Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Trachtenberg Office Attends Performing Arts Workshop at the Women’s Unit of the Clarksburg Correctional Facility

Naomi Bloch and Wil Gutierrez, representing Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg, attended a performing arts workshop at the women’s unit of the Clarksburg Correctional Facility on Tuesday, January 19th. The Workshop is part of Class Acts Arts’ Project Youth ArtReach, a program partially funded by Montgomery County Council grants. Many of the approximately 40 women in the facility are young teenage girls. Tuesday’s workshop was the last of a six-week program lead by renowned artists Cecilia Esquivel and Patricia Vergara from the group Cantare. Students worked in groups and in a supportive, non-judgmental environment in which to share feelings.

Project ArtReach promotes positive youth development by providing juvenile offenders in detention, corrections, and probation settings with arts programs taught by master artists to enhance youth's cognitive, linguistic, social, and civic development. As youth engage with a diverse group of professional artists, they acquire skills in visual, literary, and performing arts. By exploring themes of respect and values from other cultures, youth learn lessons in tolerance, problem solving, and conflict resolution. Programs like the one at the Clarksburg Correctional Facility also help each student's re-entry and become more productive members of society.

For more information about Class Acts Arts and Project Youth ArtReach, click here.
For more information about Cantare, click here.

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