Creative Action
Creating shared arts experiences that build community, connection, and capacity for change.
Creative Action School-Based Programs
Pre-K 3 & 4: SINGING OUR WORLD: In this lively interactive sing along program, stories, music and movement help children name their feelings, build routines and care for the environment.
1 session, 45 minutes, available September - December
SEL Goals: Self awareness: Identifying emotions, Self management
Pre-K-Kinder: WELCOME ARMADILLO, SOMOS COMUNIDAD: In this bilingual program (Spanish/English) students journey into an animal sanctuary to meet Jacki the jack rabbit, Henri the hen, and Armando the armadillo, and help them learn to be friends, how to recover from accidents and mistakes, and how to help others feel like they belong in our communities.
5 sessions, 1 hour each, available September- January
SEL Goals: Self awareness: naming feelings, Social awareness: empathy, Self management: self-regulation, Relationship Skills: learning a 4 step apology process & repairing harm when accidents and mistakes happen
Bilingual (Spanish/English)
1st Grade: THE HEROES: In this interactive, bilingual performance, Teaching Artists use role-play, puppetry, song, and movement, to teach a 4-step conflict resolution process. Students join Sam the Salamander as he sets off on a journey from Barton Springs to Costa Rica to Mt. Kilimanjaro to discover the four steps to peace.
5 sessions, 1 hour each, available March - May
SEL Goals: Relationship Skills: Collaborative problem solving. Social awareness: Taking others’ perspectives.
Bilingual (Spanish/English)
4th and 5th Grade: THE COURAGE TO STAND: Students learn how to become a courageous bystander in a bullying situation by exploring acts of courage throughout history, including moments from the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement.
5 sessions, 1 hour each, available September-January
SEL Goals: Empathy; considering the well-being of self and others; basing decisions on safety, social, and ethical consideration
Professional Learning for School Staff and Community Members
Available to schools, teachers and organizations interested in using the arts to activate learning, build community and facilitate dialogue around critical social issues. Available for Continuing Professional Education Credit from the state of Texas for school teachers/staff. Highly interactive. (1 session, 3 hours, online or in person).
All grade levels:
Creating Community and Building Belonging in the Classroom: This interactive workshop will share research about the impact of belonging on developing academic and social strengths in the classroom. Strategies for building community and increasing belonging in the classroom will be demonstrated, explored and practiced together.
Conflict Resolution and Effective Apologies: Putting Students in Charge: This workshop differentiates between conflict and bullying, introduces a 4-step process for conflict resolution, and examines effective apologies and the role they play in resolving and recovering from conflict.
Handling Challenging Moments: Do you wonder how to respond when a student says something that sounds hurtful, mean, biased or discriminatory? This interactive workshop examines why and how our response matters when we witness these moments. We will explore specific tools that demonstrate what it sounds like to center dialogue and diverse perspectives within a learner-centered practice.
Family Workshops
Workshops are offered to explore content related to classroom programs through an interactive format. Available Sept - May, in-person or over Zoom. Perfect to combine with a PTA meeting.
Topics available:
Creating Together: Engaging Creatively with young people: This workshop introduces a sequence of visual art strategies to engage your kiddos in making art. This workshop is designed for parents and children together.
Conflict Resolution and Effective Apologies: Putting Students in Charge: This is an adapted version of our workshop for teachers. It differentiates between conflict and bullying, introduces a 4-step process for conflict resolution, and examines effective apologies and the role they play in resolving and recovering from conflict.
Raising Courageous Bystanders: How do you show up? How do your kids show up? In this time of polarization in our country, young people may be receiving confusing messages about how to treat one another. Some messages normalize racism and bullying. To respond, Creative Action has created this workshop that highlights creative, inquiry-based activities and discussion starters that counter harmful messages and provide tools for engaging young people in conversation.
Want something different? We are happy to work with you to develop an arts-centered professional development workshop for your staff.
Contact us schoolbased@creativeaction.org
Mural Projects
Leaders in Color
15-30 Sessions, 2 Hours Each
This mural project empowers students to research local leaders and community heroes, creating portraits that celebrate their contributions and inspire civic engagement.
Colors of Nature
15-30 Sessions, 2 Hours Each
This mural project encourages the preservation of natural resources through the depiction of local flora and fauna, with the possibility of incorporating a related service project or gardening activity.
Community Color
15-30 Sessions, 2 Hours Each
This curriculum focuses on activating youth to learn how they can use art to address an issue or need in their community.
A Pop of Color
15-30 Sessions, 2 Hours Each
This curriculum uses color to transform educational spaces into bright and vivid environments that encourage positive moods among students and aids their learning experience.
Interested in a project like this for your campus or after-school program? Or would you like us to create a custom mural curriculum for your school? Reach out to us!
Cost varies based on number of sessions and scope of final project. Learn more here.
Contact:
For school-based programs:
Jenny Arffmann, Program Director of School Based Residencies
Telephone: (512) 442-8773 x 122
Email: jenny@creativeaction.org or schoolbased@creativeaction.org
For mural programs:
Lindsay Palmer, Director of Public Art
Email: lindsay@creativeaction.org
1023 Springdale Road, Building 3
Austin, TX 78721