The Hub

An Arts Residency for Grammar School Children

For over 17 years, Grammy Award winner Bunny Hull (songwriter of Patti LaBelle’s classic “New Attitude,” among others) has been conducting music and writing workshops for children.

Through her experiences, Bunny developed a highly acclaimed children’s book series called Young Masters Little Wisdom, and eventually mounted a one-time only performance piece called “Secrets of the Heart” based on the series.

Due to the strength of that performance, Bunny was offered a chance to apply for an Actor’s Fund program sponsored by Sony, which would guide artists to become “teaching artists” and enable them to write standards-based curriculum for California’s public schools.

Bunny knew participation in the program would give her a tremendous opportunity to assist in turning around the decline of arts programs in schools.

“Most school arts programs weren’t ‘programs’ anymore,” she told me. “They had become more of an after school activity, mostly centered on visual arts and a little bit of music. There was very little theater arts or dance. I felt a need to create something that would be more a part of every day curriculum and happen during school hours.”

Her application to the Actor’s Fund program was accepted. Bunny honed and refined “Secrets of the Heart” during the process and her instructor, Leonardo Bravo (Director of School Programs at the Los Angeles Music Center), recognized that the program was perfect for schools. He encouraged her to take “Secrets of the Heart” and make it the centerpiece of a series of arts workshops.

She heeded Bravo’s advice and those workshops have now grown into an non-profit organization called Dream A World Education, Inc. “Secrets of the Heart” has become a six-week residency program designed for class levels kindergarten through second grade.

The program uses music, dance, theater and visual arts to teach children about “the secrets:” friendship, kindness, imagination and gratitude. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, the program assists children in connecting to the biggest “secret of the heart,” the unique and individual inspiration they have within themselves.

This past fall, I attended the first and last sessions of the most recent residency at Leo Politi Elementary School in Los Angeles.

At the introductory session, I watched Bunny and her team of artists use fun, rhythmic music and delightfully interactive storytelling to introduce kids to the concept that each one of them is a “young master.” Given today’s technological distractions, it was heartening to see that a traditional, live presentation could hold the rapt attention of nearly 200 five- to seven-year-olds.

The children’s reaction to the performers was so strong that they naturally imitated them, and truly reveled in placing a peace sign over their hearts and reciting the pledge, “I promise to use my gifts every day, in every way, for I am a young master. Peace!”

Six weeks later, I returned to see the culmination of at least 24 arts-based classes. The enthusiasm had doubled and the joy in the vast school auditorium was palpable.

With the help of “Secrets of the Heart” instructors, each of three classrooms had written their own song centered around friendship and smiling, expressed dance through the concept of kindness, written a story using their “magic eye” and created head-dresses that each child individually decorated with what they are personally thankful for.

It was fascinating to note the individual and natural artistic inclinations of the children. Some particularly came alive while singing their classroom’s song, and others seemed to enjoy participating telling part of a story, or explaining how they would “go inside” a painting.

One thing is certain: not a single child in that room was disengaged from what was happening.

This is not only attributable to Bunny and her team, but also the teachers and parents. Before a residency begins, Bunny does an individual workshop for both sets of adults. The purpose is to ensure that what the children learn during the six weeks is reinforced in the classroom and at home.

One of the biggest “Secrets of the Heart” champions is Leo Politi’s passionate and enthusiastic school principal, Brad Rumble.

Says Rumble, “Secrets of the Heart” helps children recognize their potential at a very early age better than any program I’ve ever seen. “Over six weeks, I watch my students develop self-confidence and begin to understand and appreciate their own uniqueness. The feedback from parents is also incredible. It is as empowering for them as it is for the kids.”

Rumble does not exaggerate. I was moved to see how the enthusiasm for the program extended to the parents. It was evident that they were heavily involved in the process and took it very seriously. Parents beamed with pride over vision boards made with their children. Each vision board was representative of the dreams they have for their families, and the values parents and children had discussed throughout the process of “Secrets of the Heart.”

Current funding for Dream A World Education doesn’t allow Bunny and her crew to do more than four schools per year. “I am currently looking for investors,” Bunny says. “Between that and fundraising efforts, I want to have a decent foundation in place so I can partner with more schools and grow the program. I’m doing so much of it myself right now, and I need administrative help.”

“Secrets of the Heart” is an invaluable program that reinforces the importance of the arts, and what it can mean for a child’s self esteem. All educators or potential benefactors who care about the arts in school should take the time to see the power of this program for themselves.

