InsideOut

Prior to joining the Performing Arts Workshop, Jessica worked for four years in her native Boston where she managed the staff, funding and coordination for a number of academic research projects related to civic engagement, community development and grassroots organizing. She also developed her own negotiation and community building skills as an organizer for the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (AFSCME, AFL-CIO). In 2005, Jessica finished her master's degree in Education and moved to the Bay Area. The Workshop offers her the opportunity to combine her love of the performing arts with her interests in education and community building.

Dandelion Arts provides art eduction to children with limited access to the arts in Kindergarten through eighth grades with an emphasis on culture and social responsibility.  Art mediums are primarily visual arts and creative writing.

San Francisco WritersCorps, a project of the San Francisco Arts Commission, places professional writers in community settings to teach creative writing to youth. Since its inception in 1994, the program has helped over 14,500 young people from neighborhoods throughout San Francisco improve their literacy and increase their desire to learn. WritersCorps publishes award winning publications and produces local and national events featuring young people. The program is part of a national alliance with sites in the Bronx and Washington, D.C., whose shared vision is to transform and strengthen individuals and communities using the written word.

Classroom visits, field trips, outreach events and professional development led by book artist/instructors introduce bookmaking as a way of fostering literacy and nurturing artistc expression, while creatively incorporating topics across curriculm. Sample projects, always tailored to grade level and specific classroom themes, are online at the SFCB Youth Programs web page, www.sfcb.org/php/yp.php and on the Teacher Features blog, www.sfcb.org/teacher-features. 

The Muliticultural Arts School, located at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, provides year-round arts programs for youth.  Month-long summer day camps offer visual and performing arts programs, and culminate in a performance.  Year-round after-school classes are offered in subjects such as puppet making, mosaic, painting and drawing, mask-making, and hip-hop dance.