Let your students get a sample of all the things that are possible through new technology arts. Progressive Arts Alliance will provide Macintosh laptops and desktop computers for students to use in this dynamic tour of new media. Students will produce original work that will include the creation of their own web site, a recorded piece of original electronic music, and a digital stop motion animated video short. PAA's media arts curriculum utilizes multidisciplinary theories in music, visual art, English/language arts, and technology applications. In each discipline, students will have the opportunity to express their identity and their personal stories. The students' work will be embodied in high-quality personal web sites that the students and their families can visit on an ongoing basis after the program is completed.

In these dynamic music workshops, students learn how to tap, clap, stomp and "manually" create rhythms using just their bodies as instruments. Students learn more about the structure of music and how the essential elements of musical composition and rhythm relate easily to mathematical concepts.

Students will learn to use digital cameras to create animations of scientific and natural processes. Students will start by writing and recording poems, which use metaphors about natural processes that they are learning about in science class, such as erosion and deposition, the water cycle, or DNA and atoms. Students will then animate clay, drawings, and found objects to demonstrate these processes. The final product will be their finished animations combined with an audio recording of their poems that can be posted online and taken home as a DVD.

This residency allows students to gain a deeper understanding of story structure and character development through comic books. Students will work in groups to write their own comic narrative complete with protagonists, antagonists, setting, climax, and resolution. Comic book artists and writers will teach the basics of comic book layout and character establishment, design, and development. After writing and storyboarding, students will illustrate their comic books and digitize them using simple computer programs provided by PAA on laptops brought to the school. Each student will be able to take away copies of their comic to share with friends and family.

Students will learn about the history and culture of the 1960s in America through hands-on dance and visual art activities. Workshops will cover all of the fad dances of the 1960s and the songs that introduced the new dances: twist, mashed potato, swim, watusi, monkey, jerk, pony, etc. Workshops will also revisit the TV show "American Bandstand" and how that show helped spread these new songs and dances. Students will also learn how Detroit (Motor City) and Berry Gordon Jr. influenced popular music and how transistor radios made music much more accessible. Students will also learn about the portrait work of Andy Warhol and will make Warhol-inspired self-portraits using a three-color printmaking process. Workshops will include writing activities and discussion of propaganda in popular culture and media.

PAA arms your students with cameras and endless creativity to guide them through the creation of a dynamic short video all their own. Students will work with a professional filmmaker to write, produce, and direct a video short. Participants will learn the basics of filmmaking including lighting, sound, cinematography, writing, story boarding, and editing. Projects range from dramatic shorts to documentary videos and allow students to learn how teamwork is an important part of the filmmaking process.

Students will learn about song structure, rhythm, phrasing, and note values through creating a group composition through electronic music making on laptop computers. This dynamic technology-oriented program will allow students to work with modern-day electronic percussion instruments to better understand how advancements in science and technology have affected the development of music making and recording.

Students will learn how to animate using flipbooks to reinforce classroom curriculum and vocabulary. Each flipbook will be recorded using digital media and compiled to be featured at a final showing to showcase students' work. Students will also be able to take home their flipbooks to share with friends and family.

Percussion music "goes green" by utilizing common everyday items and household objects to create a dynamic percussion ensemble. Residency activities will guide students through learning rhythms from around the world including those from West Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Students will not only learn the basics of playing percussion instruments but will also learn more about the power of rhythm and drumming to promote group cooperation, unity, focus, and increased critical listening and concentration skills.

Through the engagement of professional teaching artists who are also hip-hop artists, students create an exciting theatrical presentation that includes break dancing, scratching on turntables, and original lyrics. The residency gives students the opportunity to experience how hip-hop can be a positive, productive form of creative self-expression. This dynamic musical theater residency interweaves music history with the dynamic expressions of hip-hop into a play about the students' lives.

