Welcome to the Statewide Art and Enrichment Roster, Hosted by CiTi BOCES
Regions Map
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This directory of artists, presenters and vendors is for contact information only. Please note that all
approvals are determined by individual BOCES and/or District criteria and do not guarantee acceptance of
proposed contracts.
Brian Rush
Traveling shop class is a unique program that makes wood working accessible and safe for students grades PreK-8.
Students learn about a trade that is both a career and an art form. Students get to make wood sculptures with specialized tools in a safe environment; all materials and supplies provided. With guidance and one-on-one attention, students will design and create their own unique wood sculpture to make and keep.
Traveling shop class easily aligns with any visual arts curriculum addressing goals for sculpture, critical thinking and problem solving, culture and careers. Traveling shop class addresses the NYS standards for the visual arts for creating and connecting. Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. They will organize and develop their ideas and work experimenting with forms, materials and artmaking approaches, balancing experimentation with safety and responsibility, while interacting in ways that enhance and empower their lives.
Through artmaking students develop awareness, knowledge and experiences, and solve artistic problems. Part of the traveling shop class presentation is about environmental conservation which has cross curricular connections to science goals for habitats. 21st Century Skills such as critical thinking, creativity, social skills, communication, flexibility, problem solving, productivity, adaptability, curiosity and imagination, self-direction and perseverance are embedded as students plan and build, share, take turns, make corrections, and practice safety.
Traveling shop class programming is easily adaptable for unique school-wide or individual class experiences including a modified format to be inclusive of all abilities.
5 Loaves Farm is a unique urban farm that serves as a living classroom where we teach hands-on, minds-on lessons about science and social topics relevant to students in grades K-12. We love working with teachers to provide experiences tailored specifically to your curriculum needs. Our unique position as a farm that includes fruit trees, greenhouses, chickens, bees, and so much more, right in the middle of an urban neighborhood, provides the opportunity to connect various areas of study into meaningful learning experiences for your students.
BubbleMania: Science, Art & Comedy! An extremely "pop"ular assembly that combines bubbling skills, clean humor and toe-tapping tunes with an exploration of the natural sciences to amaze, amuse and inspire. This show connects the dots between creativity and scientific know-how.
Students K-5 learn how bubbles form, how to use simple tools to create jaw-dropping bubble sculpture at home (spaceship, bubble cube, bubble disco ball), the science of bubble bursting, secret formulas and more. Includes eye-popping, artistic routines choreographed to jazzy music and a finale that finds a student trapped inside a giant bubble.
Developed by Casey Carle, international award-winning bubble manipulator with credits that include Cirque du Soleil, Sesame Street and The Smithsonian Institute. Thousands of shows presented at schools across New York & New England for two decades. Brains will whirl, eyes will go wide and jaws will drop for students and staff alike. Amaze, amuse and inspire with BubbleMania!
Award-winning, internationally renowned musical storytelling duo Barry Marshall and Jeri Burns PhD, aka, The Storycrafters, present performance, workshop and residency programs integrating storytelling with numerous areas of curriculum.
Storytelling has been documented in multiple studies as a support and building block of literacy. Schools that participate in storytelling programs see marked improvement in student language, reading and creating writing abilities.
Storycrafters programs work to enhance student literacy through the storytelling art form. Storytelling also acts as an active support to many areas of curriculum, including character education, history, multicultural and international studies, and more.
The Storycrafters have been working in schools and other venues since 1991, building a vast repertoire of stories and workshops to introduce storytelling and use it to enhance many areas of student learning. In addition, The Storycrafters present workshops for parents and teachers introducing the many ways storytelling can enhance student development in the home and classroom.
With 30+ years of experience in the storytelling art form and its many use in the classroom and school environment, The Storycrafters are a valuable resource for any school community looking to enhance literacy while supporting many areas of curriculum.
WonderWorks, a science focused indoor interactive museum/amusement park which combines education and entertainment. With over 100 hands-on exhibits, there is something unique and challenging for all ages. Feel the power of 74mph hurricane–force winds in the Hurricane Shack. Make huge, life–sized bubbles in the Bubble Lab. Get the NASA treatment in our Astronaut Training Gyro and experience zero gravity. Nail it by laying on the death–defying Bed of Nails.
Our dynamic programming includes three unforgettable, interactive assemblies as well as a lifesaving skills workshop series
M.A.C.H.O. Assembly – My Actions Can Help Others
A high-energy kindness and empathy assembly that inspires students to be everyday superheroes by showing compassion and helping others.
Strength of Body, Strength of Mind
A motivational fitness and wellness assembly that promotes strength of body and mind through real-life story of former Mr. America, Dan Lurie told by his grandson.
Water Safety Education Assembly
An engaging and informative program that teaches kids how to stay safe in oceans, pools, and lakes, featuring the popular “Dress Like a Lifeguard” relay.
