PolyArts
Partnerships & Outreach
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Engaging with professional artists
New York City. It’s one of the arts capitals of the world, and Poly Prep makes the most of it.
Our partnerships with artists and institutions infuse our programs with creative energy and inspire our students, teachers, and the entire Poly community. Engaging with professional artists, composers, dancers, filmmakers, art scholars, musicians, and storytellers of all kinds are an integral part of the student life at our school.
We give our students opportunities to experience the creative process in action through artist visits, performances, hands-on learning, collaborations, and so much more.
Movement as Art
Our partnerships with organizations like STREB Extreme Action, CORA Dance, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and 10 Hairy Legs—an all-male dance company—have been a huge part of getting our students to expand their view of what dance and movement can be.
Through our work with professional dancers, students gain confidence in their physical abilities, which helps give them an edge in sports, dance, theater, and much more… while enjoying every minute of these unique experiences. This melding of dance and athleticism allows them to connect with each other and forges a lasting appreciation for the performing arts.
From performances to class workshops to off-campus experiences, Poly students are exploring movement, as well as issues like offstage bullying and gender stereotyping, all done through our unique and creative partnerships.
Curating with Brooklyn Museum
Until their unique partnership with Poly, Brooklyn Museum had never conducted a curatorial course. Together, we created a schoolwide initiative to teach not just art itself, but the challenges (and joys) of curating an exhibit. Combining the lens of diversity, equality, and inclusion with the curriculum, students contemplated the American collection to consider what wasn’t represented that should have been. They created their own work in response, fusing art history and criticism with art making itself.
Programs are tailored to the age of our students—every year, the Lower School builds a unit of study around the museum. Projects like the Brooklyn Museum challenge not only inspire students to recreate and reimagine great works themselves, but also to think differently about them, to see them in a different way because of their experience learning about museum studies and curation.
Artist-in-Residence
Poly’s artist-in-residence program is a unique experience for our students where they can collaborate and engage with a local contemporary artist on a long-term project. Talks, installations, and performances complement our arts and academic curriculum.
Our first artist-in-residence, alumna Jill Sigman ’85 created an installation called “The Living Room” out of recycled materials with help from our students. It quickly became a space for classes, speaker events, and community gatherings to explore topics like sustainability, immigration, and Poly’s history. Our next artist-in-residence, Sarah E. Brook, a Brooklyn sculptor, surveyed students and staff to ascertain which were the most meaningful spaces and structures to our Poly community. She returned in 2020 to resume her work of creating an installation on Poly’s Dyker Heights grounds, which mirrors shapes seen on campus architecture, using natural light to reimagine those structures.
“My goal is to bring world-class artists to a school with a world-class arts program. It’s fulfilling to help students try new art forms, but moreover, give them the opportunity to see art through the eyes of its creator. It opens up a whole new perspective.”- Robert Aberlin ‘62, P’00, ‘03
Director of Arts Outreach
More PartnershipHighlights
It’s a testament to Poly’s environment of creativity and education that so many of our successful alumni are eager to come back to the school and work with our students. In this photo, composer Cameron Bossert ’02, whose work has been performed by the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, returned to campus to collaborate with our Concert Choir and visit with former teachers.
Our Winter Concert ’20 featured the premiere performance of “Tomorrow Lives” a new composition by Cameron that was commissioned by Poly Arts for Advanced Concert Choir.
Movie screenings and discussions with writers, actors, filmmakers are part of the Poly experience. In this photo, producer Robert Cort ’64 returned to campus in 2019 to meet with our community about his film On the Basis of Sex, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He brought with him former New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood P’04 (a Poly parent) to discuss everything from movie making to the history of women working in law.
Since the program began in 2019, virtual film screenings have taken place, each followed by lively and informative conversations among a panel of alumni who are actors, producers, directors, writers, and Poly students.
As in many communities, the theater serves to bring Poly family and friends together to share in the joy of storytelling and creative expression. As part of our partnership programs, Poly invites playwrights to create original plays with our students, who then get to perform them. We’ve presented staged readings, sometimes including professional actors from among Poly’s alumni and families, as well as students and teachers, followed by enlightening and informative Q&A sessions. Master classes in playwriting are also part of our vision for teaching drama, whether in-person or virtual.
In the photo, playwright Eric Ulloa collaborated with Poly on a production of his play 26 Pebbles, which is based on interviews with members of the Newtown, CT community affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
Nurturing a love and appreciation of art begins early and we seek out unique artistic experiences for our youngest students that do just that.
We are pleased to introduce first graders to working directly with The Toy Museum. In 2020, the children wrote a play using puppets they’d created in art class, then got to see their work performed by actors and puppets. They’ve created stories around the Three Bears, and an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood called The Really Terrifying Pickle. Eeek!
Art and science may seem like separate entities, but our guest editor connected students to the idea that they can be merged. Elizabeth Meryman (pictured) talked with students about the use of fine art to illustrate science, engaging in vibrant discussions with them as they selected their own examples. More opportunities such as this are in the works!
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