We’re very excited to announce our first ever Arts Outreach Professional Development for Artists Workshop series entitled, “ARTISTS: TEACHING AS CREATIVE EDUCATORS,” July 9 – 12 at Arts ENY, 534 Livonia Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11207. The four-day program schedule runs 8:30 am – 3:00 pm each day. Participants are required to have a minimum of 2 years of experience working with the New York City Department of Education school system (or in another major city). They also must have demonstrated excellence in one or more art forms: Dance, Music, Visual Arts and/or Theater. A one-time registration fee of $25.00 is required plus a commitment to enlist as a teaching artist with the Asase Yaa School of the Arts Outreach Program for a minimum length of one school year (September 2019 – June 2020).
Our instructors for the “ARTISTS: TEACHING AS CREATIVE EDUCATORS” workshop series are nationally renowned dance artist, educator, speaker, Kwame Shaka Opare, who serves as Asase Yaa’s Professional Development Consultant and Zakiya Harris, who is the Artistic Director of the Asase Yaa School of the Arts, a seasoned veteran as a Curriculum Specialist and a NYC DOE full time Dance Teacher and Arts Coordinator.
Our program is intended to share the beauty and richness of the performing arts and the cultures from which they emanate and are based on. We focus on the education of the whole artist/teacher and nurture and support each participant, so they are fully equipped to provide deliver emotional, mental, physical and quality instruction. In addition, to programming, classroom management and technical training, the series also provides instructions in the Arts disciplines: Dance, Drumming, Theater, Visual Arts, Vocals.
The workshops will comprise a maximum of 20 artists/teachers and feature a variety of daily activities. Participants will learn effective methods that will impact students from K-12 such as; classroom management, producing culminating events, creating a lesson plan, classroom etiquette, NYC DOE fingerprinting procedures. Participants will also learn basic administrative and management skills including; taking attendance, filing out timesheets and creating effective relationships with principals and staff.
Our Asase Yaa youth and Professional Development programs will make a special presentation to principals from neighboring schools in our community that we service throughout the school year on the final day to workshop series.
All submissions for registration must be received by June 28, 2019.
Email: [email protected] Tel: (347) 915-2563
MORE ABOUT OUR INSTRUCTORS:
Kwame Shaka Opare: Professional Development Consultant
Kwame Shaka Opare is classically trained in West African dance and has an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland. He has created critically acclaimed works that speak to social issues. In 2016 Kwame became Brooklyn Academy of Music’s inaugural recipient of the Baba Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship, which awarded him the opportunity to study dance in Ghana, West Africa where he performed and created work with the National Dance Company of Ghana. Renowned for his ability to engage students, educators, and audiences alike, Kwame is frequently sought to speak about his work in dance and dance education and has been twice featured in TEDx Talks (Disrupting the Miseducation of African-American youth [2014] and “Triumph of Disruption: Disrupting the status quo in education among African American Youth [2017]). In 2017 he served as Artist-in-Residence with the Virginia Department of Health/Petersburg Public Schools and was a featured lecturer alongside professional colleague and mentor Dr. Jonathan Kozol at the Adverse Childhood Experiences Summit in Petersburg, VA. Kwame leads professional development workshops in dance and dance education as a CETA artist (Changing Education Through the Arts) with the John
Zakiya Harris: Artistic Director Asase Yaa School of the Arts
Zakiya Harris brings a wealth of diverse professional experience and innate compassion to her role as Artistic Director of Asase Yaa’s School of the Arts. Since 2002, she has been a pillar in the school’s development, initial joining Asase Yaa as a dancer, then later expanding her responsibilities to serve as Dance Captain and an Administrator. Today, as the Artistic Director, she oversees the day-to-day operation of the school, its enrollment, hiring and implements and manages scheduling all the classes. Throughout her 16-year tenure, the school has serviced close to 1000 children, ages 3-18. Although African aesthetics of dance is emphasized, the school also offers several other dance genres including, ballet, tap, modern, jazz and hip hop. Before joining Asase Yaa, she served as a Certified Dance Teacher and Arts Coordinator for the New York City Department of Education at the Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts. She also was invited and taught a series of special West African dance workshops at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. In addition, she earned a M.A in Dance Education from New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development Music and Performing Arts Professions and has a B.A in Psychology, from Hampton University.
