Drawing outside the lines, May 26, 2011. Legacy High School for
Integrated Arts. Photo: Janelle Iglesias.
Arts Education Program at Dia:Chelsea
Dia:TEENS is an experimental arts education program, which partners with New York City high schools to create a multidisciplinary approach to contemporary art. Students in the program are provided with an intimate setting to respond critically to Dia's New York City sites through a series of workshops with the professional Teaching Artists who lead Dia’s program.
Program Overview
Dia:TEENS is an experimental arts education program, which partners with New York City high schools and organizations to create a multidisciplinary approach to contemporary art. Focusing on Dia’s sites in New York City, Dia:TEENS appoints local Teaching Artists to develop a specialized lesson plan that integrates critical thinking in an arts practice. The content of lesson plans and workshops varies in response to the specific needs of participating schools and organizations. Beyond receiving traditional museum field trips, students in the program are provided with an intimate setting to respond critically to Dia’s New York City sites through afterschool workshops with the professional Teaching Artists who lead Dia’s program.
Dia:TEENS launched its pilot program in Spring and Summer 2011 with students from YWCA’s afterschool program at Independence High School, Legacy High School for Integrated Studies, and LGBTQ youth from Safe Space, a nonprofit organization in Jamaica, Queens. For these month-long programs, teens visited Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room and The Broken Kilometer, and Dia:Beacon. These programs have now expanded both in duration and population, in order to reach a larger and more diverse audience. Since its initial foundation the program has evolved to engage all levels of education, establish partnerships with local cultural and educational organizations, and implement a series of professional development workshops.
Dia Art Foundation’s education philosophy grows out of a belief that experience-based exposure to contemporary art can enrich and inspire visitors, while offering new approaches to a range of disciplines from the sciences to the humanities. Emerging from the Greek prefix for “through,” Dia’s pedagogical approach is founded in the idea of art as an active, self-mediated experience. Keeping with the innovative and unconventional nature of the collection, the Dia experience fosters inquiry-based observations and associative thinking, while providing space to explore, articulate, exchange, and create around multidisciplinary and abstract art concepts.
Dia:TEENS launched its pilot program in Spring and Summer 2011 with students from YWCA’s afterschool program at Independence High School, Legacy High School for Integrated Studies, and LGBTQ youth from Safe Space, a nonprofit organization in Jamaica, Queens. For these month-long programs, teens visited Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room and The Broken Kilometer, and Dia:Beacon. These programs have now expanded both in duration and population, in order to reach a larger and more diverse audience. Since its initial foundation the program has evolved to engage all levels of education, establish partnerships with local cultural and educational organizations, and implement a series of professional development workshops.
Dia Art Foundation’s education philosophy grows out of a belief that experience-based exposure to contemporary art can enrich and inspire visitors, while offering new approaches to a range of disciplines from the sciences to the humanities. Emerging from the Greek prefix for “through,” Dia’s pedagogical approach is founded in the idea of art as an active, self-mediated experience. Keeping with the innovative and unconventional nature of the collection, the Dia experience fosters inquiry-based observations and associative thinking, while providing space to explore, articulate, exchange, and create around multidisciplinary and abstract art concepts.
Funding
Dia’s Arts Education Program in New York City is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Council Member Robert Jackson, and the Keith Haring Foundation.
Contact Information
For more information please contact Christine Hou, Dia Art Foundation's Art Education Associate, at 212 293 5542 or chou @ diaart.org.
