SUCCESS Through Sharing Stories
InCommons Collaboration Challenge
SUCCESS Through Sharing Stories
In collaboration with Project SUCCESS, Mu Performing Arts proposes to develop our Community Stories (Stories) program that presently serves a few classes of Twin Cities middle and high school youth, mostly English Language Learner (ELL) students. It helps them not only realize the importance of their own experiences but also develop language and performance skills needed to communicate their ideas and participate effectively in society. Professional Mu teaching artists with Project SUCCESS staff, teach these public school students to articulate their individual migration and cultural stories. This innovative program utilizes theater as a means to empower these underserved, inner-city youth by taking them through a series of theater-based workshops, in which they learn to write, rehearse, and perform their individual stories and address community concerns, including language barriers, gender equity, economic justice, and racism.
The community issue we aim to solve is the need for increased tools to help these ELL youth to socialize into their communities in positive ways. Too often immigrant communities, and their youth in particular, have few role models to emulate and feel marginalized in our society; socially, culturally, linguistically, politically and economically. With a sizable portion of these students in the immigration/transition phase, they are in critical need of services of all kinds to make their adjustment to life here in the US in order to become constructive and contributing members of society.
Contributor
Anh-Hoa Nguyen2010-10-29 14:14
0 Comments
About You
About You
First Name
Anh-Hoa
Last Name
Nguyen
Country
United States, MN, Ramsey County
About Your Organization
Organization
Mu Performing Arts
Organization Website
Organization Phone
651-789-1012
Organization Address
355 Wabasha Street N, Suite 140, St. Paul
Organization Country
United States, MN
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Your Story
Collaboration Title
SUCCESS Through Sharing Stories
Country your work focuses on
United States, MN, Ramsey County
Describe your locally-based collaboration and the problem it sought to address
In collaboration with Project SUCCESS, Mu Performing Arts proposes to develop our Community Stories (Stories) program that presently serves a few classes of Twin Cities middle and high school youth, mostly English Language Learner (ELL) students. It helps them not only realize the importance of their own experiences but also develop language and performance skills needed to communicate their ideas and participate effectively in society. Professional Mu teaching artists with Project SUCCESS staff, teach these public school students to articulate their individual migration and cultural stories. This innovative program utilizes theater as a means to empower these underserved, inner-city youth by taking them through a series of theater-based workshops, in which they learn to write, rehearse, and perform their individual stories and address community concerns, including language barriers, gender equity, economic justice, and racism.
The community issue we aim to solve is the need for increased tools to help these ELL youth to socialize into their communities in positive ways. Too often immigrant communities, and their youth in particular, have few role models to emulate and feel marginalized in our society; socially, culturally, linguistically, politically and economically. With a sizable portion of these students in the immigration/transition phase, they are in critical need of services of all kinds to make their adjustment to life here in the US in order to become constructive and contributing members of society.
Tell us about the community in which this collaboration took place
In 2008 Mu and Project SUCCESS launched their pilot Stories program at Washington Tech Magnet MS in St. Paul. It included 90 ELL students identified as Hispanic, Hmong, Vietnamese, Somali and Karen. The 2nd year included Hazel Park MS. This year in addition to WTMMS, Stories has expanded to Battle Creek MS, Humboldt SS in SP and Henry HS in Mpls. Each school has a high population of ELL students.
Issue Selector
n/a
Partnership
Who was involved in co-creating or implementing your collaboration (other organizations, leaders, community members, etc.)?
Rick Shiomi, Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts and Adrienne Diercks, Founder & Executive Director of Project SUCCESS worked together to conceptualize and implement the Stories program. Rick Shiomi and Ricardo McCurley, Project SUCCESS Facilitator, planned together to create the theme and curriculum. Also, an important advocate for the program was Washington TMMS ELL teacher Joyce Pham.
To what extent does your collaboration involve partnerships that are outside or cross traditional organizational or sector boundaries?
Our Stories collaboration combines four entities: Mu Performing Arts, an arts non-profit, Project SUCCESS, a social service agency, and two public school districts – St. Paul Public School and Minneapolis Public School Districts. This program merges an arts organization with a youth-development organization and collaborates by crossing into the educational system of the Twin Cities.
Innovation
What makes your locally-based collaboration innovative and unique?
Stories teaches under-served youth the power of the performing arts to speak directly to their lives. By engaging youth in active, personal learning this program it keeps students interested and participating in school. Stories is innovative because it helps students understand the importance of their experiences and gives them the opportunity to express themselves in a impacting way. This profound, engaged learning experience has a more lasting effect than the traditional theater viewing experience.
