Page 3, Connecticut Happenings -- News from Our Home Base
(Pictures from past arts days coming soon)
This page highlights recent activities of the National Resource Center in its home state of Connecticut. Check here for announcements of arts events of interest to people with visual impairments held at the school in which we are headquartered, the Music and Arts Center for Humanity, Bridgeport, Connecticut. . Our Being part of a school allows us to team up with talented teachers of various departments to provide special programs. It also makes it possible to assure propper support for blind students wishing to participate in regularly offered lessons and programs. At this writing, the school year is about to begin and special events have yet to be scheduled. Information will be added as it comes. Please check our Announcements page for items of national interest. For information about programs of the Music and Arts Center, visit the MACH web site, www.musicandartscenter.org.
August 24--While most of our attention was taken up with our highly successful Summer Institute in Philadelphia, several children with vision problems were taking part in the MACH day camp in Bridgeport. In mid August, we were asked to provide an activity during a careers exploration camp held at Camp Harkness in Waterford. MACH African drumming teacher, Jack Davis, along with his two sons and other MACH staff piled into our van with a bevy of drums. Thirteen young people eagerly soaked up different rhytmic patterns which they played as a team to make highly intricate music. Since it was a careers camp, we talked about career possibilities in the arts and the role of networking with mentors. We also felt it was important to mention that life should not be all work and no play. Exposure to and participation in arts activities can help in making life more than a matter of job, apartment and commute. The enthusiastic response we got from this session by both campers and support staff leads us to hope that this year will bring more people to our arts days for children statewide, held in Bridgeport.
This is the time for writing grant reports, working on the Web site, and enjoying a little quiet. Already we know that this fall will include contracts to work with students in their schools and providing lessons on the computer. We are looking forward to having some visually impaired children coming during the school day as part of a dance/art program for children with a variety of disabilities. The plan is to give the blind children special time during the program to explore things of special interest, including digital audio. Under my desk is a box with a bread machine we plan to experiment with at some point. We are hoping to have three statewide arts days during the course of the year.
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