RAISE in Action!

RAISE photo montage with logo
January 31, 2024 | lauren@ya.org

Responsive Arts in School Education (RAISE), Young Audiences Arts for Learning's (YA) multi-state initiative that centers trauma-informed, healing-centered, and culturally responsive-sustaining arts in education, continues to expand its programming breadth and depth across the national YA Network.

Melissa Gawlowski Pratt, YA's Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations, had the privilege of visiting nine affiliate sites to witness RAISE in action. 

"It's been truly invaluable to get into the classrooms and see the work where it lives and breathes, in those moments of interaction between teaching artists, teachers, social workers, and young people. I've witnessed the impact the RAISE training has had on the teaching artists, and it’s moving to consider the lasting impact on students when they experience such warmth, validation, and respect.”

        - Melissa Gawlowski Pratt, PhD, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations
          at Young Audiences Arts for Learning 

As RAISE enters Year 3 of programming, artists in their second year of residency work are engaging in action research, testing ideas and new strategies, and documenting the outcomes. They are also mentoring teaching artists entering their first year of RAISE training. 

The DOE-funded national initiative has been implemented at 11 YA affiliate sites, with seven additional implementation sites planned for Year 4 of programming in 2024-25.

RAISE Affiliate Site Visits - 2023

  • Young Audiences of Louisiana (Orleans, LA)
    Dance and Theater with PreK and lower elementary

  • Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (Chicago, IL)
    Visual Art with elementary and middle schoolers; Music and Soundworks with middle schoolers

  • Young Audiences of Houston (Houston, TX)
    Dance with PreK and lower elementary; Visual Art with upper elementary; Music with upper elementary; Photography with upper elementary

  • Arts Ed Collaborative (Pittsburgh, PA)
    Music/Hip Hop and Visual Arts/Ceramics with elementary schoolers

  • Arts for Learning Indiana (Indianapolis, IN)
    RAISE Summer 2023 Convening for YA Network Staff & Teaching Artists

  • Springboard to Learning (St. Louis, MO)
    Stories & Movement with PreK

  • Arts for Learning Miami (Miami, FL)
    Stories & Movement with lower elementary

  • Arts Ed Collaborative - second visit (Pittsburgh, PA)
    Visual Art with upper elementary

RAISE Affiliate Site Visits - 2024

  • Arts for Learning Connecticut (Hamden, CT)
    Music Scoring with middle schoolers; Drumming with early elementary

Upcoming Site Visits - 2024 (planned)

  • Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern PA (Princeton, NJ)

  • Young Audiences of Louisiana (New Orleans, LA)

  • Center for Arts-Inspired Learning (Cleveland, OH)

  • Arts for Learning Massachusetts (Boston, MA)

  • Arts for Learning Indiana (Indianapolis, IN)

Read more:

RAISE Local Implementation Summary: Year 2

Checking In with RAISE: YA's Responsive Arts in School Education Program (September 2023)

 

Questions?

If you have questions about RAISE, please visit ya.org/RAISE or contact Melissa Gawlowski Pratt, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations, at melissa@ya.org.