidence in their creative skills, advanced problem-solving abilities, and a new outlet from which they can communicate their thoughts, feelings, and self-reflection. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: learning to communicate with images those things that you cannot express in words alone.”
– CAW Teaching Artist Lewis Porter
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“I challenged my students to make a book in which they express to the reader who and what they are. Once they’ve made their books, I tell them, ‘I’m going to hold you to your own words. You are responsible for being true to yourself.’”
— CAW Teaching Artist Ryan Davis on the Bookmaking after-school program at IS 254 in The Bronx
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“Storytelling, without fail, is something that intrigues and excites everyone. It’s how we learn to communicate, process our emotions, imagine, and create. Learning to express these stories, and being given access to the space to do so, is so important, especially for students. It’s a way to show them that they are seen and heard, that their words matter, and that their stories matter.”
— Teaching Artist Maham Khwaja
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At an in-school art class at PS/MS 4 Crotona Park West, students were given step-by-step instructions to draw a maple leaf. The structure of the lesson allowed for creativity to flourish. While each drawing is recognizable as a leaf, there is an explosion of colors, styles and techniques that makes each drawing as unique as a signature. We invite you to stroll through this forrest of creativity.
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We are pleased to introduce you to three new members of the Creative Art Works Family: Program Manager Donna Maganello, Program Manager Riki Sabel, and Program Associate Maddie De Leon. We’ve been having a wonderful time getting to know all three of them over the past few months, and we hope you will enjoy learning a bit about them as well.
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At a back-to-school community event in School District 4 in East Harlem earlier this month, Creative Art Works invited students to build a mini diorama of “the classroom of their dreams.” The results ranged from charming to whimsical. While this free art-making project was a lot of fun, it also utilized real academic skills, such as creative problem-solving and spatial and motor skills. Come inside the classroom of our dreams to see selections from this joyful event.
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“We want the students to know that this school is a nurturing and safe environment, and that, no matter where they come from or where they go to in their daily lives, when they come through these doors they will find a support system and people who care about them and want them to grow. ”
— CAW Youth Apprentice Joshua Grant
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From its inception, this mural was intended to be a statement piece for the lobby of Bronx County Family Court that would break down barriers and engage the community. One goal was that everyone who enters the building should be able to see themselves represented in the art. If this mural achieves that goal, it might be in large part because the team of Creative Art Works Youth Apprentices (YAs) who executed this mural mirror the fabric of The Bronx.
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Read MoreThe process of working on this mural has been so great. I gained new skills. I'm not as shy as I was before. It was an amazing experience getting to know the people of this community and interacting with them and learning the history of this place. That is going stay with me forever.
— David Tovar, CAW Youth Apprentice, Summer 2022
This spring, Creative Art Works students and Youth Apprentices at more than 20 partner schools produced a prodigious outpouring of joyful and thought-provoking art. The work is stunning in its variety, quality, and sheer quantity. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, we’ve updated the art gallery page on our website, and we encourage you to take a few minutes to enjoy some of this work.
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We are proud to announce that Janet Woods of Savills has join the board of Creative Art Works. As Vice Chairman and Northeast Region Lead, Janet Woods provides management of the firm’s tenant representation services in Boston, Connecticut, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Miami. She also serves on the company’s Board of Directors and the North American Management Board. We sat down with Janet to talk about her introduction to CAW through a summer Public Art Youth Employment program, the importance of mentorship, and the intersection between athletics and creative youth development.
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Our kids are meeting, and building, in three dimensions! CAW is providing out-of-school-time programs to students in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Queens through the Cultural After School Adventures initiative. These programs provide enrichment, social emotional support, and community building to students during these challenging times.
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Making the transition from middle school to high school can be overwhelming. Students suddenly have a lot more choices and a lot more responsibility. Students can become so focused on getting through each class that they never stop to think about why they are going to school in the first place. The Foundations class at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School is intended to address this very issue. Creative Art Works is providing a digital arts curriculum that integrates with the Foundations program and offers students an alternative point of entry to some essential questions.
“I remember when I was younger my mom and I would sit down on the living room floor and rummage through boxes of family pictures. We looked for portraits of my grandparents and other family members who lived far from us. I liked to ask questions about who everyone was... My mom always responded with “no sé Arecis. No vivo de recuerdos.” Read more in our profile of former CAW Youth Apprentice Arecis Tiburcio Zane.
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Nermen first joined Creative Art Works last summer on the graphic design team in the multimedia program [link] because she wanted to try something outside her comfort zone and not directly related to a medical career path; however, she discovered a passion for the arts and their ability to amplify issues of social justice and public health. When the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene invited CAW to collaborate with the Center for Active Design to provide photography for the upcoming revised edition of the award-winning Active Design Guidelines, Nermen was chosen as one of six CAW all-stars to participate in the program. Over the course of this program, Nermen included a brief synopsis of her photography assignments with her weekly submissions. We were captivated by her anecdotes and invited her to expand on her experiences as a CAW Youth Apprentice.
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