Teaching/Workshop assistant at VODEC and Northstar foundation:
As part of WhyArts Inc, we have identified that there is a need of good quality arts programming amoung at-risk youth, teens and adults with disabilities, to get them better involved in the community. At part of this initiative, along with other artists I help teach/assist at NorthStar Foundation and VODEC.
VODEC:
VODEC is an organization that provides services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I worked with WhyArts artists assisting them in workshops for the residents.
- Introduce residents to poetry, clay, music, dance, puppet making etc and provide individual support to residents and promote arts programming.
- Facilitate two 50 minute workshops every week for special need residents who deal with physical and mental disabilities.
- Assist with developing lesson plans and prepare materials for each workshop session.
- Build and sustain strong, productive working relationships with site staff.
NorthStar:
- NorthStar is the only single sex, boys only after-school program in Greater Omaha and works towards building the promising futures of school-aged boys, to help them achieve success both academically and in life is essential to transforming our community and building the next generation.
- I helped plan, execute and lead a website development workshop teaching the basics of HTML and CSS to introduce students and get them interested for careers in web development and design.
- Assist in teaching the basics of design using the web application Project Ignite which provides hands-on 3D Design and Electronics projects integrated with Tinkercad and Circuits.
- Help teach about computers, coach students one-on-one and help them to practice their skills. Assist in interactive activities and Offer encouragement to new tech users.
- Assist with photography workshops.
Collaborative Art Project:
This project was a joint venture between The Collaborative, Office of social and civic responsibility and WhyArts with an aim to create a piece of artwork depicting the six service areas of the Collaborative which is International service, educational support, economic sufficiency, social justice, environmental stewardship and health and wellness. As part of this project my role included:
- Act as a liaison between WhyArts and the Collaborative, documenting the progress made in each session and share timely reports and updates with both WhyArts and Collaborative management.
- I reached out to all the collaborative students to gather and organize them, explaining the importance of the project and recruited them to be part of the 5 art sessions as part of the initiative. Everyone contributed their ideas and helped in creating a beautiful piece of abstract art.
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Tactile Art project: Sensory - Please touch the art
- While working at WhyArts Inc, I was involved with the Tactile Art project, which aimed at creating awareness about artwork created by people with visual disability.
- As part of preparation for this event I went through sensitivity training to learn how to work and communicate effectively with people having visual disabilities. The event attracted a lot of visitors including the visually disabled artists who had worked on creating these pieces of art. I took part in assisting guests, providing guided tours and answering questions.
Knowing your audience and adapting your communication style is something I learnt as a Liturgical Minister for John Paul 2nd Newman center, within the Archdiose of Omaha.
- I assist in proclaiming the scripture readings, attend to activities during and after mass, leading the prayers of intercession and making the announcements, and also assist with planning and executing events for UNO students.
- During this time I learnt important lessons in working with different audiences which includes but not limiting to a proper mindset, body language and posture, maintaining eye contact, pronunciation and enunciation etc. Also, considering I may have an accent, I worked on ways in which I would be more clearer and easy to understand. All this has helped me build up on my communication skills and be more confident today.
When I was living abroad in India, I worked with many local parishes distributing food, clothes, books etc to people who lived below the poverty line. During this time in one of my encounters, I realized that how evident the inequitable distribution of social power is within society, resulting in advantages for some and disadvantages for others. Below was what i observed:
- India has a caste system in place since the 7 century A.D., which categorized its citizens according to a social order. People known as Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) are at the bottom of India's rigid social order. Sadly these ancient practices are followed even today.
- I believe we all are born equal, but a person born in a Dalit family in mordern day India lives a life of despair for no fault whatsoever. Dalits endure segregation in housing, schools and access to public services. and are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions and are routinely abused by the police and upper-caste members.
- Dalits suffer discrimination in education, health care, housing, property, freedom of religion, free choice of employment, and equal treatment before the law. Dalits suffer routine violations of their right to life including torture, caste-motivated killings, rapes and other abuses on a daily basis and thier children face hurdles in getting an education.
I make efforts to educate people about the importance of recycling and participate in environment awareness drives. During one such event I worked on creating innovative posters that could help to spread awareness on the importance of conserving the environment and recycling. I also worked on an event where we helped recycle old t-shirts to make pillows for the UNO shuttle drivers who were complaining of back pain while driving.