Uproar Brings Art to Schools

Uproar Art, an all-purpose Brooklyn-based nonprofit art program for kids and teens, is launching a visiting artists program in schools this spring.

Max Goodman, director of Uproar Art, teaches a jewelry workshop at Maker Faire New York.

Uproar Art, an all-purpose Brooklyn-based nonprofit art program for kids and teens, is launching a visiting artists program in schools this spring. The program will be working with PS 84 for their first partnership, and hopes to include at least two other schools in their first season before expanding in the fall.

Director Max Goodman says that they began reaching out last year. “We decided to partner with the schools who showed the most interest and who had the greatest need,” she adds.

Goodman also says that she’s excited about the visiting artists program because it will reach a variety of learners, and might make creative students feel more comfortable at school.

The program will include a variety of artists, including visual artists, metal workers, wood workers, musicians, and performance artists. It will be based around the schools’ schedules and work with the curriculum.

Goodman says her search for artists to participate has been organic. She teaches at 3rd Ward, a multi-disciplinary workspace and education center in East Williamsburg, and as an artist with a background in art education is part of a large creative community. “New York is ripe with working artists and people who are amazing teachers, so we are very lucky,” says Goodman. She says her ultimate goal is to provide children and teens with arts education and programming in urban areas that need it the most, and to fill the gap that exists when arts education programs get cut from schools. “If we can help one student, then I feel good,” she says. “We just want to make a difference where we can.”