BuildaBridge Community Programs

My name is Marilyn Rodriguez and I have been working with BuildaBridge for about a year now. I have truly enjoyed teaching the very diverse population in which BuildaBridge serves. I especially enjoy the concept of an open art studio. The staff prepares a brief demonstration for a task that the participants may choose to do in the open art studio or the participants can try something else. The participants are given a wide range of art materials to choose from in this context, if they decide not to do the activity that the staff members gave the demonstration on. The staff then helps the participants articulate what they would like to voice, whether it is through art or music. The most beautiful component I have witnessed is how music can be transferred to so many different languages and then can be merged into one. A good example of this in the open art studio environment, is when everyone sings the BuildaBridge song, some people chime in with their native languages. This song has als...

My name is Debra Cotterall and I am a board-certified music therapist who has been working as a lead teaching artist with Buildabridge for over 3 years now. Throughout the month of February 2017, I had the pleasure of working with fellow music therapist, Grace Clements and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Afterschool Program in order to implement a therapeutic, creative-arts based series of four lessons aimed at promoting students’ sense of self-efficacy and positive vision for the future in order to further increase personal resiliency. The curriculum aimed to support students’ holistic development through creative and academic experiences to foster inclusion, hope, resilience, self-efficacy, mastery, and vision for the future. Each lesson primarily integrated the music modality, exploring a variety of musical elements as they related to real-world application in everyday life. Music and movement were utilized to assist students in processing and coping with current resettlemen...