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In CREATE!'s arts exchange program, partnerships are formed between schools in New York, and parallel schools in remote foreign countries. Current partnerships include schools in Guinea, West Africa, and Recife, Brazil.
With art as a vehicle of discovery, students have the chance to deeply explore cultures from around the world. With thousands of known languages and a complex tapestry of cultures and beliefs worldwide, it is often challenging to make global connections that feel relevant to students. We can meet standards through academic study, can identify countries on a map, and discuss topography and cultural features, but to truly discover the richness of the world at large, we need to experience it first hand.
With art as a vehicle of discovery, students have the chance to deeply explore cultures from around the world. With thousands of known languages and a complex tapestry of cultures and beliefs worldwide, it is often challenging to make global connections that feel relevant to students. We can meet standards through academic study, can identify countries on a map, and discuss topography and cultural features, but to truly discover the richness of the world at large, we need to experience it first hand.
Inquiry Questions
What discoveries are made when students are asked to represent their lives through art? What similarities and differences emerge when we compare these artistic expressions to similar works from children around the world? What differences can be noted in a students understanding of a culture studied, when learning includes an artistic exchange? Will students participating in this exchange display a higher level of tolerance and respect for traditions and lifestyles different from their own?
New York, USA Conakry, Guinea
See more artwork
What discoveries are made when students are asked to represent their lives through art? What similarities and differences emerge when we compare these artistic expressions to similar works from children around the world? What differences can be noted in a students understanding of a culture studied, when learning includes an artistic exchange? Will students participating in this exchange display a higher level of tolerance and respect for traditions and lifestyles different from their own?
New York, USA Conakry, Guinea
See more artwork
The Process
Your school will be paired with a school abroad, chosen from one of our currently participating countries.
An artist from that country will visit your school for a series of workshops, teaching students about their culture, and sharing some of its unique artistic features. Using simple mural art as the vehicle, the artist will help students to develop work reflective of their lives in America. Because there is no common language between the partners, the artwork itself will function as the vehicle for communication and self-expression. The artist will then deliver the resulting work by hand to the partner school, where students in turn will create their own artistic responses.
Finally, upon re-entering to the U.S., the artist will return to the New York partner with their artistic correspondence. These pieces will be discussed and analyzed with all participating classes, under the guidance of the teaching artist. Photo documentation will be used throughout to enhance the exchange, and all photos will be presented to each participating class during a wrap up session that includes discussion and processing.
See more Guinea photos
Your school will be paired with a school abroad, chosen from one of our currently participating countries.
An artist from that country will visit your school for a series of workshops, teaching students about their culture, and sharing some of its unique artistic features. Using simple mural art as the vehicle, the artist will help students to develop work reflective of their lives in America. Because there is no common language between the partners, the artwork itself will function as the vehicle for communication and self-expression. The artist will then deliver the resulting work by hand to the partner school, where students in turn will create their own artistic responses.
Finally, upon re-entering to the U.S., the artist will return to the New York partner with their artistic correspondence. These pieces will be discussed and analyzed with all participating classes, under the guidance of the teaching artist. Photo documentation will be used throughout to enhance the exchange, and all photos will be presented to each participating class during a wrap up session that includes discussion and processing.
See more Guinea photos
Now let's go deeper...
The art exchange provides a great platform for in depth learning about world cultures through their arts. While the exchange itself is rich and exciting, our partners frequently choose to take it a step farther, and often several steps. Dance, visual art, and music programs are available to augment the exchange. These residencies allow students to deeply explore traditional forms in a variety of disciplines.
A fully realized program featuring West Africa, for example, might include the African art exchange, an African dance unit, and perhaps a visual art unit, in which students make masks, and even the costumes for their dance performance. Students are given African names, and will learn greetings in the Mandingo and Sousou languages. They may also learn songs sung in these languages and perform them at the culminating event.
Because this experience is so special and profound, it can easily be used as the basis for a school wide effort. Some of our partners choose to have students across grade levels participate in different aspects of this program, creating a unique depth of experience throughout the school community.
Music and dance assembly programs are also offered, which feature world-class performers presenting the artistic forms studied in the partnership.
A fully realized program featuring West Africa, for example, might include the African art exchange, an African dance unit, and perhaps a visual art unit, in which students make masks, and even the costumes for their dance performance. Students are given African names, and will learn greetings in the Mandingo and Sousou languages. They may also learn songs sung in these languages and perform them at the culminating event.
Because this experience is so special and profound, it can easily be used as the basis for a school wide effort. Some of our partners choose to have students across grade levels participate in different aspects of this program, creating a unique depth of experience throughout the school community.
Music and dance assembly programs are also offered, which feature world-class performers presenting the artistic forms studied in the partnership.
Collaborate with CREATE! to develop a new and unique program! If you have an idea for a program that you don't see here,
call us. We'd love to work with you to help realize your artistic vision! 