Idea Box

Chicago is a city with Improvisation at the heart of its arts culture.

In addition to being a delightful form of performance entertainment, improvisation is an art form with its roots in community-building, self-awareness, and being fully present in the moment.

We’ll look at the fundamental values underlying the art of improvisation, and teach fun, easy games to help your students learn to support and celebrate one another in moments of both failure and success.

Participants will:

• Understand the foundational principals underlying improv theory and how they apply in a social context outside of a “performance” setting.

• Learn ways to guide students through improvisation to keep goals in sight while allowing students freedom of invention.

• Build a toolbox of simple, fun games that can be easily adapted for any academic or arts curriculum topic.

• Find places improvisation can enhance their own curriculum through project development and social-emotional agreements.

Workshop facilitated by Emily Leonard

Disciplines: Theater, Music, Dance

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Teaching Artists, Program Managers

Sat, Dec 7, 11am-1pm

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Our “Art-Making Playground” series lets artists and educators put their hands on new tools and materials, as well as learn new ways to work with the ones they already use.

Workshops alternate between demonstrations and “play time,” during which participants can try things out for themselves. In this low-mess workshop we’ll get our hands on different types of materials that can be used to create a broad assortment of 3D art without endangering your classroom carpet.

Participants will:

• Be introduced to a variety of low and no-mess sculpting tools for creating sculptures, models, and other works of 3-dimensional art.

• Explore sample lesson plans for incorporating 3-D building into math, science, literacy, and other academic topics.

• Have time to experiment freely with the tools and materials presented while networking with their peers.

• Trade their own discoveries, ideas, tips, and tools with other workshop participants.

Workshop facilitated by Emily Leonard

Disciplines: Visual Arts, Theater

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Teaching Artists, Program Managers

Wed, Nov 3: 5-7pm

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Over the course of 4 hours you will build a hand-and-rod puppet from scratch using a no-sew pattern adapted for use by students as young as 4th grade. In addition to building and designing your puppet’s “look,” you’ll also learn to “wire” a hand to make it pose-able, build a magnetic anchor point for your puppet to hold props, and add a socket to make your arm rods removable/interchangeable with green screen rods. The fee for this workshop includes all materials to make one full hand-and-rod puppet per participant.

Participants will:

• Build a hand-and-rod puppet from scratch using a no-sew curriculum adapted for students as young as 4th grade.

• Walk through the project preparation process and lesson plan for delivering the project in the classroom with students working in pairs.

• Learn best practices for supporting student work with foam, fabrics, glues, and age appropriate cutting tools.

• Explore sample lesson plans for integrating puppet-making into academic learning.

Workshop facilitated by Emily Leonard

Disciplines: Theater, Visual Arts

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Teaching Artists, Program Managers

Sat, Nov 16: 9a-1p

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Our “Art-Making Playground” series lets artists and educators put their hands on new tools and materials, as well as learn new ways to work with the ones they already use. Workshops alternate between demonstrations and “play time,” during which participants can try things out for themselves.

Our “wearable art” tools will include shrinky-dink jewelry making, up-cycling t-shirts, hat/headband design and construction, and more. You’ll have the opportunity to test out multiple ways of joining fabric without a sewing machine and discover how hard it is to stop making shrink film charms once you get started.

Participants will:

• Be introduced to a variety of art-making projects which balance affordable materials with freedom for students to experiment and play.

• Identify points of science, math, and social-emotional integration.

• Have time to experiment freely with the tools and materials presented.

• Trade their own discoveries, ideas, tips, and tools with other workshop participants.

Workshop facilitated by Emily Leonard

Disciplines: Visual Art, Dance, Theater

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Teaching Artists, Program Managers

Sat, Dec 7: 9am-Noon

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Sat, Dec 7: 11am-1pm see full workshop description on P. 3

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

It’s time to get our hands dirty and mix things up a little!

This surprisingly soothing workshop introduces a set of connected movement and making workshops that help little bodies practice both fine and gross motor skills while learning how movement and mark-making intersect. We’ll explore texture, color mixing, tool control skills, and movement activities that help tie it all together. Though the activities in this workshop are designed for Pre-K, we have found all activities are appropriate for K-2, and many activities can be adapted for older grades with minor variations.

One thing we know for sure—EVERYONE who has tried these activities begs to do them again—even the teachers taking our workshops!

Participants will:

• Learn a suite of activities which introduce “art making” concepts that bridge disciplines and provide a foundation for future arts learning in multiple disciplines.

• Make connections with introductory math, science, and writing skills through measuring, experimenting, and guided mark-making.

• Process pathways and patterns with both gross and fine motor skills, drawing both literal and figurative lines between the ideas of “movement” and “making.”

• Engage their students’ tactile understanding of the world through interaction with a variety of tools, textures, and their own bodies.

Workshop facilitated by Emily Leonard

Disciplines: Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Theater, Interdisciplinary

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Teaching Artists, Program Managers

Wed, Dec 11: 5-7p

at The Newport Theater: 956 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657