A community-based family support program serving families in NYC’s child welfare system

ARTogether

Children’s Museum of the Arts212-274-0986 cmany.org 103 Charlton St. NY, NY 10014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 OUR MISSION

2 SECTION 1: ABOUT ARTOGETHER Basic Question Background Program Goals Interdisciplinary Approach

4 SECTION 2: WHO WE ARE: ABOUT THE POPULATION

5 A NOTE TO CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

6 SECTION 3: ARTOGETHER PROGRAM FRAMEWORK: SERVICES OFFERED On-site Off-site Flex

7 SECTION 4: ARTOGETHER STRUCTURE Session Goal Roles of Participants and Staff Session Breakdown Structural Tools

9 SECTION 5: BEST PRACTICES Positive Support

11 SECTION 6: HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS Individually Tailored Success-based Directives Cultural Awareness

14 SECTION 7: CREATING A SAFE SPACE Supportive Environment Boundaries

16 SECTION 8: MAKING SPACE FOR ART Creating Space Materials

19 SECTION 9: STAFF PICKS

21 APPENDIX I: FAQ

23 APPENDIX II: RESOURCES

24 APPENDIX III: ABOUT THE AUTHORS

25 APPENDIX IV: ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING FACILITATORS

26 APPENDIX V: PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

28 APPENDIX VI: FEATURED ART FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

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OUR MISSION

CMA: The mission of the Children’s Museum of the Arts is to introduce children and their families to the transformative power of the arts by providing opportunities to make art side-by-side with working artists. We work to fulfill our mission by providing authentic hands-on art experiences for children with artists, both in our art-filled interactive museum, in the community, and by collecting and exhibiting children’s art.

Community Programs: CMA’s Community Programs fulfill our mission by providing an artistic environment for families regardless of means or ability. Our licensed artists and therapists work with at-risk communities throughout the city, creating a welcoming experience for learning and enjoying art together.

ARTogether: ARTogether is a community-based family support program serving families in NYC’s child welfare system. ARTogether provides an opportunity for families to enjoy court-ordered visits in CMA’s art-filled, family-friendly space, which was specifically designed to promote parent-child interaction. With guidance from clinically trained visit facilitators, families collaborate on art projects, play together, and forge new family memories through shared creative experiences. Families also benefit through offsite group programs facilitated by the ARTogether team.

The Objective of the Guide: The guide is a tool based on ARTogether as a model program designed to help families navigating the NYC child welfare system to connect and bond through the use of art, dialogue, collaboration and sharing, imaginative play, and community inclusion. This tool is a description of the strength-based family approach used in ARTogether, ways to engage families using art and play, and the role cultural institutions can play in supporting at-risk families. ARTogether is structured to reflect the goals of CMA’s pedagogy of

LOOK • MAKE • SHARE

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SECTION 1: ABOUT ARTOGETHER

ARTogether explores a basic question:

How can a community arts program support the needs of families navigating the child welfare system?

Background

“While studies show the importance of parent-child visitation as it correlates with reunification and shorter foster care placement, visits are rarely more than an encounter in an agency office, and often less than once a week.” - Marty Beyer Ph.D, Visiting Coach Advocate

Adult-child visits often take place in a stark, sterile room with little to no tools for engagement like books or toys. The agency atmosphere may lead the family to feel scrutinized and could trigger memories of the events that led the family to enter the child welfare system. Caseworkers carry large caseloads and may be supervising multiple visits at once, limiting their ability to provide individual guidance and support to caregivers who are struggling to reconnect and repair relationships with their children.

ARTogether is a community-based family support model designed in 2010 to help families in foster care and those navigating the NYC child welfare system to bond, practice positive parenting strategies, and forge new family memories through shared creative experiences. It is a model that uses a natural community setting to support families who are most often served in isolation. By partnering with agencies to move family visits into the community, the quality of visits improves, skills learned in therapy and parenting classes can be put into practice, and families receive the healing benefits of being part of the larger cultural continuum.

Program Goals

1) Strengthen adult-child communication 2) Help parents and guardians learn and practice positive parenting skills 3) Address abusive/neglectful behaviors

Basic Question • Background • Program Goals • Interdisciplinary Approach

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We are a community-based program and use an interdisciplinary approach. Our model is strength-based and family centered and our program focuses on relational goals like improving communication, improving parent-child attunement, and improving the parent-child bond. We combine best practice models from the following fields:

• Attachment research: Attachment research focuses on the importance of the bond with a child’s primary caretaker and the ways in which this bond a.) is a buffer against trauma and b.) increases in resiliency throughout a child’s life. We believe that to best serve the child we must support and serve the parent.

• Community-based art therapy practice: Community-based art therapy practice uses the art making process to build self-esteem through observation and creation; improves relational bonds through a collaborative art-making process; and strengthens the understanding that a finished artwork can serve as a concrete way to remember and build on a shared experience. This approach acknowledges that therapeutically informed programming that takes place in a public, community setting allows for family members who are receiving clinical therapy or taking psycho-education classes (like parenting classes) to practice skills in a natural environment with the support of a trained facilitator. This model DOES NOT call for practitioners to analyze/psychoanalyze artwork for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.

• Museum education: Museum education is based on our belief that hosting programs in a community space empowers visitation participants by allowing that space to become a long-term, independently used community resource for the family. Even after the relationship with the program facilitator is over, the adult and child’s positive and profound relationship with the space can continue. We might draw from the various research-based strategies in museum education. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a model of asking questions to draw from the participant’s own experience and wealth of knowledge when exploring their own artworks or those in the gallery. This model’s success is based on its encouragement of cognitive thinking skills, curiosity, and respectful listening of multiple perspectives. In VTS, facilitators create an environment of validation, connectedness and good listening by using three open-ended questions:

• “What’s going on in this picture?”• “What do you see that makes you say that?”• “What more can we find?”

