Building Community Through the Arts –
Breaking down social barriers in the classroom through creating together.

The Need: Negative social climate in our schools – the collective term for behaviors such as peer rejection, ostracism, verbal abuse, bullying – is a problem which educators have been working to address since the tragedy at Columbine High School. Negative social climate involves all students, the popular and successful as well as those on the academic and social margins.

The Strategy: Guided group creation has been effective in building group awareness and mutual trust among at-risk and inner city youth. Building Community Through the Arts (BCTA) brings this same creative and collaborative experience into the Maine high school and middle school classroom

The Program: At the invitation of a teacher and school administrator, an experienced theater or dance educator joins the class. For two weeks the artist-in-residence works with the students during class time to create a short drama or movement performance. The performance can be based on either the students’ own social issues, or drawn from material in their curriculum. At the end the students from the participating classes gather to perform for each other and to reflect together on the impact of the experience.

Who Participates? Everyone in the class participates…not just the joiners, not just the “artsy.” In fact this program is deliberately targeted at non-arts academic classes, in order to give every student an opportunity to work creatively. Every student has a voice in decisions, in the creative process and in the performance. 

The Impact: Results of pre and post surveys, designed by the UMaine School of Education and Human Development, show that the program has a significant positive impact on classroom climate. Students’ respect for each other and their estimation of their own and others’ contribution to the class markedly improves. The project also has a positive impact on student attitudes toward theater and dance.







From the Students:
"Our class got to open up, and no one was really scared to do something because the whole class was doing it.
"I think that doing a project like this does build relationships. You need teamwork to do this and you need to be able to trust people, especially with your ideas."
"I liked it when everyone would share their ideas and they weren't turned down. Most ideas were actually used, and to see everyone working ether cooperatively was nice."
"When I first heard about doing a play for English I was so nervous about it. I was thinking, 'I'm going to hate this,' but I changed by attitude about it and I had a blast."
"It was fun to present to a new audience and see the creations of the other schools."
"This program brought everyone out of their box; you didn't have to be shy.'
"I respect kids I didn't respect before. We are a different class now."

2010-11 Participating Classes – Schools and Teachers
November, 2010
Bangor High School – Tori Kornfield
Dexter Regional H S – Kacie Ladd
Piscataquis Community HS – Eric Sherman
Nokomis Regional HS – Elizabeth Vigue
April 2011
Hampden Academy – Lisa Scofield, Sam Manhart, Ira Weissman
Penquis Valley HS – Andrea Lumbra
Dexter Regional HS – Kacie Ladd

Contact: To find out more, contact MAAE Education Director Susan Potters at maaebangor@aol.com or call her at 207 439-3169.