Residency-Juxtaposition Arts-Leslie, Drew, Roger and Kristen 1.5 Hrs
Session planning meeting
Today was the day we planned a meeting before the winter VALT session was to take place. I met with Roger Cummings, one of the founders and artistic directors of Juxta, Kristen Murray the program director, Leslie and Drew who are the VALT lab leads. In this meeting we discussed some of the new things that Leslie might want to bring to the session in order to help the students develop their skills more.
One out of the multiple things I love about Juxta is the creative reign lab leads are able to have over the curriculum, as long as they follow the VALT principles and still help students gain the skills Lab has set out to obtain by the end of session.
We talked about how to keep students motivated when some of the sessions feel longer than others and students might be feeling taxed from the long day. We thought about games that the students could play during breaks or healthy food options to bring so that they can gain energy. In the VALT sessions, students are given break ranging from 15-20 minutes. Students are allowed to leave the building in order to get food if they are over the age of 15, if they are younger they have to be escorted by one of us. Roger encouraged us to tell the students on the day of orientation that we try to enforce healthy eating habits in order to keep the mind motivated and positive.
Another thing I love about Juxta is the implementation of ethos in the structure of the program and the overall organization. In regard to food Roger suggests that if students get food and bring it to session, it should be healthy.
We spoke about my role as a teaching artist assistant and how comfortable I feel about guiding some of the lessons. I felt nervous thinking about being more involved given I get nervous when it comes to explaining things (I’ve always been a terrible explainer) and I care about students being able to learn from me. Although I was nervous I feel as though there’s no easier way of stepping into the role as a teaching artist other than doing it and learning as you go. I feel good about working with Leslie and Drew because they’re really nice and very personable. I know I won’t have any problem asking them for help or advice.
Roger closed the meeting off with the following ethos:
-If there is a mouse or a spider in the space, don’t kill it, try to get it out some other way. We want to encourage advocating and helping those that are smaller than us.
-Be excellent, eat healthy, have a healthy art practice. Encourage healthy life style practices
-Support local vendors, suggest healthy options to eat from in order to preserve energy.