Silk Road Connect in New York City
After piloting our Silk Road Connect arts-integration approach in New York City schools for two years, we are pleased to announce our first two partner schools: JHS 185–Edward Bleeker Junior High School in Queens (whose students are pictured above) and MS 61–Dr. Gladstone H. Atwell Middle School in Brooklyn. Between the two schools, more than 20 teachers and administrators and 300 students—10 classes of sixth-graders—are taking part in Silk Road Connect during the 2011-2012 school year.
To kick off the new school year, tabla player Sandeep Das visited JHS 185 from New Delhi on October 5. Students and educators at both schools will learn to dye with indigo later in October. Textile artist Linda LaBelle will lead classes through this immediately accessibly but infinitely variable process, using traditional methods developed along the Silk Road. (Watch our “Indigo Goes to School” video to learn more about the dyeing process and the study of indigo as a means to connect various subjects.)
Collaboration with teachers and school administrators is central to the Silk Road Connect approach. To keep lines of communication open and provide support to educators, the Silk Road Project employs Fellows who work directly in participating schools.
Madderlane 