Stories also builds an appreciation and awareness of the diversity of our multicultural world; strengthens communities by providing shared cultural experiences through school performances/subsidized tickets to theaters; and teaches youth to work cooperatively. As teacher Pham commented, “It's a huge opportunity for our ELL students to write and perform their own stories in English, an educational experience that is truly powerful and uplifting.” Stories supports leadership, self-esteem, interpersonal skills and language development through arts-based curriculum.
lum.
Did you take risks in establishing this collaboration? Explain
Yes. When we started the Stories program we weren’t sure if our theater, story-telling would work with ELL students. We were aware there could be barriers: cultural (gender, past trauma, shame issues) and language differences as well as performance barriers since theater is not usually immigrant cultures’ form of expression.
How did this collaboration differ from the normal way of doing your work?
In the past, Mu’s Community Outreach consisted of one-time workshops with schools where Mu artists would perform a short play or also conduct a one-week theater workshop. Stories helped our organization move towards outreach that is more social service/community oriented that creates on-going relationships and supports our social justice mission.
Impact
How do you know your collaboration has been effective?
Stories has proven effective through the growth of the program and enthusiasm students, teachers/teaching artists have about their experience with Mu and PROJECT Success. It has enlisted and supported the talent of Asian American actors in MN, many of which are returning this year.
The feedback we received from teachers has noted improvement in students’ language skills and self-esteem. Students have remarked that fellow schoolmates have come up to them after their school performance and acknowledged their stories, journeys and struggles. A principal expressed desire for other theater companies to come and do similar workshops with their entire student body.
What progress or impact has been made?
Mu has students complete a survey in response to their Stories experience. One question is, “Do you think this is important? Why?” One student said: “It shows no one is alone and we can all relate to everyone’s struggles in some way… Everyone deserves to be heard. Because you get a chance to…create, make history, tell stories, share experiences, etc.”
Next Steps
How would you go about continuing, expanding, or replicating this collaboration?
Mu and Project SUCCESS plan to continue working with St. Paul and Minneapolis Public School Districts by expanding our program to include 10-15 more schools. Currently, Stories is hosted by schools that have populations of 40-60% ELL students, but want to include other inner-city schools that have high immigrant populations.
Mu has replicated this model locally with other social service groups and has conducted five to eight-week session Stories workshops with some of our Community Partners such as Center for Hmong Arts & Talent, Center for Asian Pacific Islanders, Lao Assistance Center, and Hmong American Partnership. These workshops work with Asian American youth and result in a group performance for their peers, families and communities.
Mu would also like to create a model curriculum for the Stories program that can be taught to teaching artists to allow it to be replicated at other schools in the TC and the nation.
Describe the current stage of implementation and desired next steps
This 2010-11 academic year, Mu and Project SUCCESS will conduct Stories at Washington TMMS, Battle Creek MS, Humboldt SS in St. Paul and Henry HS in Minneapolis. Mu and Project SUCCESS would like to expand to include 10-15 more public schools.
Recently, Mu was able to hire a full-time Community Liaison person to oversee Stories with Project SUCCESS and our Community Partners. Going forward, our CL, Randy Reyes, will be working to strengthen our existing relationships along with cultivating new relationships with other social service agencies and foundations such as the Fil-Minnesotan Association’s Youth Organisation and The Wilder Foundation Youth Leadership Initiative.
Reyes is also in the process of creating curriculum for Stories theater/storytelling workshop and developing a training package for teaching artists. Creating these unique tools for educators is crucial, especially since the goal of the program is not to create young actors or to develop new plays, but to focus on the real stories of the students and give them the tools to discover, capture and express those stories. Being able to share them with a larger audience also creates a bridge between them, and the other students in the workshop and in their schools, who may not share the same cultural background or language.
Mu’s desire is to continue to provide under-served youth opportunities to articulate and share their stories as a way of helping them adapt to their current situations while still embracing their heritage. We believe that arts-based exercises have the power to open new channels of dialogue and possibilities in their educational development. Funding from the InCommons Challenge would allow us to continue and expand Stories, a program that helps students realize the importance of their own experiences and identifies and addresses community-defined social needs by utilizing performing arts as a means of empowerment.
| 133 weeks ago Anh-Hoa Nguyen updated this Competition Entry. | |
| 133 weeks ago Anh-Hoa Nguyen submitted this idea. |
Us