TEACHING ARTIST SESSION CATEGORIES
Zydeco is just one ingredient in our local cultural cookbook, but where did it come from? In this session, students explore how Zydeco grew out of Creole traditions, learn dance steps, and uncover how music and movement reflect Louisiana’s history, identity, and community spirit.
The Mermaid Music Showcase is an interactive music and movement experience that introduces students to rhythm, singing, creative expression, listening skills, and musical storytelling through an imaginative under-the-sea adventure. Students actively participate by singing, echoing rhythms, moving with the music, and creating sound together using age-appropriate activities that encourage confidence, cooperation, creativity, and self-expression. Each presentation is designed for Pre-K through elementary students and aligns with arts education goals by strengthening musical awareness, focus, imagination, and group participation. No advance preparation is required, but teachers are encouraged to enjoy the experience alongside their students.
In this workshop, students will design and construct their own handmade journals using recycled and found materials, then bring those pages to life with collage, writing, drawing, and mixed media techniques. Through a mixture of guided prompts and creative freedom, students will explore personal expression and visual storytelling in a low-pressure, highly tactile format. Students will learn simple book binding techniques, explore artistic journaling as a tool for self-reflection, and discover methods for collaging and repurposing recycled materials.
Short-Term Residency Option:
Day one: The teaching artist will discuss what a junk journal is, show examples, and create the cover/main structure for their journals.
Day two: The teaching artist will begin with a brief demo showing students some ideas for pages and techniques for creating things like pockets. Students will be given a number of prompts to use as jumping off points for their pages.
Day three: Students will warm up by creating a new spread focusing on slightly deeper prompts such as “what my room says about me” or “things I want to remember,” followed by time for reflection and group discussion.
If your classroom scientists need a new way to approach a project or review content, consider adding the magic of music and movement. Scientific investigations take on new form in this imaginative and interactive session. Storytelling, rhythm games, and dance meet the scientific method in an experience that makes the lesson stick. Available in English & Spanish.
Just like gumbo mixes lots of flavors, Zydeco mixes lots of traditions! Students will dance while learning how music, food, and celebrations are part of everyday Louisiana life.
Color, fluidity, line…and freedom. These all come together in a watercolor creation in Paint What You “Sea.” Over the course of a class period, students will experiment with color and shading through painting images of the ocean. They will be guided in creating fluidity and line with their brushes; through that, they will gain a basic understanding of watercolor painting and experience the freedom that comes with the medium.
It’s printmaking! It’s carving! It’s a beginner’s workshop on both! Linocutting, a process by which the artist carves into a flat surface and then inks the “raised” bits to create a mirror image print, is the glue that unites the two techniques. Students in this session will be given design samples and work on carving in a technique used by Picasso, Escher, and many others. At the end of the workshop, students will be able to take home the stamps and prints they created. Here’s to a new skill and a very cool piece of art!
Jeremy Benoit, aka “JB Saax,” takes students through a journey of the professional recording artist/studio engineer. Students will be exposed to basic, intermediate, and advanced recording techniques and will even be granted the opportunity to record their own personal soundtrack. This course gives exposure to music industry standard operations and provides insight on how professional entertainers integrated these systems into their everyday lives.
Step off the map and into motion! In this high-energy, immersive arts session, students take a kinetic journey around the globe—exploring diverse cultures, languages, and traditions through the universal power of dance, music, rhythm, and storytelling. Rather than just studying a map or memorizing vocabulary, in this session students embody the concepts. They will move through global dance forms, practice world language phrases through rhythmic call-and-response, analyze how geography shapes cultural expression, and collaborate on original movement pieces that honor global traditions. With a dash of folklore, history, and prop work added to the mix, this session is rich in options and opportunities. Prepare for a lesson with cross-curricular connections between Social Studies, World Languages, Geography, and Global Studies standards that also fosters empathy, cultural awareness, and creative collaboration. This session can be tailored to align with specific world regions, language immersion units, or school-wide multicultural celebrations, so please check in with the artist if you would like to customize.
Genres will blend, creativity and inspiration will be unlocked, and artistic visions will evolve and merge during Creative Writing Into Songwriting. Through guided creative writing exercises, the students will write poems, flash fiction, or prompts that will be used to fuel their songwriting experience. Much music will ensue. This session can be adapted for certain holidays, so please chat with the artist about options after booking!