The Artists Building Community (ABC) Fellowship is an inquiry-based, people centered approach that empowers teaching artists building partnerships in their community.
The Fellowship pairs an Arts for Learning Indiana Teaching Artist, a lead teacher (K-12 Educator), and an Arts for Learning staff Indiana staff member in a 3-year deep dive into the culture of a school community.
Each trio explores the assets of the school, the socio-cultural history of the surrounding community, and the needs of the students they are serving. Each fellowship is tasked with developing a 3-year ABC Vision Plan to serve school, communities, and students through arts integrated approaches, with funding to pilot some of these programs. This process is supported by bi-weekly one-on-one coaching and full cohort meetings for the ABC fellows.
The Artists Building Community (ABC) fellowship is a unique program of Arts for Learning Indiana and is made possible by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation and Lilly Endowment’s Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana initiative to help advance the academic, physical and social development of Indiana youth.
Teaching Artist Gary Gee will be serving K-8 students at Edison School of the Arts, focusing on reading, community development, professional development for teachers, as well as parent and family programs.
Teaching Artist Giselle Truijillo will be paired with William Penn Middle School, a new 6-8 STEM-focused school with mostly new teachers and leadership. The fellowship will involve partnering with community organizations and leveraging unused instruments from IPS to ensure the arts fit seamlessly within STEM culture.
Teaching Artist Nasreen Khan Clark will be teaming up with CFI 84 Joseph J. Bingham, a K-5 International Baccalaureate (IB) school. This fellowship will prioritize tactile, hands-on learning, with a strong focus on student voice and visual arts aligned to the curriculum.
Teaching Artist and electric violinist Cathy Morris is paired with Chelsea Foster, Humanities Coach at Purdue Polytechnic High School Englewood. Early ideations center on creating a community-wide music festival led by students.
Teaching Artist and actor Beverly Roche will be working with 3rd-grade teacher Megan Burger at Herron Preparatory Academy. Early ideations center on creating an after-school student-led theater program open to the greater school community.
Teaching Artist and choreographer Justin Sears-Watson will be paired with dance instructor Alexis Ingram at IPS James Whitcomb Riley #43. The school is transitioning for the 2024-25 school year to be IPS’s only visual and performing arts elementary school. Early ideations center on starting a new dance program, complete with original student music, choreography, and performances for the community.
Teaching Artist and contemporary dancer Krystal Breakley will be paired with FACE Liaison Briana Burnett and Community School Coordinator Paige Crist at Indianapolis Public Schools’ Henry W. Longfellow Medical/STEM Middle School 28. This school is transitioning to be one of four IPS middle schools for the 2024-25 school year.
Teaching Artist Jodi Krumel is working with Community School Coordinator Salina Shelton at IPS Brookside School #54, where they have created a ceramics studio that the whole school uses. The space is called “The Brook Nook,” and they host quarterly family art nights.
Teaching Artist Gary Gee worked with 7th-grade teacher Sandra Hunt at Matchbook Learning at Wendell Phillips 63, where they designed and built a tiny home.
Teaching Artist Carol Tharp Perrin worked with Director of Operations and Neighborhood Engagement, Anuja V. Petruniw, and teacher Brenda Wilson at Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School, where students experienced a rotation of six Teaching Artists in various art mediums to gain cultural and historical identity through international perspectives.
Teaching Artist Beatriz Vasquez worked with art teacher Salima Adams at Global Prep Academy, where they built works of art to highlight family immigration stories. They built a shadow puppet theater aligned with Beatriz’s curriculum, Papel Picado Cuentos, where these familial stories were told.