University Settlement - Campos Plaza, Creative Muse

Three individuals are engaged in a guitar practice session. Two children, a boy and a girl, are holding electric guitars, focused on their playing. The boy is seated in a black chair, while the girl sits on the floor. An adult, possibly an instructor, sits opposite the children, also with a guitar, wearing glasses and a blue t-shirt. The room is equipped with air conditioning, and its walls are painted lavender. There's a distinctive green plastic chair in the background, adding a pop of color to the scene.

Group Leader Gregg Flecha in CRNY Artist Joel Knopf's guitar class

Photo courtesy of Joel Knopf

A group of young children seated around a table in a classroom setting are engaged in a creative art activity. Each child is focused on painting or coloring materials placed on the table before them. Brightly colored paint bottles and various art tools, such as brushes, are scattered across the table. The children are wearing casual, comfortable clothing and appear to be enjoying themselves as they concentrate on their tasks. Natural light illuminates the room, and educational posters can be seen in the background.

Lion King mask making

Photo courtesy of Joel Knopf

Several sheets of paper are laid out on a wooden table, each containing colorful drawings and handwritten messages. The papers include various artistic expressions such as a drawing of a chicken, stick figures, and lots of scribbles in different colors. Notes are written in red, blue, orange, and black ink, conveying encouragement and praise. Names such as Levi, Zora, and Jonathan appear alongside motivational phrases like 'Great job,' 'You did great,' and 'Keep it up.' The notes reflect a supportive and positive environment.

Signed playbills

Photo courtesy of Joel Knopf

A whiteboard with handwritten scores and categories is displayed. The categories labeled at the top are 'Run', 'Energy', 'Togetherness', 'Fun', and 'Total'. Numerical values are listed under each category for two rows. The first row contains the numbers 0, 6, 0, and 0, with a calculated total of 0. The second row includes the numbers 5, 3, 8, and 9, totaling 23. Below the table, there are additional sums: 7 for Energy, 8 for Togetherness, and 10 for Fun, with a final large number 2.5 inside a circle on the right side. A small heart drawing is present at the bottom left of the board.

Kids rated themselves on a performance

Photo courtesy of Joel Knopf

The Collaboration

Olga Elliot, Richard Guerzon, Joel Knopf, Libby Lee, Jamie Parganos, and Pedro Ramirez worked with the University Settlement Campos Community Center to offer a variety of engaging, arts-based afterschool programs to youth. Their semester-length classes included claymation, rock band, puppeteering, step dance, and more. In collaboration with teaching artists and group leaders, youth played electric guitar, handled DSLR cameras, wrote songs, and directed films. Together, they created a children’s story book, a claymation movie, a music video with an original song, and a shadow puppet play, which were all showcased to the family and friends of the community in four culminating events. Students also painted a colorful mural celebrating their community on a wall in the gym.

The Organization

University Settlement’s Cornerstone at Campos Plaza is a community hub that operates more like a “living room” for its neighbors—that’s what they strive to make the Cornerstone at Campos Plaza. They offer programs that enrich the individual and the community, held in their gym, theater, digital lab, music room, art studio, and library.

Creative Muse provided comprehensive programming and mentorship to youth and adults with an emphasis on creativity and mindfulness as 21st century skills needed for holistic success and innovation.

Being able to watch kids grow over time has been really meaningful. Kids have shown us great trust in being willing to share their daily struggles and try new things. Joel Knopf

Once a child was crying on the side of the gym. When I asked him what was wrong, he said it was because he didn't know how to throw a football. So we taught him!

Artists

Location

New York, NY

Communities Served

Immigrant

Seniors

Youth