Processing artworks with another person builds both verbal and nonverbal skills of acceptance and re-evaluation, and creates possibilities.

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SECTION 2: WHO WE ARE: ABOUT THE POPULATION

The Child Welfare System expects parents to quickly make big life changes like overcoming substance abuse, domestic violence, generational abuse, the trauma of separation, and neglectful parenting practices. Often, families are also navigating the stress of poverty, the welfare system, homelessness, and institutionalized racism.

Families who participate in ARTogether are involved with the Child Welfare System in one of the following ways:

• They are receiving preventive services that are designed to ensure that a child will remain safe in the home and to prevent the child from entering foster care.

• A child in foster care has been removed from the care of a parent due to charges of neglect and/or abuse and is living with a foster parent while working toward reunification with the biological parent.

• Building kinship relationships and/or working toward kinship adoption in which a child is in the process of being adopted by a family member (e.g. a grandparent, uncle, aunt, or older sibling).

• Parent and child have been reunified. A child was in foster care and is now back in the care of their biological parent. Referrals must be made within the 6 months of family reunification to participate in the ARTogether program.

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A Note to Cultural Institutions and Service Agencies: The Importance of Collaboration

It is important for facilitators to keep in mind the multiple stresses that a family may encounter daily while also recognizing a family’s individual strengths and capacity for resiliency. Our role is to strengthen relationships between the child and adult. Sometimes we may observe this in big gestures; however, most often we will witness the small success that collectively can lead to improved relationships.

While we want to see the parents succeed and take the next steps in their process to reunification and/or living with their children independently from child welfare involvement, it is important to remember that our work is one piece of the family’s larger support system and we cannot help the family alone. Establishing and maintaining open communication with caregivers, workers, and therapists involved in the case allows for the family to be served in an overlapping and holistic way. There are often multiple agencies and workers involved in a family’s case, which may lead the family to feel that the process is fragmented or that there is pressure on them to repeat difficult stories again and again, causing them to relive the pain that led to child welfare involvement. Families that have experienced trauma and separation may also feel hesitation to trust and/or openly communicate their needs to a new caseworker.

Families navigating the child welfare system need a safe space for transitioning their “togetherness” into community settings. Museums and cultural spaces provide an ideal transitional space where families can use newly acquired skills in a creative environment. When families participate in ARTogether, their creativity is at the center of the therapeutic work. By actively participating in an artwork they draw connections to the skills they have gained in treatment. ARTogether honors the artist identity in each of its participants, supporting their desire to make something different of their situation. Through each successful experience of expressing themselves, connecting with others, and accomplishing tasks, the family bond is strengthened.

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SECTION 3: CMA’S ARTOGETHER FRAMEWORK: SERVICES OFFERED

In all cases, the goal of ARTogether is to help a family move into a less restrictive, more socially connected experience as they simultaneously continue to strengthen their relational bonds. The program can be adapted to different needs in one of three ways—on-site, off-site and flex.

On-site: Individual families are paired with a clinically trained visit facilitator who they

meet with for 6 to10 2-hour visits. Before family visits start, the facilitator meets with the participating caregiver and referring worker to develop individualized visit plans that identify specific goals, visit routine, and objectives. This meeting also establishes open communication from the start of the program. Visits take place at the museum during public hours. During the first hour, facilitators guide the family through the museum and support them in engaging with available art and play workshops. The second hour is reserved for private art-making time in the museum’s ARTogether Family Room. During this time, facilitators plan a personalized directive for the family to work on together. Private art-making time is an opportunity for families to spend more intimate time together and to further explore a creative theme. For example, families have made their own stop-motion animation films, family quilts, dolls, and model homes.

Off-site: ARTogether off-site facilitators may work with multi-family groups or individual families. For multi-family groups, facilitators typically work in pairs as co-facilitators. Each session is 1.5 hours and combines art-making with either dramatic play and/or parenting techniques. Facilitators work with participating families to build their feelings vocabulary, work together on creative projects, and build memorable moments. A group format also allows for peer support to develop between group members. Sessions can take place in an agency or community setting, such as a public library or community center. Facilitators working with individual families learn about the interests of the family and develop intimate art-making directives to be shared during weekly visits. Individual family sessions off-site are 1 hour and typically include 6 sessions. The facilitator encourages family members to make suggestions and help plan art directives to increase ownership over the time. If appropriate, family passes to the museum can be shared.

Flex: This option allows facilitators to select an ARTogether experience that meets the changing needs of a family. Facilitators can offer a combination of on-site and off-site sessions. For example a family may begin ARTogether with supervised visits that require agency-based sessions. If during the course of the program the family is granted unsupervised community visits, the facilitator can work with the family towards transitioning into the on-site museum program. Similarly, it gives families participating in an on-site program the option to join an off-site multi-family group where peer support would be more beneficial to achieving the family goals.

On-site • Off-site • Flex

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SECTION 4: ARTOGETHER STRUCTURE

Session Goal

To touch on individualized family goals and strengthen the relationship between parent and child through shared creative experiences.

