2020-2021
A YEAR IN REVIEW
Remember the time when… by Chelsea High School student Sydnye
One of my strongest memories from childhood is of the sign over my fifth grade teacher’s chalkboard: “It’s Not What You’ve Got That Counts: It’s What You Do With What You’ve Got.”
Over the past year, our nation and our world have been roiled by challenge and change, ranging from Covid19 to race relations to political upheaval. Our students had to learn a whole new method of remote learning, while navigating loneliness, fear, and the inevitable tests of growing up.
Yet, to paraphrase Maya Angelou, ‘still they rose.’ Our students created amazing media artwork this year. They worked on every sort of digital device imaginable, from bunk beds, kitchen tables and classrooms. They used whatever tools they had at their disposal to give voice to our collective resiliency, fear, courage, and questions. I am humbled and honored that we at Magic Box get to bear witness to their creativity during such a tumultuous time.
I invite you to look at our young artists’ images, and see the world through their eyes.
With love and pride,
"The Arts bring light to humanity and nourish the soul!! May they always thrive! Thank you to Magic Box for bringing Art to our children."
-Diane D, Magic Box Supporter
PS 55Q
THE MAURE MAGNET SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION ARTS, TECHNOLOGY AND MULTIMEDIA | 5TH GRADE- REMOTE MEDIA ARTS RESIDENCY
Alyssa, PS 55Q
Magic Box worked with the incredibly talented students at PS 55Q to create short animated gifs using Pixilart with Teaching Artist Danilo Randjic-Coleman.
Fazela, PS 55Q
“[Danilo was] One of THE BEST teaching artists with whom I've ever had the privilege of working.”
Hope Salas, Magnet Resource Specialist
Maure Magnet School @ PS55Q
LONG ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS | “ART IN INTERESTING TIMES”
Gabriel, Long Island High School of the Arts
“Being an arts focused high school, the students had a range of interests and skills. Some were very interested in fine art and drawing, while others were very experienced with film and video editing. The residency was broken up into three sections: photography, animation, and video. Their final projects were focused on a topic of their choice, and student work ranged from documentaries, animations, and collections of photographs. Some of the topics chosen were experiences with Covid-19, 9/11, the environment, and health care.”
-Magic Box Teaching Artist Haley Shibble
Gabriel, Long Island High School of the Arts
“Working together is better than working alone.”
-Magic Box Student
THAUMATROPE LESSON | REMOTE LEARNING AT HOME
In the early stages of the pandemic shutdown, while we were quickly trying to innovate solutions to move our residencies online, we focused on offering students simple hands-on activities that were low tech and that would lend themselves to easy video tutorials like this one from one of our teaching artists, Haley Shibble.
Teaching Artist Danilo Randjic-Coleman taught remote lessons including tutorials on Cloud Stop Motion and how to turn a toilet paper roll into a tripod.
CHELSEA HIGH SCHOOL | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM RESIDENCY
Kevin, Chelsea High School
“I liked how Danilo made his teachings really fun and was able to get all of us to participate even during this crisis.”
-Chelsea High School Student
“Almost all of the students had participated in a Magic Box photo residency that I taught the year prior; so they had some prior knowledge and experience in working with a camera....many of the photos they took were quite captivating and I believe their prior experience in photography shined through in the Artist series that they created; which were some of the finer series that we have seen in our years working with this school.”
- Danilo Randjic-Coleman
ART WALK WITH MAGIC BOX TEACHING ARTIST RICH GARR
LONG ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS | ART & ACTIVISM
Because the students were not able to take a field trip into the city due to Covid, Magic Box brought the field trip to them. A great example of our team adapting to meet students where they are this past year.
“I like that we were able to create a project with the topic and medium of our choice. I also like that we weren’t forced to choose hot button topics and could pick something that isn't incredibly controversial or prevalent in the media.”
-Long Island High School of the Arts Student
SCHOLARS ACADEMY | STOP MOTION
Classes taught remotely by Danilo and Haley, this ambitious residency presented the challenge of teaching a large number of students simultaneously: 180 6th graders (45 students per group).
“The students were also extremely supportive of each other, often commenting on other students' shared work in the Google Classroom and providing encouragement during the lesson. Students seemed very engaged, and eager to participate in the optional assignments, sometimes creating more than one project. Even a week after the residency has ended, a few of the students are still using the Google Classroom stream to share additional artwork that they have made.”
- Haley Shibble
“The most important thing that I learned in this class is that anybody can be an artist. Whether it be music, art, everybody is an artist in their own way.”
- Magic Box Student
NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL FILM FESTIVAL
For the third year, Magic Box has worked along side the Mayors Office of Media and Entertainment and the NYC Department of Education to produce the NYC Public School Film Festival. Featuring over 30 films from filmmakers from all five boroughs, the festival showcases the talent of New York City middle and high school students.
This year, Magic Box students from the Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice submitted their short film “The Future is Female” and it was accepted into the festival!
Head here to watch the full line up.
“The success of the NYC Public School Film Festival, produced by NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and the NYC Department of Education, would not have been possible without the expert partnership with Magic Box Productions. Magic Box brought high level film and media expertise synthesized with effective and practical pedagogy to support students and teachers in applying for the Film Festival. The Magic Box staff, Nelle Stokes and Danielle Barry-Gass, were dedicated to the high-quality production and provided support and feedback to students and families throughout the process.“
-Trenton Price, Office of Arts & Special Projects
MEDIA ARTS CONNECTED | MAGIC BOX AT HOME
Winter of 2021, Magic Box offered a unique experience for students with our very first online open enrollment classes. Teaching Artist Haley Shibble led kids ages 8-12 in the Magic of Green Screen. Kids learned about green screen and news reporting which culminated in an exciting news broadcast!
CREATIVE CONNECTIVITY WITH THEATRE JAX
Night Flower from the Focal Vibrancy series by Pranav
Summer 2020 Magic Box partnered with Theatre Jax to create Creative Connectivity for Kids; a unique online summer camp that explored storytelling through animation, sound, news production, and photography for kids ages 7-14.
Utilizing accessible and user-friendly virtual platforms, Creative Connectivity for Kids offered four unique one-week camp sessions, each targeting a specific behind-the-scenes or, as we called it, "between the lines" genre of technology/entertainment.
3 students from New York City received Theater Jacksonville’s scholarships to attend a week of Creative Connectivity for Kids.
This incredible partnership allowed for dynamic cross-country collaboration, with exposure to new ideas from guest teachers and artists. It also provided the opportunity to broaden student participation to those living outside of the Jacksonville area.
We are beyond proud to have partnered with the wonderful Theatre Jax for this program.
A Slide for the Insects from A Plant's Life series by Ava Ruth
“I really enjoyed the creativity of the camp. Sometimes I woke up at 6:45 am because I was so excited to start the new day wondering what would happen at camp. I had so much fun!”
-Creative Connectivity Student
HERE ON EARTH
Magic Box is proud to have been a part of Here on Earth: an international creative educational project. This pioneering collaboration brought together students from NYC, London, and Taiwan to create original films about our planet’s ocean waters.
Check out a few of the films created by NYC-based high school students below and head here to explore the Google map of filmmakers and see more films.
