IN THIS ISSUE

Dancing the Night Away
Expanding Our Reach
Announcing Our New Web Site
New Board & Staff
Recognizing Years of Service
Ready, Set, StART!

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Workshop Notes is a publication of
Performing Arts Workshop

Fort Mason Center, C-265
San Francisco, CA 94123
phone: 415.673.2634
fax: 415.776.3644
info@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
www.PerformingArtsWorkshop.org

Graphic Designer: Seth Goldstein
Contributing Writers: Elena White, Ai Tamanaha, Thien Lam

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Founder/Consultant: Gloria Unti
Executive Director: Tom DeCaigny
Artistic Director: Gary Draper
Program Director: Ai Tamanaha
Program Coordinator: Thien Lam
Business Manager: Cathy Worner
Development Associate: Elena White
Development Consultant: Linda Belden
Evaluation Consultant: Leah Goldstein Moses
Subject-Matter Expert: Dr. Richard Siegesmund

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President: Diane Downing
Vice President: Catherine Saucedo
Treasurer: Francine Prophet
Secretary: Lauren Meltzer
Beth Cohen
Gary Draper
Matthew Florence
Sonia Wong
Ranvir Gujral
Connie Shanahan
Nikki Sidney
Gloria Unti

ADVISORY COUNCIL
Bernice Brown
Lai-Ming Chan
Peter Dewees
Sarah Duskin
Carolyn Evans
Diana Fuller
Jerome Garchick
Leah Garchick
Maxine Gardner
Joanna Haigood
Geoff Hoyle
Margaret Jenkins
Janiel Jolley
Howard Junker
Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo
Beatrice Krivetsky
Nina Kwan
Sukey Lilienthal
Devorah Major
Jeanne Milligan
Sachiko Nakamura
Donald Ohlen
Sheila Pressley
Alma Robinson
Peter Rothblatt
Marilynne Solloway
Nancy Wang

The speeches were short, and the party had neither intricate floral arrangements nor goodie bags. What it did have was the loose and loving camaraderie of old pals, former students, current and past board members, childhood friends and her family. Ten minutes into the predinner reception, the honoree and guests were out on the dance floor, moving and shaking to rock 'n' roll standards. After dinner, Unti led revelers out there again, where they danced alone, or in twos, or threes or fours or eights, oblivious to selfconsciousness or creaky body parts. It was the drug-free high of working up a healthy sweat, the perfect affectionate and wholehearted tribute to a woman who's spent her life encouraging just that.

The evening was a tremendous success, especially for the honoree. Gloria Unti, the first one on the dance floor and the last one off, stood in awe of the excitement at the end of the evening. And Gloria continues to be on the dance floor. She is currently leading a Friday strength training class at The Redwoods in Mill Valley for senior citizens. Gloria's vivacious energy and creative spirit continues to touch her students, colleagues, and friends, and her 80th birthday party was a true testament of that.
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The Workshop Expands Reach in Schools, Gains Local Support

A year after receiving an award from the U.S. Department of Education to support its Artists-in-Schools (AIS) Demonstration Project, Performing Arts Workshop (the Work

shop) has been awarded $100,000 from The Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF), also in support of the AIS Demonstration Project.

Under the Children’s Services Allocation Plan, DCYF launched an effort to create a common vision and strategic plan among city departments addressing the needs of San Francisco’s children, youth, and families. As a result, ten subgoals were created to more concretely identify the needs of San Francisco youth. The Workshop was able to secure support for Subgoal 3: All children and youth obtain skills, desire and confidence in literacy and math; and support for Subgoal 4: All youth are ready to access postsecondary education or have a career path. Pending the successful completion of the initial year of the project and availability of funds, the Workshop will be awarded two more years of funding.

The grant will be used to support Performing Arts Workshop’s San Francisco portion of the AIS Demonstration Project which brings trained artists into public school classrooms within the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to offer artist residencies in Creative Writing, Theater Arts, World Dance, and Music.

The Workshop works with high numbers of youth at-risk for academic failure, including English Learners, Special Education students, truant and economically disadvantaged youth. Under the terms of the DCYF grant, the Workshop will be focusing on English Learners and truant youth. Workshop artists are trained in a methodology which explicitly addresses literacy development and language acquisition through experiential learning in the performing arts. Performing Arts Workshop has also trained some theatre and creative writing artists to integrate this literacy development curriculum with additional truancy prevention strategies that use acting improvisation and creative problem-solving to explore the importance of school attendance.

