CWP STUDENT PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK TIMES' SCHOOLBOOK
What is it like for a young girl to be uprooted from her home and sent to a new country? A poem by a Bronx high school student evokes sadness, loss and yearning. The poet, Sarah-Kay Lemuel, is a student at Bronx Envision Academy in the South Bronx. An immigrant from Jamaica, she wrote about the experience in her poem for the Community-Word Project.
Read Sarah-Kay's poem in the New York Times' SchoolBook.
ACTOR CHEYENNE JACKSON AND BROOKLYN POET LAUREATE TINA CHANG JOIN CWP STUDENTS ON STAGE
Community-Word Project, a New York City-based arts education not-for-profit, hosted its 12th annual benefit on April 2, 2012, at Bonhams New York. The benefit, Writing Our Future, honored the remarkable voices of the young people who participate in Community-Word’s arts education programs.
More than 300 guests filled Bonham’s New York for selected readings by Broadway and TV actor Cheyenne Jackson (30 Rock, Glee, Finian’s Rainbow) and Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang (Half-Lit Houses, Of Gods & Strangers). Serving as Master of Ceremonies for the evening is actor and long-time Community-Word supporter Dion Graham (The Good Wife, The Wire, Malcolm X). Also included in the program were special performances by students participating in the creative writing, visual arts, drama, and music workshops the organization runs in public schools throughout New York City, as well as a special display of the unique poetry murals students create for their communities.
Among the young people on hand was Gigi Guzman, an alumna of Community-Word Project who currently serves on the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council (MYLC). “No one knows all the difficulties young people face,” explained Ms. Guzman, “but Community-Word Project creates a safe place for young people like myself to come together, share our problems, and realize that we are not alone.”
Check out coverage of the event in the New York Post's Page Six.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES A GRANT TO COMMUNITY-WORD PROJECT
$45,000 grant will support our classroom arts residencies
On May 17, Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced that Community-Word Project has been recommended for a grant of $45,000 to support our classroom arts residencies. Community-Word Project is one of 1,145 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations recommended for a grant as part of the federal agency's second round of fiscal year 2011 grants. In total, the Arts Endowment will distribute more than $88 million to support projects nationwide.