Roles of Participants and Staff

The facilitator is responsible for supporting families through the museum’s public workshops and designing personalized art directives for private engagement time. The facilitator provides positive support to both the parent and child and, when possible, pulls back to allow families to engage independently. The adult is responsible for maintaining the structure of a visit and supporting their child to choose art and play activities that they are interested in throughout the museum. The supervising worker is at times appointed by the agency or family court to support the family towards goals set for their visit to the museum. The role of the appointed supervising worker is to partner with the facilitator during visits.

Session Breakdown

a. On-site individual family visit15 minutes - Arrival: Check in at front desk to get entry stickers, go to ARTogether Family Room to review rules and perform a feelings check-in, discuss plan for public time in the museum.45 minutes - Public museum time: Explore workshops and play activities throughout the museum during open public hours.30-45 minutes - Private art-making time in ARTogether Family Room: Facilitator leads family in personalized art directive in ARTogether Family Room 10 minutes - Swirl Studio/final museum exploration: Family chooses a final museum activity if time permits10 minutes - Final reflection and feelings check-in: Family reflects on visit and engages in feeling check-in before transitioning to leave for the day. Next museum visit date is named.

b. Off-site multi-family group15 minutes – Arrival, explore feelings chart and color in feelings for that day15 minutes – Community building exercises and transition to art-making45 minutes – Family art directive15 minutes – Reflection exercises, feelings check-in and transition good-byes

c. FlexA flex session might be a combination of On-site and Off-site for families who may start through one form and then appear to be a better match for the other.

Session Goal • Roles of Participants and Staff • Session Breakdown • Structural Tools

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The following structural tools are used in every session. On the first day, the facilitator models the following tools and, as sessions continue, caregivers take on the responsibility of initiating and engaging the family independently.

Emotions chart: A tool used to build feelings vocabulary. Typically there is a “feelings check-in” at the start and end of each session. The feelings check-in is intended as a safe way to show curiosity about one another’s internal world and for each person to verbalize how they feel inside without judgment or need for explanation. The chart displays faces representing different emotions and each member is asked, “How do you feel?” Single or multiple feelings can be chosen. Then they are asked, “Why do you feel this way?” to help build expressive skills about emotions.

Rules: Rules are reviewed at the start of each session. The purpose of the rules is to ensure both physical and emotional safety. It is important to present the rules as a collection of what the family needs to feel safe and what the family members need to be their whole selves. Begin with listing the facility rules and then the conversation is opened up to the family to share what they need to feel safe. Rules should list what family members can do instead of stating what they can’t do, for example: everyone must stay together; use your eyes to look at artwork in the gallery.

Routine/schedule: It is important to either write out or verbally review the routine and schedule for the session. The routine should have a set structure with room for choices. At the museum, this gives the family the chance to discuss and negotiate around how they want to spend their time together.

Building Feelings VocabularyBuilding ones “feelings vocabulary” is the process of helping to name emotions and bring voice to our internal world. Building a feelings vocabulary has multiple benefits. First, recognizing and verbalizing our feelings can link the physical sensation of the felt emotion to the psychological reality of the emotion. This increased awareness can allow for better control over how we manage feelings instead of allowing our feelings to control us. Verbalizing and being aware of how we feel can lead to a decrease in uncontrollable behaviors that may result from feelings of anger or upset. Second, building a feelings vocabulary allows others to know how you are feeling. When children share difficult emotions like anger or sadness, they provide caregivers the opportunity to help support them, to help regulate their emotions, or to be more comfortable. Sharing feelings of love and happiness can feel affirming to other family members and can provide an opportunity to verbalize how much a family enjoys being in each others company. Being able to share your internal feelings with your family without judgment or retaliation is a way to build intimacy and self-esteem.

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SECTION 5: BEST PRACTICES

In a system that may seem focused on what caregivers have done wrong or behaviors that need correcting, self-esteem and hope can be restored in families by highlighting nurturing qualities like generosity, affection, help, confidence, bravery, and connectivity.

Positively supporting the adult and child as they engage together is the heart of the creative intervention. We have identified five main ways in which the facilitator has opportunities to provide positive support

1. Praising the adult and child: The “social buffer hypothesis” describes how the relationship of a child with a secure caregiver creates a buffer to the impacts of traumatic events. Often, caregivers we work with have a history of trauma compounded by current stressors like poverty and violence. By providing parallel praise, the facilitator is serving as a “social buffer” for the adult and helping the adult be the “social buffer” the child needs to heal from trauma. By providing praise and encouragement to children and caregivers, we help families recognize the strengths of each family member. We model praise and work toward family members increasing their ability to praise and point out each other’s strengths Additionally, as caregivers feel more confident and accepted, they are better able to share the same qualities with their children.

2. Balanced support involves serving as an emotional and behavioral translator between adult and child to increase mutual understanding. An example of this is helping a caregiver more accurately appraise their child’s behavior by understanding their child’s behavior as related to their developmental level. Balanced support also includes verbalizing the intention behind a behavior—for example, a caregiver becoming frustrated because his or her child is not following directions can be reframed from the parent’s emotional intention of wanting to see their child succeed and benefit from the teaching artist. This technique is especially helpful with caregivers who are recent immigrants to the US as parenting philosophy and technique may be different in their country of origin. The facilitator may find that misunderstanding can be avoided if the intention is being verbalized.

Positive Support

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3. Child-led exploration/Mirroring: While caregivers set and maintain the visit structure, children lead the exploration and play in the museum. When adults follow their children’s lead, they are able to learn about their children’s interests and are encouraged to stay at their children’s developmental level. Children are given the freedom to safely explore with their caregiver as partners, which can increase intimacy and trust. Mirroring can be experienced as an affirmation and acknowledgement of attunement. Working alongside one another creating artwork or engaging in parallel play with blocks can serve as a metaphor for mirroring and can strengthen familial bonds.

