The Artists Building Community (ABC) Fellowship pairs an Arts for Learning Teaching Artist, a lead teacher (K-12 Educator), and an Arts for Learning staff member in a 3-year deep dive into the culture of a school community. This residency is an inquiry-based, people-centered approach that empowers Teaching Artists to build partnerships in their community.
Recently, the ABC Fellowship at Thomas Gregg School, with Teaching Artist Carol Tharp, concluded, marking a powerful legacy of connection, continuity, and care.
During this fellowship, students embarked on a unique interdisciplinary journey combining rhythm and painting to explore the world’s continents. Through these workshops led by Teaching Artist Carol, each continent was introduced through its rhythms as a means of understanding its history, customs, culture, and geography.
Students actively participated by playing these rhythms while their peers painted vibrant banners inspired by the beats. The result: five stunning, colorful banners (each 3ft by 5ft) representing the continents, which can be displayed together or separately.
Now proudly hung in the school, these banners stand as a lasting celebration of the students’ collaborative creativity and global learning.
Here’s what Carol has to say about the residency at Thomas Gregg School:
Looking back, what moment or memory best captures the heart of your ABC Fellowship experience?
There were thousands of moments that captured the heart of this ABC Fellowship experience, from the gleam in the students’ eyes to the laughter of a teacher/administrator, to the final moment of an exhibition or performance. It was such an exquisite tapestry of moments and memories.
What lasting impact or legacy do you feel the ABC fellowship has created within the school community—whether for students, educators, or the culture of the school itself?
We created a community from the inside out, strengthening students, educators, support staff—and also from the outside in, integrating more outside resources and community dynamics into the schools. This community of connection, caring, and support across social, economic, and educational boundaries helped make a difference for a more vibrant and compassionate school community. Students’ attendance and staff retention increasingly improved, along with a climbing improvement in test scores.
The artists were a network of support and stimulation to each other’s work across disciplines, cultures, languages, race, and ethnicity, intertwining with staff, students, and the outside community to create a legacy of love for learning and for each other, thereby fulfilling the motto of the school:
Take care of yourself.
Take care of each other.
Take care of this place.
Check out this video to learn more about Carol’s ABC Fellowship.
Learn more about our Teaching Artists and Arts Programs!
