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Summer Changes Everything: Garden of Fire to Present at Baltimore Conference

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2015 Conf badge-presenterI am very pleased to be presenting at the 12th Annual National Summer Learning Association Conference. This year’s conference theme, Renewing the Promise and Purpose of Learning, celebrates the joy of learning, the perfect tie-in with our own Garden of Fire Summer Program.

I, Gigi Alvaré , Director of Education at The Rockwell Museum, will travel to Baltimore to present with my colleagues Emily Hofelich-Bowler and Alli Lidie; we’ll present on how networking and collaboration can spark innovation in summer programming.

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Gigi Alvaré, Director of Education at The Rockwell Museum, reads the Garden of Fire story during the first summer session

Our presentation, entitled Garden of Fire: Reaping the Rewards of Community Networking Through a Joint Summer Program, will highlight how several organizations and programs came together in a rural community to create a rich summer program for youth. The Garden of Fire was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Grant after the first summer of programming.

The session will give context to the Garden of Fire collaboration with an opening discussion, led by Alli Lidie, Deputy Director and White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellow of AfterSchool Works! NY: the New York State Afterschool Network (ASW:NYSAN). Alli will speak about the structure for regional after-school networks in New York State that bring together both after-school and summer providers in their communities. The Garden of Fire program grew out of the relationships formed through network participation, and through work with The Triangle Fund, a funder and member of the network. The session will also touch on work done by other regional networks in New York.

Emily Hofelich-Bowler, Executive Director of the Addison Youth Center
Emily Hofelich-Bowler, Executive Director of the Addison Youth Center, presents her owl friend to students

The Garden of Fire is a project conceived collaboratively by local organizations whose purpose is to build capacity, depth and the integration of art and science for programs serving at-risk youth in Steuben County, New York. Emily Hofelich-Bowler, Executive Director of the Addison Youth Center, will speak about networking with the local school districts to optimize resources, and how incorporating state-wide learning initiatives (STEM) as part of the program gave the summer program more leverage and legitimacy in asking for school support.

By providing programming led by professional artists and educators held in museums, gardens, and fields, the local community and region opens up to students who otherwise might have very limited opportunities. It is our hope that the model program we have collectively created will spark the imagination and action of other communities to build their own Gardens of Fire.

Together we can care for our most precious gifts: the earth itself and the children who live on it. 

Gigi1Gigi Alvaré
Director of Education
The Rockwell Museum

Arts Education, garden of fire festival, news, press, volunteer

THANK YOU!

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Thank you to all of the staff, supporters, volunteers, friends, planners, students, leaders and friends who made the Garden of Fire Festival happen on Friday afternoon. Without people like you, who believe in arts education and making our community a special place for children to grow up, projects like this would not be possible.

Too many people to photograph! Here’s a small sampling of the supporters and staffers who made the event possible.

More pictures and videos coming soon! Search #GoFFest on Instagram for another small sampling on videos and pictures.

news, press

GoF Featured in NYSAN Learning Brief

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We’re very excited to be featured in the New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) Learning Brief highlighting summer learning opportunities across the state. Find the full brief and additional fact sheets here. Find us on page 5!

We couldn’t say it better ourselves, so here it is straight from NYSAN:

“There is a well-documented need for a statewide, coordinated system of youth programs that operate outside of school hours, including before and after school, and during weekends and other school breaks, to provide high-quality, enriching experiences that contribute to the learning and healthy development of youth. Given their sizable impact on young people, summer learning opportunities must be a critical component of this system. However, far too many children have little or no exposure to the safe, supervised learning and enrichment activities that summer programs can provide.

“Summer experiences help meet the needs of all children; this is especially true for children from traditionally underserved communities, including children of color, those from low-income families, and children living in rural areas. Research shows that summer learning loss is a significant contributor to the achievement gap; students from low-income families typically lose two to three months in reading achievement and two months of math skills during the summer months.

Far too many children have little or no exposure to the safe, supervised learning and enrichment activities that summer programs can provide.”

Well said! And Happy Friday!

news, press

Press Release: The Rockwell Museum Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant

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The Rockwell Museum Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant to Support “Garden of Fire” Summer Youth Program

CORNING, NY — The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced today that The Rockwell Museum is one of only 163 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Challenge America grant. The Rockwell Museum is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support the continuation of the Garden of Fire summer youth program. 

The Garden of Fire program was conceived collaboratively by local agencies with The Rockwell Museum serving as the lead organization. Serving youth in Steuben County, the program focuses on building capacity, depth and the integration of art and science.  The goal of the program is to educate children about nutrition, health, art, music and natural science through interactive experiences. The Garden of Fire title represents the gardening and fire ceramics activities that are offered as part of the program. During the summer of 2014, The Rockwell Museum, The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, 171 Cedar Arts Center, Tanglewood Nature Center and CareFirst (formerly Southern Tier Hospice) offered programming to students served by the Corning Salvation Army, Addison Youth Center, Hornell Area Concern for Youth, and the Corning Area Youth Center.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “I’m pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Challenge America including the award to The Rockwell Museum. The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives.”

“Children participate in a series of art and science focused sessions led by local professional artists and educators. Each component of the program offers students unique opportunities which they would not otherwise be exposed to in their communities. It also allows students of varied backgrounds to work together to learn new skills and create art within a safe and supportive environment. We are delighted that this initiative will continue with support from NEA,” says Gigi Alvaré, Director of Education at The Rockwell Museum.

The Challenge America category supports projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. The NEA received 347 eligible Challenge America applications and will award 163 grants for a total of $1.63 million.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Challenge America support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov. Follow the conversation about this and other NEA‐funded projects on Twitter at #NEAFall2014.