Women Who Teach Art for Social Change - VIDEO
Event Type
Talk
Location
University Hall 1000
Start Date
28-10-2010 9:00 AM
End Date
28-10-2010 10:40 AM
Description
Four Los Angeles women discuss how they use the knowledge and expertise of their art to change the lives of kids and, in turn, take steps to transform society.
Professor Chuck Rosenthal, Department of English, chair
Panelists:
Sherry Jason began studying ballet at the age of 4, and at the age of 11 she began teaching ballet to neighborhood children for fifty cents a class in her parent¹s garage. Even then, it was her firm belief that classes in the Arts should be provided free for those children whose parents could not afford to pay. Ms. Jason performed as a soloist with Ballet Concerto and has continued her teaching for over 50 years.
Graduating from UCLA with a BA in Psychology, she received her Juris Doctor from Southwestern University School of Law. In l975, Ms. Jason was sworn in as a member of the State Bar of California in private ceremonies by the Honorable Consuelo Marshall (now a member of the Federal Bench). Ms. Jason joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office Juvenile Division in l977. It was there that she met her husband and partner of 33 years, Bob Jason. Describing herself as an "Attorney at Law/Ballerina at Heart," Sherry and Bob Jason created Ballet for Topanga in l979, and together produce The Topanga Nutcracker Ballet now in its 30th season. Through their experiences in the Juvenile Justice System, Sherry and Bob formulated a philosophy on the nature of delinquency, intervention and prevention.
In l983, the Jasons used all their savings and borrowed from friends and family to create the Downtown Dance Studio/L.A. Fringe Theatre to be the artistic home to our community¹s most impoverished children. City Hearts was created in l984 to provide FREE classes to Skid Row, inner city, and at-greatest-risk children. Now celebrating 25 years, City Hearts has provided quality Arts education to over 27,000 children.
As an advocate and instructor in the Arts arena for over 46 years, and as an attorney and defender of children's rights for over 30 years, Sherry Jason is uniquely qualified to create, direct and implement City Hearts' innovative programs of prevention.
Utilizing her extensive dance background, Ms. Jason choreographed a segment on Jane Seymour's "Medicine Woman" TV series and has been interviewed regarding City Hearts' award-winning programs by NBC Nightly News and featured on CBS, CNN and other local and international news programs including Oprah. City Hearts has been named to the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities and been honored by the Sesame Street Parents Magazine and the Children's Television Network as an inaugural recipient of the "Sunny Days Award." In 2008, Ms. Jason helped to write the Standards/Foundations for Dance Education for 3/4 Year Olds for the California Department of Education.
Keren Taylor, founder and Executive Director of WriteGirl, has been active as a community leader for more than 15 years. She has edited and designed dozens of anthologies and has served as publisher and editor of all of WriteGirl's award-winning books. Passionate about helping women and girls, Keren has conducted hundreds of creative writing workshops for youth and adults, and has led staff development workshops for the California Para-educators Conference, California School-age Consortium, California Department of Education, Los Angeles County Office of Education, LA's BEST and the New York Partnership for After School Education, among others. Keren has been selected to serve as a Community Champion and facilitator for the Annenberg Alchemy Program and is a popular speaker at conferences and book festivals nationwide including the Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, BOOST Conference, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and Guiding Lights Festival. Keren is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the President's Volunteer Call to Service Award, Business & Professional Women's Community Woman of Achievement Award, Soroptomist International's Woman of Distinction Award, commendations from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others.
Erin Cottrell is an award winning actress best known for her performance in Michael Landon Jr.'s, Love Comes Softly series as well as being the new Caroline Ingalls in Disney/ABC's Little House on the Prairie. She has had an extensive career in film and television including guest lead appearances on E.R., CSI:NY, Cold Case, Medium, NUMB3RS, Ed, and Stranger's With Candy, as well as reoccurring characters on All My Children and The Guiding Light. Her film credits include Legally Blonde 2, Love's Abiding Joy and Faith of My Father's, (the film based on John McCain's biography.) Most recently she was seen alongside Jason Alexander and Christopher Lloyd in the NBC mini-series, METEOR.
When Erin is not filming she is teaching. Since 2002 she has been a proud teacher for the nonprofit organization, City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts. She has taught jazz, hip hop, musical theatre, Shakespeare, black and white photography and acting to the at risk youth of East LA and Oxnard, bringing the arts into vastly under-funded areas. Her love of teaching underprivileged youth stems from her work in London at the Young Vic Theatre, where she was a performance intern. There she had the opportunity to run a summer program with at risk high school students to create dramatic pieces about their lives in the city. She feels fortunate to be able to be directly involved in the lives of her students and to offer them a new kind of self-expression and sense of confidence that they would otherwise not be exposed to. The children that she has had the opportunity to work with have deeply touched her life and improved her understanding of the power of the arts more than she could have imagined.
Erin is also a member of The New Hollywood, an elite group of female performers focused on supporting women in the arts. Each year they raise and donate thousands of dollars to charities throughout the world supporting children in need and arts education.
