ASAP In The Press

"ARTS AFTER SCHOOL AND BEYOND"
By: Nancy Barnes
Litchfield County Times Magazine -March 27, 2008

Ask JoAnne Torti about the origin of the Washington-based After School Arts Program (ASAP) she oversees as executive director, and the recollections of the very gracious arts enthusiast revert to 1999.

Then, according to Ms. Torti, persons from Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington who served as members of what is today the Connecticut Community Foundation (CCF) established a committee to provide an after-school arts program, something that was lacking at the time.

Ms. Torti, who is a Massachusetts native, was new to Litchfield County, having come here from Mount Desert Island in Maine. "It was quite beautiful," she said of the large island off the coast of Maine, whose residents have included the late Brooke Astor, Martha Stewart and David Rockefeller. There, having trained earlier at the School of the Hartford Ballet, where she subsequently taught, she had established a dance school.

"We had 250 students," said Ms. Torti, noting that the school also offered music and also yoga and pilates. "We also established a nonprofit dance company for young dancers 10 to 17 years old," she added, noting that the students performed at schools and other venues.

"Cambridge was my stomping ground," said the former Natick, Mass., resident. She said she began studying dance in Massachusetts at the age of 5 or 6, taught by a former member of the New York City dance troupe the Rockettes.

In Maine, she was raising her daughters in an environment she ultimately found a bit too far removed from reality. She subsequently moved to Litchfield County. (Her husband is Jonathan Wolken, the artistic director and a co-founder of the famed Pilobolus dance troupe, which is based in Washington Depot).

Ms. Torti attended a CCF meeting in Roxbury, which, she said, included representatives from what she termed every artist and arts organization the arts advocates could think of. To a second meeting, participants were asked to bring a plan, which Ms. Torti did. "They said 'Great, why don't you head this program up?'" Ms. Torti recalled.

"She's a phenomenal entrepreneur," said Ann Burton, the Washington resident and former dean of arts and sciences at New York University, who, now president of CCF, was a member of the organization when ASAP began. She conceded that the founding group had at first envisioned an executive director more traditionally grounded in administrative skills.

"JoAnne has this inspiration about going out and reaching children, and she's put together these programs that are enormously successful and whimsical," Ms. Burton said. "She taught me that inspiration is more important than the administration of the program. She's had to learn about administration," Ms. Burton said.

"She has a wonderful way about her," Ms. Burton continued. "I have seen her speak to the Board of Selectmen in Washington, and she just blows them out. She talks about the importance of the arts ... . It's a magical approach she has. I don't know of any after-school programs that have been as successful as this one."

"I've talked to some people who say, 'This should be done in the schools.' This is not what schools would be doing anyway. They don't have leading artists come to teach," Ms. Burton said of a program which, according to Ms. Torti, has now reached 26,000 children through dozens and dozens of events involving materials as diverse as silver and copper wire and what is termed "puffy" paint.

Scott Shuler, arts education specialist for the state of Connecticut, acknowledged that schools are not, at present, wellsprings for a deep understanding of the arts. "Nationally, the data is very clear there has been a decline in the time the average student receives arts education," he noted.

He said that arts educators refer to what are termed cycles of narrowness that date back 50 years. "Sputnik is usually referred to as the first national refocusing that drew us away from the arts," he said of a Soviet coup-this, in the field of science-that rocked the foundations of American education. Nothing, however has had as wrenching an impact on required credits in the arts, he said, as the federal No Child Left Behind legislation which, enacted in the year 2000, many persons now criticize as deeply flawed.

In Connecticut, 23 percent of public schools require at least one credit in the arts in order for students to graduate, although the state mandates that one credit be offered in the arts-visual art, dance, music and theater or the performing arts-as an elective.
Mr. Shuler pointed to a confluence of circumstances that are encouraging something of a renaissance in arts education, including television shows such as "Dancing with the Stars" and a concurrent emphasis on fitness, which is resulting in public school dance clubs that, he hopes, will become classes.