4. Strengthening the parent’s identity as caregiver: Parents with children in foster care often have limited access to their children’s lives as well as limited power to make decisions for their children while they are in care. Simultaneously, parents are working to learn parenting skills and correcting neglectful or abusive behaviors. All of this can deteriorate a parent’s identity as the caregiver of their child. We affirm the parent’s role by having parents maintain the visit routine, initiate rituals like reviewing rules and the feelings chart, redirecting children back to their parent when they verbalize a need, and pulling back when appropriate so parents can interact independently with their children in the museum. By encouraging parents to lead, set limits, and engage independently, facilitators send the message that they trust the parent’s judgment and ability to care for their child. Many parents have long work hours and they tend to focus on providing the basic daily living needs to their children. The museum visit and art-making engagement with their child gives them insight to social–emotional or developmental needs their kids have and creative ways to fulfill them.

5. Modeling: Role modeling of positive parenting strategies, acknowledgement of needs, praise, and ways to maintain safety arise in both the relationship with the facilitator and the family’s relationship with the museum space. As the program takes place during public hours, participating families have the opportunity to observe and engage with other families visiting the museum. Facilitators will often encourage parents to observe the behaviors of other children that are similar in age to their own child and reflect on what they notice. Caregivers are frequently surprised at how similar their children’s behaviors are to those of their peers. Similarly, caregivers observe the ways other families interact, set limits, and manage tantrums. Then they reflect with the facilitator on techniques they may want to try or how they may have handled a situation differently.

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SECTION 6: HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

Asking the right questions is the key role of a facilitator. We recommend you start by looking closely at your own intentions and assumptions regarding the individual/family’s culture, interest and goals.

Individually Tailored

Ask yourself: • How well do I understand their personal goals for the program? • How does the individual imagine the outcomes? • What fears exist about the program?

Facilitators work with caregivers and referring workers to develop individualized visit plans that identify specific goals, visit routines, and objectives based on a family’s unique situational needs. Visit goals set by parents often include learning about their child’s interests, improving communication, improving their ability to set limits, and learning to engage their child in age-appropriate activities. By partnering with referring workers, a family’s short-term goals are able to reflect and overlap with the long-term goals the family has set. After each session the facilitator documents activities, observations, and progress toward initially established goals. Documentation is used to help the facilitator provide feedback and support for guardians and to report on progress to the referring agency upon request. The questions above should be asked on a regular basis, preferably in supervision with a trained practitioner. ARTogether has built-in supervision for its facilitators to help maintain a healthy and safe experience for all. Building and maintaining healthy boundaries is an ongoing process, as well as managing awareness of countertransference between the facilitators and families.

When registering families into the ARTogether program, the intake form prompts facilitators to ask some of the questions listed above and incorporate the findings into their practice.

Individually Tailored • Success-based Directives • Cultural Awareness

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Success-based Directives

Ask yourself: • How well do I know the interests of the family? • What do they enjoy doing together? • What did they do together in the past?

Projects and activities are success-based by being developmentally appropriate and incorporating the personal interests of the family members. We believe that successful interactions during visits are both reparative and motivating for the entire family.

Cultural Awareness

Ask yourself: • What are my social norms? • How might these social norms play out as the session facilitator? • What implicit bias and assumptions impact my work with this individual/family?

A culturally aware methodology is one that recognizes that broad social, political and historical realities play a role in the otherwise unique circumstances of individual families. For example, a supervising art therapist may be trained in anti-racist practice and incorporate that training into program development. Supervision includes exploring and reflecting on race, culture, and intersectionality both through personal reflection and readings. We also operate from the belief that each family has their own personal family culture and attempt to provide support and intervention that is aligned with family cultural needs and beliefs.

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A DEEPER LOOK

Deborah Fung is a bicultural facilitator who works in ARTogether with the Chinatown immigrant community at CMA. She shares some reflections and recommendations on being a culturally aware facilitator.

Honor and Pride vs. Embarrassment and ShameIn Chinese culture, honor and pride are valued so highly that family dynamics and children’s behavior reflect a strong desire to avoid shame and embarrassment at all costs. Members of the family are expected to behave according to an unspoken code that forbids certain ways of speaking and behaving. This often creates tension between parents and their children, who must negotiate the social codes and expectations of both their parents’ culture and the one in which the child is growing up. This may be further exacerbated by a language barrier. The parent may know limited English while the child has limited fluency in the parent’s language. These internal struggles are manifest in behavior such as timidity, selective mutism, high expectations and difficulty praising the child.

The facilitator might take time to reflect on the following: - What are the unspoken, strongly held values that my family placed on me? - What shames or embarrasses me? Why? - What do I do when I am embarrassed? - When have I felt confident and what contributed to this confidence?

Respect and Good MannersImmigrant families often value good behavior. They associate manners with social class and good character and feel that manners demonstrate respectability. Since many families come from a community-oriented culture, respect is extremely important. Furthermore, good manners include observing and anticipating the needs of others and helping out when needed. Families from the Chinatown community have had a warm welcome and assistance from many of the program hosts, visitor services and teaching staff.

The facilitator might take time to reflect on the following: - What behavior do I equate with respect and disrespect? - How are these determined by my culture? - How do I respond to unexpected behavior? How do I determine if it is a cultural difference or disrespect?

Aesthetic Appeal vs. Process Driven Art WorksParents from the Chinese immigrant community come to CMA expecting it to be a place where they can get help and learn.

