Local Educators + Nonprofits Make the Best of Learning WORDS BY M.K. KOSZYCKI
As a school year reliant on parents and guardians absorbing a bigger role in their children’s at-home education comes to a close, the looming summer raises many questions. With camps moving online and questions about future academic calendars unanswered, it’s daunting to think of how education will look in a post-pandemic world. Due in part to the connectivity of the internet and the innovation of educators everywhere, digital resources abound. From hands-on play to arts education, we spoke to local educators, organizations and businesses about their virtual work and how you and the children in your life can access and benefit from it.
ARTS ON the horIZON The Arts on the Horizon presents theater to their audience of children ages 6 and under using professional adult actors. They are the first theater company in the country to provide performances exclusively to this age range, and their non-verbal performances feature little to no major divide between the audience and performer. “It’s a very tactile, intimate experience for the audience,” says Michelle Kozlak, founder and producing artistic director. “As you can imagine it’s really challenging right now.” Despite challenges, Kozlak, her team and performers began a YouTube channel on March 16, immediately after they closed. Now boasting 30 videos, they’ve expanded from actors reading Photo courtesy of Arts on the Horizon.
books to more interactive experiences, all accessible via the theater’s website and their YouTube platform. “We also have at-home activities we started to send out,” Kozlak says. “All of these are free. Anyone who’s on our mailing list has been getting these lists of activities in addition to the videos. And we are preparing a coloring book and paper doll book based on our shows that’ll be coming out in June. It’s a way to do some screen-free activities but something that still connects everyone back to our shows.” The coloring book, available this month, serves as a fundraiser for the organization. To further help the organization employ artists and keep afloat while they are closed, donations are also being accepted through their Hope on the Horizon campaign. “Liking and sharing things, just getting the word out about things that we are doing, even our free activities, is amazing,” Kozlak says of other ways to help. “We’re still a young organization, so the more that people know what we’re doing, that’s great.” The Arts on the Horizon also offers virtual classes and their virtual summer camp launches this month. These camps come with supply kits to encourage learning after camp instruction and offer something to do without increasing screen time. “We just really want to make sure we’re keeping everyone safe,” she says. “We’re finding new ways that we can engage with parents and kids during the camp, so we’re doing an hour a day [everyday] instead of the normal three hours.” DISTRICT FRAY | 47