Additionally, we offer our hands on Life-Saving Skills Workshop Series for grades 3 and up, where students learn:
Hands-Only CPR (Adult, Child, and Infant)
Heimlich Maneuver (Adult, Child, and Infant)
Water Safety or Allergy Awareness
District Membership
SUPPORT THE VISUAL ARTS IN YOUR SCHOOL
NYSATA offers a wide array of opportunities for students. Included are numerous exhibits at the local, state, and national level; student scholarship opportunities; the Olympics of the Visual Arts Competition; and the Portfolio Project Assessment, to name a few. All new this year, the District Membership Program gives students access to all these great programs without the need for individual teachers to also become members.*
District Membership Benefits Include:
Access to all student programs and opportunities, including:
The NYSATA Portfolio Project*
The Olympics of the Visual Arts*
The NYSATA Legislative Student Exhibit*
The NYSATA/School Boards Association Student Exhibit*
Student Scholarships Opportunities: The Zara B. Kimmey, Bill Millikin, and Goldberg/Snow
20% discount on registration fees for the NYSATA/School Boards Association Exhibit and Legislative Exhibit
Ready to share and print Award/Recognition certificates for outstanding visual art students (one certificate per school building)
Access to members-only resources on the NYSATA website www.nysata.org
Regular E-News information and advocacy alerts
Subscription for each art teacher in your school or district to quarterly NYSATA News digital and print editions
Member rates on all art teacher registrations for our annual conference, regional institutes and workshops, the Summer Institute at Sagamore, and other professional development opportunities
Full benefits of membership for every art teacher in your school or district
Getting your teachers connected to a learning community and INVOLVED (priceless!)
*Additional registration fees apply for certain programs and exhibits.
Questions?
Please contact us at districtmembership@nysata.org.
We offer pattern drawing and mandala drawing workshops.
We learn a little about the background of mandalas, explore patterns and the benefits to drawing patterns; and of course draw patterns and mandalas.
During the class everyone will have the opportunity to draw patterns and a mandala, but it is more about the process and less about the finished mandala. Throughout the workshop we will learn (and experience) how drawing patterns and mandalas can reduce stress, alleviate anxiety, improve focus and increase creative thought.
We will also work together to create collaborative designs, exploring the impact of everyone contributing their own unique approach toward a common project.
Benefits:
• The practice of pattern drawing reduces stress and increases focus.
• Exploring how to draw complex patterns helps us understand how to break large goals into less overwhelming segments.
• Our collaborative activities create a visual demonstration of how we all approach a similar task from different perspectives and how amazing the result is when everyone contributes to a common task or goal.
• Becoming more aware of patterns all around us leads us to look at our surroundings with great curiosity and appreciation
90 minute cruise on the Erie Canal with a simplified childrens historical narration (based on group age). Cruise includes traveling thru Lock 18, the most historically correct Lock left on the NYS Canal system and still operating perfectly with 110 year old original equipment. The vessel is raised and lowered twenty feet thru the lock, a highlite of the cruise. Interaction with a Q&A period during the cruise if desired by the teacher(s). Our vessel (Lil' Diamond II) can accomodate up to 50 passengers. We are a USCG Certified passenger vessel with full safety equiptment.
I’ll start each workshop with a slide show of my personal journey into the arts. This will start from my entrance into the arts back in high school where I was guided away from the arts by guidance counselors and administration. I’ve found this to be helpful to mention as many students can relate to this.
My entrance into the arts started in ceramics and has led me to Mould Making, Metal Casting, Fiber & Silversmithing. I’ll discuss how perseverance, determination, hard work, and elbow grease has awarded me with scholarships, grants, shows, and teaching opportunities that enable me to travel to craft schools and residencies to continue making work. I’ll show the evolution of my work and include photos of in-process works from different studios throughout the years.
This introduction will last about 30 minutes concluding with 15 minutes of questions.
I’ll continue with about 20 minutes of demonstrations and disperse materials for hands-on building. At this point, I’ll make my rounds to meet with each student and troubleshoot their project ideas and the best way to construct them. I’ll call the class over to discuss which method of building would be best depending on the desired outcome as there is no one way to make something.
Program Descriptions
Workshop 1: Personification of an Object
First steps into the world of Abstract art by warping reality one object at a time. Students are prompted to give humanistic features/characteristics to inanimate objects to create something that’s never existed before.
Workshop 2: Re-Create Everyday Objects
Students will be asked to bring in 3-5 everyday objects. We’ll discuss different methods of construction, play with scale, and explore the surface through color and texture. Refrain from bringing in objects that are made out of ceramic materials.
Workshop 3: Large Forms inspired by the Ancient World and Today
This workshop focuses on giving students the necessary skills to create large vessels. Students will be asked to find references of Vessels from Ancient Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, or contemporary artists.
-hand-building on a larger scale helps beginner students quickly adapt to the properties of clay and respond to the material quicker than something small. This method of construction [coil-building] is the oldest method of building with clay, allows for lots of adjustments to form and scale for a beginner student, causes you to be attentive to the material.
-Discuss the benefits of hand-building and the freedom/ability to build in a gestural way, why this is helpful.
-Ask students to choose or draw a silhouette to mimic for their vessel
– A blueprint/reference photo is VITAL to making a successful shape, make this mandatory, this will help assist them in achieving the shape they want to.