Einat Metzl...
Women Who Teach Art for Social Change - VIDEO
University Hall 1000
Four Los Angeles women discuss how they use the knowledge and expertise of their art to change the lives of kids and, in turn, take steps to transform society.
Professor Chuck Rosenthal, Department of English, chair
Panelists:
Sherry Jason began studying ballet at the age of 4, and at the age of 11 she began teaching ballet to neighborhood children for fifty cents a class in her parent¹s garage. Even then, it was her firm belief that classes in the Arts should be provided free for those children whose parents could not afford to pay. Ms. Jason performed as a soloist with Ballet Concerto and has continued her teaching for over 50 years.
Graduating from UCLA with a BA in Psychology, she received her Juris Doctor from Southwestern University School of Law. In l975, Ms. Jason was sworn in as a member of the State Bar of California in private ceremonies by the Honorable Consuelo Marshall (now a member of the Federal Bench). Ms. Jason joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office Juvenile Division in l977. It was there that she met her husband and partner of 33 years, Bob Jason. Describing herself as an "Attorney at Law/Ballerina at Heart," Sherry and Bob Jason created Ballet for Topanga in l979, and together produce The Topanga Nutcracker Ballet now in its 30th season. Through their experiences in the Juvenile Justice System, Sherry and Bob formulated a philosophy on the nature of delinquency, intervention and prevention.
In l983, the Jasons used all their savings and borrowed from friends and family to create the Downtown Dance Studio/L.A. Fringe Theatre to be the artistic home to our community¹s most impoverished children. City Hearts was created in l984 to provide FREE classes to Skid Row, inner city, and at-greatest-risk children. Now celebrating 25 years, City Hearts has provided quality Arts education to over 27,000 children.
As an advocate and instructor in the Arts arena for over 46 years, and as an attorney and defender of children's rights for over 30 years, Sherry Jason is uniquely qualified to create, direct and implement City Hearts' innovative programs of prevention.
Utilizing her extensive dance background, Ms. Jason choreographed a segment on Jane Seymour's "Medicine Woman" TV series and has been interviewed regarding City Hearts' award-winning programs by NBC Nightly News and featured on CBS, CNN and other local and international news programs including Oprah. City Hearts has been named to the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities and been honored by the Sesame Street Parents Magazine and the Children's Television Network as an inaugural recipient of the "Sunny Days Award." In 2008, Ms. Jason helped to write the Standards/Foundations for Dance Education for 3/4 Year Olds for the California Department of Education.
Keren Taylor, founder and Executive Director of WriteGirl, has been active as a community leader for more than 15 years. She has edited and designed dozens of anthologies and has served as publisher and editor of all of WriteGirl's award-winning books. Passionate about helping women and girls, Keren has conducted hundreds of creative writing workshops for youth and adults, and has led staff development workshops for the California Para-educators Conference, California School-age Consortium, California Department of Education, Los Angeles County Office of Education, LA's BEST and the New York Partnership for After School Education, among others. Keren has been selected to serve as a Community Champion and facilitator for the Annenberg Alchemy Program and is a popular speaker at conferences and book festivals nationwide including the Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, BOOST Conference, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and Guiding Lights Festival. Keren is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the President's Volunteer Call to Service Award, Business & Professional Women's Community Woman of Achievement Award, Soroptomist International's Woman of Distinction Award, commendations from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others.
Erin Cottrell is an award winning actress best known for her performance in Michael Landon Jr.'s, Love Comes Softly series as well as being the new Caroline Ingalls in Disney/ABC's Little House on the Prairie. She has had an extensive career in film and television including guest lead appearances on E.R., CSI:NY, Cold Case, Medium, NUMB3RS, Ed, and Stranger's With Candy, as well as reoccurring characters on All My Children and The Guiding Light. Her film credits include Legally Blonde 2, Love's Abiding Joy and Faith of My Father's, (the film based on John McCain's biography.) Most recently she was seen alongside Jason Alexander and Christopher Lloyd in the NBC mini-series, METEOR.
When Erin is not filming she is teaching. Since 2002 she has been a proud teacher for the nonprofit organization, City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts. She has taught jazz, hip hop, musical theatre, Shakespeare, black and white photography and acting to the at risk youth of East LA and Oxnard, bringing the arts into vastly under-funded areas. Her love of teaching underprivileged youth stems from her work in London at the Young Vic Theatre, where she was a performance intern. There she had the opportunity to run a summer program with at risk high school students to create dramatic pieces about their lives in the city. She feels fortunate to be able to be directly involved in the lives of her students and to offer them a new kind of self-expression and sense of confidence that they would otherwise not be exposed to. The children that she has had the opportunity to work with have deeply touched her life and improved her understanding of the power of the arts more than she could have imagined.
Erin is also a member of The New Hollywood, an elite group of female performers focused on supporting women in the arts. Each year they raise and donate thousands of dollars to charities throughout the world supporting children in need and arts education.
Einat Metzl...
