(Arlene) Exposing children to the arts offers their young minds more than just an appreciation to the creative world.

Studies show that kids engaged in the arts have fewer problems with their peers, teachers, and adults, and are less likely to develop depression.

Joining me now to share more is Shabrae Jackson, professional development specialist with Prime Time Palm Beach County.

Shabrae is also an expressive arts educator and practitioner with Collective Tapestry and Sonja Kelly, founder and artistic director of Divinity Dance.

Thank you both so much for being here today.

Shabrae let's start with you.

What is prime time PBC and its mission?

Yeah, well, prime time Palm Beach County has been working for 23 years with after school programs and summer programs.

Specifically in looking at how can we work towards quality programming for youth.

And so we work across Palm Beach County working specifically to provide coaching, training, network events, even scholarships.

Anything that we can do in support of this important field.

(Arlene) And talk about your role with Prime time and, you know, how does it impact the providers you help?

(Shabrae) Yeah, well, I'm currently working with the professional development team, and our team specifically provides training.

So whether that's online or we also go into program sites as well and do site-based trainings and regional trainings.

And we do a lot of trainings across themes that are important for youth, youth, well-being and specifically skills that practitioners need within the program space.

(Arlene) Well, one of those providers here that gets help from prime time PBC is Divinity Dance, which I think is so cool.

Tell us how you work with prime time PBC and how you work with kids.

Wonderful.

Um, it's been a beautiful partnership since I've come on board with Prime Time in 2022.

Um, Divinity Dance was founded in 2005 as a literal leap of faith to serve our Palm Beach County community and provide equitable access to dance instruction.

And the partnership with Prime Time has allowed us to expand our reach to more schools and community organizations and faith-based organizations who have existing student populations.

And we bring dance enrichment and a whole lot of fun into those after school and summer spaces where typically there may not be arts programming, specifically dance as well, right?

(Arlene) And that can get also pricey.

And it's not always absolutely.

(Sonja) The beauty of the partnership is prime time through Children's Services Council provides the funding.

So we're able to offer this dance instruction at no cost to the schools and community organizations that we have the privilege to serve.

(Arlene) And that's such a beautiful thing.

And it's match made in heaven here with Shabrae.

Yes.

Tell us how you discovered divinity dance and how you connected and how you're able to help them as a provider.

Mhm.

Well, Prime Time has a process in which it works with its different providers, which is we really think about it as expanded learning opportunities.

And so apart from divinity dance we also work with Digital Vibes and Cox Science Center and Aquarium right.

So a number of different providers across the county and so there's a process.

We even have a whole team, community partnerships, that kind of works with our different providers in this way and bringing them in, connecting with them and then connecting them with the programs.

And so as, as Sonja mentioned, um, a lot of that, due to our support by the Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County, makes that possible in so many ways.

(Arlene) Right and not so much with support, you know, however you see it, you know, with getting them on.

But it's also continuing that support, you know, getting these great groups and then giving them that training and those tools.

So tell us specifically about that.

(Shabrae) Yeah.

So prime time we do provide different trainings for our different providers.

Some of that might be connected with how can you use your programs to cultivate empathy for example.

Or what does it look like to bring in the importance of rules and routines?

Right.

So there could be a number of themes that we work with them with, but also community partnership teams also brings in guest speakers as well, to help them to think about their own organization's growth and their own impact as well within the community.

So it's really also a partnership because we really see our providers as well as bringing in expert content, just like Sonya and Divinity dance like they are experts within that world of dance.

And so partnering with them, we can provide that for our practitioners and our programs.

(Arlene) That's so neat.

Yeah.

And how cute is it to see the kids out there doing their thing?

(Sonja) It is amazing because I see myself in them as well.

So it's a full 360 experience for me because that is where I learned to dance.

Not necessarily in a classically trained studio, but after school and community spaces is where my dance journey began.

So I look at it as I'm giving back and helping to form the next generation of movers in the space that started my professional journey.

(Arlene) Well, we.

Just love you Sonja, for that and what you do.

And thank you, you know, tell us about you both have experience with kids, younger children, students.

Who have been like all of us.

They have lived through Covid and all the limitations that Covid brings.

And they've suffered to some degree.

And we see it all the time.

Tell us how this impacts that.

(Sonja) Well, for sure, what Covid reminded us and showed us is that we were built for community.

Yes, we are not built and created to live in isolation, and the focus on just mental health and wellness really came to the forefront during Covid.

And so it's so important that we provide these type of programmings, specifically dance as an art form because it's socially based.

You know, you have the community in the classes, you have the opportunity to support each other, to encourage each other, to learn the choreography together.