The next residency program is about to begin at Gardner Street Elementary School followed by Loyola Village Elementary; both in Los Angeles. The opening performance is on January 18th, 2012. For more information on attending, or to find out how to support Dream A World Education visit www.dreamaworldedu.org. To find out about Dream A World’s music and books visit www.dreamaworld.com.

Below is a photo of Bunny Hull with some of her “Secrets of the Heart” students, followed by an example of the vision boards families created with their children.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-katz/secrets-of-the-heart-an-a_b_2451161.html?utm_hp_ref=arts&ir=Arts

Visit Morija!

We invite you to enjoy the rich history, arts & culture of the peoples of Lesotho. Whether you are from Lesotho, or Southern African or from another part of the global family, you will be welcome in Morija, Lesotho. Explore for yourself the wonders of this multi-faceted and unique heritage site. If you cannot come physically to Morija in Lesotho, then through the power of the internet you can still discover important information concerning the famous collections of Morija Museum & Archives, the works of Basotho artists, and learn more about various projects in the arts, culture, heritage management and community-based tourism.

Morija is the perfect place to explore Basotho culture. Visit the many attractions including Morija Museum & Archives, Maeder House & the Morija Arts Center, and the dinosaur footprints. Experience outdoor activities such as hiking, pony trekking, bird watching and mountain biking. Plus, Morija hosts the country’s annual Arts & Cultural Festival, an event you should not miss!

Visit morija.co.ls for more information!

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

This is a re-post from Huffington Post by Sir Ken Robinson.

I’ve spoken twice at TED. The first time was in 2006. TED was a very different event then. It was a private conference for about 1,200 people. After the event, the talks were packaged in a box set of DVDs and sent just to the attendees. I gave a talk called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” A few months later, Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, called to say they were planning to put a few talks on their website as an experiment and asked if they could include mine. The timing was perfect. Social media was beginning to take shape and the insatiable appetite for YouTube and short videos was about to emerge. The experiment was an instant success and has turned TED into a global cultural phenomenon. There are now several hundred talks on the website and the number of downloads has passed one billion.

I’m surprised and delighted to say that my first talk remains the most viewed of all TED Talks so far. It’s been downloaded well over 20 million times from all platforms in over 150 countries and continues to be downloaded about 10,000 times a day from the TED site alone. Admittedly that doesn’t compare with “Gangnam Style” with its 800 million downloads but it’s still a lot for a 20 minute talk on education. Because it’s constantly shown at large and small conferences, workshops and meetings around the world, the number of viewers is certainly much higher than the download figure and may well be over 200 million people.

In the past six years, I’ve had countless emails and tweets from young people who’ve shown it to their parents and teachers; from teachers, who’ve shown it to their students and their principals; from parents who’ve shared it with their kids, and from leaders who’ve shown it to their whole organizations. Why is this talk so popular and what’s the significance of its popularity?

People and organizations everywhere can see that current systems of education are failing to meet the challenges we now all face and they’re working furiously to create alternatives.– Sir Ken Robinson

There are two main themes in the talk. First, we’re all born with deep natural capacities for creativity and systems of mass education tend to suppress them. Second, it is increasingly urgent to cultivate these capacities — for personal, economic and cultural reasons — and to rethink the dominant approaches to education to make sure that we do. One reason the talk has traveled so far is that these themes resonate so deeply with people at a personal level. I hear constantly from people around the world who feel marginalized by their own education, who want to thank me for helping them to understand why that may be and that they’re not alone. In the talk, I mentioned a book I was writing about the need to find our true talents and how often people are pushed away from them. The responses I get show that this is a common experience that’s deeply felt and ultimately resented. (Incidentally, I said in the talk that the book is called Epiphany. I later changed the title to The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. It was too late to change the reference in the talk, which has since done wonders to promote sales of books called Epiphany… )

A second reason for the impact of the talk is that people and organizations everywhere can see that current systems of education are failing to meet the challenges we now all face and they’re working furiously to create alternatives. In many countries, they’re doing this in the face of national policies and cultural attitudes that seem locked in past. The dominant systems of education are based on three principles — or assumptions at least — that are exactly opposite to how human lives are actually lived. Apart from that, they’re fine. First, they promote standardization and a narrow view of intelligence when human talents are diverse and personal. Second, they promote compliance when cultural progress and achievement depend on the cultivation of imagination and creativity. Third, they are linear and rigid when the course of each human life, including yours, is organic and largely unpredictable. As the rate of change continues to accelerate, building new forms of education on these alternative principles is not a romantic whimsy: it’s essential to personal fulfillment and to the sustainability of the world we are now creating.

