Project Jericho has three main arms of programming:

Youth Programming

Project Jericho serves youth from diverse backgrounds who will benefit from positive, in-depth arts experiences. High quality professional artists lead projects throughout the year, including three six-week modules for youth every year, along with an intense week-long Summer Arts Camp and a variety of workshops and residencies. Multiple art forms are studied throughout the year - and even in the course of one project: we’ve learned harmonica, shadow art, dance, guitar, watercolor, mural-ing, living statue, mime, drawing, photography, poetry…the list goes on! Youth projects have included the Poetry Slam held in collaboration with the Springfield Museum of Art, the Improv Troupe, the Bucket Band, Jericho Jazz with the Gary Geis Dance Studio, Exodus Hip Hop Dance Troupe, and more. Youth ages 12-17 participate in these activities with the exception of Jericho Jazz and the Bucket Band, which serve youth ages 8-17.

Family Programming

Project Jericho works closely with our partner, the Clark County Department of Job and Family Services to provide programming for families that focuses on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families.” Over the course of a year, three in-depth Family Connections Modules and a week-long Winter Arts Camp for families build communication skills and self-esteem for family members - along with being tons of fun for everyone involved! Project Jericho also offers a number of “Connecting the Dots” one-day activities for families during the year, such as the ever-popular Gingerbread House Building workshops in December. Participants in a PJ Family Project have the great opportunity to work with a professional artist as a family, learning new things about each other and accomplishing beautiful artwork as a team. Performing Arts Center Complimentary tickets are another facet of Project Jericho family programing, providing tickets to clients of CCDJFS and other Project Jericho participants for shows on the Clark State Performing Arts Center Series of Events.

Inside the Walls, Outside the Box

Project Jericho’s new initiative at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, Inside the Walls, Outside the Box introduces incarcerated youth to the Arts programming that Project Jericho has brought to Clark County. The youth take part in individual workshops or short cycle modules that seek to challenge each young person to be reflective of their actions, be conscious of their personal potential and be fully aware of what they have accomplished within the program. A key component of the program connects clients with arts activities offered within the schools and community after they leave Detention. The program seeks to empower those young people identified as having artistic, creative, and leadership skills to explore and lay claim to those assets and find ways to translate them positively into the community after their release from the Detention Center.

Our goal is twofold. 1) Keep incarcerated youth actively engaged in programming to foster positive social interaction and cooperation, and 2) Connect them with activities and resources after their release to help alter their patterns of behavior thus reducing the rate of recidivism.

> Visual person? Check out the Project Jericho Overview Program Model

Projects

After School Arts Program (ASAP)

Project Jericho has teamed up with the Springfield City Schools to offer semester-long after school arts programming for middle school students. The program is currently present in all four Springfield City Middle Schools: Clark, Hayward, Schaefer, and Roosevelt. Project Jericho works with targeted youth who have been identified as young people who will greatly benefit from intense exposure to and involvement in the creative arts. Students are challenged by professional arts educators to design and bring to life a project based on a theme that will directly benefit their school or community. Following a semester of weekly sessions led by a professional Arts Educator in each school, students present their projects in a school-wide presentation for their peers and a final public presentation held at the Turner Studio Theater.

Bucket Band

Is an ongoing project that includes children ages 8-17. Participants, led by Bucket Band Director Ricky Kenerly, learn drum-line style rhythms which they perform on unexpected instruments: five-gallon buckets and rubber storage bins. The lesson here is not only that it takes discipline and responsibility to be a part of the regularly practicing and performing group, but also that beautiful, compelling music can be made out of everyday household objects. Bucket Band gives youth the chance to express themselves and show the community what they can do, through multiple performances including Culturefest, Family Funfest, Yellow Springs Street Fair, Holiday in the City, Wittenberg Homecoming, and more. If you like playing drums (beginner or not!) and just having a good time this is the project for you. Look for the Project Jericho Bucket Band performing near you!

Hip Hop Dance Troupe (Exodus)

Exodus is a professional youth dance troupe that practices on a weekly basis to perform in shows and competitions. They practice Hip Hop/Break, and other dance skills which combine the youth’s talent together and create a performance overflowing with creativity, and energy.

Residencies

We hold week -long residencies throughout the year which include dance, painting, poetry, music, and much more! Each residency ends with a public performance or presentation on what the youth have been working on throughout the prior week.

Workshops

Project Jericho also hosts a array of one- or two-day workshops on subjects such as poetry, music, painting, dance and much more! These one day workshops focus their time on youth interaction and teamwork skills often giving the kids the chance to meet professional and famous artists. As a Community Outreach and Education program of the Clark State Performing Arts Center, Project Jericho has been able to introduce youth to a number of artists who’ve graced the stage in the Kuss Auditorium, including B.B. King, Tony Danza, John Amos, Leo Kottke, the Wailin’ Jennys, Carrie Newcomer, the Clayton Miller Band and more.

Modules

Project Jericho offers three, six week modules per year for youth and families opening up doors to artistic minds. A module is a long-term project that requires responsibility and commitment from its participants: we meet once a week for a period of six weeks to complete a large-scale project. Examples of outcomes from PJ modules include the “See the Art in Me” Sculpture (located in front of Kuss Auditorium), the YouthVOICE Art Exhibit on display at Wittenberg University, and the Poetry Slam project, among others. These modules teach an array of skills and personal values, emphasizing teamwork and dedication. Each module ends with an performance/open house of the art piece created so that the community can see the work PJ participants have done.

Scholarships

Project Jericho supports youth who commit themselves to an art form. Generous donations have allowed us to enroll youth in the “Strings Attached” Guitar Mentor-ship program, where they take lessons at Springfield’s Guitar Attention Center with the promise of receiving a guitar upon completion. Project Jericho youth have taken classes at the Springfield Museum of Art, and saxophone lessons at Kincaid’s Is Music. We also offer poetry scholarships to workshops in the area for those who excel in their writing abilities, where youth have had the opportunity twice this fall to attend the Antioch Writer’s Worskshop.

Winter and Summer Arts Camp

Every year Project Jericho holds a Winter Arts Camp for Families and a Summer Arts Camp for Youth which includes five full-day workshops, with lunch included, and a spectacular performance at the end of the week. Many of the projects include costume design, set design, choreography, memorization of scripts, and much, much more.

Poetry Slams

This is one of our most loved Project Jericho projects, the poetry slam. Every few months Project Jericho’s youth come together for a set of workshops where they piece together slam poetry and creativity, to form an outright, in-your-face display of life and dreams that the youth present in a poetry slam performance at the end of the week.