Rush Philanthropic aims to present the highest quality of arts education for New York City’s children, with a particular focus on underserved, under-recognized or disadvantaged populations.
Rush feels that the process of making art is an invaluable tool and that art making itself can be used as a vehicle to build bridges between communities. Rush offers a creative learning environment in which students can interact with artists, explore contemporary arts, and see the world through a variety of perspectives. Art provides a unique way for young people to learn, connect and communicate. While its primary emphasis is also on the arts, Rush Philanthropic is committed to the general well being of young people by considering a wide range of concerns.
Rush Kids & Teens
A year-round intensive visual arts program that bring children from across New York City into our gallery spaces, Rush Kids and Teens are a small group of students participating in Rush Gallery in the School programs. Students are selected based on individual achievement as well as their potential to grow with a deeper level of instruction.
Rush Gallery in the School
Through Rush Gallery in the School program the entire student body of our partnering school has the opportunity to learn about contemporary art, interact with working artists and create work in a variety of media. Running all aspects of their own Gallery, students will learn about museum practices including how to measure and plan the use of the exhibition space; design and write an exhibition brochure; promote the exhibition within the school community; install works of art and act as museum docents, introducing their work to parents, teachers, fellow students, and friends. The Rush Gallery in the School program serves as a “contemporary art laboratory” and is a true oasis for creative learning within the school.
D-STRESS
Developed to fill a great need for quality programming for incarcerated youth, D-Stress is a visual arts-based program which incorporates literacy, yoga and meditation. The program was piloted in 2006 at Friends of Island Academy, an education center that reaches out to youth prior to their release from Rikers Island. Sessions currently take place at the Passages Academy of Crossroads Juvenile Detention Center located in East New York, Brooklyn.
Classes are team taught by two Rush teaching artists; a lead teacher who is present for all sessions, co-teaching and facilitating classes with a presenting teaching artist. Presenting teaching artists conceive of lessons based on aspects of their own studio practice. For example, they might teach a specific painting or photography technique or develop lesson plans based on their own political, social or cultural interests.
