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Register now for March April online arts classes


Classes are FREE but advance registration is required.  Enrollment begins February 16th

Building on our successful December 2020 pilot program with Seattle Parks & Recreation, The Creative Advantage is expanding the Creative Advantage ALL ACCESS Arts Stream (CAAAAS). This March we’re offering FREE, high-quality, accessible, *synchronous* out of school time arts classes for young people. 

This collaboration maximizes the community arts education power of the City’s Parks and ARTS offices, Seattle Public Schools,  The Vera Project and teaching artists and youth facilitators from 5 different arts partners: Pacific Northwest BalletArts CorpsTeenTixSeattle Arts & Lectures Writers in the Schools, and KUOW’s RadioActive.  

Check out the class information and registration links below and spread the word to the young artists you know! 

Virtual Classes for Elementary Grades 

Dancing our Natural World  

Ciara stands on one leg, arms out and leans to the side. A class of young students copies her.

Wednesdays, 3 – 4 pm. Starting March 3  
Great for students in grades 2-4  
Register here 
Pacific Northwest Ballet presents movements to share and express what you know, think, and feel. Join teaching artist Ciara McCormack of PNB in using nature and our physical world as inspiration for movement. . A link to Webex for the class will be in your email, 2 days prior to class. 

Poetry: Magic Words and Magic Powers 

Alpaca, by Yu Zeng, age 11, Lowell Elementary School, Fifth Grade: You are an alpaca. You are found in a desert, mountain, or South America. You are like slow dripping honey falling in a jar. You are beige, burnt sienna. You are screeching like a flamingo. You are soft and fluffy. You are long necked and different colored. You teach me how to be peaceful but still be yourself. You make me feel calm and peaceful. If this animal wanted a gift, it would ask for humans to treat them better because they are only a limited animal. How are you so peaceful? You are slow dripping honey falling in a jar.

Wednesdays, 4 – 5 pm. Starting March 3 
Great for students in grades 2-5  
Register here 
In a time of disruption and confinement, poetry can be a great tool for grounding youth in the power of imagination and language and inviting them to find new magic in everyday life. Teaching artist Jay Thompson of Seattle Arts & Lectures’ WITS program will invite students to use their five senses, explore their homes, play with words, and delight themselves with their poems. A link to Webex for the class will be in your email, 2 days prior to class.  

Pop-up Books and Paper Magic

A blue duck in the middle of a pop-up with an open beak and a long tongue: hello!

Saturdays, 10 – 11 am. Starting March 6
Great for students in grades 3-6.  
Register here 
Learn how to cut and fold paper to create 2D and 3D shapes with teaching artist Jiéyì Ludden of Arts Corps. Together, you’ll explore design strategies, crafting, and storytelling in an inclusive environment.  A link to Webex for the class will be in your email, 2 days prior to class.  

Virtual Classes for Teens 

SoundBites: Exploring storytelling and radio journalism with RadioActive Youth Media 

Two young Black girls with radio equipment—mics and headphones, interviewing near the waterfront.

Saturdays, 5 – 6:30 pm. Starting March 13
Register here 
Join teaching artist Kelsey Kupferer and KUOW’s RadioActive Youth Media for a deep-dive into audio storytelling. Each session will focus on a different topic, including narrative storytelling, interviewing like a broadcast journalist, and hosting a podcast. These sessions are geared toward youth who are interested in writing, storytelling, journalism, podcasting, and amplifying youth voice.

You can attend each session, or choose just the sessions you’re most interested in. Learn more about RadioActive at kuow.org/radioactive.  

March 13: Storytelling with a narrative arc

What makes a great story great? In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn three tools for finding, structuring, and focusing any type of story. We’ll talk about the elements of a great story, and draw story idea maps to identify stories in our own lives and communities. This workshop is great for teens interested in journalism, creative writing, fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, and all types of storytelling. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary. 

March 20: Interviewing like a broadcast journalist

Journalistic interviewing is all about asking great questions and listening closely to the answers. In this interactive workshop, you’ll identify what makes a great interview question, and practice by interviewing a partner. Interviewing skills are useful in almost all professions—you don’t have to be interested in journalism to benefit from this session. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary.

