What's new at Leap

08/07/2008

Citigroup Art Show is on display in Queens

Leap student artwork is on display in the atrium of the Citigroup building, located at 1 Court Square, Long Island City.

Come see the amazing artwork the talented students of Leap residencies created!

The show includes a photo exchange done between students in the Bronx and the Cheyenne River Reservation of South Dakota, plaster sea creatures created by 1st graders,  and much more!

The artwork will be on display until mid-October. The space is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Students Make a Splash with Public Art

Leap’s Public Art Program is making NYC Parks history with the largest student public art exhibit and the first to span five boroughs! Leap hosted the kick-off student event for its 10 park/10 school summer exhibition “A View from the Lunchroom: Students Bringing Issues to the Table” on May 29^th in front of Bryant Park. It featured 10 lunchroom tables artistically decorated by students and depicting their ideas and thoughts on social issues in their communities. The exhibit was developed in cooperation with NYC Parks and Recreation.

Currently, each table is located in a local park near each school and will remain at the sites through August.

MANHATTAN - Marcus Garvey Park (Madison Ave. at 121st St. - Harlem) PS 79M students - Sara D. Roosevelt Park (Houston Street between Forsyth and Christie Streets – Lower East Side) Marta Valle Secondary School students

BRONX - St. James Park (at Recreation Ctr. on Jerome Ave. near 191st St. - Fordham) MS 399X students - Crotona Park (at picnic area by lake – East Tremont) Acción Academy students

QUEENS - Marconi Park (155th St. near 109th Ave. – Jamaica) 752Q students - Court Square Park (at Courthouse near Thomson Ave. – Long Island City) IS 204Q students

STATEN ISLAND - Silver Lake Park (by dog run near Victory Blvd. and Eddy St.) IS 61R students - Stapleton Playground (on Tompkins Ave. at Tompkins St.) IS 49R students

BROOKLYN - Herbert Von King Park (at flagpole near Lafayette Ave. and Tompkins Ave. – Bedford Stuyvesant) Urban Assembly for the Urban Environment students - Maria Hernandez Park (at flagpole, Irving Ave. and Starr St. – Bushwick) IS 347K students

Leap's Public Art Program was made possible by the generous support of HSBC Bank USA, NA, Richmond Country Savings Foundation, Keith Haring Foundation, Edwin Schlossberg Foundation, Surroundart, Hard Rock International, MissWit Designs, Glacéau, and Bryant Park Corporations. Special thanks to NYC Parks & Recreation, Department of Facilities of NYC Department of Education, and Scenic.

Fidelity FutureStage is a hit

Audiences gathered at New World Stages to witness the culmination of Fidelity FutureStage: a show in which students from 10 middle and high schools performed their own original plays. Sponsored by Fidelity Investments in partnership with the Viertel/Frankel/Baruch/Routh Group and Leap, students learned with Leap teaching artists and Broadway luminaries to perfect their craft and create the works performed for their families, peers, and celebrities including John Leguizamo and Claire Danes. Actors Peter Gallagher and Judine Somerville emceed the event.

The content of the students’ plays ranged from humorous and light to mature and introspective. The students’ plays were also published by well-known play publishers Samuel French Inc. in an anthology titled: The Theater, The Early Years.

Videos from the event and more articles can be found at www.broadwayworld.com/fidelity.cfm.

Fidelity FutureStage was made possible by Fidelity Investments and The Biddle Foundation.

DOE Deputy Chancellor applauds ALLL program

Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning for the NYC Department of Education Marcia Lyles praised Leap’s Active Learning Leads to Literacy (ALLL) program at an ALLL event at New York University (NYU) on May 16th, emphasizing the strong link between learning and imagination, discovery, active participation, and self expression.

In a study of the ALLL program’s effectiveness, Dr. Vivian Clarke, NYU professor and principal investigator for the ALLL evaluation, found that 98 percent students are reading at or above grade level even after a year of participating in the program.

In other ALLL news, it was noted at the 15th International Conference on Learning in Chicago that the ALLL program reflects Embodied Learning, the latest cognitive theory in the field of education.