JDPP's innovative multi-arts residencies can be customized for students of all ages and adults and we focus on underserved populations and the at-risk.
Our teaching artists work closely with school teachers and organization staff to create a program that fits your time frame, theme requests
and desired outcomes. The following are past proven successful programs we offer, but we will happily work with you to create a new program if desired.
Dreamings investigates the prisons in each one of us – the locked doors that keep some part of us contained – unable to get out. Dreamings
explores these realms through the lens of those actually incarcerated or directly affected by incarceration and reveals the way that our
dreams become bridges to connect us to part of ourselves and to others that in reality are out of reach. The study guide that we provide
contains exercises that we will utilize as a beginning point and we will structure the piece around some of the themes of the piece
including childhood aspirations, the goals that get put aside, the things that help us achieve our dreams along the way, the things that
get in the way of realizing our dreams and what our dreams presently are for ourselves and our world. We will teach some of the material
from the JDPP performance piece Dreamings to the students as well as develop original material with them.
“In the world of education ‘relevance and relationship’ are at the heart of effective teaching. Dreamings! provided a platform for our students to reflect on their lives, write down their thoughts creatively and connect those thoughts to an audience. It doesn’t get better than that! I will recommend this program to everyone.” -
Eddie Duran, Artistic Director, Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts
“Dreaming was the most profound work I’ve seen our students do. As an original piece, it was nothing less than inspiring.” - Dr. Thurman, Violin Teacher, Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts
The residency explores the idea of racial diversity using Michael Tyler’s noted children’s book The Skin You Live In and builds
toward a celebration of difference in its culminating performance. The children’s own words are integrated into the narrative written for
the culminating performance as well as into the songs for the piece. We encourage the students to think about who they are in relation to
their ethnic heritage – affirming their uniqueness as well as their commonalities and connections.
“My students were much more aware of individuality within the classroom and embraced that; they worked together in a respectful and collaborative way” - Teacher from M.D. Fox Elementary
Based on the transformational words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this residency encourages students to create a story based on what
their dreams for our present day world are, inspired by an illustrated rendering of the Martin Luther King speech. Each class develops a
dream theme and their writings are intergrated into an original script that introduces the songs and dances that the children create.
The "Slowed Down" story, written by Judy Dworin takes us through time, beginning when people took their time cues from the sun and the
stars, to our present day clock and computer driven culture. In the story, when the pace of the world becomes almost frantic, a wise old
screech owl finally advises everyone to stop and throw their time-pieces in one huge pile. A mountain of clocks arises and the people no
longer being driven by their time-pieces, begin to see the world around them as if for the first time. Everyone moves slower – taking time
to breathe deeply and appreciate each other and the world in which they live. This project seeks to enhance the creative and cognitive
learning skills of the children (particularly as related to language arts) as well as to broaden their awareness of the need to pace their
time, relax and view life outside of a competitive, goal driven, stress-filled environment. By integrating this story into a unified
performance piece, we will bring this idea to the forefront.
The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcker is the inspiration for this program. The story features a greedy king who
keeps acquiring more and more objects in his search for happiness and a quiltmaker who teaches him the gift of generosity.
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Dreamings investigates the prisons in each one of us – the locked doors that keep some part of us contained – unable to get out. Dreamings
explores these realms through the lens of those actually incarcerated or directly affected by incarceration and reveals the way that our
dreams become bridges to connect us to part of ourselves and to others that in reality are out of reach. The study guide that we provide
contains exercises that we will utilize as a beginning point and we will structure the piece around some of the themes of the piece
including childhood aspirations, the goals that get put aside, the things that help us achieve our dreams along the way, the things that
get in the way of realizing our dreams and what our dreams presently are for ourselves and our world. We will teach some of the material
from the JDPP performance piece Dreamings to the students as well as develop original material with them.
The residency explores the idea of racial diversity using Michael Tyler’s noted children’s book The Skin You Live In and builds
toward a celebration of difference in its culminating performance. The children’s own words are integrated into the narrative written for
the culminating performance as well as into the songs for the piece. We encourage the students to think about who they are in relation to
their ethnic heritage – affirming their uniqueness as well as their commonalities and connections.
Based on the transformational words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this residency encourages students to create a story based on what
their dreams for our present day world are, inspired by an illustrated rendering of the Martin Luther King speech. Each class develops a
dream theme and their writings are intergrated into an original script that introduces the songs and dances that the children create.
The "Slowed Down" story, written by Judy Dworin takes us through time, beginning when people took their time cues from the sun and the
stars, to our present day clock and computer driven culture. In the story, when the pace of the world becomes almost frantic, a wise old
screech owl finally advises everyone to stop and throw their time-pieces in one huge pile. A mountain of clocks arises and the people no
longer being driven by their time-pieces, begin to see the world around them as if for the first time. Everyone moves slower – taking time
to breathe deeply and appreciate each other and the world in which they live. This project seeks to enhance the creative and cognitive
learning skills of the children (particularly as related to language arts) as well as to broaden their awareness of the need to pace their
time, relax and view life outside of a competitive, goal driven, stress-filled environment. By integrating this story into a unified
performance piece, we will bring this idea to the forefront.
The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcker is the inspiration for this program. The story features a greedy king who
keeps acquiring more and more objects in his search for happiness and a quiltmaker who teaches him the gift of generosity.