They offer high levels of supervision, sometimes to the point of taking over a child’s project and completing it rather than giving the child autonomy. Often when the parents do give their child autonomy, they explain that this is because they themselves are inadequate.

Parents from the Chinatown immigrant community are often product and image oriented. The final product must look nice. Learning is equated with a display of knowledge and aptitude rather than a process of exploration.

The facilitator might take time to reflect on the following: - What aspects contribute to making an art project look “nice”? - Would the client agree? - How might offering some basic design tips for aesthetic appeal be a positive intervention?

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SECTION 7: CREATING A SAFE SPACE

While participating in the program, families are encouraged to develop a relationship with the museum staff and museum space. Upon completion of ARTogether, families receive a family membership to the museum as encouragement to continue to independently visit the CMA together for quality family time.

Supportive Environment

CMA is a supportive environment dedicated to providing access to the arts to all children and their communities. The staff and Teaching Artists are committed to the museum’s mission and make CMA the safe community space that it is. Facilitators encourage ARTogether families to interact, learn from, and form relationships with the CMA staff. When families return to the museum with their family membership card they will be greeted by visitor services and move independently through the space. The facilitator helps families connect to Teaching Artists by initiating introductions and limiting facilitator support, when appropriate, while families are in an artist’s workshop. Staff and Teaching Artists form relationships with the families too. Sometimes this can lead to staff and artists wanting to know more about what led the family to participate in ARTogether. While each family has the right to share their story, ARTogether facilitators do not. Facilitators are only allowed to share information about a family’s history and progress in the program to individuals for whom guardians have given written consent. Similarly, sharing photographs that reveal the family identity and exposes private emotions expressed in the artwork can jeopardize the safety of the program. Information that facilitators should share with teaching artists include a family member’s special need and/or if there is a specific intervention in place that helps a family member work successfully. Sharing this information will allow the teaching artist to work more independently with the family towards a successful experience.

Families connect to the museum space through positive experiences during visits, developing the comfort necessary to engage with one another independently, and socializing with other museum visitors. This connection can also parallel the relationship a person may have with the therapy room. In the case of the cultural institution, which is a public space, a person can visit whenever they choose to receive the space’s therapeutic benefits.

Supportive Environment • Boundaries

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Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries are very important elements in the process of supporting the families we work with and for the facilitator’s own self-care. Healthy boundaries protect the effectiveness of the ARTogether program and ensure everyone’s safety.

For families healing from neglect and abuse, crossed boundaries and limits have previously resulted in painful experiences. By initiating and maintaining healthy boundaries, the facilitator is able to model safety for family members and communicate that the museum is a safe place.

• Physical Boundaries refers to the space or area around a person and is often referred to as “personal space.” A simple way a facilitator may set a physical boundary is by having family members ask before hugging the facilitator or having family members ask before touching another family member’s artwork.

• Mental Boundaries are aspects of inner life such as thoughts, beliefs, decisions, and choices. Pulling back and encouraging families to engage independently throughout the visit is one way a facilitator can maintain healthy mental boundaries and communicate trust in the parent’s ability to make choices and engage with his or her child.

• Emotional Boundaries are connected to a person’s self esteem and feelings. Practicing positive communication, praising strengths, and addressing the emotional impact name-calling can have are a few ways to maintain emotional safety.

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SECTION 8: CREATING SPACE FOR ART

Creating micro art space anywhere for private art-making time that is positive and mobile: While the social and community based benefits of the ARTogether depend on the museum, creating a space for a positive shared creative experience doesn’t have to.

• Find a quiet, private space. As this is not always possible, you can create privacy by using a space with limited distraction and by preparing families for distractions that may arise during their special art time together. This alleviates the stress of distractions and models the idea that the family can focus on their creative process while the facilitator will address outside distractions.

• Use a table where all family members can sit. If a table is not available, you can use a blanket on the floor and have an indoor art picnic! Always have with you a paper or plastic tablecloth or sheet that allows for a greater range of art materials to be used without the fear of mess.

• Caregivers should sit alongside their child and if there is more than one child, caregivers should sit in between children. This allows the parent to balance support and attention more easily to each child. If children are 12-24 months they may be best served sitting in a caregiver’s lap. A facilitator typically sits across from the family in order to observe the entire family and provide balanced support and praise as needed.

• Plan a multi-step project and have supplies divided into different phases of the project to be introduced slowly. Multi-step projects help increase focus, foster success as each step is completed, and allow family members to fully experience each material before moving on to a new material or process. Providing too many directions or materials at once can be overwhelming and frustrating, especially if art making is a new experience for the family. Similar to Project-Based Learning (PBL) techniques used in the education field, this multi-step process enables families to engage in an extended project to investigate and problem solve real world situations by making meaningful connections. Facilitators support opportunities for critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.

Creating Space • Materials

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Different art materials have different qualities. Being thoughtful around the materials you choose begins with thinking about participants age/developmental level and the quality of the art material or what a particular material may evoke.

Dry materials like color pencils and crayons are easy to work with in a structured way and typically evoke a level of control. Dry materials can be a way to encourage focus and collaboration, for example having a parent trace their child’s hand or playing a game of “copy each other’s lines.”

Wet materials like clay and paint are more stimulating and evoke excitement and looser expressions. Wet materials allow for a tactile experience that allows for more fluid creative experiences. An example may be working with watercolors to explore color mixing or considering how clay can be manipulated, then seeing how many different shapes it can take.

LeastControlled

MostControlled

wet clay, water colors

oil pastels, thick markers, collage

color pencil, lead pencil

MaterialsQualities of Art Materials*

* Adapted from Landgarten, H. (1987). Family Art Psychotherapy: A Clinical Guide and Casebook. Levittown: Brunnel/Mazel.

