ECCOTA’s Arts In Education Program Strums Along with St. Marys Boys and Girls Club

Imagine yourself strumming the strings of a ukulele, foot tapping along to the beat of a song you just learned to play. This opportunity became a reality for youth participating in the St. Marys’ Boys and Girls Club “You Can Ukulele” classes.

Teaching Artist Adam Brooks with Ukulele Rockstars

 Rocking alongside Teaching Artist Adam Brooks, students mastered the basics of the ukulele. Beginning with picking single strings and playing songs such as Mary Had a Little Lamb and Baby Shark graduating up to playing chords and songs such as “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker. The classes culminated with solo performances from some of the youth and a group concert featuring the “Here We Go” chant and the famous “Riptide” by Vance Joy.

 The ukulele’s small size provides a good foundation for mastering finger placement for chords, frets, and skills which easily translate to the larger guitar. Knowing the value of arts experiences, the Boys and Girls club purchased ukuleles for continued use by their members. “You Can Ukulele” was made possible through a partnership with the St. Marys Boys and Girls Club and Elk County Council on the Arts’ Arts in Education Program.

Boys and Girl’s Club Ukuleles

 The Arts in Education (AIE) program is designed to enrich arts experiences in our region through classes led by professional, rostered teaching artists. These classes are open to everyone of all ages and artistic abilities and offer artistic exploration in a variety of mediums, from painting, to graphic design, to beekeeping, and even to blacksmithing.

Experiences gained through the AIE classes are unparalleled and can translate to lifelong skills, hobbies, positive outlets, and insight into artistic career paths. Classes are made possible through funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and collaboration with local community organizations. ECCOTA serves as the AIE partner for Cameron, Elk, Forest, McKean, and Potter counties.

Adam Brooks is a performing artist with a specialty in music and theater. Alongside his teaching career, Adam has also provided AIE classes on reading, literacy, and movement through music. He is a firm believer in creating interesting musical opportunities for our young children and to give them a new, fun way to learn about music with each experience. He wishes to instill that music and the arts can be a lifelong activity that builds character, independence, and excellence.

Crowdsourced Poetry for National Poetry Month

Join Elk County Council on the Arts in celebrating National Poetry Month this April by contributing to our crowdsourced community poem!

A crowdsourced poem is created entirely from words and lines submitted by the public on a particular theme. By compiling the various perspectives and voices together, crowdsourced poetry creates a lasting piece that speaks to and represents the community that writes it. All communities are ultimately poems in which each person who lives there contributes a verse; this year, help ECCOTA write it down for all of us to enjoy.

This year’s theme will be: “I dream a world.”

Elk County community members of all ages and perspectives are welcome to participate by completing the sentence “I dream a world.”

Submitted lines will be compiled into one poem. The final poem will be printed for display in the ECCOTA Gallery in April, National Poetry Month. We will combine submissions into one complete poem. Each contributor will be recognized at the end of the final poem, not with their individual line. We will do our best to incorporate the poetry exactly as submitted, but some editing may be necessary. Please keep submissions appropriate for audiences of all ages.

Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday, March 31.

Find inspiration here or here.

Announcing the 2021 Poetry Out Loud Regional Champion

2021 Poetry Out Loud Regional Champion:

Caitlin Blessel.

Elk County Council on the Arts (ECCOTA), through their partnership with The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, is proud to announce the 2021 winner of its regional Poetry Out Loud competition, Caitlin Blessel! Blessel is a tenth grade student from St. Marys Area High School.

Working with her teachers and coaches from SMAHS, Blessel selected “Abandoned Farmhouse” by Ted Kooser, “Thoughtless Cruelty” by Charles Lamb, and “I am the People, the Mob” by Carl Sandburg. Blessel’s poem selection followed contest rules requiring the delivery of three poems with at least one being 25 lines or fewer and one written before the 20th century. Blessel delivered a stunning performance of the poems landing her the distinction as regional champion.

On March 8th, Caitlin competed in the virtual state competition against more than 1,000 students for the chance to win $200 and move on to the national competition.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. Since 2005, more than 4 million students, 65,000 teachers, and 16,000 schools have participated. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.

Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies.

Learn more about Poetry Out Loud

Check out the 2021 Poetry Out Loud State Champion

New ECCOTA Curated & Created Items

New items have recently been added to the ECCOTA Curated & Created corner, where we offer projects and supplies to spark your creativity.

All of the items have been carefully selected and are from handmade, woman-owned, and USA brands. The high-quality supplies and kits are available now!

Our best-selling Ice Dyeing kits are still available in a variety of colors, and we now offer dyeables including scrunchies and tote bags that fold into themselves for easy transportation. Or buy already dyed totes and scrunchies for a quick and easy gift.

You’ll also find handmade and environmentally friendly watercolor booklets from Viviva Colors. The pigments are sun-baked by women in their Indian community. The booklets go anywhere so you can paint everywhere!

These and more are available now!

The Sketchbook Project in Elk County

The Sketchbook Project is a program of the Brooklyn Art Library, home to the world’s largest collection of artist sketchbooks.

The Brooklyn Art Library is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that has been completely funded by participation since 2006. Their mission includes encouraging creative storytelling within a global community.

The Sketchbook Project is part of that mission. Many people don’t consider themselves artists, but everyone is capable of doing something creative. Using 5”x7” blank sketchbooks, they encourage everyone to express their creativity through writing and almost any medium.

ECCOTA purchased five sketchbooks from The Sketchbook Project and began circulating them in January 2021. The goal of these sketchbooks is to capture the creativity of our local communities. There is no formal circulation structure, and they have been floating through the public’s hands and back to the gallery based on trust alone.

The sketchbooks can be filled with any medium as long as it’s secure, not sticky, or glitter. Participants of all ages are encouraged to use them in any way they see fit, filling a few pages of the book before passing them on to friends or family or returning them to the gallery. How does a sketchbook inspire you?

When the five books are completed they will be mailed back to The Brooklyn Art Library to join the collection of over 50,000 sketchbooks from over 130 countries. The sketchbooks we bought will also be digitized and available for virtual viewing by anyone anywhere.

We hope you’ll participate! Stop by the gallery any time to pick up a sketchbook and make your mark for the world to see.

Find out more about The Sketchbook Project
Find out more about The Brooklyn Art Library