Students at Growing Up Green Charter School in Long Island City are learning how to “go green” through an innovative environmental arts and education program presented by Materials for the Arts (MFTA), a program of the Departments of Cultural Affairs, Education and Sanitation, and funded by the environmental services company Waste Management of New York.
The program brings MFTA teaching artist Joy Suarez and her musical partner Louie Miranda to this Queens school for a series of engaging, hands-on workshops. Each hour-long workshop teaches students how they can make art by reusing the materials they might normally throw away. Students, teachers, and parents make puppets, mosaics, musical instruments and more from “treasure boxes” full of reusable materials gathered by students. The staff at each school is included in the planning of each activity in order to make sure it links to their students’ regular curriculum.
“As the environmental services company that thinks green, Waste Management is proud to support environmental education in our communities,” said Rachel Amar, community relations manager for Waste Management of New York. “We are delighted to help expand this innovative program in our neighborhood schools.”
