- Location:
- New York, NY
- Grant Cycle:
- 2023
- Amount:
- $8,000
- Type of Grant:
- Programming
- Disciplines:
- Education, Museum
Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA) is an experimental arts institution in New York City dedicated to maximizing accessibility to progressive arts education. All programs are 100% free and serve 150,000+ children and their families (in all boroughs of NYC). CMA’s artists spend the year spearheading public programming in local parks, community centers, and public schools who have lost their entire arts programming in order to provide under-prioritized youth opportunities to explore the art world.
RESIDENCY FOR EXPERIMENTAL ARTS EDUCATION:
The Residency invites 3 artists for 1 full academic year to design, implement, & reflect on the efficacy of arts education through intensive school engagement. Our artists are paid $50K salaries, receive benefits, professional development, and enjoy a free studio space embedded in one of our partner public schools during their year of residency.
Each artist is placed directly into a school neighborhood well-suited to their interests or background. Residency Schools selected for 2023-24 include: 1) PS396K in Brownsville, Brooklyn, 2) Children’s Workshop School in the East Village of Manhattan, and 3) Hudson Guild Children’s Center in Chelsea, Manhattan.
INCLUSIVES PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM:
-Experimental Arts Classes: A self-paced, bilingual sanctuary in Spanish and English for 40 children in partnership with Sinergia. Courses focus on exploring different mediums of art and material explorations through the lens of well-known artists such as Malick Sidibé or Alexander Calder.
-Inclusives Open Studios: Highly multi-sensory based, these drop-in experimental arts classes are hosted year-round, after school in the beautiful classroom of Pier 57 in Chelsea, Manhattan. Participants experience material investigation and are encouraged to come back weekly to create a portfolio.
-Outdoors For Autism: In partnership with IncludeNYC, CMA joins 200 children and their families to create a public artwork representative of the story young people with disabilities want to share with the world.
PUBLIC ART INITIATIVES:
CMA’s year-round public art events unite children with leading artists to co-create a Public Artwork within NYC that responds to the needs of the community and reflects relevant and important social and political themes. Planned programs in FY24 include:
1. Village Halloween Parade Float: The annual two-day block party event offers 5,000+ kids to join in for the creation of a CMA community-designed float that leads off the official Village Halloween Parade, broadcast to millions. An enchanting NYC moment, the Parade is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for children to see their own public art come to life on a main stage.
2. Summer PRIDE Block Party: In tandem with the official Youth PRIDE, Resident Artists are paired with 5,000+ children and families to create art that celebrates the end of the school year and LGBTQ+ families.
OUR FIRST ART FAIR:
Hosted in partnership with New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), CMA’s Resident Artists mentor 100 children aged 12 and under as part of Our First Art Fair: An open artist call to have children’s artwork represented at NADA New York for thousands of visitors. Kids make their art. Kids price their art. Kids sell their art. And any art that is not sold becomes part of CMA’s one-of-a-kind permanent collection of art made by children from around the world.
LOOK MAKE SHOW (LMS):
The first dedicated digital space devoted to child-centered on-demand arts education, the portal provides advertisement-free, self-directed discovery with hundreds of arts education videos and community connections. Content in our LMS is produced and vetted by CMA’s Residents who create and write original material and repurpose anachronous public school curriculum in their quest to develop new methods for arts education. Not only does the LMS ameliorate the creative achievement gap, but it also bridges learning connections between home and school.