The mission of the Cooperative Artists Institute is to empower people to solve their individual and collective problems by applying the Arts as a catalyst for individual and institutional change.

Description:
Founded in 1970, The Cooperative Artists Institute is the first Think Tank to specialize in using the Performing and Visual Arts to build community. CAI's has a long history of developing high quality arts programming for children and youth in Boston including: developing Tribal Rhythms® — one of the first multicultural arts programs used to facilitate desegregation in the Boston Public Schools (BPS); designing the first Therapeutic Arts Program in the BPS to help students with severe emotional and behavioral problems succeed in the regular classroom setting; developing the Tribal Rhythms Community Partnership, an after-school project that uses the arts and community-building activities to teach young children how to resolve conflicts without violence; and, launching the Partnership for Whole School Change, a CAI collaboration with six Boston Public Schools and the Center for Peaceable Schools at Lesley University to use the creative power of the Arts to transform school culture.

The Peace Drum Project illustrates CAI's ability to break down barriers and build understanding among people from different backgrounds. Peace Drum is an after-school youth development project offering high-risk Boston teens leadership opportunities, immersion in the arts, and community service. Teens work together as a team exploring performing and visual arts as they learn artistic, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Peace Drum helps them express their own ideas, personal stories and dreams, and learn to relate to peers in positive, non-threatening ways. In community service with Boston elders, the teens interview the elders about their lives, record their oral histories, and illustrate their stories on visually unique "peace drums." The project gives both groups an opportunity to get to know each other, reduce their isolation, and build empathy and understanding across the generations.

Tribal Rhythms® School Performance & Residency Programs build community by creating inclusive, nurturing learning environments for children in school and community settings. Tribal Rhythms(TR) was developed by CAI to provide a comprehensive strategy for addressing the many urgent problems resulting from family fragmentation, racial and social isolation, poverty, and the loss of community brought on by the social and economic changes in contemporary American society. TR helps children develop self-discipline and a strong sense of responsibility, and learn consensus-building techniques for resolving conflicts without violence. Activities combine music, movement, storytelling, and visual arts to promote creative self-expression, cooperative learning, and critical-thinking skills. TR Touring and Residency Programs provide highly participatory, multidisciplinary performances that use the magical power of the arts to transform an audience into performers. The Tribal Rhythms Celebration and The Story of the Weakest and the Strongest are original, interactive, performances at the core of most residencies, which also include, professional development, artist-led workshops, and intensive ongoing classroom support to help children, teachers, parents, and others explore and celebrate their unity, diversity, and inclusiveness.

CAI's Tribal Rhythms Creating the Village, a Curriculum Guide for Building Community with Children, is a nationally known curriculum guide offering adults who work with children a simple step-by-step process for using the arts, and the theme of "tribe" to create their own caring community with their children. This community models and instills in their children the values of caring, cooperation and respect, and presents tried and tested classroom management techniques and a positive approach to discipline. the guide offers teachers, parents, and community educators dynamic tools to empower children to connect with each other in positive ways as they develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. Embraced within this dynamic, children are secure and feel socially supported enough to focus on playing and learning.

History:
For the past 38 years, CAI has created, developed and encouraged programs using the Arts in ground-breaking ways that have improved the lives of over 1,000,000 children and adults throughout Greater Boston and New England. Past events include: the development of one of the first cultural programs to facilitate desegregation in the Boston Public Schools; the planning of Boston's First Night grand procession; the Mission Hill Arts Festival to avert racial violence; production of Circus of the Arts; and the creation of Tribal Rhythms, one of the top multicultural education programs and published curricula in Massachusetts. CAI holds workshops for educators, facilitates community forums, participates in Urban School Partnerships and in Tribal Rhythms Touring and Residencies.

Contact people:

Susan Porter, Director, (phone), (email) Curtis Jones, Senior Program Developer, (phone), (email)

Address:

311 Forest Hills Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (See a map)

Directions:

We are an 8-minute walk from the Forest Hills T and Bus stops. Please call for detailed directions or for driving directions.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Forest Hills, Orange Line,   Walk distance (in minutes): 8   Nearest Bus Stop: 16,21,31,32,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,42,48,34E,50, 8 minute walk For maps or information, please see http://www.mbta.com