Let your students stamp, roll, stencil, and print their way to a better understanding of art and math as they explore and learn their shapes, numbers, sizes, and colors. Students will discover the patterns and numbers of the plants, animals, buildings, and objects around them and how to illustrate what they see on paper. The unit incorporates concepts of patterning, repetition, layering, size, and scale. The students use found object materials and small wood shapes to make their own artistic printing plate. Students learn the techniques of fine art printing using brightly colored washable inks with stamps, stencils, rollers, and a printing press. They use their muscles and minds, developing coordination to press, roll, stamp, and make their mark. The end result, for each participant, will be a small collection of prints and a final art show.

This assembly examines the exciting history of jazz dance from the 1930s and 1940s. The program features lindy hop and jitterbug dancers dancing along side a narration that includes slides of historic moments from the era in which the dances emerged. Dancers in the presentation wear period costumes and invite students up to the stage to learn basic dance steps. Presentation is 45 minutes long.

In this multi-disciplinary residency, students immerse themselves in the power of art to address social and community problems. Students will understand how to design and implement creative campaigns that make a difference in their community. Students will utilize brainstorming, creative problem solving, and critical thinking skills to create an arts event and exhibit, focusing on a central problem they want to address. Students will write a proposal, mission statement, and letters to community members as part of the project, and record their own Public Service Announcements. Students will design their own silkscreen t-shirts, posters, websites, and printed invitations to the exhibit/event where they will showcase their artwork.

In this exciting residency, students brighten their school with art by creating a dynamic group mural project with a professional mural artist. The mural can be painted on a school wall, painted on canvas and hung, or painted on boards that can be installed just about anywhere. Mural themes range from social studies concepts, to characters featured in books read in the classroom, to the school's name and community. Mural-making allows students to learn about teamwork and problem solving skills through experiential learning. Students also learn more about the principles of design as well as important math concepts like drawing objects to scale and plotting points on a graph.

Students will be guided by a Cleveland-based international recording artist in the creation of their own song lyrics that will draw from classroom curriculum content and positive life lessons. Once songs are completed, students will work with a video artist to create a music video for their song. Each student will receive a DVD of their music video at the end of the program. (Program can be customized for Social Studies, Science, or Math focus)

Students will start with the question "If you could interview anyone or anything (an object, a person, dead or alive or imaginary) who or what would it be?" Their interview can be with anything or anyone from a pencil, to a Martian, to Abraham Lincoln, to a character from one of the books they are reading. Students will start by writing their questions for their interviews and will compose creative answers. They will then act out their interview script on film. Students will be taught acting on camera and will be able to dress-up and create props and costumes to bring their interview to life. This project explores research through interviewing and enables students to "think outside of the box."

This program engages students in a multi-disciplinary residency that begins with West African drumming workshops, linking the tradition of storytelling and oral history to West African traditions that used music and drumming as an integral part of conveying a story. The students then engage in oral history interviewing and writing workshops. Students use hand-held recorders at home to interview family members and friends. Students also interview each other and record the interviews in the classroom. Looking to the future, the students write essays about their hopes for the future. Students work with a recording arts specialist from PAA that will guide students in creating a dynamic "sound collage" that will include recordings the students have made with family, friends, other students, and themselves. They will use "found sounds" from the community and will also record their West African drumming pieces to complement their oral history sound collages. Each student will leave the residency with a unique recorded CD.

Through use of printmaking techniques, students discover the shapes and places of local geography. The unit incorporates concepts of mapping, math, patterning, repetition, layering and color. Students use found objects and small wood shapes to build a map of a real or created space. Students will make their own artistic printing plate. Students learn the techniques of fine art printing, including intaglio and relief. The residency considers place, personal connection to community, and the built and natural environment. The end result, for each participant, will be a series of prints and a final art show.

Through the use of stencils and other printmaking materials, students explore pattern making with shapes and colors. Students will generate patterns using inspiration from everyday objects such as city grids, local architecture, plant life, animals, and objects/packaging. Students will create a collection of different prints. The students will explore a range of drawing and printmaking techniques including using a printing press that PAA will bring to the school. The end result, for each participant, will be a small collection of prints and a final art exhibit.

