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BuildaBridge International
Early Summer 2010
Update
July 12, 2010
BuildaBridge International
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Greetings! Six months is not that long, but it may feel and appear as decades in Haiti where people are only 10% out of the rubble and debris and many are still living in tent cities. This week, BuildaBridge is sponsoring 12 music therapists, artists and social workers in three projects in Haiti. You can read about the projects and the great folks who are supporting the effort through in-kind donations. There is still time for you to help as well.
It has been very hot in Philadelphia, but that has not deterred us from planning projects, receiving awards, and preparing for multiple trips and events. Read on to hear about these exciting new developments!
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A Way To Give
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 Please support our projects! Click here to donate to BuildaBridge.
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BuildaBridge Awarded Philadelphia Cultural Fund Grant
| BuildaBridge Accepts the Prestigious Grant  |
On June 15, BuildaBridge was one of just nine local arts education
non-profit organizations, selected out of 82 applicants, that gathered at City
Hall to receive the Youth Arts Enrichment Grant from the Philadelphia
Cultural Fund. This prestigious award was created to support programs that
use the arts to enrich the lives of young people, aged 5 to 18, in and
out of school. This grant, worth $50,000, will go towards funding
BuildaBridge's Artology and Discovery programs, enabling the two groups
to continue their work with Philadelphia youth. The Cultural
Fund called BuildaBridge one of the best organizations in the city of
Philadelphia that works with children.
Read more...
Artology, Buildabridge's
art and science summer learning camp with an emphasis on ecology and
environmental justice, sparks students' curiosity by utilizing
Philadelphia's park system as a vibrant interactive classroom. The
camp primarily serves low income students from sites in North, West,
and Northwest Philadelphia. The first session, which includes
students in grades 6 through 8, runs from June 28 - July 23 and the
second, for students in grades 4 and 5, runs from July 26 - August 13.
Contact cmelhorn@buildabridge.org for more information.
BuildaBridge's Discovery program offers after-school and evening
arts-integrated education programs to children and youth living in
emergency homeless shelters and transitional homes in Philadelphia
(usually in 10-15 week modules). Discovery connects compassionate,
talented teaching artists with interested, creative children in need, working toward the academic, artistic, social, and spiritiual development of these children.
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Institute 2010, A Success!
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The ninth annual BuildaBridge Institute, a five-day residency research and training institute which took place from June 2-7 at Bryn Mawr College, was a huge success! The Institute is designed to prepare artists, social service professionals, community
and congregational leaders, youth workers and non profit organization
personnel to integrate the arts effectively in education and community
development. Courses offered included Foundations for Art in Transformation, Arts, Creativity, and Human Development, Arts in Healing, Arts in Social Services, Organization for Community Arts, and Leadership Practicum as well as Skills Development Workshops in topics such as drumming, transformational drama, dance, and mask-making. Classes were taught by a diverse set of faculty from all around the country. The 28 participants, who came from all areas of the world and a wide array of professions, had fun in these hands-on courses and learned a variety of important techniques for integrating the arts into their work and using the arts effectively for transformation.
Read the Institute blog, written by former Inquirer staff writer Henry Holcomb and current BuildaBridge board member, to find out more...
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Arts Relief: Haiti Service Trip Begins July 9
| Louis Pierrot School in Haiti  |
Buildabridge is sending three Arts
Relief teams made up of creative arts therapists, educators, and students to Haiti in July in
response to the ongoing devastation resulting from the January earthquake. This exciting inaugural service trip is to be the first part
of our 10 year commitment to Haiti. Though medical reports indicate
that critical emergency health needs have been addressed, children
continue to suffer with malnutrition and dehydration; and both children
and adults experience persistent trauma related to the
earthquake. Massive tent cities in and around Port au Prince give
evidence of
homelessness; and the internal migration of people to rural areas is
placing increasing demand on the poorest of people with very limited
resources. The potential for conflict and violence exists especially in
high density areas. Deforestation continues to be a major problem, as
charcoal is the major source of cooking fuel. The educational system in
most places in Haiti is broken. Children are receiving limited
education. There is a 50% illiteracy rate in the country. While many
desire to be of assistance, help from trained people and organized
groups with experience remains a need. Authorities say too many are
responding without a plan or experience.
In late April
2010, A 4-member delegation from BuildaBridge and Pennsylvania-based
Practical Compassion (PC is a BuildaBridge alliance partner) made a
4-day site visit to Haiti to assess the most pertinent needs of the
Haitian people and the ways in which BuildaBridge could be of service.
