ARTS ALIVE!
Arts Alive is an after-school arts enrichment program that grew out of parents coming together with a shared interest in enhancing the arts at Happy Valley School. This volunteer-run program depends on your support.
Each session is 11 weeks and is held on Friday afternoons from 12:50 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. and is for grades 1 - 6 only. The dates for the Spring 2018 session are: 2/16, 2/23, 3/2, 3/9, 3/23, 3/30, 4/13, 4/20, 4/27, 5/4, 5/11.
Classes are offered on a fee for service basis and efforts have been made to keep the fees as low as possible. Tuition is due at the time of registration, and placement in a class is not guaranteed until payment has been made. Class placements are on a first come, first served basis when both the registration form and payment have been completed. If you indicate a preference for a class that is full at the time of registering, your child will be placed on a waiting list for that class. To make any changes after you have submitted your registration form, please contact the registration coordinator directly.
FREE TUITION FOR CLASS VOLUNTEERS
There will be one tuition-waived spot in selected classrooms available for any parent who commits to serving as an in-class aid (from 12:45-2:45 PM) for the duration of the 11-week course. In addition, you will need to provide pick-up supervision for that class.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Scholarships are available to families in the free and reduced lunch program. Reduced tuition cost is available for one student per family please.
PLAYGROUND AND SAFETY GUIDELINES
Our main objective is to create an inspiring and exciting environment where children engage with the arts in a more in-depth way than can be achieved during the school day. To achieve this, the students involved must be committed to learning about art. Please don’t use this program as mere childcare. We must be able to provide a safe environment and this requires the full cooperation of every student enrolled in the Arts Alive program. All school rules do apply during the Arts Alive Program. If these rules are not followed, parents will be contacted and participation in the program will be jeopardized.
Spring 2018 CLASSES
Dig it! Garden Club (Grades 1 - 6)
Dig it! kids will transform our school garden into a playful art space. We’ll work with paint, cloth, yarn, bamboo, ceramic, rock & wood to decorate, sew, weave, build and landscape. We’ll make scarecrows, hobbit houses, a bug hotel, pendant flags and nature art. We’ll also plant, harvest, cook (with the solar oven!) and enjoy the spring bounty of this creative living laboratory.
About the Instructor: Deborah Mcarthur has been teaching outdoor and environmental education for over 20 years. She holds a Bachelor degree in Biology, Masters in Environmental Studies and is credentialed in science education. Deborah has coordinated education programs in science centers, museums, and camps and designed curricula, exhibits, and interpretive panels. She is a lifelong homecrafter (cooking, knitting, weaving, sewing, painting, building) and an avid gardener, having taught Life Lab at outdoor science school, camps and at HVS. Her favorite place to teach is outdoors, getting feet muddy with multi-sensory, hands-on and collaborative activities. Mother of two Happy Valley kids, Deborah is excited to cultivate the student’s connection to this important part of their school.
Capoeira (Grades 1 - 6)
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that incorporates elements of acrobatics, music, and dance. African slaves in Brazil were not allowed to practice their traditional martial arts; therefore they created Capoeira, a martial art disguised as a dance. It is knows for its quick and complex maneuvers, predominantly using power, speed, and leverage across a wide variety of kicks, spins, and other techniques. Students will learn the physical, musical, and philosophical elements of Capoeira. The goals of the course are:
1. To develop a sense of community (help each other as a group, train together and learn together)
2. To have a fun environment for learning the physical aspects of Capoeira (relays, roda/Capoeira circle, music, rhythm and acrobatics
3. To introduce Brazilian culture by teaching words and counting, stories and philosophy of Capoeira
About the Instructor: Mestre Papiba began training in capoeira at the age of 16. He arrived in Santa Cruz in 1992 and began his own chapter of Raizes do Brazil Capoeira, offering classes five days a week for adults, teens, and children.
Paper, Collage and Recycled Art (Grades 1 - 4)
In this class we will be exploring all the fun there is to be had with paper! Collage is a great opportunity to create unique artwork that has no boundaries, and doesn't require any prior artistic experience. This class is about finding an inspiration, ripping it up, and making it your own. We will be borrowing old material from magazines, newspaper, postcards, etc as well as creating new material to incorporate into our pieces. Can't wait to get messy!
