School and Community Programming
Mock Turtle has a long record of working with school districts and arts organizations to bring the arts and teaching artists into the schools. Over the past two years, the theater has become ever more involved in the development of the Kennedy Center’s Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child Program in the Bethlehem Area School District. Meanwhile, our principal contribution to elementary education in the community has been with the creation and nurturing of the South Side Children’s Festival, an after school arts program involving more than ten local teaching artists and small arts organizations.
South Side Children’s Festival
Now in its fifth season, the South Side Children’s Festival was conceived, in partnership with the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, to bring cultural equity into the inner city schools.
The program has evolved year by year. Last year South Side Children’s Festival reached more than four thousand children, teachers and parents. Meanwhile, the program has expanded conceptually to include our Summer Slide Program, dedicated to the enrichment of summer school programs through the performing arts.
Lately, we have added two new programs related to the arts and cultural equity. The first is our Elementary Poetry Program at Donegan School, a program that is based on a strong teacher/teaching artist relationship. Currently, we are piloting a major new program called Big Plans, a series of workshops dedicated to encouraging higher occupational and career aspirations among inner-city students.
Process: How the South Side Children’s Festival Works
The objective of the South Side Children’s Festival (SSCF) is to employ local teaching artists in the creation of student- originated performing arts events. These events are developed through a five- or six- part workshop series that culminates in peer group and community assembly programs at the school.
These assembly programs are developed to provide two very important services for the schools and their students. The first is the use of the performing arts to build school community through rich culminating events. The second is to create high-quality opportunities for inclusion and equity for students who need these experiences most.
Goals and Outcomes
Our goal in creating rich, student originated school programs is two-fold. First we aim to bring a new level of cultural equity to inner city students. Our program delivers the performing arts to children who would not otherwise have the opportunity to engage in disciplines such as poetry, puppetry, theater, music, and dance.
The second important objective is to create positive experiences for school community- building. Often emotionally charged student performances, coupled with audience participation and refreshments, creates opportunities for rich, positive interchange between students, families, and teachers alike.