Our goal was to meet potential organizations whom we might assist in a
service/mission alliance and to better understand the demands of the
current situation in Haiti. We met with representatives from four
organizations with more than 15 years of programming within Haiti:
Mennonite Central Committee-Haiti, North Haiti Christian University,
Haiti Partners (Beyond Borders), and Practical Compassion. To view
pictures of our site visit to Haiti, click here for the album.
BuildaBridge offered a new one-day Arts Relief training course on June 7 at the
Institute 2010 for creative artists, educators, and social service and
community workers who want to serve in global areas of crisis. Offered
in alliance with the Red Cross, the course provided training in
Psychological First Aid and Arts Relief. Over 40 were in attendance and received Red Cross certification. Arts Relief was a hands-on,
practical cours, with videotaped scenarios, group response exercises,
and role plays, with experiences designed to give volunteers basic
skills for working with those experiencing trauma due to war, disaster,
and catastrophe; for supporting local organizations; being a member of
a larger relief effort; knowing the role of artists; integrating the
arts in relief work; and assessing your impact. Most of the Artists on
Call headed to Haiti on the July trip attended the training session.
BuildaBridge Group Headed to Haiti in July  | Following
the site visit, BuildaBridge crafted a plan for a 10 year commitment to
Haiti in the three areas of Education, Healing, and the Environment.
Our inaugural Haiti service trip, which will take place this month from
July 9 to July 25, will provide services at three sites:
- Training in therapeutic art skills and psychological first aid at North Haiti Christian University
- Creative arts therapy in local hospitals Arts camp in Pont Sonde for elementary school children
- Arts therapy and camp at Leurboug orphanage
Read more about Haiti and the project at the Arts Relief blog...
To become involved in future trips email: ncorbitt@buildabridge.org
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A Way To Give
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It is not too late to give! Please support our arts relief service work in Haiti. To give to the July 2010 trip, direct your donation to "Haiti Arts Relief" under Program Designation drop-down menu.
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| Donations |
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Donations Piling Up in the BuildaBridge House  |
Souderton Mennonite Church, a
large Mennonite congregation located in Souderton, Pennsylvania, has
generously donated 7 large tents to BuildaBridge for the Haiti Arts
Relief trip through their Tents for Haiti relief effort. The wonderful Tents for Haiti
program, one of the many charitable ministries run by the church,
collects tent and tarp donations to distribute to relief workers and
Haitian residents. The tents that they have donated to us will be used
by our Artists on Call during our July service trip to Haiti and then
will be left with those we are working with in Haiti who have been
displaced by the devastating earthquake.
 Sam Ash Music, a music superstore with locations in 16 states, has
generously donated 50 recorders to our Haiti Arts Relief trip for use
in our music therapy classes with Haitian children. The company, which
had previously made a substantial donation to relief in Haiti, is
continuing their honorable tradition of philanthropy with this kind
gift. These instruments will surely be put to good use on the trip in
July!  Remo Inc., an award-winning self-described "drummer's drumhead company"
that has been in business for over 50 years, has generously donated a
wonderful set of recreational musical instruments for our upcoming Arts
Relief trip to Haiti. The instruments donated include 2 sets of 6-pack
Sound Shapes, 2 sets of 5-pack Sound Shapes, 1 7.5 X 22 Gathering Drum,
and 3 pairs of Kids Bongos, all of which will be used in our music
therapy classes with children in the orphanage and school in Haiti. We
have no doubt that these instruments and sound-makers will provide
these young victims of trauma with plenty of opportunities for
excitement, fun, and growth. Ritchie's Music Center of
Rockaway, NJ has generously donated musical equipment for our music
therapy camp in Haiti. Ritchie's, a music superstore that has been in
business for over 30 years, has given us 1 tamborine, 1 small frame
drum, 1 set of maracas, 1 shaker, 1 triangle. The many kids we are
working with in Haiti will surely enjoy these wonderful instruments!  Thanks to Shaklee Cares, a
nonprofit offshoot of the nutritional company Shaklee Corporation, our
Artists on Call in Haiti will all be well nourished! Shaklee has
generously donated 100 snack bars and 100 meal bars to our growing
collection of supplies for the Arts Relief Haiti trip. Shaklee Cares is committed to
helping victims in the wake of natural disasters and has developed
their own Haiti Relief Fund, from which their donations to us were
drawn. Shaklee Corporation is the number one
natural nutrition company in the US and has been making
healthy nutrition, beauty, and home products since 1960. Much thanks to
Shaklee! We can now be assured that our artists will not be left hungry.  Connie Palmer, an expert in tie dying came to the BuildaBridge House from New Jersey on July 1st to help us tie dye scrubs with the orange and blue BuildaBridge colors to be worn by
Artists on Call. Connie has always loved color, so when she took a class on textile
dying a few years back she found a way to share in the creative process
with others and make the world a more vibrant place. When she's not
"dying" she is a wife, mother and social worker. We are very grateful for her help and love the way the scrubs turned out! |
BuildaBridge Institute is Going Online!
