The Arts in New York City class in Macaulay presents a unique opportunity to the curious student to experience the City through an educated, enjoyable, and insightful lens. My class will take tourist students and develop them into an analytical audience, capable of identifying the target purpose of different exhibits and evaluate the importance of diversity within the New York demographic. The theme of my class is the process of developing a picture, the process of capturing what the world presents for oneself. The students will likely come into the class with predetermined opinions about the extent to what the city can offer them; I hope to take their picture and develop into a well-rounded, inquisitive approach to the snapshot story told by New York.
Week 1: Exposure, Cats on Broadway
Price: $39
Art Form: Broadway
For the first outing, I am opting to expose the class to a classic art venue of New York City, Cats on Broadway. Cats is one of the longest running shows to play in the city and it serves as proper exposure to what the city has to offer. Broadway is literally a massive production which necessitate a tremendous amount of work to perform. Most of the students likely have seen a Broadway show in the past, and so using an art form with which they are already familiar I can begin giving them a different perspective on an art they may take for granted. I want to students to explore the arts through its ability to take its audience away from their own lives. We will analyze different historical art movements which have served as a distraction for viewers, and will aim at collectively defining what makes Cats both a show that serves as a fantastical illusion and a profound work of art with a specific meaning. This in-class conversation will begin to cultivate the student’s skills in distinguishing the art piece from its purpose. For the main in-class activity, I will assign a random collection of nouns to each student (ex: chairs, lettuce, and the Eifel Tower) and ask them to create and share a story with a purpose which incorporates their three elements to expose them to the process of creating art and using unconventional means to send an important message.
More Information: https://www.catsthemusical.com/broadway/
Class Readings: Cats on Broadway
Week 2: Backdrop, City Reliquary Museum
Cost: $3.97 (Groupon)
Art Form: Museum
Now as the students are ready to jump in, I want to give them the proper backdrop to help them better see, understand, and appreciate the arts offered by New York City. The museum displays artifacts from the Five Boroughs of New York, documenting some of the City’s most memorable events and processes, from famous shows to the history of the city’s trash. Because the museum is small, I will ask for the class to go to the museum on their own and for homework ask them to discuss which piece they found most interesting. In class, I want to center the conversation on what parts of the city’s many pieces are most important. We will note the many different types of people who live in the city and the roles different people of different backgrounds play in creating such a diverse, multifaceted place to live and experience the world. For the in-class activity, I will assign each student a different part of Manhattan and ask them to take ten minutes and research the most important events that happened in their respective areas. I want to see what students identify as important, and ask students to analyze which artifacts deserve to be preserved.
More Information: http://www.cityreliquary.org/
The Importance of Preserving Cultural Artifacts
Week 3: Perspective, International Center of Photography
Cost: Free with Cultural Pass
Art Form: Museum
This week, the students will be exposed to art through photography. Pictures are a means with which students are very familiar, so this week I will challenge their perspective on the thousand words contained in a picture, and question the full story a photograph can tell. The exhibit we will visit explores the phenomenon of social conformity. Though the concept itself is not foundational to the class, I want the students to recognize the nuances of a picture whentaken to convey a specific message. For homework I will ask the students to post a picture from their childhood that has a specific story attached to it (they can write the story if they want). Class discussion will be centered around the modern accessibility and perhaps over-production of pictures and how that has affected the art world. For the in-class activity, I will pre
sent a series of two images an emotion to the class and ask them to choose which better represents that emotion.We will then discuss what factors affected their choices.
More Information: https://www.icp.org/facilities/museum
How Photography Changed Painting (and vice versa)
Week 4: Lens, The Nuyorican Poets Café
Price: $10
Art Form: Poetry
Once the students have now sharpened their ability to analyze different art, over the next few weeks, I want to discuss different topics which influence artists in various forms of art. This week, I will take my students to the Nuyorican Poets Café which originated in efforts to give minority people a voice. I will take the class to an open mic night and for homework, I will ask them to write one word which they heard used in a way or with a meaning they hadn’t heard before. In class, I want to discuss the role of immigrants in the city. I want to analyze how they have affected the personality of New York and where their influences on art lie. I will address the different lenses of the students, and question their preconceived perceptions of the importance of diversity. This doesn’t mean that they all have to believe the same thing, in fact, I hope they don’t, but I do think addressing hot topics from an educated lens is vital to their analysis of the City. For the in-class assignment, I will show an invention which came out of New York and ask the students to vote as to whether they think the invention was created by someone born in the United States. Hopefully this insightful activity will engage the students and challenge them to question the lens through which they see others.
More Information: https://www.nuyorican.org/ or my presentation
Carlos Andres Gomez, Jaun Valdez
Alex Dang, What Kind of Asian Are You?
Week 5: Brightness, “Stam Pede”
Cost: $11.50 (Groupon)
Art Form: Dance
Building off of last week’s conversation, I want to hone in on the portrayal of ethnicity in the arts. How do artists from different places create diverse pieces which represent themselves and question in what light do they paint their story? The class will be attending “Stam Pede,” an Irish dance performance. I think this event will be really fun for the class, and draw their attention to the role a homeland plays in an artist’s creation. For homework, I will ask students to delineate something they learnt or enjoyed as a child which was influenced by their country of origin (eg. a song, recipe, clothing piece). In class, I will explore different artists from different countries who use art to expose the world to their homeland. Specifically in terms of brightness, we will see the contrast between artworks that were used to show the beauty of a land and artworks that expose the tragedies and downfalls of a place. For the in-class activity, I will give the class a country and divide the students into two groups. The first group will create a dance routine that shows in the country in its historical time of trouble, and the other group will choreograph a routine which highlights its glory times. I want the students to really notice how the story of a place influences their artistic creations.
