Prescott Circus Newsletter: August 2020 |
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Dear Community,
Over the past five months, our worlds have been turned upside down and inside out. And they continue to be jostled in one way or another almost every day. In the circus, the acrobat and the clown accomplish amazing feats while staying true to their humanity and in service to others. They do this by staying physically centered, emotionally light, and spiritually compassionate. These are the qualities we’ve been doing our best to model as we stay connected with one another, with our children, and with our families. And they support us as we turn inward to look introspectively at ourselves as an organization.
This unprecedented time in our nation and current conditions have the potential to negatively impact the success of a generation of talented and deserving Black and other non-white children. For us with Prescott Circus, this has fired up a determination to be more intentional about our position and role as an antiracist organization. Working together, myself with our Board of Directors and staff, are committed to bringing more intention to how we structure and operate as an organization and how we work with our children, families, and partners. For myself, as a white man serving as director of a 35+ year old program in service for Black and Brown children, I acknowledge and am committed to uphold my responsibilities to actively exercise humility, self awareness, and accountability. We are committed to communicating the progress of this work in the coming months.
Today, we are sharing some of our work from our recently completed online Summer Circus and Academic Program and updates about what’s ahead this fall. As the ground beneath us keeps changing, we will continue to use our resources and talents to support our children’s creativity and well being. We hope that our current activities and sharing past work will inspire you and give you hope for the good things to come.
With Gratitude,
David Hunt
Executive Director
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On the Horizon for Prescott Circus: |
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The school year has officially begun and we are looking forward to continuing our work with our Oakland public school partners at Prescott, Martin Luther King Jr., Sankofa Academy, Montera Middle, Parker, East Oakland Pride, and Piedmont Ave. We are currently designing online engagement where artists will work directly with teachers to provide circus and theater arts lessons to promote social emotional learning, physical fitness, and integrated arts learning. We want to acknowledge our after-school lead agencies who provide essential funds and program facilitation: Bay Area Community Resources, Higher Ground Neighborhood Development Corp., and YMCA of the East Bay.
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Summer Circus and Academic Program Highlights: |
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For seven weeks, our students dove deep into continual skill building, dancing, poetry, mindfulness, and a lot of laughing. Thank you to Oakland Fund for Children and Youth for supporting our work.
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Around the World with Prescott Circus: Virtual Tour! |
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Our summer students also went on a World Wide Virtual tour to visit and perform in different countries throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and here in the US. We used poetry as a way of reflecting on ourselves and our experiences along the way. The poem here was inspired by watching a video of young Moko Jumbie stilt walkers in Trinidad. |
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Uncle Junior Project
Celebrating The History of Black People in the American Circus
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This past spring, Bay Area based circus artist Veronica Blair launched the next phase of her inspiring project, The Uncle Junior Project. TUJP is an interactive online exhibition that honors the achievements of the many extraordinary individuals and groups in the African-American circus community.
The Uncle Junior Project has always been an inspiration for our children as we've used these stories as part of our curriculum each summer.
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Support Prescott Circus Theater! |
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Prescott Circus Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generous support of California Arts Council, Oakland City Council and funded by the City of Oakland's Cultural Funding Program, Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, Arts for Oakland Kids, The Barrios Trust, The Brickyard Berridge Fund, The Clorox Company Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, Frederick E. and Anne R. Barstow Fund, John and Nancy Cassidy Family Foundation, Ruth Arnhold Endowment Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Jr. Fund, Port of Oakland, Oakland Firefighters, and our community of loving supporters.
Please consider supporting our circle of supporters.
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