Welcome to the ArtPeace website. We are glad to have you visit us here online. Please take a peek around to get to know us a little better. We hope something sparks your interest!

ArtPeace is now officially 5 years old!! It’s been 5 yrs since we were incorporated and we are going into YEAR 5 of our flagship ArtPeace Young Entrepreneur Program which will be bigger than ever this summer serving youth from throughout Monroe County, including the Teen Treatment Court in Monroe County, Hillside Work Scholarship Program and students in summer school.  

Our youth (age 14-20) are creating businesses together in graphic design, culinary arts, web development, photography, filmmaking, drumming and drum building, animation, visual arts, t-shirt making, theatre, literary arts/writing, comedy, wordsmithing, lyric writing, music and sound recording, dance, movement and fitness.

The world premiere of "Through Our Eyes" was a success and the City at Peace cast is now performing in local venues and taking their show on tour. This is an original musical drama written, choreographed and produced by Rochester’s talented young people who have worked hard for 9 months to put this together, develop their leadership development skills and get this endeavor on its feet. Contact Sara Hughes (sara@artpeace.org) to book them with your group or event.

ArtPeace is excited and proud to be an affiliate of the national City at Peace – www.cpnational.org, a highly successful international youth development program that is changing lives and communities. Check out all the impressive data that shows the success of this excellent program.

The kids in this program are so fresh, real and upbeat. They are learning how to resolve conflicts peacefully, how to be a team and real ways to make change in this city.
After the urging of a persistent Sara Hughes, managing director of CP-ROC, I saw the show in NYC a few years ago, got hooked and was pleased that ArtPeace could bring the mission-aligned program on board. Sara Hughes is one of the most determined people I have ever met! She is fiercely devoted to City at Peace and what it does for young people and the community. This is the culmination of her seven-year quest to bring it to Rochester. We look forward to many years to come of City at Peace-Rochester!

Good year at ArtPeace@East with a final showcase that brought lots of parents, teachers and other community support!

“May you live in interesting times…” goes the ancient Chinese proverb. Well, we certainly do, don’t we?! Just spend a day with us at East High School to see how interesting it can be within the current educational system that is in need of reform.

ArtPeace@East is an innovative small learning community within East High School (largest school in Rochester with 2000+ students) for 130 7th & 8th graders. An interdisciplinary team of teaching artists, teachers, social workers and leaders work together to design curriculum to teach all academic subjects in ways that align with the NY State standards through the use of ARTS and TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION (using music, digital arts, visual arts and dance/movement/theatre) and hands-on “project-based learning” that includes cultural study trips in the community. Students demonstrate their learning in showcases every 10 weeks.

Thank You to all who came out to the ArtPeace Shakedown at the Village Gate May 1-3! Check out the Shakedown site for great photos and more information at http://shakedown.artpeace.info/index.htm. Sue Hollister, the event’s founder and coordinator, brings her tireless determination and love for kids & art to make the Shakedown a palpably energized experience.

It is an impressive show of over 580 works of visual art by over 500 young artists from 25 schools taught by 46 art teachers from throughout Monroe County. There were amazing music and poetry slam performances too and the annual “Empty Bowls” project – student-created pottery bowls auctioned for Open Door Mission.

ArtPeace South continues its Award-Winning (2007 New York State “Creative Ticket” Award Recipient for “Excellence in Arts-in-Education”) arts integration residencies in the Southern Tier / Finger Lakes Region, under the strong leadership of Martha Evans. We serve Watkins Glen Central School District (K-12), Elmira Central Schools (K-12) and work with Corning Museum of Glass, Arnot Art Museum, BOCES and Colgate University.
Check out ArtPeace Action! News and go to our Gallery to see some photos from past programs.

At ArtPeace, we believe all things are possible if you do what you love and love what you do. We want to encourage people to fulfill their Soul purpose in life, work hard, be good and DO good!

Thanks for your continued support of ArtPeace!

Warmly,
 

Kristin A. Rapp, LMSW
kris@artpeace.org

ARTPEACE ACTION!

News

• City at Peace-Rochester World Premiere of Through Our Eyes, an original musical drama written and produced by diverse youth from throughout Monroe County. Come see the show Fri & Sat, May 29 & 30 at East High School Auditorium, 1801 East Main Street (near Culver) in Rochester, New York. Tickets ($15 adults; $10 students and seniors) can be purchased at the door. Contact Sara Hughes for more info at sara@artpeace.org or 585-748-6391.
  *There will be more performances of Through Our Eyes as the young people tour. Let us know if you’d like to schedule a school or community visit or performance by the cast.
  
  More info on City at Peace – www.cpnational.org. ArtPeace is a proud affiliate of the national City at Peace program which has proven successes in changing the lives of youth and communities.
  
