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Silk Road Connect students from JHS 185 take a bow after their culminating event performance in June 2012
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© JENNIFER TAYLOR
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Silk Road Connect
A Silk Road Project Educational Program
Program Vision
Silk Road Connect inspires passion-driven learning by empowering students and educators to seek connections across all areas of study and to follow their interests from the familiar to the foreign. In a spirit of playfulness and investigation, collaboration and creativity, this program invites students and teachers to experience learning as a continual process and the foundation for a meaningful life in our complex and interrelated world.
As ongoing globalization, technological advances and prolonged international conflict make our world ever smaller, it becomes increasingly important that we learn to embrace our identities as citizens of a global community. The arts have historically been a gateway to understanding among diverse peoples, but continued cuts to arts programming in public schools are denying young people valuable tools to connect with the world around them.
In response, the Silk Road Project has developed Silk Road Connect, an approach to teaching targeting middle schools in low-resourced communities, where students are least likely to have access to the transformative power of the arts. By working with middle school students, we are engaging children at a pivotal point in their lives when making connections with a broader world can be of enormous benefit.
Learn More
To learn more about upcoming Silk Road Connect education events, including professional development sessions, join our Silk Road Connect mailing list by emailing education@silkroadproject.org.
Silk Road Connect in New York City
During the 2011-2012 school year, the Silk Road Project worked for a third year with Edward Bleeker JHS 185 in Queens. Educators took part in professional development sessions, and teaching artists visited classrooms to share their perspectives as professional artists and as individuals. The year culminated at the New York Hall of Science in Queens with a student-driven performance, "Tales of Wonder."
See a sample art lesson shared by one of the teachers participating in Silk Road Connect at JHS 185.
Silk Road Connect Outreach
We are conducting Silk Road Connect Outreach to extend the impact of this innovative arts education program. During the 2012-2013 school year, teaching artist visits will take place at Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School in the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts.
Email education@silkroadproject.org to sign up for our Silk Road Connect mailing list, or join instantly using our sign-up form.
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