The Pixel: Urban Arts Newsletter – April
Thank You Volunteers!
This National Volunteer Month, Urban Arts would like to thank all of our volunteer mentors! For this Spring 2023 cohort, we have mentors from #NBCUniversal, #Roku, and #Take-TwoInteractive.
The impact of mentoring cannot be overstated. From Urban Arts mentee and Nagler Scholar, Giselle Muriel: “My mentor showed me that my dreams are worth pursuing and inspired me to follow them, which has ultimately made me who I am today.”
If you represent a company interested in mentoring Urban Arts students and alumni, please email Richard.Morin@urbanarts.org.
To the volunteers—Board, Creative Professional Board, Saturday teachers, and more—who make Urban Arts so great, THANK YOU.
SWING!
YOU’RE INVITED to the annual Urban Arts Golf Classic at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, sponsored by PACOA. Come out and golf for good! You can come as a solo golfer or with a foursome. Or choose to just join the dinner. There’s a raffle drawing! Plus, there are additional ways to support the event (and Urban Arts) if you cannot attend. You can find more information and register at the link below. Urban Arts would like to thank Board Member Steve Geismar for making this possible!
June 7th, 2023, Old Westbury Golf & Country Club, 270 Wheatley Rd, Old Westbury, NY 11568
For more information, contact Richard Morin at rmorin@urbanarts.org.
Nagler Scholar Update
Double congratulations are in order for the 2023 Nagler Scholar Giselle Muriel, a senior at Long Island City High school. If you heard her speech at Color Ball, you would know that she had “been accepted to a number of colleges to study Computer Science, but I haven’t made up my mind yet… I’m holding out for Barnard.”
Well! Please welcome Giselle to Barnard College, Class of 2027.
“As a first-generation college student, the future my parents imagined for me is now coming true. And my dream to build a world where technology is available for all is just beginning.”
The Nagler Scholarship was created sixteen years ago to enable high school students from low-income communities to define their future by providing $60,000 to one winning scholar. The Nagler Scholarship was created by Urban Arts Board Member Niclas Nagler and his family.
Nagler scholars demonstrate leadership in their schools, a clear focus and vision for their post-secondary careers, and a strong desire to use their talents and skills to impact the community. They are artists, computer wizards, designers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and global changemakers.
Urban Arts on the Road: San Francisco
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last month was lit! Urban Arts CEO, Philip Courtney, was part of the panel REIMAGINING GAME INDUSTRY EDUCATION: BOOSTING TALENT PIPELINE & CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (Presented by Microsoft).
Philip, along with the incredible panel listed below, discussed how higher education, government, non-profits and platforms are coming together to design the skills, competencies and certifications that will set up the next generation of developers to succeed. A focus was placed on how this convergence of entities and technology can influence racial justice and economic mobility.
Listed below are the panelists from left to right:
- Josh Reynolds (Director, Modern Workplace, US Education, Microsoft, & Urban Arts Board Member)
- Alia Jones-Harvey (Associate Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment)
- Gordon Bellamy (Professor, USC)
- Philip Courtney (CEO, Urban Arts)
- Jessica Lindl (VP Social Impact & Education, Unity)
Urban Arts on the Road Part 2: DC
Urban Arts’ very own Shannon Moran, Amy Patterson, PhD, and Julia Zubrovich were in DC recently for the 2023 Assistance for Arts Education Project Directors’ Conference.
Hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s AAE Program Office, sessions focused on creating connections and collaborations with internal and external constituents, strengthening data and dissemination methods, exploring best practices for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (DEIA) through arts, and building capacity for program efficacy.
Shannon, Amy, and Julia facilitated a workshop titled: From Research to Practice: How Urban Arts Engages Teachers in Creative Collaboration. Participants had the opportunity to explore research findings and program design, participate in hands-on arts-integrated activities, and learn about supportive professional development strategies and programmatic structures.
Amy also spoke on the panel Using Evaluations to Support Program Improvement, Scalability, Sustainability + Dissemination facilitated by Bernadine P. Futrell, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. DoE, with David Dik, Stacie Sanders, and Dr. Sonji Jones-Manson. Amy discussed our Game On project and how we use evaluation to inform program design and continuous improvements.
The three capped off a productive trip visiting the famous DC Cherry Blossoms. Urban Arts would like to thank Shannon, Amy, and Julia for being incredible representatives of Urban Arts, as well as the Department of Education for hosting a wonderful event.
New Learning Lab: Facing History School
Urban Arts and the team from Facing History (our community school partner M303) have joined forces to prioritize arts and technology in their school community. They recently opened a state-of-the-art Technology Lab where students develop digital portfolios through our after-school game design club. This club is part of Gaming Pathways, a project to develop a successful college-level curriculum and create a pipeline for NYC students to pursue postsecondary education, especially at CCNY, and future careers in game design and related fields.
Additionally, Facing History has reimagined their annual Choosing to Participate event, which involves senior students writing a policy memo and creating an art piece that addresses a local community issue. This year, the students incorporated augmented reality into the event using the Artivive app.
Visit A Classroom
During the pandemic, we maintained a 84% student attendance rate. How? Our success was due to our highly-engaging education model, our student-centered curricula, and our deeply invested faculty—plus brand new connective technologies. We are now operating in a hybrid capacity and can host guests online or in person at our Flatiron Learning Lab. Please click below to schedule a visit.
