UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), a leading presenter of contemporary performance on the West Coast, believes the show does not start and end with the rise and fall of the curtain, but continues to inspire audiences through education and special initiatives. As the nation continues to adjust to learning from home, UCLA’s Design for Sharing (DFS) is working to make some performances, accompanying study guides, and arts activities available online.
The education arm of CAP UCLA includes DFS, Art in Action and Student Committee for the Arts at UCLA (SCA).
Design for Sharing makes the performing arts an accessible and inspirational part of children’s lives, providing free interactive and educational arts experiences for more than 10,000 K-12 public school students each year. With the unprecedented times brought by COVID-19, educational materials, discussion guides and links to artists’ information, typically sent to help teachers extend the live performance experience, are now available online.
“Nothing can replace the experience of people gathering together in one place to be part of a performance, but we know that opportunities to connect to and through the arts are critically important right now. We are making these resources available for classroom teachers, parents, caregivers-anyone looking for ways to share the arts and be creative,” said Meryl Friedman, director of education and special Initiatives for CAP UCLA.
The program, started by Mimi Perloff and Blanche Witherspoon in 1969, has in its first half century served nearly half a million K-12 students. For the last 10 years, in addition to live performances, DFS arts educators have worked with hundreds of fourth- and fifth-graders on projects including creative writing, movement and visual arts practices at the UCLA Community School in Koreatown. For more information, visit https://cap.ucla.edu/.