More Information: https://www.symphonyspace.org/event/8484/Family/stam-pede
Immigrants are Makers, Not Takers
Stories of Us, Making it in America
Read 2 of the stories of immigration
Optional: How to Get Your Green Card in America
Week 6: Color, The Studio Museum of Harlem
Cost: Free with Cultural Passport
Art Form: Museum
The next art influence the class will discuss in race. Though a generally sensitive topic, students will gain a nuanced understanding and deeper appreciation for the role race plays in the individual’s art. The Studio Museum of Harlem specifically houses black art and depicts the artistic lives of black Americans. While this is not the only race, in America the students already have a background in the role color plays in discrimination. For homework, I want the students to write a short biographical sketch of an artist of a different race than their own, and write what differences may exist between them that enabled the artist to create their piece. This will begin to sensitize students to the different communal, familial, social ect. themes which are present in their lives that vary from person to person. In class, I want look at art forms from different African countries and contrast them with the pieces we saw in the Studio. For the in-class assignment, I will ask students to write down a character trait of their that they believe exists almost exclusively as a result of their upbringing. I will then shuffle their responses and assign them to a different student. After, I will ask the class to share the trait they were given and discuss to what degree that trait was emphasized in their community. This is not to shame or promote privilege among the students, but make them aware of differences and qualities that exist within themselves and within their peers that before they may not have realized.
More Information: https://www.studiomuseum.org/about
Podcast on importance of African traditions
Week 7: Focus, “A Raisin in the Sun”
Cost: $10.50 (Groupon)
Art Form: Theater
This week will differ in process than the others. Rather than attend an event before class, I will first ask students to bring in a copy of “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry (many of them will have from high school, others can borrow from library) and they will act out preselected scenes in class. For homework, they will have watched the 1861 movie rendition of the play. In class, the students can get into character and enjoy both performing and watching their friends perform. After we’ve seen some of the scenes, the class conversation will question which parts of the play are affected specifically by social class and race, and how those two factors generalize to create an emotion relevant to anyone watching or reading the play. We will explore the playwrights specific focus and how she uses external factors to convey her specific message. The class can discuss which pieces throughout the semester have maintained this duality between superficially portraying one thing, but in reality have a relatable message relevant to all audiences. The students will then go to the performance and experience the professional take in the play which transformed American theater.
More Information: http://www.harlemrepertorytheatre.com/current_season.html https://www.show-score.com/off-off-broadway-shows/a-raisin-in-the-sun-harlem-rep-2016
The 1961 movie
Week 8: Tone, Luisa Miller
Cost: $Dr. Ross Wheeler
Art Form: Opera
For the last instalment of cultural influences on the arts, the class will be attending the opera, Luisa Miller to explore the portrayal of gender and romance in art. The classic tragedy tells the poisoned story of a distressed damsel and powerful, misunderstood man. The opera deals will the identity within relationships and shows the dominance struggles within the portrayed relationship. For homework, I will ask students to choose one character from a romance movie who has undesirable traits. In class, I want to discuss why the creators of art choose to include certain aspects of romance and not others, and how the roles of men and women are portrayed. Students can also discuss these themes as portrayed in “A Raisin in the Sun” and the movies with which they are familiar. We will discuss the evolving image of family within the world of art and how gender is more exposed now than ever before. For the in-class activity, I will create small groups of students and ask them to use the story arc format to create a simple story (romance or otherwise) and after everyone has shared, we will discuss their opinions of the story arc and why it has become the guideline for most mainstream media. We will also discuss the differences between romance in visual art and moving art.
More Information: http://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/luisa-miller-verdi-tickets/
What Happens Just Before Showtime
Week 9: Snapshot, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cost: $11.25 (Groupon)
Art Form: Museum with Guided Tour
For our final outing, we will visit the most popular art museum in the United States. I’ve decided to do this guided tour at the end, as at this point students will have a trained eye to examine and interpret the different pieces. They will be able to notice the artists’ influences and posit their intended message. For this visit, a guided tour will be extremely helpful as they will have a knowledgeable tour guide who can answer their questions. For homework, I will ask students to choose a piece they saw at the MET and connect it with a theme they saw in any of the previous events. The class discussion will revolve around reviewing the different themes we discussed between weeks 4 and 8, and pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of having a museum targeting one type or theme of art, versus a more general display of different art like at the MET. We will discuss who the target audiences have been at the different events. For the in-class activity, I will ask students to their Week 3 childhood photograph and create a “virtual exhibit,” including four pieces from their childhood they would include in their exhibit. The students will then be asked to evaluate what themes are present in their exhibit and why those are important. We will remember what we have seen, reflect on our trained eyes, and hopefully fondly look back upon the picture we have created.
More Information: https://www.metmuseum.org/
Tamar, this theme is great and the way you highlighted the theme in each event’s title is wonderful. Your readings are very well chosen (apart from the one student essay from UK Essays, the “service” that will do you no service by writing papers for you–beware of sources and services such as this) and I especially like how you have connected each event with an in-class activity. You’re a natural teacher!