We are thrilled to share that we have teamed up with the Peabody Cultural Collaborative (PCC) to bring a new arts-based learning program to our elementary schools in Peabody! Young Adults of Massachusetts (YAMA) provides educational programs that educate, inspire, and empower youth through the arts. These programs are conducted virtually to give students a field-trip like experience while they are working remote. Keep scrolling below to read how our foundations teamed up to bring YAMA to our schools!
Last year, the PCC received about $15,000 in funding from the J.B. Thomas Foundation and the Essex County Community Foundation to support the new children’s pop-up museum in Peabody, CuriousCity. However, once the pandemic hit, it was clear that CuriousCity would not be able to operate as intended given the size of the space and with social distancing guidelines put in place. Looking to repurpose the funding, the PCC contacted our foundation for advice on where to direct the funding within our schools.
Once the PCC reached out to us, we coordinated a meeting between our foundations and school administrators who had worked with the YAMA program in the past. Given the great past experiences the administrators had with YAMA, we got the green light to repurpose the funding intended for CuriousCity and to bring YAMA into our elementary schools! The first YAMA program debuted at the end of January 2021 where our kindergarten classrooms explored, Songs and Stories for Science Learning – Frogs and Butterflies. The program will continue through February and March with storytelling and dance themed programs for our fourth and fifth graders.
We are thrilled that our foundations were able to team up to help our Peabody students and teachers during these difficult times. The YAMA program was only made possible by all of our foundations coming together! We wanted to thank The Peabody Cultural Collaborative, J.B. Thomas Foundation and the Essex County Community Foundation for providing the funding and spearheading the efforts to bring additional arts-based programming to our schools!
In the Media:
Peabody Cultural Collaborative Helps Schools Stay Creative – Patch.com
Children’s Museum Loss is Peabody Schools Gain – ItemLive.com