THE STUDIO OF GREAT IDEAS

GRADES 3-8 • DASHA BROWN AND ALISSA MONTELEONE

In after school art sessions, students use an arts-based inquiry process to more deeply understand themselves and their school community, and lay the foundation for a larger community-building project in the following academic year. Students work to identify areas of need in their school community through illustration, collage, sculpture, surveys, and data gathering, then imagine creative possibilities for addressing those needs. In evening family sessions, students gather cultural information, skills, and project input from their families over dinner. The project is structured to help students synthesize and reflect on the data they’ve gathered, and create a plan for carrying out one project that serves their school community the following year.