"Dance was our first form of communication," said Ms. Torti of an arts program that now stretches across a multitude of art forms including glassblowing, pottery, painting, and music. "When we hire people like Pilobolus, that's what it's all about. Get kids to communicate, collaborate and be creative-it's such an important tool for every child to have."

"Ninety percent of programs are kids K-12. Most of our programs are for kids. We have just a handful of adult programs," said Ms. Torti. "It was a real switch for us to add adults. We just did that a couple of years ago to give adults firsthand experience with our teaching artists," she said of one community program whose participants range in age from 9 to 90.

"We established an inter-district program. There's a clear lack of diversity in the rural region. We bused kids from rural regions to the inner city of Waterbury," said Ms. Torti, who expressed her frustration that many in the area think ASAP is limited to participants from the three founding towns. In Waterbury, she said, the students took classes in music and dance at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School. "It's fabulous. It's such a fabulous way for kids to get together and do something," she said of a month-long series that results, in part, in students choreographing the dances they then perform.

She also expressed concern that, in the field of music, so few students attend a symphony before they graduate from high school. She ascribed that vacuum, in part, to a lack of time in households in which both parents work. One solution to her frustration was an event she organized at the Shepaug Valley Regional High School where students from the area actually performed with the full HartfordSymphony.

"I contacted the Hartford Symphony and made a plan with the person who is in charge of their educational branch," she said of thegenesis of the program. "Those 15 students had this wonderful opportunity to work with this conductor over a couple of months. They performed that music with the entire symphony. They were dripping off the side of the stage, there were so many of them," she said of the musicians, both student and professional.

"They know what very serious arts achievement is," Ms. Burton affirmed of ASAP's participants in the programs Ms. Torti has overseen.

Ms. Torti said that ASAP works very hard to keep the prices of its classes down. "We never turn a kid away," said Ms. Torti of the ASAPprogram.

"Where do ideas come from?" Ms. Torti said of ASAP's offerings. "Somewhere in my brain. I do research, and I do think about things that seem exciting and innovative. Sometimes people make suggestions. Just listening. Keeping my ears open. What we don't have."

WASHINGTON - The After School Arts program is entering its ninth year with an enhanced array of workshops with a theme connecting the arts and environment.

ASAP Executive Director JoAnne Torti said, "The purpose is to develop awareness, appreciation and understanding of how the arts are often inspired by the natural beauty in our world and things we can do as artists to become environmentally friendly."

The non-profit organization is doing its part to protect the environment and curb global warming by improving energy efficiency and revamping its recycling practices in the office, traveling more economically and purchasing green energy to offset carbon emissions.

"The new ASAP brochure contains a tear-out page with things that can be done in the home to protect the earth," said Ms. Torti. There are suggestions for youngsters as well throughout the brochure.

ASAP has added classes this year that stress the environment. Some, for grades 3 to 5, include Draw and Paint Nature, which explores various aspects of nature and creates artwork in the open air.

In The Green Man, a symbol of nature, children will make green man masks, learn songs and characters and present a Green Man parade at the program's conclusion.

Other classes for this age group include Art in Nature, Recycled Art and Clay Animals.

The Mural Project for middle and high school students is a team effort to depict the cyclic qualities of the environment and a love of the natural world. The mural will show the seasons and life cycles of the natural kingdom.

A trip to the Storm King Art Center in Plainville, N.Y., was offered to students from kindergarten up and adults. The museum celebrates the relationship between sculpture and nature, containing 500 acres of landscaped lawns, fields and woodlands with post war sculptures by internationally renowned artists.

A trip to the American Museum of Natural History will be offered on October 8 for all ages as well.
The After School Arts Program offers more than 100 programs, said Ms. Torti, for children through adults. Visual arts and music are heavily featured, but "we try to make it an even array of offerings," she reported.