  City at Peace is a youth leadership development program where young people work with artists to write a script, original music and choreography, based on their lives and perform a full-length theatrical production. Youth from urban, suburban and rural areas of Monroe County come together to prove that different people can work and live together in PEACE.
  **Watch for new auditions in the Fall of 2009. Please contact Sara – sara@artpeace.org.
  Thank You to City of Rochester, MVP Health Care (formerly Preferred Care), The Community Foundation (Wegman Fund).

• ArtPeace@East 7th & 8th Grade Final Showcase - “Change Through Perserverence” – East High School Auditorium, Wed, June 10, 7-9pm, 1801 East Main Street (near Culver) in Rochester, New York. FREE! Contact Kris Rapp for more info – kris@artpeace.org; 585-802-2293.
  
  Come check out:  hip hop American History songs, academic board games, a video that teaches math through chant and imagery, AP@E drum line, clay figures of 19th Century westward movement, food chain nesting containers, collages, AP@E chorus, math chant song and dance, scenes and movement from My Brother Sam Is Dead and more.
  
  *ArtPeace@East, an alternative school program through the Rochester City School District, School educates 7th and 8th grade students at East High School, is going into year 3. In this program, teaching artists work together with classroom teachers to create and implement interdisciplinary, arts and technology integrated lessons.
  Thank You to Dana Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York State Contracts for Excellence, Rochester City School District and East High School.

• Please come to the 5th Annual ArtPeace Young Entrepreneur Showcase on August 13th from 6:30pm-8:30pm in Rochester, New York (Location TBA). See our apprentices (age 14-20) from throughout Monroe County present their business teams, inventions and products (ORIGINAL shirts, food, market bags, CD’s, posters, note cards, photos, web sites, books, DVD’s, jewelry, etc.) to the community. $5 suggested donation.
  
  We would like to thank our partners at RochesterWorks!, City of Rochester Summer of Opportunity, Pathways to Peace, New York State Office of Disability, Senator Robach, Best Buy Foundation and Wegmans.

• STAY TUNED for more info on an exciting ArtPeace event coming to Water Street Music Hall in the Fall 2009! It is going to Rock your Socks off with live art making, amazing bands, interactive exhibits and sought-after auction items. For more info contact

• ArtPeace is actively looking for a permanent home in the City of Rochester and more partners to create a Center for Literacy & Creativity Fitness – featuring opportunities for young people and adults to explore their creative selves, build their bodies and extend their literacy in a myriad of ways (financial, technological, visual, media, alphabetic, health & body, etc). Our hope is to house our entrepreneurial and arts-based programs, an arts & technology integration school for social justice and an incubator for creative businesses, in addition to workshops, classes, trainings and fun events. DONATE toward ArtPeace Capital Fund to make this dream reality!

• Look for XFit Club – a new CrossFit-style fitness, nutrition and wellness program for youth (13-19), taught by Certified CrossFit, Nutrition Coach and Brazilian Jujitsu trainers. ArtPeace believes that recreation, fun and body movement is as important as using the mind and creativity! Overall fitness and healthy eating is the goal!

• ArtPeaceSouth is continuing to build momentum in the Southern Tier to serve students in schools from Livingston County across to the Finger Lakes Region, headed up by Marty Evans, Southern Tier Director and Glenn McClure, Arts Integration Director for ArtPeace. Kristin Rapp, ArtPeace Executive Director, says “we are excited to be serving more kids in rural areas that often miss out on arts and cultural opportunities. We can bring talented teaching artists and new technology to them to enliven their educational and life experiences! Having grown up in Dansville, NY, this expansion is close to my heart.”

• ArtPeace has been represented at several state-wide conferences recently - Common Ground Arts-in-Education conference and the New York State Empire State Partnerships Summer Seminar, where we present our innovative arts & technology integration work. We are also active on the Rochester Regional School Planning Committee (a project of former Supt. William Cala and Nazareth College), Committee for Common Sense Education, Western New York Regional Leadership & Learning Network (for arts Integrated organizations), Youth Quality Services Council and a new Arts-in-Education consortium.

• ArtPeace plans to bring Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play NO CHILD, featuring Reenah Golden, to Rochester in the Fall 2009, in partnership with Committee for Common Sense Education, Western New York Regional Learning & Leadership Network, Young Audiences and Nazareth College. NO CHILD is a real to life show about teaching arts and what it is really like in urban school settings in an era of “No Child Left Behind…”

To volunteer time, talent or treasure – contact info@artpeace.org or call 585-234-0708. In order to keep the important work we do going, we NEED your help NOW!!

Check out the Executive Director, Kristin Rapp's Blog for the latest news post news, events and happenings on the "inside" of artpeace!

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Check out the Executive Director, Kristin Rapp's Blog for the latest news, post news, events and
happenings on the "inside" of artpeace!