What a fantastic start to this year’s Monson Arts High School Program! We had 24 students from six local high schools join us in multiple creative team building exercises led again this year by Portland based improv artist, dancer, poet, and educator Gretchen Berg.
After settling in and doing introductions, students jumped into a series of engaging improv sessions where they were paired off with random peers to both get to know one another and to start thinking and acting creatively. Monson Arts Staff and teachers Alan and Dawn also joined students as the cohort problem solved a series of directed challenges involving dance, acting, and moving performance stories. All the students jumped headfirst into the activities!
Lunch was pizza out back of the Moore Building next to Lake Hebron.
After lunch the group split into their visual arts and writing cohorts where according to Dawn Potter “The writers jumped straight into work: after I gave out a couple of prompts, we all wrote two quick first drafts and shared them with each other. Lots of attentive listening and busy discussion . . . a great start!” While Alan’s artists “…passed out the supplies that they will keep for their own use and gave a general overview of the path forward. Next class or two will concentrate on drawing and refining ideas.”
An awesome start to an awesome program, thank you so much to the students who joined us and their respective schools for making an investment in the students’ creative growth!
Time and space to create.
Monson Arts is a new artists’ residency and arts center in Monson, Maine. Programs include residencies for artists and writers, intensive shorter workshops, and educational partnerships with area secondary schools.