Community Arts Workshops

Through YAI Arts & Culture, community arts workshops allow participants to express themselves while gaining new skills and confidence. Workshops are led by teaching artists who are experts in their field and are experienced working with people of all ages and abilities. Most workshops are two hours in length once a week and run for 8, 12, or 24 weeks, although all workshops are customizable. All materials are provided. Programs are tailored for the skills, abilities, and interests of the participants. Arts workshop series culminate with an exhibit or performance by participants.

VISUAL ARTS WORKSHOPS

These workshops offer an ideal space for participants to express themselves while gaining new skills and confidence. They are fully customizable depending on your group’s skills and interests. Artists who are experts in their field and experienced teachers provide hands-on workshops in painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, T shirt or tote bag design, and jewelry making. Programs may focus on a particular art form, such as printmaking or mural making, or working with cultural traditions and images. The projects may be collaborative or involve individual creative efforts.

JEWELRY MAKING

Who doesn’t love jewelry? In this 2-4 session workshop series, participants will learn to make fabulous jewelry with gorgeous beads. Depending on interest and skill, participants will make earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and/or hair ornaments.

MUSIC

Professional musicians teach these music workshops, which always include vocal warm-ups, communicating through the universal languages of rhythm, sound, song, and melody. These workshops are multicultural, combining musical traditions from diverse cultures. These programs provide opportunities for participants to work together and to shine on their own. Programs may focus on a particular instrument or ethnic tradition, such as West African Drumming.

MOVEMENT

Everybody can dance! The movement workshops provide opportunities for participants to move to popular sounds and choreograph their own dances. Following a vocal and physical warm-up, participants communicate through movement games involving scarves, ribbon wands, balls, parachutes, and more before testing the creative waters of inventing their own dance moves. Programs may focus on a particular dance tradition, such as Latin dance or Modern, for example. Participants work together and have a chance for a big solo as well.

DRAMA

Actors, Spoken Word Artists, and/or Storytellers bring the drama! Everybody does a vocal and physical warm-up before diving into acting out stories, improvising scenes, making up group poems, or writing plays. Participants work together on the material of their lives, as well as taking off on themes in popular culture, folk tales, or Shakespeare.

Ideal for attendees of Senior Centers, Nursing Homes, Day Habs, Mental Health Programs, and Community Groups in NYC.

For more information or to book a performance, please call 212.273.6184 or email: