Young Audiences and C.A.O. Partner to Make Literacy Fun

This Spring, Young Audiences has partnered with the Community Action Organization of Erie County (C.A.O)  to bring playwriting and poetry workshops to students in the N.U.R.T.U.R.E Academy After-School Program. The workshops, which present students with multiple hands-on approaches to making creative writing fun, take place at the  C.A.O. Pratt, JFK, and Edward Saunders after-school venues.

Beginning in April, Teaching Artists Annette Daniels-Taylor and Melissa Kate began visiting the sites with a variety of workshops designed to give students the tools to compose and organize their own thoughts and stories effectively. Participants were challenged to take the writing process one step further  by expressing their ideas from a variety of dramatic angles. The artists introduced students to dramatic techniques including Improvisation, Collaborative Storytelling, and unconventional approaches to performing the poetic word. By bringing their stories to life by acting them out with their peers, students experience writing in a new way and take true ownership of their creativity.

This residency reinforces many of the goals outlined in the C.A.O.'s Rising Readers Club initiative which focuses on intensive literacy training for students who attend schools under academic review or who qualify for reduced lunch. Young Audiences workshops with the C.A.O. will continue through May.