Curated for the Community
Curated for Families in the Community
One of the ways the Fox Theatre serves Southern Arizona is by working hard to select high-quality touring artists to bring to Tucson that “fit” with our community. And we’re still at it, even as our programming has pivoted to a virtual mode, for now! So we’re selecting online arts opportunities for families that we think you’ll love.
Support for this project is provided by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, funded by the City of Tucson and Pima County, with additional support from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems
As we gear up for our Midsummer Literacy + Arts Extravaganza (Online!), let’s connect with beloved children’s book creator, Mo Willems (of Pigeon and Piggy fame). Once stay-at-home orders began, Mo put on a series of very sweet doodle-fests as part of his residency at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Take a few moments to doodle, learn about Mo’s approach to creativity, and explore the studio (and mind) of a wonderful writer and illustrator!
StoryCorps Connect
Our final story in the Fox Theatre for Families at Home series focused on the power of stories to offer connection, meaning, and guidance. StoryCorps has long made it their mission to catalyze that very power through facilitating profound story sharing between people.
In particular, they responded the COVID-19 pandemic by launching StoryCorps Connect, to help loved ones remotely collect life stories from each other and take part in the magic, empowerment, and inspiration that can flow from such meaningful exchanges. Experimenting with this platform is a potent way for the older kids in your home (or extended family, or class, or…) to take part in the deeply human art of storytelling. You can more fully support their exploration of this process by way of the StoryCorps Connect educational “toolkit”.
Mr. Nature’s Music Garden
This story of ours had us considering all the “treasures” hidden in our very homes. So with that in mind, what better online arts opportunity to highlight than one from a true hometown treasure of Tucson—Mr. Nature! He’s been facilitating Friday morning virtual playgroups that use song, dance, interactive music, instrument fun, storytelling, and art to build and strengthen foundations for positive social interaction.
Share this opportunity with the kids in your lives to offer them a beautiful, local way to activate kindness, compassion, and mindfulness via imagination, movement, and play.
Just Move
Did you enjoy doing some mirroring in our Storytelling+Theatrics experience this week? If so, you can take it to the next level with New York City’s New Victory Theatre.
They’ve designed a series of multimedia performing arts lessons for ages 2 and up that are brilliantly crafted to be engaging, effective, and easy to implement at home. Whether you’re a relative or an educator, share these with the kids in your life to get them learning…and moving!
Toilet Paper Roll Puppetry
A roll of toilet paper may have never seemed so valuable to you as it does now. Yet you’re probably just scratching the surface, for it turns out you can bring to life its very heart (the cardboard roll)! Enjoy this charming little video…
…along with a virtual “kit” of craft ideas and theatre activities to do at home with a toilet paper roll and some basic, household supplies. Hours of potential fun, creativity, and imagination made possible by Jerusalem’s Train Theater.
STEAM Lessons Around OK Go Music and Concept Art
Ever seen an OK Go music video? If not, do yourself a favor and check out this one…
Then check out some more and share them with the kids in your life. THEN, do some STEAM lessons based on it all! That’s right, OK Go has teamed up with educators to build a fantastic resource of ready-to-go, standards-based STEAM lessons around the astounding art and innovation of their music videos.
En Casa con Sonia
Join Latin Grammy nominee Sonia De Los Santos from home with En Casa con Sonia! Sing along to her beloved songs, learn about the stories that inspire her music, and get to know the work of some of her favorite artists.
Sonia has been hailed by Billboard as “one of the Latin Children’s music artists you should know” and “Best Latin Children’s Music.” This is a great opportunity for kids that speak Spanish, are learning Spanish, or are learning about Latin American culture!