The Workshop will concentrate services on 3 San Francisco elementary schools: Edward Robeson Taylor, Mission Education Center, and Paul Revere. Each school will receive between four to six 30-week residencies consisting of one hour of weekly classroom instruction per residency and weekly sessions with a Literacy Specialist for those students who are most in need of extra assistance. A collaboration with the SFUSD’s School Health Programs Department is also in place at Paul Revere to access student attendance data and implement District truancy protocols.

Performing Arts Workshop is grateful for the opportunity to expand its Artists-in-Schools Demonstration Project, to promote its methodology for helping young people develop critical thinking, creative expression, and basic learning skills through the arts, and to gather more momentum for arts education.
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Announcing Our New Web Site and More

Please visit us at our new and updated website: www.PerformingArtsWorkshop.org. Among some of the new features on the site is a Resource Center, which includes helpful guides for program managers, teachers & principals, and artists who are developing their own arts education programs. The Resource Center was made possible by the U.S. Department of Education through their Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program. We are also excited to announce that SparkED, the educational and outreach component of KQED Spark has listed our organization as a professional development resource. See for yourself at: http://www.kqed.org/spark/education/outreach.jsp
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New Board and Staff

Sonia Wong joined the Performing Arts Workshop Board of Directors in October 2004, and is a member of the Program Committee. She is currently employed at eBay as a Group Product Manager where she oversees a team responsible for creating products that enable eBay's largest sellers to sell successfully on eBay. Sonia's hobbies include swimming, running, cooking and the arts. Sonia holds a B.A. in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. She joined the Workshop because it strives to empower the most vulnerable youth population through a medium - art - which she possesses a personal love for.

Ranvir Gujral joined Performing Arts Workshop Board of Directors in October 2004 and is a member of the Finance and Audit Committees. Ranvir got involved with the Workshop because he believes each student is entitled to a complete educational experience, of which art is an integral part. Outside the Workshop, Ranvir is an entrepreneur and has a finance background, having been an investor at private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Ranvir's other interests include traveling, music and sports.

Elena White has returned to Performing Arts Workshop as the organization’s Development Associate. Before that, Elena served as the Development Associate for the Independent Media Institute (IMI), and was responsible for development for all three organizations under the IMI umbrella: AlterNet, the SPIN Project, and WireTap. Previous to that, Elena worked with Performing Arts Workshop as a Research and Program Assistant. She has over four years of development experience, and looks forward to her new position and return to Performing Arts Workshop.
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Recognizing Years of Service

On behalf of the Performing Arts Workshop, we’d like to extend our gratitude and best wishes to four people who recently left our board of directors: Becky Jenkins, over 15 years of service; Diane David, over 15 years of service; Rebecca Masisek, 6 years of service; Manuelito Biag, 2 years of service. Their dedication, hard work, and commitment over the years helped immensely in directing the Performing Arts Workshop to become what it is today. You will be missed!
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Ready, Set, StART!

August 26, 2004 was a historical day for the Bay Area arts community. As Co-Chair of the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco, the Workshop was proud to have been one of the organizing committee members of the 1st Annual Ready... Set... stART!: The Essential Arts Education Resource Fair for San Francisco Public Schools, which took place at SF City Hall South Light Court. Over 40 participating arts organizations, individual artists, funders, and San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) staff provided arts education resource materials, consultation, and hands-on activities, to more than 200 attendees including principals, teachers, arts coordinators, site council members, parents, and community members. Other attendees included the press, top SFUSD officials, SF Board of Supervisors, and Board of Education members.

The event was a great opportunity to hear about arts funding and ways to plan successful arts programs, discover artists and arts organizations, and meet arts education professionals. Mayor Gavin Newsom and SFUSD Superintendent Arlene Ackerman spoke and addressed the role of the arts in San Francisco schools, and the Master Arts Education Plan. The Fair was a high-profile event that pushed arts education into the forefront of discussion about education. Mayor Newsom stated his support for next year’s Fair to outgrow the South Light Court, and it is our hope that the Arts Education Resource Fair will become SF’s annual event for many years to come. To find out more about the event or the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco, please contact Ai Tamanaha, Program Director of the Workshop at (415) 673-2635 or ai@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org.
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