To some extent, my first talk has been a rallying point for a different conversation about education and I’m delighted that it has. It’s a conversation that’s become more and not less urgent in the last six years and TED has been a powerful force in taking it forward. In 2010, I gave my second talk at TED, which was called “Bring on the Learning Revolution“, based on my book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. By then there were hundreds of TED and TEDx talks online and many that give powerful examples of new styles of education. Many others explore the nature of creativity and how emerging technologies can extend our creative abilities and can transform teaching and learning at the same time.

Educators everywhere now use TED Talks as resources to open up and inform debate about the nature of education and to develop their own practices in new directions. It’s a great testament to TED that it has become not only a way of advocating change in education but also one of the most effective ways of bringing it about.

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TEDWeekends will highlight some of today’s most intriguing ideas and allow them to develop in real time through your voice! Tweet #TEDWeekends to share your perspective or emailtedweekends@hufﬁngtonpost.com to learn about future weekend’s ideas to contribute as a writer.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sir-ken-robinson/do-schools-kill-creativity_b_2252942.html

Watch the video:

The Power of the Arts

Although this post deals with art and education in the USA, we thought it was a good share due to the lack of support for the arts in Lesotho, where an art program is rarely found in schools. Originally posted in Huffington Post by John M. Eger.

Watch the TEDTalk that inspired this post.

With America slowly awakening to the need to turn out creative and innovative workers who can join the 21st century workplace — it’s already 2012 — we have to change the current emphasis on STEM, for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, to STEAM, by insuring that the whole brain is nurtured through the arts.

Too many, simply put, see art as nice but not necessary…children’s art, even less valuable.

But more neuroscientists, psychologists, educators and others are finding that the arts help nurture the right hemisphere of the brain, and is exactly what the more left brained curriculum needs to create the new thinking skills leading to creativity. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly apparent that arts initiatives will be the hallmarks of the most-successful schools and universities and, in turn, the most-successful and vibrant twenty-first-century cities and regions.

As Sir Ken Robinson, international expert on creativity and education has said, “We are all born creative… ” but “creativity gets squeezed out of us” about the 4th grade. Fortunately, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) seem to agree: education is badly in need of an overhaul and the potential is hopeful.

STEAM — including the arts and art integration — is fundamental to our effort to reinvent our schools, our communities and our nation. To accomplish our goals, however, we desperately need to be willing to change the paradigm, reinvent our schools — the very concept of education — and meet the challenges of a global economy.

Two years ago Duncan said, “The arts can no longer be treated as a frill … Arts education is essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical for young Americans competing in a global economy.”

More recently, NSF, in a grant of $2,654,895 called “Integrating Informal STEM and Arts-Based Learning to Foster Innovation” they made clear that it hopes that a new model for education will become apparent over the next few years. The goal of the project’s development activities is to experiment with a variety of “innovation incubator” models in cities around the country. Modeled on business “incubators” or “accelerators” that are designed to foster and accelerate innovation and creativity, these STEM incubators generate collaborations of different professionals and the public around STEM education and other STEM-related topics of local interest that can be explored with the help of creative learning methodologies such as innovative methods to generate creative ideas, ideas for transforming one STEM idea to others, drawing on visual and graphical ideas, improvisation, narrative writing and the process of using innovative visual displays of information for creating visual roadmaps.”

Earlier this year the NEA announced its grant agenda in art and science. Proposals that demonstrate how both subjects can be woven together in an artwork, or play, demonstration or lab experiment or even an educational effort costing no more that $10,000 to $100,000 are being encouraged. Bill O’Brian, senior adviser for Innovation programs at the NEA said that “creativity and innovation” clearly support U.S. economic interests and he expected this effort to continue well beyond the current request for applications. He also noted that the government community of artists and scientists are very much in agreement that these are the kinds of things they wish to fund.

As promising as these efforts represent — and they are heartening after No Child Left Behind legislation — every man, woman and child need to know and understand that the tectonic plates of the world’s economy have shifted. The task of recreating any city-any community-housing, transportation, roads and bridges, clean water electricity, schools, is enormous. The task of creating a knowledge city, a creative and innovative community, is even more complex but must be the central focus of business and government at every level of our society and economy.