| BuildaBridge Institute is going online with the help of a recently awarded a 3-year grant from the Lindback Foundation. The funding will help in developing online assessment for teachers and online training courses. Intern Elizabeth Spaeth has been hard at work in the first phase of the project. We look forward to this new frontier of training and education!
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The Dream Team: BuildaBridge Interns Summer 2010
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 BuildaBridge has 8 interns for the summer of 2010 - nicknamed the "Dream Team" around the office. Together, they have been traveled to Morocco, Egypt, England, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden, Czech Republic, Canada, India, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Israel, Palestine, Guatemala, Peru, New Zealand, Mexico, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and Swaziland. They go to University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago, Lycoming College, Grinnell College, University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, and Bryn Mawr College. They are working on a wide variety of projects at BuildaBrige throughout the summer, including fact sheets, Artist on Call manuals, online courses, the Global Awareness Profile, grant-writing, public relations, social networking, the database, and curricula for the different programs. They are excited to be here and help out at BuildaBridge this summer!
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BuildaBridge Institute and Artology Camp Established in Malaysia
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Creating Eco Art in Malaysia  |
The first inaugural Malaysian Institute and Artology camp was conducted last month by Chong Kengsen, a pastor and BuildaBridge Ambassador and Representative in Malaysia who attended the Institute last year. Using the curriculum of the original Artology camp as well as the techniques taught in the Institute 2009, Kengsen established Artology in a poor neighborhood in Malaysia with refugee children. The themes of the three-day camp, which follow Artology's innovative mix of art and science, encouraged campers to focus on environmental justice. The teaching/art-making included Saving and Loving the Earth, Seeing Nature Up Close, Appreciating the Earth with Clay, and Recycling: Eco Art. The completed projects made a deep impression on both the campers and the parents who came along. The camp, like Artology, culminated in an exhibition of students' creations in a nearby art school gallery.
Following this first run of the camp, Kengsen's list of enthusiastic and qualified instructors has been growing very quickly. He is now looking to take this camp to the informal settlements around Kuala Lumpur. BuildaBridge is thrilled about the new Malaysian Artology camp and cannot wait to receive updates on the future development of the project.
Click here to see more photos from the Artology camp in Malaysia...
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BuildaBridge Assists Refugee Family Services in Atlanta
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Arts for Hope Camp Staff of RFS (Rosa Dunkley is front row, left and Sarah Thompson is front row, right)  | BuildaBridge's Dr. Corbitt and Teaching Artist Sarah Thompson conducted a training with staff from Refugee Family Services of Stone Mountain, Georgia in order to
help Refugee Family Services to fulfill its goal of establishing an
arts camp centered around the theme of hope. Rosa Dunkley, a former
intern with BuildaBridge, is now the Youth Development Coordinator of
Refugee Family Services. Dunkley reached out to BuildaBridge to ask for
help with training teachers for an arts camp and designing the
hope-based curriculum. The camp will serve 56 newly arrived youth from
many countries, including Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Somalia, Liberia, Bhutan, Sudan, Burundi, Burma, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and
Rwanda, and will include a wide variety of arts experiences designed by RFS staff.
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A Way To Give
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It is not too late to give! Please support our arts relief service work in Haiti. To give to the July 2010 trip, direct your donation to "Haiti Arts Relief" under Program Designation drop-down menu.
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Mission and Services
The mission of BuildaBridge is to bring hope and healing to children, youth and communities in the tough places of the world through creative arts education and intervention. We engage artists, educators and creative art therapists in service to others. The Arts Relief and Development program focuses on Education, Healing and the Environment. Since 1997, our services have included creative arts camps, extended internships, special arts-based projects in all art forms, creative arts therapy, consulting, and training in education methods, therapeutic art and psychological first aid, and arts-based community development. |
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Dr. J. Nathan Corbitt
BuildaBridge International
215.842.0428
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