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Below is a simple guide to materials that are typically used and what these materials may encourage in the art making process:

Drawing Materials: Materials that encourage more controlled exploration. Drawing provides a rich sensorimotor experience and can be used with any age. Drawing materials may include crayons, markers, color pencils and oil pastels.

Multi-Sensory Materials: Materials that encourage exploration through our senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing). Multi-sensory materials are great to use with any age, and are especially fitting for early learners who are developmentally learning through their senses. Multisensory materials can be used in combination with a wet material like glue to create a collage. Multi-sensory materials may include pom poms, cotton balls, felt, fabric, tissue paper, sand, bubble wrap and dry spices.

Paint: Paint is a fluid material that can be used to make both concrete and abstract expressions. Mixing paint is often a pleasurable experience and considering different tools to use for spreading paint like using toy cars, forks, or marbles exercises creative thinking.

Clay: Clay is a tactile and forgiving material. It is a great material for channeling excess energy and creative problem solving since it can take so many forms. Traditional clay may be a difficult material for participants who do not like mess or the feel of wet materials. These participants may enjoy polymer-based clay like Crayola Model Magic. For Early learners homemade play dough may be a first step to working with clay.

Non-Traditional Materials: Materials that encourage participants to think creatively about what can be used to make artwork. By using materials that can be found around the house, participants can begin to see more opportunity for creative expression. Recyclable materials like water bottles, cereal boxes, and milk cartons can be used to make a 3-D sculpture of a building or a model rocket ship. Other non-traditional materials may include toy parts, forks, cups, packing peanuts, wrapping paper, plastic bags and newspaper.

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SECTION 9: STAFF PICKSArt Directives from our Facilitators

Deborah Fung, ATR, ARTogether FacilitatorFollow the Leader Line

Materials: Paper, drawing materials like colored pencils, markers, crayons, or pastels.

Intention: A fun and easy way to warm-up and encourage family members to validate each other. This activity supports the family to grow in awareness of how they influence others, as well as encourage abstract thinking.

How To1. Each person chooses a drawing material. 2. Family members take turns being the leader and whatever line the leader makes the others must imitate and follow.3. After a sufficient amount of time playing at drawing lines, the facilitator can ask the family if they see an image in the lines and if they would like to add lines and shading to develop this image. 4. The leader and follower can take turns each developing their own images amongst the lines or work together on the same image. 5. When finished, the facilitator can lead a discussion on the fun moments, the uncertain moments and the frustrating moments in the art-making process.

Melissa Diaz, LCAT, ATR-BC, ARTogether FacilitatorFamily Scribble

Materials: Large piece of white or brown butcher paper, tape, drawing materials like colored pencils, markers, crayons, or pastels. Intention: Family Scribble drawing is a simple method to create a large abstract collaborative drawing. Perfect for a warm-up as scribbling is a less vulnerable drawing approach for those who are new to art. Using a large paper allows for all of the family to participate, collaboratively or independently. How To1. Tape butcher paper on wall or table.2. Each person chooses a drawing material.3. Facilitator invites group to scribble together, demonstrating different scribble types, if needed. Family members can try variety of colors, marks, various speeds, directions and shapes.4. When scribbling is finished take some time to observe drawing from all angles. Much like seeing shapes in the clouds, everyone is invited to discover shapes, patterns and images.5. Color in or trace over found images. 6. When artwork is finished, the family can choose a name for the piece and the facilitator can support family members in a reflection of the process.

WARM-UP ACTIVITIES

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Yuen-Shan Ho, FacilitatorFamily Tree

Materials: Different colors of masking tape, empty plastic bottles (different sizes and shapes preferred), tempera paint, plates, paper

Intention: Promote family engagement and togetherness while making a pretty painting with recycled materials.

How To1. Place a piece of paper on a flat surface. 2. Facilitator helps family to use masking tape to create a tree trunk and branches.3. Paint is poured onto plates. 4. Each person picks a plastic bottle and dips the bottle’s bottom into paint. 5. Family members take turns stamping bottles onto the tree form to create repeated patterns along the tree branches.6. When family members agree the painting is finished the facilitator can help the family observe the finished artwork and reflect on the process of working together.

Jennifer Oleniczak, founder of the Engaging EducatorYes, and…

Materials: Card board or mat board cut into frame shape with ‘I see ____’ written at the top and ‘Yes, you see ____, and I see _______’ written on the bottom

Intention: An exercise in listening, turn-taking, focus, and talking about artwork.

How To1. One person begins with the frame. 2. They look at the art and say ‘I see (whatever they see).’ They then pass the frame to another person. 3. The person receiving the frame says ‘Yes, you see (whatever the first person sees) and I see (new thing). 4. The frame keeps getting passed, but the repeat is only the person directly before. This can be changed to ‘I feel,’ ‘I think,’ ‘I wonder’.

A FAMILY PROJECT FOR ALL AGES

HOW TO TALK ABOUT ARTWORK

I SEE ________________

YOU SEE ________ AND I SEE ______

EXAMPLE FRAME

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APPENDIX I: FAQ

1. Where do your referrals come from? We generate referrals from a range of social service providers, including foster care agencies, preventive agencies, and legal service agencies.

2. Is there a limit on family size for your On-site program? We recommend a family size limit of 2 adults and 3 children on our referral form. This is based on the availability of private space and group goals.

