Healthy Acadia Offers Free Teaching Artist Workshops for Local Students

For Immediate Release Please

Release Date: March 27, 2024

Program Contact: Andrew Simon, andrew.simon@healthyacadia.org or (207) 667-7171

Media Contact: Tracey Carlson, tracey@healthyacadia.org or (207) 667-7171

Making Art Together Makes You Healthier: Healthy Acadia Offers Free Teaching Artist Workshops for Local Students

Since the beginning of this school year, Healthy Acadia has connected with students across Hancock and Washington counties through collaborative arts programs that build resilience, self-esteem, and interpersonal skills. Led by Andrew Simon, in collaboration with Healthy Acadia team members and local educators, the teaching artist programs take the form of workshops in classrooms across the Downeast region and recognize that a vital part of healthy development is making art together.

Andrew Simon began working with Healthy Acadia in 2023 and has taught workshops throughout the current school year at the Tremont Consolidated School, the Pemetic School, Hancock Grammar School, Ellsworth High School, and Princeton Elementary School. Since September, more than 130 students have collaborated to enhance their skills in teamwork and performance through workshops such as Make a Show, which emphasizes devised theater, and Fake Fight Club, which concentrates on stage combat.

The students, whose ages range from 5th grade through 12th grade, build confidence and communication skills by crafting their performances as a team. Each workshop lasts 30-60 minutes through a residency at a school that runs for a single day or up to one week at a time - depending on the school’s schedule. All of the workshops are free to the school and they focus on social-emotional learning through mindfulness, presence, thoughtful discussion, and building comfort with being creative and courageous together.

“Make a Show is like a theater scavenger hunt,” said Simon, who brings a checklist of things to include in a very small performance, and two suitcases full of hats, wigs, and costumes to each workshop. “The students use everything in the classroom to create a show together that they can share with their peers.” Each workshop includes elements of restorative practice, with the group in a circle, sharing the focus with each individual. The workshops are both designed to build resilience and approach the work in different ways. “Fake Fight Club is about keeping each other safe. We focus on eye contact, breath, and awareness to build trust in ourselves and each other.”

Studies have shown that this kind of resilience-building helps with protection from and coping with mental health challenges and that these kinds of positive childhood experiences can combat the impact of negative childhood experiences that can lead to substance use and addiction. “I didn’t know that this work was substance use prevention until I began doing it with Healthy Acadia,” said Simon. “Through my work here, I’m learning every day about how making theater together makes us healthier. I’m excited to create new workshops that address local needs and concerns and better serve the young people in our communities.”

Simon just finished a week-long residency in Princeton in Washington County and will head to Deer Isle for a week in April at the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School. So far, the response from students has been encouraging and Simon and Healthy Acadia are planning for more workshops building resilience and working towards substance use prevention. In a recent email exchange, Sonja Philbrook, the Health Teacher at the Pemetic School in Southwest Harbor, wrote “I wanted to let you know that when I asked the 6th graders if they would like to have you back there was a resounding ‘YES!’ from all of them. They clearly enjoyed their time!”

To learn more about this work or set up a workshop at your school, email andrew.simon@healthyacadia.org.

Healthy Acadia is a 501(C)(3) community health organization building vibrant communities and making it easier for everyone to lead healthy lives throughout Washington and Hancock counties. For more information about Healthy Acadia’s health and wellness programs and services, visit https://www.healthyacadia.org.

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