And even though we're more connected digitally in this generation than any other generation, um, statistics and research show that we also have higher rates of depression and anxiety, and I believe that community is a cure for that.

(Arlene) And mental well-being is is so necessary to have these outlets, right?

Yes.

So tell me about the feedback you've received.

You know, both of you from people involved with divinity dance and prime time BBC.

(Shabrae) Well, I know one thing this came with in connection with Divinity dance of a practitioner who had shared that they had a student, um, who was dealing with a lot of frustration and I think strong emotions and really felt like they found a healthy outlet through Divinity dance.

Um, um, and I think that was so encouraging because I think, as Sonja was mentioning, there's such an importance, right, to have these types of spaces where youth can express, can can learn how to regulate through movement.

I love how you talked about this next generation of movers, because that's what that's what we need, right?

For our health and also for our world.

And so we love getting that type of feedback back from our practitioners because we're seeing how it really makes a difference.

(Arlene) Tell us a little bit more.

About your kids, Sonja.

You know what grades, what ages and what's their feedback.

And maybe just the change you see over some time with them.

Sure Um, most of the work that we do with prime time is school age children.

So it's typically grades K through eight, predominantly K through five.

And the students, I literally see them blossom over the course of our cohort.

So our classes are typically a 6 to 7 week cohort for one hour, where we come in and teach choreography, but also create a safe space for students to express themselves.

So in addition to the movement, we embed SEL social emotional learning concepts within the scope of the course.

And literally, as Shabrae said, we see students that maybe were a little more reserved.

Once we've created this atmosphere where it's safe to express yourself, they literally open up, contribute to the class, share their voice.

They have choices that they can make, and that's something with the professional development team that they've helped us with as well, creating student voice and choice within the dance class.

And it's just it's just beautiful to see.

And the parents, I'm sure, give you such great feedback too.

Because oftentimes within the school setting, all schools do not have a formal arts program, and very few schools throughout the county have a dance program, and some of the dance programs are more structured towards a professional route versus a recreational space for students to express themselves.

(Arlene) and dance specifically.

Tell me how that really hones in on the mental wellbeing.

What is it specifically about dance?

(Sonja) Well, there's my personal belief, as well as what science has shown us.

So personally, when you're in dance versus some other art forms, it's not done in isolation.

So you're building the peer to peer relationships, you're learning about spatial awareness and how to work together and collaborate.

And then there's the scientific research that supports the release of our feel-good hormones, serotonin.

And, you know, that literally is chemically happening in our bodies when we're moving and engaging with others.

(Arlene) Speaking of this type of expression and expressive arts, you can tell me more about that.

You're actually an expressive arts educator.

That might be confusing for some of us.

Yes.

Break that down.

(Shabrae) Sure.

Yeah.

So the expressive arts is a field within the creative therapies and specifically in the expressive arts work.

We work with all of the art modalities.

So whether it's visual arts or poetry or music or movement and dance, theater, drama, we work with all of the arts and we work with them in a intermodal or some might say multimodal way in which we might move from dance towards poetry.

So we're kind of moving between the different arts.

You don't have to be an artist to work within the expressive arts, because it's really about the expression and it's about, um, the process and not necessarily the end product.

And that's why it is a wonderful therapeutic framework as well.

(Arlene) And tell us about Collective Tapestry that you are an expressive arts educator for that group, which is different than prime time BBC.

Yeah.

Tell us more about that.

(Shabrae) Sure.

So Collective Tapestry is a nonprofit organization, and we work with groups and organizations, individuals, to provide training on trauma informed care, but through the arts.

And so we use the expressive arts as part of our framework, which works with all of the arts.

And we work with community leaders, artists groups, even organizations like Divinity dance in some sense, and connecting the neuroscience and the psychoeducation with why the arts are healing and helpful for mental health and wellbeing.

And so that's a lot of the work that we do.

And we always have different projects that we have going on nationally, and we also have partnerships internationally as well that are in movement.

(Arlene) And how do people participate and how can they find out more about Collective tapestry?

(Shabrae) Yeah, well, they can definitely check out our website, Collective Tapestry.Org.

And we will have some maybe upcoming workshops and opportunities coming up in the fall and in August after the summer months.

And so they can check those out specifically trainings.

If you're looking for toolkits and manuals that you can use in your spaces to work with youth and also adults, this might be a good spot to to check out.

(Arlene) This is a good for groups who provide mental wellbeing and those types of services to the public.

(Shabrae) Yes, exactly.

And we do offer workshops as well.

If somebody also wants to do some of their own inner work or exploration, they can also participate in that as well.

(Arlene) Thanks for everything both of you do.

Shabrae Sonja.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you so.

Much.