Jason Duchin

1994

Jason Duchin

DreamYard

http://www.dreamyard.com

Bronx, New York, United States

Arts, Culture, Humanities

The Bold Idea:

DreamYard is committed to helping transform Bronx schools and communities through the power of innovative, project based arts education. Our schools and students are based in the nation's poorest urban county, with one-third of the Bronx's residents living below the poverty line. In response, DreamYard programs are designed to challenge the cyclical systems of inequality and poverty by empowering youth to discover and develop their best possible selves and to locate meaningful paths and ways to engage with their fellow students, schools, families, and communities.

As the largest arts education provider in the Bronx, DreamYard critically impacts the social and intellectual growth of thousands of Bronx youth through safe, positive and creatively challenging programs. DreamYard's team of professional artists partner with classroom teachers and community educators to help students learn how to express, write and perform their own stories. Through yearlong programs offered during the school day, after school, on weekends and during the summer, DreamYard supports youth development, enhances life-long learning skills, and promotes creative thinking and expression.

DreamYard artists spark an interest in education that often lies latent in our youth. The organization understands that it is imperative to direct a young person's creativity toward positive goals as we strive to develop well-rounded and engaged citizens. Through DreamYard, young people believe that they can have an impact and change their communities and society as a whole. Its projects are catalysts that help teachers and communities propel students and their families into a life-long learning process.