Last year, there were more than 500 individual enrollments at ASAP, with more than 1,000 people participating. The largest enrollment is high school students, some of whom have benefited greatly from the ASAP association.
Ms. Torti described one young man who received a full scholarship from ASAP for a summer theatrical program at Carnegie Mellon. He is now a full time student at the school.

The programs draw from 32 Connecticut towns, said Ms. Torti. Information on the program is disseminated to Regions 12, 14 and 15. "People come from all over the state to take part," she noted.

Most of the workshops take place in Region 12, and the Region 12 towns of Roxbury, Bridgewater and Washington contribute to the program, said Ms. Torti. For that reason, there are resident and non-resident fees.

"The program fees are low, however. We want to make it accessible to everyone, so tuition fees cover only 23 percent of the program cost." The remainder, she explained, is raised through benefit fundraisers, grants and individual contributions.

To obtain a brochure of the programs offered, contact ASAP at 860-868-0740 or visit the web site at www.afterschoolartsprogram.com.

"ALL THE WORLD, THROUGH STUDENTS MUSINGS"
By Elizabeth Maker
The New York Times -April 22, 2007

NORMALLY, Denis Leary is the one impressing audiences with his scabrous stand-up comedy act or as the tough-guy firefighter Tommy Gavin on the TV series, “Rescue Me.”

But last Saturday, Mr. Leary stood onstage at the town hall in Washington “stunned and awed,” he said, by the talent of 23 students whose poems and essays were chosen to be recited by 10 area celebrities in the second annual “Celebration of Young Writers.”

“I’m completely blown away to be surrounded by all of these gifted kids,” said Mr. Leary, who was the M.C. for the event, a fund-raiser for the After School Arts Program, which has students from 32 towns enrolled in more than 100 workshops, from dance to drama, painting to poetry, across the state.

The students, ages 5 to 17, sat on the stage as their works were read, some so small that their feet swung from the chairs.

First was Jack Burns, 5, a pupil at Rumsey Hall School in Washington, in a blue blazer and tie, whose poem was titled, “Untitled.”

Mr. Leary, who also wore a blue blazer rather than his signature leather jacket, recited:
I was on a blue plane to Denver.
I saw a bucking bull at the fair.
The bull was bucking a cowboy
and I was eating a hot dog.

There was Daniel O’Connell-Santos, 15, from Shepaug Valley High School in Washington, whose poem, “Love Is a Thing That Purrs,” was recited by Fran Brill Kelly, a “Sesame Street” puppeteer from Bethlehem.

Daniel, scuffing his foot across the floor, said he was “thoroughly embarrassed.”

His poem, about someone who has played hard to get, ends:
But once you give up trying
And just want to be left alone
That darn thing calls you five times
And purrs with the sweetest tone.

Another Shepaug student, Alex Maddalena, 17, dedicated his poem, “Forgive Me Father, for I Have Sinned,” about President Bush and the Iraq war, to his teacher, Wendy Youngblood, who sat in the audience, wiping away mascara-gray tear streaks.

The writer Frank McCourt, of Roxbury, recited a poem, “Count Greffi,” by Alexander Adam, 16, a Gunnery School student. It began:

Here, where money is searching for bright ideas,
and the bright ideas are searching for money.
Where your sense of direction gets you lost,
and ladies of 5th, Lexington and Park look pretty,
Whatever the cost ...

The poem ended to applause, and Mr. McCourt remarked, “I think Walt Whitman is up there applauding, too.”

The event, which included a silent auction of items donated by area residents, raised $37,000.

"ASAP TO THE RESCUE"
By Abigail Leab Martin
Housatonic Living - September 8, 2006

JoAnne Torti was wearing red and it suited her. It's a vibrant, dynamic color for a woman on a mission, and Ms. Torti is the executive director of the After School Arts Program (ASAP), a nonprofit organization founded to increase participation in, and foster an appreciation for, the arts through workshops, events and field trips with professional artists and arts organizations. She is now putting the finishing touches on the burgeoning eighth season of ASAP.