March 27: The power of voice in audio storytelling

Want to start your own podcast? In this workshop, you’ll learn how writing for radio is different from other types of writing, and how to record your voice so it sounds like you. Throughout this session, we’ll focus on the unique power of your voice. This workshop is especially great for folks who are eager to record their own audio stories. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary. 

April 3: Creative audio listening session

What makes audio storytelling different from other types of storytelling? In this listening session, we invite you to kick back, relax, and listen to some of our favorite creative audio stories. This session is great for people who love podcasts and audio stories, or people who want to learn more about them. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary. 

April 10: Becoming a critical news consumer 

Journalists aim to create and serve a more informed public. But news outlets can perpetuate racist narratives by centering whiteness and not addressing structural inequity in their stories. In this interactive media literacy workshop, we’ll talk about how to be critical news consumers. We’ll look at the ways white supremacy and racist narratives show up in the news, why it matters, and three questions you can ask to think critically about any story. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary.

Teen Night with TeenTix for High Schoolers

Two dancers, one Asian, one Black, wearing tall beehive wigs, move with their arms entwined.
When the Wolves Came In by Kyle Abraham/Abraham In Motion at On the Boards

Saturdays, 7 – 8:30 pm.  Starting March 13  
Targeted for High School Teens  
Register here 
An evening for high school ages teens with young folx from Teen Tix and teaching artist Alethea Alexander, this virtual Teen Night includes a screening of a performance from a local arts organization and a facilitated conversation and reflection activity on what you just saw. An opportunity for teens to continue to experience amazing local performances and connect!  A link to Webex for the class will be in your email, 2 days prior to class.  

See below for class details.

Teen Night with TeenTix for Middle Schoolers  

A young girl clings to a metal fence, looking downward. People are all around her.
Still from GHAZAAL

Saturdays, 7 – 8:30 pm. Starting March 20  
Targeted for Middle School Teens  
Register here 
An evening for high school ages teens with young folx from Teen Tix and teaching artist Alethea Alexander, this virtual Teen Night includes a screening of a performance from a local arts organization and a facilitated conversation and reflection activity on what you just saw. An opportunity for teens to continue to experience amazing local performances and connect!  A link to Webex for the class will be in your email, 2 days prior to class.  

March 13 – High School
March 20 – Middle School

Screening and discussing NFFTY Films:

  • Joychild by Aurora Brachman – A young child tells their mother “I’m not a girl” for the first time.
  • Yellow Cards of Equal Pay by Maia Vota – Members of the Burlington, VT High School girls soccer team recount the launch of their viral #EqualPay movement, inspired by Megan Rapinoe and the U.S. women’s national soccer team, from its humble beginnings to national media coverage.
  • GHAZAAL by Ragini Bhasin – A 13-year-old feisty Afghan refugee hustles around in a refugee camp as she experiences her period without having access to any sanitary napkins.

March 27 – High School
April 3 – Middle School

Screening and discussing an OtB.tv performance:

When the Wolves Came In by Kyle Abraham/Abraham In Motion at On the Boards: Award-winning choreographer and performer Kyle Abraham presents a program of new work inspired by jazz great Max Roach’s We Insist Freedom Now.

April 10 – High School
April 17 – Middle School

Screening and discussing 17 Minute Plays from Macha TheatreWorks

  • Ancestral Trauma and Healing for Dummies, Co-written by Maddy Nibble and Christine O’Connor performed by Maddy Nibble: A tragicomic trauma-romp through the ages exploring the consequences of White Supremacy and Internalized Capitalism on a perfectly well intentioned, deeply abusive Irish-Italian immigrant family. Co-writers Maddy and their actual real-life mom, Christine O’Connor, travel across time and space to delve deep into the origins of false ideologies, shame-based addictions, and other bewildering heirlooms — and all in just 17 minutes!
  • In the Crosshairs, Written and performed by Roz Cornejo. The story of a mixed chick untangling her relationships with her hair, her skin, and her identity.