Cities must prepare their citizens to take ownership of their communities, build the broadband communications infrastructures the workplace needs, and educate the next generation of leaders and workers to meet the new global challenges of what just recently been termed the “new economy”, the “creative and innovative economy”.

Fashioning creative communities is essential to developing and attracting the type of bright and creative people that generate new patents and inventions, innovative world-class products and services and the finance and marketing plans to support them. If we don’t first have smart and creative people we cannot have creative workplaces or communities. And time is of the essence.

A permanent fact of life is that a new economy is emerging and it is huge. It is an economy requiring creativity, imagination and innovation. It is an economy that is global, technology driven and knowledge based. There is a trend here, like a tsunami really, shaping our world and our workforce as never before.

During the Clinton presidency democratic strategist James Carville, was fond of saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Much the same could be said today. The stimulus and all the federal policies in the world will not help if all we do is prop up the old economy. It is rather the new economy, the creative and innovative economy, begging for attention.

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TEDWeekends will highlight some of today’s most intriguing ideas and allow them to develop in real time through your voice! Tweet #TEDWeekends to share your perspective or email tedweekends@hufﬁngtonpost.com to learn about future weekend’s ideas to contribute as a writer.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-eger/nsf-arts-grant_b_2208522.html

A Vegan Diet (Hugely) Helpful Against Cancer

If you’re anything like me, the “C” word leaves you trembling. But today there is very good news to report: Research suggests you can improve your odds of never getting cancer and/or improve your chances of recovering from it. Not with a drug or surgery, although those methods might be quite effective. This is all about the power on your plate, and it’s seriously powerful.

A 2012 analysis of all the best studies done to date concluded vegetarians have significantly lower cancer rates. For example, the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer ever performedconcluded that “the incidence of all cancers combined is lower among vegetarians.”

That’s good news, yes. But what if we’re looking for great news? If vegetarians fare so much better than meat-eaters, what about vegans? Is that an even better way to eat? We didn’t know for sure until now.

A new study just out of Loma Linda University funded by the National Cancer Institute reported that vegans have lower rates of cancer than both meat-eaters and vegetarians. Vegan women, for example, had 34 percent lower rates of female-specific cancers such as breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer. And this was compared to a group of healthy omnivores who ate substantially less meat than the general population (two servings a week or more), as well as after controlling for non-dietary factors such as smoking, alcohol, and a family history of cancer.

Why do vegans have such lower cancer risk? This is fascinating stuff: An elegant series of experiments was performed in which people were placed on different diets and their blood was then dripped on human cancer cells growing in a petri dish to see whose diet kicked more cancer butt. Women placed on plant-based diets for just two weeks, for example, were found to suppress the growth of three different types of breast cancer (see images of the cancer clearance). The same blood coursing through these womens’ bodies gained the power to significantly slow down and stop breast cancer cell growth thanks to just two weeks of eating a healthy plant-based diet! (Two weeks! Imagine what’s going on in your body after a year!) Similar results were found for men against prostate cancer (as well as against prostate enlargement).

How may a simple dietary change make one’s bloodstream so inhospitable to cancer in just a matter of days? The dramatic improvement in cancer defenses after two weeks of eating healthier is thought to be due to changes in the level of a cancer-promoting growth hormone in the body calledIGF-1. Animal protein intake increases the levels of IGF-1 in our body, but within two weeks of switching to a plant-based diet, IGF-1 levels in the bloodstream drop sufficiently to help slow the growth of cancer cells.

How plant-based do we need to eat? Studies comparing levels of IGF-1 in meat-eaters vs. vegetarians vs. vegans suggest that we should lean toward eliminating animal products from our diets altogether. This is supported by the new study in which the thousands of American vegans studied not only had lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, but significantly lower cancer risk as well.

This makes sense when you consider the research done by Drs. Dean Ornish and Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn; they found that a vegan diet caused more than 500 genes to change in only three months, turning on genes that prevent disease and turning off genes that cause breast cancer, heart disease, prostate cancer, and other illnesses. This is empowering news, given that most people think they are a victim of their genes, helpless to stave off some of the most dreaded diseases. We aren’t helpless at all; in fact, the power is largely in our hands. It’s on our forks, actually.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/vegan-diet-cancer_b_2250052.html

For more by Kathy Freston, click here.

For more on diet and nutrition, click here.