Cal Poly Pomona: Downtown Center

2007 Summer Arts Academy

Summer Arts Academy 2007
July 9 - August 3, 2007

56 students attended this year's Summer Arts Academy! We listened to the parents and increased the number of days that students attended from previous years. The academy ran for 4 weeks (Monday through Fridays), 7 hours a day. Students went on several field trips, one to Riverside, where we visited the Mission Inn, Riverside Museum of Art, and the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. On another field trip we visited the Great Wall of L.A. where we had a very interesting tour of the wall by an educator from the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). We also visited the Claremont Folk Music Museum where we enjoyed a wonderfully entertaining and educational program.

Students attended classes in performing, digital, visual, and literary arts. They created poetry, comic books, watercolor and mixed media self-portraits, photographs, CD covers in Photoshop, and many other projects. They learned drumming and percussion basics, made their own drums, wrote and performed short monologues celebrating a character they created, and collaboratively created short films. They learned to value their own diverse talents and creativity as well as those of their peers.

Our staff included 2 young women from Pomona who just graduated from high school. They served as mentor/helpers and did a fabulous job connecting with the students. Other staff members were Cal Poly Pomona students who assisted the teachers, monitored lunch and break times, and mentored our participants. Our instructors included teaching artists, a professional musician, a working actor, a filmmaker, professional photographer, and music and English teachers.

The culminating showcase was a family event, including a reception for our student artists, student artwork hung in the gallery, film premiere, as well as drama and drumming performances including all the students.

For more information about the Summer Arts Academy, please contact Jonnie Owens, contact information below.

Past Summer Arts Academy

Forty six youth attended the 2006 Summer Arts Academy at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center. Two 3-week sessions were offered to middle and high school students. This was the first year that a session was offered to 3rd-5th grade students. All the students participated in a variety of arts---digital, performing, and visual. They attended classes in photography, Photoshop, theatre improvisation, playwriting, watercolors, paper mache sculpture, filmmaking and i-Movie, and other areas. Students enjoy field trips to local galleries as well as a Metrolink trip to Los Angeles, including a docented tour of the art in the Metroline stations, and visits to important areas of cultural and artistic interests. The 3-week session culminates in a “Showcase” where students are able to invite their families and friends to view their art in the Downtown Center Youth Gallery, and perform what they have learned in their various classes.

*Scholarships for any Academy for Literacy through the Arts program are available based upon financial need.

DOWNLOAD SUMEMR 07 ACADEMY FLYER (pdf)