Arts Organizations Rally during School Transition
APRIL 10, 2020

Schools may be closed, but area students are getting educational resources and instruction with the support of local arts organizations.

Each year the City of Roanoke invests in extending arts and cultural programming to ensure it reaches the full range of Roanoke residents. Local organizations propose projects that reach into neighborhoods and schools, creating partnerships that advance the City's arts and cultural plan. 

For many of these organizations, the March 2019 school closing came at the height of program delivery, after organizations have spent months planning in-school residencies, designing curriculum, and preparing for on-site field trips.
Nimble, resourceful, and fast-acting, organizations have shifted approaches to continue providing student experiences.

"A number of the organizations reached out, first to see how they could help as we made the transition, and then to provide real content for students," says Cari L. Gates, supervisor of fine and perfoming arts for Roanoke City School District. Gates is also the current chair of the Roanoke Arts Commission. "Keep in mind," she added, "that this was while they were having to make their own difficult staffing decisions." 

When the school district set up delivery routes for school meals, Southwest Virginia Ballet artistic director Pedro Szalay hopped on buses to help deliver meals. Mr. Szalay is a welcome and familiar face to students who have participated over the past dozen years in the Dance Espanol program for fourth graders. (This year's final performance of the program was held on the City's Berglund Center stage, just before the school closing.)

School leaders designated Patrick Henry, William Fleming, Round Hill, and Fallon Park schools as distribution centers. City schools art faculty became logistics workers, focused on primary needs their students -- getting them access to the healthy meals that many families depend on.

Food deliveries have included lunches as well as breakfasts for the following day. As schools head into the scheduled spring break, deliveries will continue on Wednesdays and Fridays. Of course, this is new for everyone, and the district continues to adjust to meet the needs of their students with available resources, all while taking precautions to keep everyone healthy.

Teachers, meanwhile, were learning how to provide distance education. Arts organizations were there with resources. "Early on," says Ms. Gates, "the organizations creatively addressed how they might might continue to provide the programs we had been working on with them."

Virginia Children's Theatre (formerly Roanoke Children's Theatre) typically provides educational in-school residencies - Readers' Theatre for third grade and Jamestown for fourth grade. "They turned this to online content in support of packets we were able to get out to the kids," says Gates. Virginia Children's Theatre Executive Director Brett Roden leads the organization in providing noon "RCTatHome" Facebook education, virtual performances by professional actors, and trivia style interactive activities.

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra created a resource page for teachers, quickly putting in their hands tools to help in their transition to online learning. It went live for the public this week and is available at www.rso.com/virtual-ed/.  This content is all part of the RSO Discovery Concert guides for teachers from previous seasons.  These easily downloadable packets align with SOL (Virginia Standards of Learning) guidelines and are filled with information about the orchestra, biographies of composers, musical activities and even lesson plans that go along with a Spotify playlist for parents to add to kids learning at home.

Speaking of Spotify, those parent/teachers will be ready for the RSO Relax & Rejuvenate Spotify Series each week.  Tune into this free series and take a walk and get moving.  Just sign-up for a free account and enjoy it.

The Taubman Museum of Art has created lessons based on current exhibits and quickly created online content for youth delivered on Facebook daily.  That content ranges from helping students understand art to actually making art.

There are a host of additional resources coming out daily from arts and cultural organizations to help families and teachers. We'll keep sharing them in the newsletter. See below for more.

COVID-19 RESOURCES

• City of Roanoke Economic Development resource notice
• City of Roanoke updates
• Roanoke Region Responds website & survey
• Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center response page
• Virginia SBDC Disaster Assistance Webinar recording (March 23)
• Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge COVID-19 Page
• National Endowment for the Arts aggregation of listings for artists and arts organizations
• The Small Business Guide to the CARES Act
• Americans for the Arts resource page

OTHER (Mostly) FREE CULTURAL EVENTS ONLINE 

• The Making Foundation also provides tips and training for hands-on STEAMcraft on YouTtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• The Taubman Museum of Art celebrates Dorothy Gillespie's centennial this year. On Facebook? Check out the installation video, a gallery tour of work from regional private collections, and make a paper version creation for yourself! This exhibit received city funding through the Roanoke Arts Commission.
• What are the Mill Mountain Zoo animals up to?
• Get in-home instruction for children and families on Facebook from Roanoke Children's Theatre.
• Take part in the KidsSquare Virtual Easter Egg Hunt
• Engage in a little Music Lab-style education on the Godfather of Soul from Jefferson Center.
• Follow Olin Hall Galleries at Roanoke College on Instagram for upcoming workshops. 
• Recording of the pay-what-you-will Corey Hunley Facebook concert at The Spot on Kirk. Watch for more events. Next up: Will Farmer on April 19, 7 PM.
• Watch the high score get beaten in The Starcade!
• Opera Roanoke Music Trivia Night on Facebook, Mondays at 8 PM
• The Open Studios (Virtual Tour) on Facebook April 25 and 26
• New date for Local Colors: July 11.
• If your outdoor exercise happens in Floyd County during this stay-at-home period, you can safely see the Out There Sculpture Trail by artist Charlie Brouwer. 
• The history of handwashing by the Historic Society of Western Virginia. Check out the virtual tour of the Jimmy Deck exhibit while you're there.
• The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum's Women Working with Clay may have been put back in the kiln for now, but the catalogue of gorgeous, creative work is available online.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Get listed on the Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge Artist Directory. Free for local artists. Sign up here.
• Register as an Artist for the Earth. Earth Day is April 22nd.
• Apply to serve on one of the City's appointed boards and commissions.

VISUAL ARTISTS

• 2020 slots available for Brandon Oaks Exhibiting Artists: Contact Katherine Devine
• Call for American Folk Art from collectors and artists for a show at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Submit up to three pieces by Friday, May 1.
• Call for public art from the City of Rockville, MD.
• Have you considered joining the League of Roanoke Artists? 

WRITERS

• Get listed on the writers inventory.
• Opera Roanoke is seeking a marketing and communications coordinator.

PERFORMING ARTISTS

• Try your spoken word at Soul Sessions
• Tell a story at Hoot & Holler.
• Join the Roanoke Valley Community Band.
• Try out for a production at Showtimers, Attic Productions, Off the Rails or another of our local theater groups.  
• Performing groups: Send your audition calls.

ARTS LEADERS

• Opera Roanoke is seeking a marketing and communications coordinator.
• Register as an Artist for the Earth. Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22.
• April is national volunteer month. How are you recognizing your volunteers? (National Volunteer Week in April 7-13)
• NEA grant opportunities
• Nonprofit organizations: Be part of the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. Apply by May 31.
• Economic data on arts and culture in Roanoke from Americans for the Arts and the Roanoke Cultural Endowment.
• Apply for to serve on one of the City's appointed boards and commissions.
• How to support artists during COVID-19 from Artwork Archive. 

Be home. Be safe. Be creative.

Roanoke Arts & Culture News is a service of the City of Roanoke's Office of Arts and Culture. Click here for more information. Submit potential content to Arts and Culture Coordinator Douglas Jackson.