outreach updates

things have been happening with Sidekick Arts.

the official campaign is a week away from ending, but donations can continue to come in. regardless, we will be able to make something happen for the schools no matter what at this point.

and we made the news today! i had to be the spokesperson...i don't think i did too badly and the article is mostly accurate. but it's always a shock to have yourself quoted back to you.

and our official video was released last week, viewable on any link or click here.

showcasing

so concludes my first stint as an official "teaching artist" instead of "art teacher." i think the students were proud of their work and the showcase went well.

here's a couple of slideshows i put together. the students did the voice overs. most were unscripted but i did help with some prompts and gave lines to they VERY few who were "camera shy." (recorder shy?)
sound quality isn't great but it didn't matter; they were still excited to see it!

first, the middle schoolers:

and next, the 5th graders:

outreach project: Sidekick Arts

over the past few months i've been working with a few people trying to get an art outreach project off

the ground.

i can't take any credit for the idea, it was already floating around the group of artists before i joined in. but i thought it was a good one it only needed few people to take action. and here we are!

Sidekick Arts is a program that will provide visiting artists workshops, demonstrations or performances to schools throughout the school year at no cost to the school. our 3 main goals are

• Support and enrich the art curriculum, students and teachers in Chicago schools
• Provide paid opportunities to local artists
• Make a stronger community & connection between artists and neighborhood schools

so far the most challenging part has been visualizing how this model will work enough so we felt confident that people would actually donate to the cause.

that's where we're at right now: we need money to make this idea happen. launching the crowding funding campaign has been a moving target. in fact, it was supposed to be launched a month ago but we encountered another snag that was out of our control. i was not surprised, to say the least.

but it launched! our "real" campaign video will roll out a little later upon official approval. here's this one i made quickly to just get the idea across. all

it's definitely a learning experience--i've certainly felt uncomfortable here and there and i'm sure there's plenty more of that coming my way. but it's proof that i'm being challenged.