3. Who is considered “family”? We accept the participation of both biological and non-biological family members. Who will be participating in the program is discussed in both the referral phase and initial intake meeting phase of the program. This ensures that everyone is on the same page about who will be present during visits and also to explore how having different family members present may affect the visit dynamic and family goals.

4. Who is eligible? We accept referrals from all 5 boroughs of New York City. To qualify for our program families must be involved in the child welfare system in one of the following ways: 1) the children are in foster care 2) the family is receiving preventive services 3) the family has recently reunified within 6 months 4) the children are in kinship foster care and working toward adoption.

5. Who is not eligible? While there are many families that would benefit from ARTogether, our funding is focused on working with families navigating the NYC child welfare system. Participating caregivers must be substance-free and willing to follow program and museum rules. Participating caregivers must be actively involved in support services around mental health needs, like therapy and medication management.

6. What if safety concerns arise during a visit? All facilitators are trained social service providers and mandated reporters. They are responsible for assessing for safety, developing a safety plan with a family as needed, reaching out to a supervisor to review concerns, and immediately communicating concerns with a referring worker. If necessary, a facilitator will make a call to a central registry and, when safety permits, a participating caregiver is included in the calling process.

7. What credentials do your facilitators have? All facilitators are trained in a social service profession including Art Therapy, Social Work, Counseling, and Clinical Psychology. All facilitators are New York State Mandated Reporters.

8. How do you perform your outreach? Outreach is achieved through investing in partnering relationships with service agencies and organizations that support families in the child welfare system.

Frequently Asked Questions

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9. What if families miss their appointments? The visit schedule is developed based on the participating caregiver and facilitator’s availability. Expectations for participation are set in the initial intake phase with the participating caregiver. Participating caregivers sign a non-binding contract agreeing to attend all scheduled visits and to give 24-hour advance notice for cancellations. If 2 visits are cancelled without advance notice a meeting is scheduled with the participating caregiver, facilitator, and referring worker to address challenges to participation.

10. Can families invite friends to visits? Families are encouraged to limit visit participants to people identified in the initial intake meeting in order to maintain consistency. Families are able to bring friends and additional family members to the museum once they complete the program and receive their museum membership.

11. What art materials do you use? We use a range of fine arts materials like plaster, clay, and paint combined with materials you can easily find around the house like toy cars, bubble wrap, tape, aluminum foil, and shoe boxes. We aim to use art-making as a way to tap into creativity and broadening what traditional art-making and art-making materials look like is one way to achieve that. The museum provides opportunities for families to make mixed media, sculpture and sound art as well. Materials that can be easily found around the house increase the chance that caregivers will replicate the supported play opportunity at home.

12. Do you provide carfare? Our program does not provide carfare. If a family needs assistance with carfare to participate in the program, facilitators will connect with referring workers to advocate on behalf of the family.

13. How do you maintain the family’s privacy in a public space? Facilitators do not wear name tags or museum uniforms in order to maintain anonymity. Participating caregivers sign release of information consent forms that permit and restrict the number of people with whom facilitators can share progress or family information. The ARTogether Family Room is utilized to address more private conversations, needs, or challenges that may arise during a visit.

14. Do you report to court? Yes, facilitators can report progress toward program goals and quality of visits to court, most typically in letterform. It is not the practice of ARTogether to testify in court.

15. Do you work with families that are non-English speakers? Yes, we have facilitators that are bilingual and bicultural. If we do not have a facilitator who is fluent in the referred family’s primary language, we either partner with a caseworker who is fluent or advocate for interpreting services to be provided by the agency, depending on the nature of the case.

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APPENDIX II: RESOURCES

Online Resources

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit www.nctsn.org• Providence Children Museum Families Together Program Partnering with the Child Welfare System Tool Kit www.childrenmuseum.org • Rise: Stories by and for parents affected by the child welfare system www.risemagazine.org• Children’s Service Practice Notes Newsletter: Vol. 19, No.3: Attachment and Child Welfare Practice www.practicenotes.org • The Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond www.pisab.org• Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) www.vtshome.org

Books

• Lois H. Silverman, The Social Work of Museums• David Carr, A Place Not a Place: Reflection and Possibility in Museums and Libraries• Lucille Proulx, Strengthening Emotional Ties through Parent-Child-Dyad Art Therapy• Lisa V. Blitz, Racism and Racial Identity: Reflections on Urban Practice in Mental Health and Social Service

Articles

• Visit Coaching: Supporting Families to Meet Their Children’s Needs by Marty Beyer Ph.D www.martybeyer.com• Alicia F. Lieberman, Elena Padron, Patricia Van Horn, and William W. Harris Angels in the nursery: The intergenerational transmission of benevolent parental influences www.mi-aimh.org

Online • Books • Articles

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APPENDIX III: ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Michelle LópezMichelle joined Children’s Museum of the Arts as the Director of Community Programs in July 2014. She earned her Masters degree in Creative Arts Therapy from Hofstra University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts from Fordham University. Since 2006, Michelle has been committed to making cultural institutions more accessible for all audiences. As a program designer, she has been recognized for developing groundbreaking initiatives that strive for inclusion and reflect the diversity of families in New York City. Her strengths lie in creative programming for people with special needs and developing multilingual cultural programming. Prior to joining CMA, Michelle served for eight years as the Manager of ArtAccess Programs and Autism Initiatives at Queens Museum in New York.

Sarah PoustySarah received her Master’s degree in Art Therapy from New York University with a thesis focusing on the potential of providing art therapy informed programming in museum settings. She is a Registered, Board Certified Art Therapist and New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. Sarah has worked in museums throughout New York City since 2003 and is very proud to be supervising and facilitating CMA’s ARTogether Program. Along with her work at the museum, Sarah works as an art therapist providing services for children and families who are healing from trauma.

