Teaching Artist Summer Series: City Verses and The Virtual Voice

As teaching artists come to grips with the effects of the pandemic and plan for the 2020-2021 school year, it is clear that virtual learning must now be part of their skill set. The field, however, is changing as rapidly as it is growing. In this webinar we’ll take a look at how City Versus, a unique, multifaceted program with several intergenerational educational programs that celebrates and expands upon jazz’s rich, historical interaction with poetry, utilizes virtual platforms for engagement and collaboration.

In 2019, NJPAC in partnership with Rutgers-Newark launched City Verses, a unique, multifaceted program with several intergenerational educational programs that celebrates and expands upon jazz’s rich, historical interaction with poetry. City Verses was in its early stages of its in-school residency program when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the arts industry. To continue the momentum and student development started in early 2020, the program transitioned to virtual offerings. Join NJPAC and Rutgers-Newark in a webinar as they explore the process of pivoting the physicality of City Verses to an engaging virtual model.

Opening Artist Bio

DIMITRI REYES is a Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist, content creator, organizer, and educator from Newark, NJ. He has organized poetry events such as #PoetsforPuertoRico and has read at The Dodge Poetry Festival, Split This Rock, and the American Poetry Museum. His forthcoming book, Every First and Fifteenth won the Digging Press 2020 Chapbook Award. Some of his work is published in Vinyl, Kweli, Entropy, Cosmonauts, Obsidian, & Acentos. He is the Marketing & Communications Director at CavanKerry Press and an Artist-in-Residence with NJPAC. Learn more at dimitrireyespoet.com

Presenter Bios

ASHLEY HUGHES is a New Jersey based performing arts and entertainment producer. As the project director for NJPAC and Rutgers-Newark’s newly launched City Verses jazz poetry program, Ashley oversees the program’s strategy, development, launch, and execution. Previously, she produced iconic national events including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks, as well as classic New York experiences such as Macy’s Santaland and Macy’s Flower Show in Herald Square. She has also produced community events and public programs for the New York City Parks Department, specifically Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District. Ashley holds a B.A. in Music from Trinity College.

MARK GROSS is a dedicated and accomplished jazz saxophonist with a solid academic background in music. Mark Gross swings and sings along today’s jazz vanguard. Constantly pushing the music forward while staying true to the classic elements of jazz, Mark credits his prolific sound to the rich appreciation for Gospel music that resounded through his parent’s home in Baltimore, MD. Gross has toured the world for over 30 years exploring these sounds with the Mark Gross Quartet/Quintet, Buster Williams, Delfeayo Marsalis, Dave Holland, Mulgrew Miller, Nicholas Payton, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, John Lee, Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Tom Harrell Big Band, Duke Ellington Orchestra, and many others.

Registration for the Teaching Artist Summer Series will open on July 2, 2020 at 12:00 PM. Registration for each session will close at 12:00 PM the day prior to the workshop. Participants are welcome to register for any number of events. Video playback will be sent to each of the registrants at the conclusion of the workshop and will be made available for a limited time to registrants who could not attend the live experience. For more information on program descriptions, speaker information, and requirements, visit njaec.org.

Lead sponsorship for the Teaching Artist Summer Series is provided by Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA (YA). Co-Sponsors for the Teaching Artists Summer Series are Arts Ed NJ, Morris Arts, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), and Perkins Center for the Arts. Presenting sponsors include Appel Farm Arts & Music Campus, Morris Arts, NJPAC, and YA. Additional support for the Teaching Artists Summer Series comes from Count Basie Center for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The New Jersey Arts Education Collective is a partnership of arts education organizations whose mission is to provide the highest quality professional development for teaching artists and the arts education community.

The Collective believes teaching artists offer a unique contribution to the lives of students, teachers, and communities. The Collective envisions a network of support between teaching artists and arts education specialists to develop skills, share resources, and strengthen the field to benefit New Jersey’s students by providing essential/critical learning of and through the arts.