Creative Arts in Learning Division Partnerships

Completed Partnerships

Passport to East Cambridge

• Community-based ethnographic interviews, digital storytelling and exhibition (2006)

The East Cambridge district, a renowned immigrant community located on the outskirts of Boston, entered its first phase of economic development in 2005. Plans for neighborhood gentrification, likely to lead to the displacement of the "Portuguese, Polish and Italian immigrant community who came to East Cambridge after 1920; as well as Brazilian and Asian" immigrant community, who came to the district in the 1990's. The "Passport to East Cambridge" exhibition and partnership involved a number of local agencies and featured community-based ethnographic interviews aimed at addressing the impact of economic development to this historic community.

Using "Digital Story-Telling" techniques, Lesley University students and Cambridge Rindge and Latin students conducted team interviews with East Cambridge residents at the Cambridge Educational Access Cable TV (CEA) Media Arts Studio. These interviews were featured in the "Passport to East Cambridge" exhibition at the Cambridge Multicultural Art Center (CMAC).

"A special double gallery exhibition at CMAC, in November/December of 2006, highlights the historic contributions of East Cambridge immigrants. Sarah Boyer's book, All in the Same Boat - Twentieth-Century Stories of East Cambridge serves as the cornerstone of the exhibit. The exhibition includes photographs, text, video, found art, and memorabilia provided by and representative of both the old and new East Cambridge community members, as well as East Cambridge artists, whose work supports and contributes to a better understanding of East Cambridge's immigrant populations." Shelley Neil, Executive Director of Cambridge Multicultural Art Center

Partners

• Cambridge Multicultural Art Center (CMAC) http://www.cmacusa.org/
• East End House http://www.eastendhouse.org/
• Lesley University: Creative Arts and Learning Division and Lesley College http://web.lesley.edu
• The Cambridge Historical Commission http://www.cambridgema.gov/~Historic/
• The Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School (CRLS) http://www.cpsd.us/crls/
• Cambridge Educational Access Cable TV (CEA) http://cctvcambridge.org/

Goals

• Build bridges into the community through a community-based service-learning partnership and develop a network of relationships likely to generate new collaborations in the coming years.
• Utilize established models of "Digital Story Telling" to orchestrate a series of interviews between students from Lesley University, Cambridge Rindge and Latin Students and East Cambridge residents.
• Understand immigration as a cornerstone of US history and culture
• Examine and collect cultural artifacts--art, text, found objects and memorabilia--for exhibition purposes

Casa de la Cultura

• Pepon Osorio presentation of Casa de la Cultura (2006)

Internationally renowned installation artist Pepon Osorio returned to the Boston area where he began his work with the youth of Villa Victoria. During his visit he made presentations of his work both at Lesley University and Casa de la Cultura in Villa Victoria. Mr. Osorio's work provided a powerful model for engaging in dialogue with communities through Art. These events initiated Mr. Osorio's two-year community-building contemporary arts project with the families of Villa Victoria and the project partners.

Partners

• Lesley University
• Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (IBA)
• Emerson College
• Samson Projects
• UMASS-Boston
• Harvard University

Wolftrap Foundation for the Performing Arts Opportunities

• Funded Artist residencies (2005)

NALC has been working with the Marshall and Sumner Schools to provide arts in education programming since 2000 and 2003 respectively, to strengthen the role of the arts in the curriculum to facilitate broader student learning and success. NALC offers the Arts and Literacy Mentorship Program which partners 3rd – 5th grade elementary students with high school students around arts learning activities. Additionally, NALC has created a partnership with Lesley University, which offers Creative Arts in Learning professional development for Marshall and Sumner teachers and administrators. These activities are currently being funded by an Arts Learning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Partners

• Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
• Boston Children’s Museum
• Lesley University
• National Arts & Learning Colloborative (NALC)
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

Funding

• Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation