Teaching Artists sing and ASL interpret songs from past Art of Me performances. Photo by Jason Bucklin.

The Art of Working

“The Art of Working” focuses on cultivating soft skills vital to obtaining and maintaining employment while exploring the fundamentals of visual art, theater, poetry, music, and dance. We adapt this program to be relevant for teens and adults with disabilities of all ages who have work as a goal, most often in partnership with schools, Adult Day Programs, and community organizations. In the most in-depth version of this program (“The Art of Working – Intensive”), we film participants doing scenario work, then play the video back, allowing them to observe their own presentation as well as practice giving feedback to their peers.

To learn more about bringing Upstream Arts to your setting, please select one of the following:

School Programs (pre-K-12 classrooms and Transition Programs)
Adult Programs (Adult Day Programs or disability service providers serving individuals from age 21-75+)
Community Programs (arts organizations, community organizations, friendship clubs, Parks and Recreation)
Training Programs (any kind of professional development setting)

Upstream Arts Participant and Teaching Artist at Opportunity Partners (photo: David Luke)

Upstream Arts Participants and Teaching Artists at Opportunity Partners (photo: David Luke)

“Upstream Arts programs provide a learning environment where individuals can get to know their peers, themselves and open up and try new things, all the while learning appropriate workplace behavior. This increases their ability to be comfortable in community settings and ready to be a part of a workplace.”

Staff Member, Opportunity Partners

“Ricky struggles with communicating his feelings in a healthy way, as well as identifying them correctly. Upstream Arts helped give him tools to do so, which will help in his being able to hold on to a job in the community.”

Participant Evaluation

Curious about bringing Upstream Arts to your school or organization?

Contact us at [email protected] to set up a 1 hour FREEBIE!

This session – absolutely free of charge – can offer insight into how we work to support individuals with a range of cognitive, developmental, emotional, behavioral, and physical disabilities.