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June 2008 > School News
PLI Takes Curtain Call with Innovative BRAVO! Project
The BRAVO! Project
June 6, 2008The "Sittin' on a Hyphen" group, from left, Jason Bono, artist/mentor Carlos Aguirre, Karen McKeown, Evelyn Nadeau, Ariel Dolowich, Zach Pless, Nina D'Amato, artist/mentor Tommy Shepherd, Matt Hartford and Kennelyn Ceralde.
Next photo> 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9
The Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) piloted The BRAVO! Project with the help of leading Bay Area artists. One purpose of the project is to prepare future administrators to integrate arts into local schools.
As part of the preparation in the model leadership program, the credential candidates in PLI Cohort 8 spent four project days (30 hours) with the artists and PLI graduates Karling Aguilera-Fort, Kyla Johnson, Marilyn Zoller Koral, Kevin Pattison and Han Phung during the Spring 2008 semester in theese artisitic mediums: such as performance, spoken word, theater, digital storytelling and printmaking.
“They have started and will continue to experience the arts deeply and carry their importance into their work as school leaders,” says PLI Coordinator Lynda Tredway. “To do that we examine the racial and school segregation history of California, use the arts as healing and community-building and learn how to work in diverse school communities.”
Their ongoing efforts culminated with special works-in-progress performances and exhibitions: Taking Risks as Artists and Leaders in and around Tolman Hall on June 6. The innovative projects, attended by several PLI graduates, local school administrators, artists/mentors and artists. The pieces included:
“Voices Of Superwomen with artist/mentor Ellen Sebastian Chang
“Excuse Me” with artist/mentor Erika Chong Shuch
“Sittin' On A Hyphen with artists/mentors Carlos Aguirre and Tommy Shepherd
Digital Storytelling with artists/mentors Anne-Marie Harvey and Lina Hoshino
Visual Arts with artist/mentor Victor Cartagena
Susan Stauter, Artistic Director, SFUSD and Antigone Trimis, SFUSD Arts Education Master Plan Implementation Manager, who helped coordinate the project, described the BRAVO! Project:
“Years ago, audiences shouted ‘Bravo!’ when a performer exceeded expectations and took a great risk on the stage; the word was and remains a powerful accolade, not voiced lightly.
“From the start the thinking behind the design of this pilot BRAVO! Project was guided by the goal to honor process over product so that students and artists would be afforded a safe space to create where they would be free to go deep and take the sort of risks that are the hallmark of the creative, artistic experience. What would happen if students were allowed to follow their artistic interests and passion and work one on one and in groups with accomplished artists? What choices would they make, given the scaffolding of the arts and artistic technique to assist them in expressing their personal truths and beliefs? When is a risk worth taking, and how, in the arts, do we use risk to drive ourselves to new insights and creative depths?
We are honored to celebrate the point to which the creative journey has led these students in visual, media and performing arts, under the guidance of their gifted and devoted artist/mentors. We applaud the courage it takes to be vulnerable; the empathy it takes to create something new and the perseverance it takes to give form to the important beliefs, ideas and questions we hold in our hearts and minds as educational leaders living in times of great chaos and change.”The BRAVO! Project is funded by the Arts Education Initiative, which is funded in part by the Ford Foundation and the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, with special thanks to Ben Grandy and Susana Flores for their extra work on this project.
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