About the Instructor: Rose Trachtenburg is a second year student at UCSC, double majoring in History of Art, Visual Culture (also known as HAVC) and Community Studies. Rose grew up in Berkeley, CA with a family of artists who inspired her to incorporate creativity and art into her everyday life. She has worked for 5 years as a camp counselor for 6-8 year olds at Camp Kee Tov. Throughout her life, she has spent plenty of her free time dancing, taking classes in African-Haitian dance, modern, hip-hop, and Samba. Through her dance experience, Rose has taught classes of middle schoolers hip-hop and choreography. There are few things she loves as much as hanging out with awesome children and bringing them into creative spaces.
Vaude-Villains (Grades 1 - 3)
Join us for an incredibly fun and fast-paced theater class that develops personal confidence and foundational tools for performance and will deliver a one-of-a-kind, larger-than-life theater extravaganza! Through exploring comedy, tragedy, monologues, Shakespeare and more, this scene study class will allow students to explore scenes from classic literature and everyone's favorite stories. These will be combined to tell an original story in the style of a vaudeville variety show.
About the Instructor: WEST Creative Performing Arts Staff
The mission of WEST Performing Arts is to provide youth and families a creative outlet and training ground that cultivates the imaginative process. WEST instructors provide educational experiences in literature, performing, expressive and creative arts through their classes and productions. We give young artists and audiences the invaluable knowledge that their imaginations have had a positive and profound impact on their world. All WEST classes are process-driven, believing that the creative journey is what matters. Using integrated art forms as our tools, we strive to build confidence, communication and community. We believe in the power of education and the importance of literacy, and we strive to maintain a playful, dynamic and harmonious atmosphere where students feel safe to explore and share their unique perspective in the creative process.
Anime Art (Grades 3 - 6)
Come learn how to draw like an Anime/Manga artist from the ground up! In Anime Art, we will start with the basics of drawing anatomy and expand upon those fundamentals to draw different Anime characters. Classes will focus on different topics like learning to draw eyes, facial expressions, hair, different types of attire, and even Anime creatures like bunnies and wolves. Towards the end of the session students will create their own Anime characters with unique features, utilizing their own personal style. Additionally, students will learn to write one Japanese Kanji character a week in order to expand their linguistic and cultural understanding of the place where Anime originated.
About the Instructor: Gina Giommi has been teaching painting, sketching, science, Anime art, Pokemon art and a variety of other classes at the Seven Directions Institute of Art and Science for almost 4 years. She loves to draw, play games and sing with students. Gina has an Associates Degree in Art from Cabrillo College and is hoping to enter the Game Development and Design major at UCSC this year. She has a passion for video games, art enrichment, music and animals!
Set Design (Grades 4 - 6)
Students will be creating the sets for the 6th grade play. Build, collect, and design props for the play, paint sets and murals, do papier mache art and use your creativity!
About the Instructor: Jai Bolwell
Yearbook (Grades 5-6)
Come be a part of the making of the Happy Valley School Yearbook! Students will be involved in all aspects of creating their own yearbook for the 2017/2018 year. We begin with laying out the pages of the book and creating a template. Then the students will be taking photos of HVS classes and activities. We will upload, edit and place the photos into the yearbook. In addition to layout skills, students will learn typography basics. Students will also design the cover for the book during this Arts Alive course. The students get a feel for producing and completing a project as a team that they feel proud of while creating great memories at HVS!
*This class may accept students in Grade 5 if there is room available.
About the Instructor: Cindy Lepore Hart started the Yearbook course in 2003 and taught it most years until 2014. She has a BA in Psychology and 2 AA degrees in Digital Publishing and Web Media with Certificates in Motion Media, Digital Photography and Web Media. Cindy works as a freelance videographer and photographer in her business, Lepore Hart Design, and is also back at Happy Valley as an instructional aide, a position she held from 2005 to 2012. She is the parent of two Happy Valley graduates who are now in college.
Spring 2018 FEES
$200 per student, $100 per student on free and reduced lunch (only one reduced tuition per family, please). Please note that your registration is not considered complete until payment has been made.
$200 per student, $100 per student on free and reduced lunch (only one reduced tuition per family, please). Please note that your registration is not considered complete until payment has been made.