This year, PAL partnered with Next Avenue on a virtual, arts-learning series. Participants explored four artistic disciplines – theater, jewelry making, photography, and poetry. Throughout the series, 376 people registered to participate, and 30% of participants reported it was their first online learning experience. Recently, our final class in this series wrapped up. It’s been an incredible experience all around, and what we’re most excited about is the response from participants!
Back in August, Bergen Baker (Teaching Artist for our Bringing Drama to Life course), led us through this 5-minute warm up during a Facebook Live event. Class participants particularly enjoyed the improv exercises with Bergen, saying they were “fun, humorous and unpredictable.”
Check out the beautiful bracelets pictured here, made by participants in the Making and Sharing Memory through Original Jewelry course, led by Teaching Artist (TA) Amy Cousin based in Minneapolis, MN.
Jewelry made by Making and Sharing Memory through Original Jewelry course participants. Click image to view full size.
Debbie from the Your World in Focus: Digital Photography for Everyone course, led by New York-based Ian Donald, shared, “I just loved this course and didn’t miss a session. I really liked the social side of the breakout rooms and meeting some really pleasant people each week too. I am very grateful to [Next Avenue and PAL] for sponsoring this creative course, I have benefitted enormously from it, thank you …”
The final course in the Next Avenue series, Poetry Everywhere: Collage, Erasure, and Found Poetry, was led by TA Zoë Bird, based in Minneapolis. We were wowed by this poem from a participant in the course, which explored non-traditional forms of poem crafting.
We know this partnership is only the beginning of what’s to come! Soon, we’ll have pictures from previous courses, including courses in the Next Avenue series, on our gallery page.