Each summer since 1968 the Boston Symphony Orchestra has hosted the Days in the Arts (DARTS) program, inviting middle school students from across Massachusetts to come together and experience the arts. Since its inception, DARTS has partnered with Jacob’s Pillow Dance to help serve almost 20,000 students.
Jacob’s Pillow Festival Intern Chelsea Zibolsky sat down with the BSO Senior Manager of Education & Community Engagement, Claire Carr, and DARTS Program Coordinator Monise Reed to discuss the impact of this 48-year partnership.
In your own words, what is DARTS?
Monise: Days in the Arts is an arts immersion program for kids leaving grades 5, 6, and 7. We have two goals: one is to provide a safe environment and community where they can experiment and move out of their comfort zone in the arts. And of course immersing them in the arts…One of the really nice things when we come to the Pillow is they get to participate in the art form and then see it when we go to the Inside/Out stage, and that makes this experience unique.
“I feel like it is like a town, but also a museum. You can see all these historic places, but you still get to interact with everything.”
What does it mean to be able to bring the students to the Pillow?
Claire: Being here permits our students to have a deeper experience and relationship with dance in a way that is not always possible in some of the other organizations that we visit.
Monise: One of the things I find, especially for some of our male students, is when we say that we are going to be taking a dance class their reaction is, “I don’t do dance!” Then we explain to them that it’s a movement class and that Ted Shawn wanted to work with men dancers and thought of it as being athletic. They get here and they put themselves out there and take that risk… it becomes part of their vocabulary. It is a very formative thing for a lot of them because they realize that maybe it is not such a taboo thing to go and dance.
“We really loved the Ted Shawn warm up. We looked like the man on the weather vain.”
How does the Pillow impact them?
Claire: I think that they come out of this experience in particular being able to speak about what they have witnessed and what they have experienced here. They can recognize that perhaps they did not like the performance they saw on stage, but they can speak about why that is. They become able to speak critically about what they saw and understand what they saw, which I think is the really powerful experience they get to take away from the week.
Part of what makes DARTS so special is that it invites alumni to give back to the program by becoming counselors to new participants. Their insight shows the significant impact DARTS has had on them.
How did your participation in the DARTS program affect you?
Danny, 16: It made me feel more open to the arts. After my experience with DARTS I started going to a school that had more options for arts. I started doing sculpting, acting, and joining musicals just because I had experienced that here. Especially seeing grown males doing it. I did not have to feel like it was only a girl thing.
Kate, 17: Before coming here, I dabbled in a little bit of everything, like instrumentals, dance, and vocal. When I came here it was really cool to have everything culminate into one and experience it on a deeper level than I already was. It broadened my horizons more.
How are you inspired by the students?
Nikita, 17: Every student is quite different and expresses
themselves in different ways. It’s fun to see how they grow from the beginning of the week to the end of the week.
Danny: On Monday you can see the kids on the bus and some of them are kind of timid. I remember there was a girl last week who did not talk on the bus ride but by the middle of the week she was singing in the talent show and her singing gave me chills. I just like seeing them grow and that inspires me to open up when I go somewhere I might not feel comfortable. Maybe I will do something that inspires other people.