Public service announcements (PSAs) educate citizens about issues that are timely and relevant to their daily lives. Through the collaboration of classroom teachers and PAA's artist-educators, students will conceive, plan, and produce their own PSAs in the form of short video projects. Each PSA will include a short but strong message on a curriculum-related topic. By the end of the project, students will understand the concept of conveying a powerful message to a general audience through media. Each classroom will write and produce five two-minute video PSAs that will be created to teach other students and community members about socially relevant topics.

In this residency, students are guided through the process of telling a story in rhyme with rhythm in hip-hop style. They will work with an international hip-hop recording artist to write stories about themselves that they will perform for the rest of the class at the end of the residency.

Students will engage in a multi-media residency that enables them to use everyday objects to create music, sculpture and design plans for "reusing" the objects in the everyday world. Students will work with a musician to create and play in a "recycled" percussion ensemble, a sculpture artist to create and display dynamic art works, and a product designer to create their new contributions to the creative economy.

RHAPSODY Assembly includes a dynamic live performance that features hip-hop music, dance, and rhyme with a DJ, MC, and break dancers. The program demonstrates how hip-hop can be a positive and productive form of creative self-expression. The presentation also includes an explanation of the basics of each art form of hip-hop culture as well as an overview of the beginnings of hip-hop history. Audience participation is encouraged and members of the audience are invited to the stage to participate in hands-on demonstrations alongside the artists. A question-and-answer session with the audience concludes the presentation. The Assembly Presentation is approximately one hour in length. The program can be shortened to fit into a 40 or 50-minute class period. A Pre-Performance Visit will give students a multi-media introduction to hip-hop. The Post- performance Visit will give students a hands-on workshop in one of the art forms featured in the assembly.

This interactive music residency engages young students in playing rhythms quickly and easily by using the "Simon says" method to help students practice their listening skills and their ability to follow directions. Each student in the class has a small drum and they practice call and response techniques by playing rhythms on their drums. In addition, they also practice counting by counting out rhythms and the number of notes they are playing by listening and repeating musical patterns.

Inspire your students through the power of the spoken word. In this residency, students will develop their voice and presentation skills. Encouraging students to think poetically, and independently, they will be guided through the writing and performance of their own verses. Students will engage in creative writing exercises, learn how to effectively use poetic devices, and write their own rhyme schemes. They will sharpen their pronunciation, voice projection, and performance skills. Given the encouragement, tools, and support to express themselves with confidence, they will learn to embrace the uniqueness of their own creative voice. Later sessions in the residency will include an "open mic" atmosphere where students will be able to practice their performance poetry. The program will culminate in a dynamic student performance where students will share their original work.

Inspire your students to use Hip-Hop as a powerful tool for change and positive communication. Students will work with a Cleveland-based international recording artist and MC (rapper) to write, compose, perform, and record their very own raps on environmental issues. Students will be educated and informed about the most current research on sustainability, alternative energy, green building, recycling and more. The program will culminate in a final performance that can correlate with your school's science fair. Students will also be able to take home a recording of the raps that they write on CD.

Students will use a variety of found objects and fine art materials to create dynamic wearable art ranging from headpieces to shirts and accessories. The residency will use inspiration from various cultural dresses from around the world and will demonstrate how fashion designers use math in their everyday work.

Students will work in groups to create a website around a central topic of the teacher's choosing that reinforces core curriculum standards. Topics can be drawn from social studies, science, math, or language arts. Students will begin by researching and writing about the topic of their websites. Professional design artists will then develop students' core competencies in the principles of design. Next, students will learn the basics of photography as they collect images for their websites. Simple website design software and templates will empower students to easily design their websites without complicated code. Friends and family will be able to access the websites online. Progressive Arts Alliance will provide Macintosh laptops and desktop computers for students to use.