With programs broken up into segments for grades kindergarten through grade two, grades three through five, middle school and high school students, and adults thrown in for good measure, Ms. Torti has been in perpetual motion finalizing details. Sitting still for just a moment on the porch of ASAP's office in New Preston, with the sounds of a babbling brook as a soothing backdrop, Ms. Torti took a moment to reflect upon why it is that the work ASAP does in the Region 12 school district is so vital right now.

"I think it has always been important," she said with emphasis. "There is no program in this area without ASAP. This is it. Without ASAP, there would be nothing to this extent. If you look at what these kids get to do, and for the cost! These kids get to go glass blowing [with artist Timothy Hochstetter], cooking with The Silo, dance with Pilobolus ... the list is tremendous."

It is also a testament to the success Ms. Torti has had in cultivating the organization over the years. This year, ASAP will offer its largest selection of workshops and events. According to its executive director, there will be close to 100 selections, about 30 more than last year. It's an impressive achievement, made even more remarkable by the painful trend in the public education system in recent years toward slashing budgets for any arts-related after-school and in-school programs.

Fortunately, ASAP is attempting to counter this trend by fulfilling both needs, Ms. Torti noted.
"Another thing I do with the schools is organize in-school programming so that we bring the artists into the school during the school day, and I always try to coordinate it with an ASAP workshop so that I can save money for the schools for one thing, and I do all the organizing so it is not another burden for the schools. And then, if the kids have an interest, they can come to ASAP and work with that same artist," she explained.

ASAP also excels at holding special events that seamlessly integrate community members and artists in an atmosphere of creative cooperation, such as the "Music Festival-An ASAP and Shepaug Chorus Collaboration" Sept. 22, featuring Christopher Shay and the Shepaug School chorus. It is also to feature the University of Connecticut a capella ensemble, A Completely Different Note, percussionist John Marshall and ASAP's advanced drumming class, and Pedro Avila's group, Lorca Alive.

At the heart of the program are the workshops and events in which students work with professional artists, which are especially important given how many creative professionals seem to remember the art teacher who worked with them on their shading technique, the music teacher who assisted them in perfecting the fingering for their clarinet or the creative writing teacher in whose class their sense of characterization really blossomed. In these workshops, students get extended time with an individual passionate about their engaging, creative work-with literary, culinary, visual, physical or vocal arts represented-one who can encourage and guide the imaginations and talents of these students.

Just reviewing all of ASAP's offerings this year is rather mind-boggling, given the vast variety of subjects. For example, in the program offered for kindergartners and first- and second-graders, children can attend a single session, such as a field trip to Bristol's Imagine Nation Museum Sept. 27, or journey to the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven in January to see a musical version of the C.S. Lewis classic, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." There are also multi-session courses throughout the year, including those focusing on breakdancing, songwriting, sculpture, acting and even learning French through photography.

At the other end of the age spectrum, high school students can take a day trip to see brilliant humorist David Sedaris' "The Santaland Diaries" at the Long Wharf Theatre, or spend several Tuesdays and Thursdays learning the basics of sound recording with Mark Kaufman at Roxbury's own Backroom Studios. They can also select from a plethora of visual arts offerings, from oil painting with Vincent Giarrano to the exploration and creation of music videos with Sara and David Taylor.

With tremendous enthusiasm, Ms. Torti commented upon the newest additions to the workshops that ASAP provides.
"We are doing much more theater, so it is year-round," she began. "There are different teachers, but the kids are getting three different sessions of classes. They can do theater year-round if they want to."

Indeed, at every level from kindergarten through middle school, there are programs that might tickle the fancy of budding thespians. Younger primary school students are offered courses such as "Creative Dramatics." Taught by theatrical professional Georgina Bates, the course educates children about movement and improvisation, as well as encouraging them to act out their favorite characters from fairy tales.

Middle-schoolers, on the other hand, may participate in actress and Washington Montessori drama teacher Annie Gilpin's " Rock 'n' Roll With Shakespeare," creating sets and costumes, as well as characters for a performance of text by the bard.