-brief demo on darting– show them how to edit a shape that’s not going in the direction (shape-wise) that they’re going for.
Workshop 4: Advanced Techniques
Ask students to make an object (sculptural or functional) using the extruder and slab roller. These can be very gestural, architectural, or realistic.
-Demo how to construct a form using slabs slumping/wrapping/template techniques (cut-outs slipped and scored together)
-Emphasize that the appearance of the object will be determined by what method of construction students wish to use (explain and show examples of architectural vs. gestural, organic vs geometric forms, etc.)
-Demo how to use an extruder and how to attach extruded shapes securely together/to the form.
Clay & tools can be provided for an additional fee.
Billy Lamont’s poetry workshops, designed to strengthen student’s writing skills, are aligned with New York State English Language Arts Standards for Reading and Writing. Lamont explains the different forms of poetry, giving examples from his own poetry, and speaks about the importance of knowledge, imagination, and wisdom of heart and mind for success in life. Lamont affirms that students have a right to their own feelings and that it is healthy to express themselves through poetry. Lamont recites his poem, ‘Dignity’ to help students understand their unique value and to inspire them to fulfill their great potential. In support of The Dignity Act, he tells students that they can gain an understanding and empathy of other people, including those from different cultures, through reading their poetry. He emphasizes the importance of empathy in building community and stopping bullying in our schools.
BILLY LAMONT BIO 2025
Billy Lamont is a NY based American poet, spoken word artist, recording artist, and experimental multi-media performance poet, with a reformer spirit, and international reach. He has been interviewed and performed on national television a number of times, including Joe Franklin Show, MTV, and MUCH MUSIC Television broadcast from Toronto, Canada.
He has toured and performed with Lollapalooza rock festival several times including in the Poetry Tent in 1994, on The Lab side stage in 1995, and representing Jubilee USA/International in The World Of Just BeCauses activism tent while performing poems of activism on the Booty Camp side stage in 2003. He has appeared on college and major radio stations across the U.S. including Z-100 live from Lollapalooza in NY in 1994. He has also given in-store book signing events at major and independent bookstores throughout the U.S.
Lamont has three books of poetry, and as a recording artist has nine album CD/digital download releases. His latest book Words Ripped From A Soul Still Bleeding: Poems For The Future Edition is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon as a paperback, or as an eBook, and all his albums can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music.
He was awarded a Guinness World Record for his poetry performance contribution to a benefit song for Love Hope Strength Foundation and those fighting cancer, that was recorded by Mike Peters of The Alarm in 2014, and was the ‘longest officially released song ever.’ This song titled The Scriptures was written as a seed of peace for Muslims, Christians and Jews in The Holy Land.
His 1998 debut album CD/digital release Into The 21st Century was a benefit for Teen Challenge, with performances by two of his greatest influences, the legendary Allen Ginsberg and the brilliant Mike Peters of The Alarm on the title track. In his later years, Ginsberg expressed his love and support for Lamont’s poetry with permission to use an audio sample from one of his first recitals of the Beat Generation epic poem Howl.
The passion to inspire hope and to be a voice for everyday people is at the heart of his poetry. His poems encourage dignity, uphold life and have been a catalyst for many people to live in a more loving way, to find their own voice and for personal and social reform
AutismFriendlyShows.com and Turtle Dance Music helps kids come out of their shells! We offer the most amazing autism-friendly and elementary school assemblies in the country.
Founded by Mr. Matt "The Turtle Man" Mazur, MA, Matt got his graduate degree in Developmental Models of Autism Intervention and Early Childhood Development at Montclair State University. He also studied musical theater for undergrad at New York Universities' Tisch School of the Arts where he started creating his music performances for students with developmental disabilities at District 75 Autism Schools and Centers in New York City.
Matt is known for sharing *multiple* (in a day - sometimes 4-8) 45 minute to hour long inclusive music concerts where he plays over 60 different instruments including didgeridoo, banjo, guitar, beatboxing, loop stations and many more! Teachers and students usually leave assemblies and classroom performances asking "Can he be here every day?!?"
Matt's signature performance is the Bubble, Comedy and Music Show: Reading Rocks which features an original story about what it's like living with autism written and illustrated by Mr. Matt and Tim Shaw who is on the autism spectrum. Students are moving the ENTIRE performance and it is highly planned down to the minute with variable activities for students who are more verbal as well as less verbal. The show is also tailored for students who have profound and multiple learning disabilities who might not be as mobile as their peers. Matt has been sharing my work for the last 12 years both in-person in classrooms, gyms, cafeterias and auditoriums as well as virtually on our Innovative Big Screen Smartboard Shows over Zoom.
Matt also offers shows tailored with songs for every season, holiday and I have A Counting Show, A Space: Revolution and Rotation Show, An Ecosystems Rock Show, Earth Day Rocks! and a Water Cycle Show.
For more information e-mail info@turtledancemusic.com or call 973-493-2326 or visit our website https://www.TurtleDanceMusic.com or our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube,com/TurtleDanceMusic