No doubt about it! Community partners contribute greatly to 21st CCLC student success. The Theatre Action Project (TAP) is an example. Since 2004, TAP has been an active community partner on 21st CCLC campuses throughout Austin. TAP students participate in enrichment activities such as puppet making, folktale acting, performances, world theatre classes, and city-wide parades.

Throughout the fall and winter of 2007, 21st CCLC TAP students worked on “Peace Cranes”— a community-based theatre and art project launched to enable students to explore how the entire Austin population can be a part of making Austin a peaceful community. H-E-B and Austin ISD collaborated with TAP to launch Peace Cranes. The culmination of the project was the First Night Grand Procession on New Year’s Eve, when students, parents, school staff, artists, and community members marched together to encourage others to think about peace and how it can be fostered in our daily lives.

Several Peace Cranes project components were used to educate students on the importance of peace. Every campus that TAP serves hosted a three-hour creative drama lesson about Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who died following the Hiroshima bombing and who inspired many to create origami cranes as a symbol of peace. Students created their own cranes containing messages about how to be part of a peaceful Austin. Additionally, TAP teaching artists and volunteers gathered together at various H-E-B locations in Austin for H-E-B Crane Making Activity Day. Shoppers were invited to participate by making their own origami cranes sharing the message of peace. 

During this invigorating project, TAP sites also hosted workshops and Family Nights at which large papier-mâché figures were created. Participants painted banners and made costumes in preparation for the First Night Grand Procession. Also on New Year’s Eve, TAP conducted the First Night Family Festival. At this festival TAP conducted two 45-minute interactive performances using puppetry to tell the story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.

Throughout the month of December, a 9-foot sculpture of a young girl with her arms outstretched stood in the lobby of City Hall, adorned with the cranes collected from H-E-B Crane Making Activity Day and participating schools. During the First Night Grand Procession on New Year’s Eve, a bamboo crane modeled after the one at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was marched down to City Hall, where, as part of the Family Finale, it was placed onto the sculpture along with the many cranes carried in the procession. In early February, all of the cranes gathered around City Hall were strung into garlands and sent to Japan as a gift to the Peace Memorial Park. 

TAP is an outstanding community partner and a great benefit to 21st Century Community Learning Centers. It is one of the leading nonprofit organizations in Austin that benefits kids and afterschool programs. Its artistic focus inspires creativity while combining enrichment with learning opportunities. It is an admirable inspiration for all current and future 21st CCLC community partners.

Links:

Click here to check out TAP’s photo collection online!
View pictures from the Peace Crane Project here!

Sources:
Shirlene Justice, Afterschool Administrator, Austin ISD  and www.theatreactionproject.org