The Arts Career Path Program concluded last semester with a site specific performance by our dance class. The dance students worked with their instructor from Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre to create and execute the performance on the stairs of the library’s reading room. The Mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts Jr., even came to give some opening remarks. We’re so glad to have his support of arts education. We have another exciting performance in store for this semester too!
The after school dance class with Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre continues this semester as well. The entire dance class went on another field trip to Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook to do a workshop on a fish sculpture with professional dancers. A few girls even performed the dance they learned in the workshop for the public the next day at Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre’s Ebb & Flow Festival. It’s so fantastic that they’re not only receiving instruction and collaborating with professional dancers but also getting the chance to perform what they’re learning. Way to go girls!
Through our partnership with Harmony Project our music students in the after school musicianship class received instruments on loan. The students chose from cello, violin, or viola. We’re excited to hear what they’ve learned when they perform at our arts assembly later in the semester.
Photo by Simba Sims
Students in Ms. Warner’s Basic Music Theory class will be taking a field trip to Walt Disney Concert Hall next Friday to see a performance by The LA Phil. The LA Phil provides students the opportunity to connect to passionate musicians, a world-class orchestra, and a concert hall that students have described as a silver tulip. This season, LA Phil partnered with NPR’s From the Top program, to present concerts for high school and middle school music students. We’re very grateful we were chosen to attend.
Acting class is busy planning their 2nd Annual Murder Mystery Spring Production for Saturday, April 21st . If you went last year, you know how much fun it was. If you didn’t, be sure to not miss it this year! Tickets can be purchased here.
The acting class will also be attending a production off Noises Off at A Noise Within Theater in Pasadena later this semester. We’re very excited to see a play in a smaller, more intimate setting and have the opportunity to engage in a lively, post-show discussion with the artists. Students will also watch the movie to compare and contrast to the live play.
A representative from The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising came to give a give presentations to all of our media arts classes. Our photography and yearbook classes heard a presentation on Social Media Marketing. Social Media isn’t just something to do in your spare time, it is a viable career path amounting to approximately $1.3 trillion to our economy. Students learned the importance of social, digital, and new media marketing, the impact it has across numerous industries, and the skills required to work in this field. Students learned how brands develop social media marketing campaigns and then put their knowledge to the test by developing their own campaign.
Film class sat in on an Entertainment Marketing in the Digital Age presentation. This interactive presentation invited students to exercise their conceptual thinking skills while they learned detailed film marketing methods and applied their knowledge to develop their own movie poster or movie trailer.
Fashion club also had a lunch presentation on design inspiration and learned where designers “shop” for ideas. The fashion club will also be attending the FIDM Debut Runway Show at the Barker Hangar to view the collections of FIDM’s graduating Advanced Fashion Design and Theatre Costume Design students. Thank you so much to FIDM for exposing our students to such interesting career path options!
Film and TV Production class just finished filming and editing short silent films. Thanks to a grant from a generous donor, the media lab received an upgrade at the beginning of the semester with new iMacs and Final Cut Pro . Now our students can work individually or in pairs on the computers and at a much quicker speed!
All of our media arts students took a field trip to The Skirball Cultural Center for a short film and dialogue series on gender equality. The program introduced short-format films profiling women and girls from around the world who are fighting for gender equality. After the screening, students discussed the importance of access and equality in our global fight for women’s rights. The students also took photo booth pictures with Las Fotos Project and collaborated on projects of what and who inspire them. This series was presented in partnership with SIMA Classroom. We would like to thank SIMA Classroom for gifting all three teachers that attended a yearlong membership that gives our students access to over 100 award-winning short documentaries that bring global human rights issues, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social innovations and entrepreneurship to life. The entire experience was very moving.
Ceramics students have started learning how to throw on the wheel. As difficult and as messy as it is, there’s nothing more satisfying than finally getting the hang of it and making your first cup! The girls are off to a great start so far.
Photo by Simba Sims
Students in drawing class are tackling one point perspective by practicing drawing the hallway outside of the classroom. It’s so hard to not listen to the left side of your brain when drawing perspective but if you follow the rules it all starts to come together.
The visual arts students are also very excited about our upcoming field trip to The Broad Museum. This is the second year we’ll have the opportunity to participate in the Art+Rhyme program. The Broad invited 826LA to develop creative writing exercises about select artworks on view at the museum that invite students to explore the artists’ creative process by engaging the same questions artists ask themselves when creating an artwork. These activities and materials offer students the opportunity to discover the Broad collection while developing critical and visual thinking skills through narrative, opinion, and informational writing prompts. We look forward to sharing their poems after our visit.
Leave a Reply