Imagined, produced and introduced by the Adrienne Arsht Middle for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, I’m Me will start its tour of Miami-Dade County public excessive faculties on January 31.
Centered on teen psychological well being and wellness, the brand new initiative features a world premiere play created particularly for teenagers that can journey to native excessive faculties in early 2022 and a sequence of inventive self-expression workshops for teenagers. The primary arts-driven psychological well being initiative of its form, I’m Me is the end result of the Arsht Middle’s 16-year partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Faculties (MDCPS) and is supplied by the Arsht Middle for gratis to each ninth grade scholar and instructor in Miami-Dade County public faculties.
The challenge, which is able to proceed yearly following its 2022 launch, was created in response to an increase in despair, anxiousness and different psychological well being points amongst at this time’s youngsters. In accordance with a current Pew Analysis Middle survey, 70% of American teenagers contemplate anxiousness and despair a serious downside amongst their friends.
“As our college students proceed to cope with isolation and stress magnified by the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the Arsht Middle hopes to introduce the humanities to college students as a instrument for coping, self-expression, therapeutic and processing feelings. We consider the humanities have a optimistic impact on everybody, particularly our youth. The Arsht Middle is providing I’m Me as a option to equip younger folks with information and expertise to foster their very own wellbeing, in addition to the optimistic psychological well being of their classmates and households,” mentioned Jairo Ontiveros, vice chairman of schooling and group engagement on the Arsht Middle.
I’m Me begins as a touring play designed to be carried out at each highschool in Miami-Dade County. Within the mixed-media theatrical work, six younger folks share what it is like for them to be youngsters in twenty first century Miami. Delivering lyrical monologues in opposition to a backdrop of oceanic pictures and vibrant music, the characters specific their fears, frustrations and triumphs as they navigate the tough terrain of adolescence in a metropolis whose future is as unsure as their very own. Anxious about local weather change, parental expectations, societal pressures and their burgeoning identities, these younger folks discover hope and luxury in each other, in artwork and finally inside themselves. Created by a bunch of established and rising Miami artists commissioned by the Arsht Middle, I’m Me options an all-local solid and is directed by award-winning Miami artist Teo Castellanos.
The I’m Me program contains providers created to have interaction college students of their excessive faculties past the free efficiency expertise. After the tour has visited every college, the Arsht Middle will combine instructing artists into MDCPS afterschool wellness golf equipment to have interaction college students in arts-focused self-expression workshops that can assist scholar to channel feelings by means of poetry, music, dance and theater. The applications will likely be supplied just about over a nine-week interval this spring.
A digital useful resource information can also be included as a companion to the efficiency. The information was created in collaboration with South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Middle, arts therapists and instructing artists as a instrument to assist college students, academics and households to course of – by means of the language of the humanities – questions and considerations about their well-being and the well-being of others. Tasks and artistic actions embody music, artwork, motion, theater, writing, wellness and nature. It’s going to additionally embody psychological well being organizations and sources.
The play I’m Me was imagined, created and executed by a workforce of native arts educators, theater professionals and performers who perceive Miami’s distinctive group. The play is directed by Teo Castellanos, an award-winning Miami-based actor, director and author and recipient of the Fringe First Award on the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Pageant. The inventive workforce additionally options Seth “Brimstone” Schere (Sound Designer); Keena Blair Brown (Costume Designer); Shamar Watt (Choreographer) and playwrights Teo Castellanos, Maylin Enamorado, Rudi Goblen, Alejandra Nuñez, Christell Victoria Roach, Giovannai Garced-Rosa and Samantha Turner. The solid consists of Miamians Inez Barlatier, Thiana Berrick, Diana Buitrago, Rayner Gabriel, Dayron Leon and Kristie Millie Valdes. Click on here for bios.
I’m Me is the end result of the Middle’s Studying By the Arts partnership with MDCPS, which additionally contains entry to made-for-students musicals Rock Odyssey (established in 2010) and Kitty Hawk (established in 2017) in addition to hands-on STEAM workshops and specialised curriculum. Since 2006, the Arsht Middle has supplied 10+ signature education schemes and free arts alternatives to greater than half 1,000,000 college students throughout South Florida. For extra data on the Arsht Middle’s 2021-2022 arts schooling initiatives, click on here.
Go to arshtcenter.org for up-to-date data.
