Artists in Action - Your COMPAS News Round-Up
/So much has changed at COMPAS, in Minnesota, and in the world in a few short months, but CREATIVITY IS STILL HAPPENING! We figured this would be a good time to catch everybody up on how COMPAS continues to bring creative experiences to communities and people around the state – and how you can join in.
COMPAS’ Mimi Stake (Furthest left) and Marlaine Cox (Furthest Right) accept Avivo’s Champion Award.
COMPAS Honored for Community Partnerships
Back when Minnesotans were still enjoying large group gathering, Avivo held their annual Night of Champions to honor collaborators and community partners including COMPAS. COMPAS Arts Program Manager Marlaine Cox and Board Vice President Mimi Stake attended to receive Avivo’s Champion Award and voice our continued support for Avivo’s important work. COMPAS and Avivo began collaborating in 2019 to provide arts programming for adults living with mental illness. You can read more about the partnership here.
Going Virtual with Creativity
COMPAS Teaching Artists quickly rose to the challenge of connecting home-bound students and adults with arts programming. Many of our in-school residencies transferred to online learning platforms, and we facilitated our first ever Zoom workshop with our very own MN Joe. We’re also partnering with Minnesota libraries to broadcast virtual programs across the state. Check out the Saint Paul Public Library for a variety of free activities through their Art-a-long programs. Other programs will be posted on COMPAS’ events page as they become available.
COMPAS Home Studio
As soon as we learned Minnesotans might be staying at home, COMPAS re-imagined how we all can access creative experiences. One of our first steps forward was the creation of COMPAS Home Studio, a new virtual learning portal. The Home Studio page contains an ever-expanding collection of free arts activities from COMPAS Teaching Artists and others, and new arts activities and resources for arts educators are posted on our Facebook page and via the COMPAS Home Studio newsletter every weekday.
COMPAS Teaching Artists brought Art Kits to Youth and Families in Need.
Bringing Art Kits to Those in Need
Shelter-at-home has been hard for everyone, but it creates additional difficulties for youth and families experiencing homelessness. However, thanks to funding from an anonymous donor, COMPAS was able to partner with community organizations including Avenues for Youth, 180 Degrees, and LSS Metro Homeless Youth to bring individual art kits directly to people in need. COMPAS Teaching Artists constructed and delivered over 400 kits full of ideas for getting creative with sculpture, collage, poetry, and more. Want to get involved? Contact us here!
Read about Frank Sentwali’s unique poetry residency at Sanford Middle School.
National Poetry Month
Our theme throughout this entire endeavor is that creativity can’t be stopped, and that is certainly true for National Poetry Month, which takes place during April. We’ve spent this month highlighting our poetry Teaching Artists (like MaLLy and Frank Sentwali) and programs (like the Women’s Writing Program), and we’ve posted regular poetry writing prompts on our Facebook page. In our National Poetry Month preview, we also collected a list of ways to read, write, and share poetry virtually.
Around the state, folks are turning to creativity for a sense of comfort and connection. Movies, television, books, stories, art, and music will get us through this time, and although things are certainly changing, we’re excited to continue bringing creativity to Minnesotans. Be sure to continue checking our COMPAS Home Studio page for regular updates, and reach out to us if you have questions about virtual and remote programming.