Pondering the changes further, the arts administrator was clearly delighted to mention the "culinary arts. That is brand new this year. The kids will go to The Silo for cooking classes ... I am really excited that we are doing the cooking this year." This year, both grades three through five, as well as middle-schoolers, will have the opportunity to learn the delicious creativity that can happen in the kitchen.

Continuing on, Ms. Torti beamed as she mentioned that ASAP has "expanded the writing courses. The literary section has taken off, which was my goal when I first started; it is really great to see that it is expanding. We have a special writing course for grades three through five [on writing their own fairy tale or folk tale] and we also have expanded our courses in middle school. They are doing poetry and graphic novels and comic books. In high school we are doing a creative writing course." Clearly these classes will cultivate the imagination and articulation of would-be writers at any level.

The question that this embarrassment of riches raises is just how did a not-for-profit organization manage such a sizable expansion? The answer shows that Ms. Torti is as creative in dreaming up means of financing ASAP as she is in terms of its artistic side.

"It is expensive to expand," she observed. "What we actually based it on what we could bring in for last year ... what we actually brought in with contributions and fund-raisers and everything from last year was about $245,000."

"Tuition fees cover only 18 percent of the cost of the program," she said. "So that means we are responsible for raising the rest of the money. Without [grants from] foundations and contributions from individuals and businesses, we would never survive. And this year we have done something a little differently. The towns in Region 12 contribute a small portion ... and so do Region 12 schools. So [there] is about $20,000 in contributions between the schools and the town. And because they contribute, we are charging a resident fee versus a non-resident fee-because more and more people from out of town are finding out about the program and they want to get their kids in, but their towns don't contribute money, so it only makes sense that the kids who live in this region benefit."

It's a striking difference. For example, a middle school student from Roxbury, Bridgewater or Washington would be charged $36 for the four-session cooking class at The Silo-$9 a class-while a non-resident would be asked to pay $60.
According to Ms. Torti, another hoped for expansion is the example of the Burnham School PTO, which presented the ASAP executive director a list of "what they would love to see happen. They are making a contribution to pay for two of our workshops so that the Burnham School kids can go for free. We are always in need of funding and to have that gift from them is fabulous," she said.

While the ASAP program has grown vastly in terms of size and diversity, Ms. Torti was not surprised. "If this is going to make an impact, you have to expand it more," she said. "If you want kids to do more, you have to offer more. So it was a common sense thing to keep expanding it."

With the interview over, Ms. Torti was back in motion, quick and light on her red and gold slippered feet, rushing as quickly as the brook in the distance to get back to work.

"CREATIVE WRITERS HONORED WITH READINGS OF THEIR WORK"
By Paula Krimsky
September 1, 2006

On June 17th three Gunnery students had their works read by distinguished local celebrities, authors, and poets at an evening sponsored by the After School Arts Program (ASAP) for the Region 12 Public School System. Named "A Celebration of Young Writers", the evening included 22 works by young writers from ages five to nineteen, which were read to a standing-room-only audience at Bryan Memorial Town Hall in Washington, CT. Guest readers included actor/comedian and Gunnery parent Denis Leary, author Frank McCourt, actor Peter Gallagher, playwright A.R. Gurney and playwright/authors Susan Kinsolving, Dani Shapiro, Rose Styron, Fran Brill Kelly, Ann McDonough, Tom Cole, and Susannah Salk.

Of the three Gunnery student works: Darfur, a poem by Lindsay Lincoln '08, Untitled, a poem by Allie Early '08, and Streetch Armstrong by Mike Knechtel '06 were read by A.R. Gurney, Susan Kinsolving, and Frank McCourt, respectively. All independent and public school children as well as home-schooled children in Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury were invited to submit poetry, essays, and short stories, which were chosen to suit the venue, event and, reader rather than being a choice of the best.

The After School Arts Program provides 70 different programs for children and adults in the fields of theater, music, and the arts.