Director Donney Rose Reflects on Progress of Fall Semester at Academy
Director Donney Rose discusses how the Fall semester is progressing at the Academy, a space dedicated to providing elementary children, teenagers and college students with an opportunity to challenge themselves and express their enthusiasm through art.
There's not many things that can match the exuberance of an elementary school student being excited about learning something new. And though I've spent the majority of my years working in youth arts programming in service to teenagers and young adults, there is always something inspiring about creative pre-adolescents, and their willingness to challenge themselves.
We are just about a month into the fall session of the Words Beats & Life after-school Academy, and for the first time, are offering programming specifically for elementary-age students during the school year on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Our baby-faced artisans are pulling up with energy and enthusiasm to play chess, to create rhythms on African drums, to learn fundamentals of breaking, to do beat production and to spend time with our dynamic team of teaching artists.
It is a wonder to watch them create at such an innocent stage in their lives. It is heartwarming to watch them joyfully enter the space, ready to learn new techniques and to revel in the art they are producing in real-time. When these students attend our after-school Academy on Mondays and Tuesdays, they are not being bombarded with messages of what they could be doing "someday." They are young makers in the present.
Of course, we love and appreciate every young person that engages with the Academy. Whether it is the tween trying to find their footing, the high school junior who is contemplating what their life post-graduation will be or the college freshman who comes to our studio to gain mastery as a budding DJ.
But the kiddos are giving me an additional lifeline as I imagine their presence with us being for the long haul, and am thrilled at the prospect of how much they can grow in their artistry and personhood with us.
And how much we can continue to grow from learning from them.
