UPTURN ARTS
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Mission Statement
Our mission at Upturn Arts is “Arts for All.” UA was first operated in 2010 as Hope Stone NOLA, a satellite project of Hope Stone, Inc., which is based in Houston. In June 2014, the organizations formally separated and Upturn Arts acquired its own 501c3 nonprofit status. UA is now entering its tenth year of providing arts enrichment opportunities to all New Orleans youth with free and low-cost arts education through the creARTive grants program. Our arts instruction has grown from a one-week summer camp for 23 registered students in 2010 to providing year-round programming for 1,270 students.
About This Cause
During the school year, Upturn Arts offers 16 weeks combined of full-day holiday (school break) camps. Children who attend these programs range from 4 to 12 years old and take classes in dance, music, visual arts, theater, and yoga. Our summer camps, which are offered in two-week sessions, include: - 40 hours per week of instruction in dance, music, theater, improvisation, creative writing, drumming, yoga, and more - two meals per day and healthy snacks for each child - all necessary art supplies - cultural field trips - community performances - guest instructors In 2014, we launched the Master Artist Series as part of our summer camps. Running from Monday to Thursday, these hour-long workshops led by local working artists expose students to art forms not taught in our regular curriculum. During the hour, students learn the stories and career trajectories of the guest artists and get to see their crafts demonstrated. Sessions have included electronic music composition, open-mic rapping, second line dancing, culinary arts, magic, African drumming, tightrope walking, and much more. Master artists such as Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr. and the Mardi Gras Indians, Mike Dillon, the Dames de Perlage, Dancing Man 504, John Bukaty, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, Daria and the Hip Drops, the Creole Belle Baby Dolls, and Dr. Michael White deepen exposure to Louisiana culture while artists like David Shaw of The Revivalists, Tank and the Bangas, and Big Freedia bring the stage and screen to the classroom and demonstrate that a career in the arts is possible. Most recently, our Master Artists have tackled difficult social issues ranging from bullying (Artivism Dance Company) to LGBTQ awareness (Warren Redding). Since its introduction, the Master Artist Series has expanded annually. For our latest summer and holiday camps, we incorporated 47 different guest teaching artists over the 75 days. Our campers are inspired by these artists and encouraged to create or perform using the techniques or styles demonstrated. Too, these classes generate a great deal of excitement among students; they feel very special to have well-known artists giving them a “private concert” or special group lesson. The guest artists benefit not only by receiving monetary stipends but also by being able to share their passions, inspire future musicians and artists, and give back to the community. In 2017, in addition to our regular camp programs, we added a new curriculum that focuses on local culture along with corresponding weekly field trips that deepen the connection to and understanding of the arts in New Orleans. As a culmination of the experience, students create post-field trip art projects based on what they’ve seen. Via our work with the Youth Quality Program Initiative, 2017 also saw the development and implementation of a tiered staffing model to reduce turnover of teaching artists. The model requires UA instructors to complete professional development hours that allow them to progress up the tiers; this progress increases their pay rate and grants them mentor status for newer teaching artists. Artists who reach the top tier are then encouraged to participate in professional development in their specific art genre, for which they receive a stipend to cover costs. Since we started the tiered model, 90% of our employees have stayed with us. In 2018, we piloted a Young Artists in Training (YAT) teen theater arts program in which students spent three weeks of full-day sessions creating a performance that engaged their abilities in playwriting, dance, music, and visual arts. With staff guidance, they created all aspects of the performance—including set design, choreography, and story—and staged it at NOLA Spaces for an audience of more than 50 community members. That year, we also expanded our field trip offerings to holiday camps. For 2019, we are seeking to pilot targeted programming for youth ages 11 to 14 (“tweens”). This approach is based on having included these students in our YAT program, which granted us insight on how to best serve their demographic—information that is particularly useful as we are starting to see 11 as the age-out point for our long-term core students. That said, UA is seeking to implement focused programming for the tween age group over the next three years. Each session of this “after afterschool” program will entail four weekly Friday night workshops running from 6pm to 9pm, of which two hours would be devoted to class and the final hour to social time. This time slot both avoids conflict with afterschool activities and fulfills a request from client families for parent-free supervised activity for New Orleans children in this age range. We plan to begin with a fall 2019 pilot of two unique sessions, one providing instruction in graphic design and the other covering costuming. The graphic design session (“Design It Up”) will give students the opportunity to design t-shirts, posters, and other items for future Upturn Arts programs. Costuming (“Sew It Up”) will be taught in October and will culminate with a costumed Halloween dance party. We are also investigating partnership with New Orleans Fashion Week for this offering. For the following year (2020), we will add a culinary session (“Cook It Up”) for which we will be seeking partnership with an off-site venue, our preference being NOCHI. For the year 2021, we will explore adding music production (“Mix It Up”) as a fourth option in partnership with Upbeat Academy. Finally, also for 2019, we are seeking to address access and inclusion issues of special needs children, such as those exhibiting symptoms of exposure to trauma, by partnering with Whole Village Art Therapy and the Crane Rehab Center to enhance our staff training, our facilities, and our offerings. We will be incorporating the results of a professional needs assessment in order to provide the appropriate staff professional development, parent support, and adaptive equipment as well as to bring on specialist art therapy staffing.