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APPENDIX IV: ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING FACILITATORS

Melissa Diaz is a Registered and New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist with an MPS from Pratt Institute. She has worked with families affected by trauma, adults with mental illness, at risk youth and children with special needs. Melissa utilizes a holistic approach and has experience facilitating group, individual, open studio, and recreational therapy sessions. Additionally, Melissa values the art exhibition experience as a supplemental component to the art therapy process.

Deborah Fung is a Registered Art Therapist with an MA in Art Therapy from George Washington University. She has served as an art therapist in numerous hospitals and community centers both on the east coast and in Canada. Deborah is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. Additionally, Deborah is passionate about working with families and helping them reach their best potential in communicating, understanding and caring for each other. Jen Oleniczak has degrees in Theatre, Dance and Art History, and is currently pursuing a MA in Autism Education at St. Joseph’s University. As the founder and artistic director of The Engaging Educator, Jen develops improvisational programming for students with special needs and works within the connection of visual arts and improvisational comedy. Jen has been an educator in CMA’s Inclusive Programs.

Yuen-Shan has a certificate in Creative Arts and Health from the New School. She has worked as a special needs family coordinator for 7 years facilitating recreational programs for both Cantonese and Mandarin speaking Chinese new immigrant families and their children. Recently Yuen was named the Executive Director of Center for Abilities, an agency that seeks to serve individuals with special needs and their families through creative, educational and spiritual enrichment in a faith-guided environment.

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APPENDIX V: PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

Children’s Museum of the Arts

The mission of the Children’s Museum of the Arts is to introduce children and their families to the transformative power of the arts by providing opportunities to make art side-by-side with working artists.

CMA believes that:• Making and looking at art are vital and should be available to all children and their families• The arts have a role in building family bonds and stronger communities • Non-judgmental, hands-on art workshops led by professional artists harness critical thinking by teaching new skills, while enabling self-expression• Arts education should be accessible to all children, as it has been proven to improve creativity, motivation, communication, and leadership skills

CMA’s Community Programs provide artistic opportunities for children and caregivers regardless of means or ability and includes programs for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum, children with disabilities, and children in transitional housing and Title 1 schools. CMA founded the ARTogether program in 2010.

Learn more at cmany.org!

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Hedge Funds Care

Hedge Funds Care, also known as Help For Children (HFC), is an international charity, supported largely by the hedge fund industry, whose sole mission is preventing and treating child abuse.

This mission is accomplished by raising money and granting it to child welfare organizations throughout the United States, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and the United Kingdom. Help For Children is the only grant-making public charity that focuses exclusively on funding this cause. ARTogether is made possible by the generous support of HFC.

Partners

CMA’s ARTogether program partners with service agencies helping families navigate the child welfare system. Our program has grown because of the tremendous dedication of agencies such as Brooklyn Defender Services, Chinatown YMCA Family Support Program, New Alternatives for Children, Children’s Aid Society, Bronx Defender Services and Brooklyn Family Defense Practice,

CMA’s ARTogether partners with other cultural institutions to bring the program into spaces that are embedded within the community of the families we serve. One such partner is the New York Public Library.

Special Thanks

• All the families we have had the honor to work with and learn from!• Rachel Rappoport, Former CMA Director of Community Programs who had the incredible vision for creating the ARTogether Program.• CMA Directors past and present who fully supported the goals of ARTogether: Barbara Hunt McLanahan, Keats Myer, and David Kaplan • The Board of Hedge Funds Care who support ARTogether: Ovita Williams, and Christine Kang who serve as a resource and encourage the growth of the program.• Providence Children Museum’s Families Together program for providing a strong reference in which to build our own model and for being trailblazers.• All of the ARTogether Facilitators since the start of our program in 2010, who have poured their heart into the work and have contributed hours of research: Devin Bokaer, Kelsey Kolins, Yashua Klos, Lei Lei, Samantha Silverberg, Amanda Talbot, Jennifer Williams.• All of the CMA Staff and Teaching Artists for creating a welcoming and safe space that inspire families to make art together.• Mentors along the way: Sheilah Mabry and the Genesis Team, Bettina Buschel, and Donnielle Rome.• Editor, Minna Ninova, Graphic Designer, Mira Moore and Director of External Affairs, Anna DuBose.• This program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hedge Funds Care / Help For Children, with additional support from the Robert Lehman Foundation.

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APPENDIX VI: FEATURED ART FROM THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS PERMANENT COLLECTION OF CHILDREN’S ARTWORK

COVER: Untitled, Apple Algaram, Age 12, Phillipines

PAGE 2: Untitled, Effie Spanellis, Age 10, India/Australia

PAGE 3: The Kitten and the Cat, Regina Udo, Age 7, India

PAGE 4: Camping at Night, Amy Liu, USA

PAGE 6: City Fun, Luis Nunez, Age 12, USA

PAGE 9: Quien Compra, Erik Soel Garcia Colop, Age 7, Guatemala

PAGE 11: Worship, Ray Liu, USA

PAGE 12: Life, Kirin Gill, Age 7, India/British

PAGE 14: Verlassene Insel, Jennifer Beyeler, Age 10, Switzerland

PAGE 15: Fantasy, Rattiya “Ploy” Supsophon, Age 8, Thailand

PAGE 16: Drawing Class, Yi Fan Hwang, USA

PAGE 17: Drawing at Beach, Helen Wei, Age 10, USA/Taiwanese