As the lights go out in the MAP students’ summer homeroom for the last time, I’m once again left with that mix of emotions that comes at end of a summer when a new group of teens have left their imprint on the program and on me. It never gets old to see the transformation in how students begin the program quiet, reserved and unsure, but leave confident, bonded and lamenting the program’s end.
As with every year, the program takes on a slightly different feel. This summer, the MAP students’ objective was to welcome and encourage 100 Acres visitors to interact with the Park’s natural environments, and its installations through games and activities which they facilitated.
Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin of the art collective Type A helped kick off spring training by talking with the MAP teens about their work and teaching them some of the team building initiatives used with Museum staff during the development of their piece Team Building (Align).
These games set the tone for a summer that was largely about helping people lower self-erected barriers to art and nature, while allowing them to connect with their surroundings and the people around them in fun and sometimes unexpected ways. I’d have to say, if visitors’ smiles and laughter were indicators of success, then the MAP teens did a nice job!
Thanks again to all the IMA staff who shared their time and passion for what they do to make this place so “tight!” …that’s a little MAP teen imprint oozing out.
Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Education