Event Types: Education

Photo Submissions Grades 6-12

ASAP! is pleased to announce that submissions are open for CYP! Students in grades 6-12 are invited to submit two photographs based on this year’s theme: Curiosity. Join us for an in-person exhibit on Sunday, November 12th, 2023 where the top 60 selected photos will be recognized, and the top four honorees will be revealed. The top two photographers from middle and high school will receive the 2023 Dylan’s Wings Photography Award. This award is presented by Ian Hockley, Executive Director of Dylan’s Wings for Change, to the photographer whose piece most thoroughly embodies the criteria.

Due Date for submissions is Monday, October 2nd, 2023.

WAA is passionate about arts education. Whether you are an experienced artist or a novice, WAA offers a range of opportunities for creative exploration. We provide a nurturing place for people of all ages to develop their skills and explore new artistic directions with classes in painting, ceramics, sculpture, drawing, and more.

View current class offerings

In an immersive forest setting with no locks, keys or clocks, Wigwam Escape’s thematic puzzles challenge game players to hunt, find water and prepare food similar to how Native people did for thousands of years prior to European contact. The Institute for American Indian Studies, proudly presents a new way to interact with history, a themed escape room, Wigwam Escape.

Our museum’s mission is to “preserve and educate through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality and knowledge of Native American cultures”. We chose an escape room setting as an interactive and captivating way to educate the public about how pre-contact Native peoples lived within their environment over 500 years ago. This hand-on experience of history is demonstrated through a series of custom puzzles and hand crafted set, complete with a full sized traditionally sourced wigwam.

The full experience is 90 minutes in the museum’s Research Center. This includes a pre-game orientation, the one hour escape room centerpiece, and post-game popcorn snack and discussion when your team returns to the 21st Century. The game is set for 3 to 7 players and the cost is $25 per person, or $20 for our museum members or students.

More than just a game, Wigwam Escape is built to teach through experience and foster dialogue in a game that’s dynamic, challenging and entertaining. Visit Wigwam Escape for this must-do team building experience for friends, families and co-workers.

For more information or to book your escape room, go to: wigwamescape.org.

Discover two of western Connecticut’s most pristine nature preserves, learning of their natural communities, history, and unique attributes from guides who intimately know and steward the land. On Saturday, Sept. 30, from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., join Steep Rock Association (SRA) and Roxbury Land Trust (RLT) on a 4-mile inter-town hike along Tunnel Road. Rory Larson (SRA’s Director of Conservation) and Jamie Curren (RLT’s Land and Property Manager), both Roxbury natives, will lead the walk. This partially closed town road connecting protected lands owned by the two organizations offers unparalleled views of the Shepaug River as it follows the waterway’s course into expansive core forests. It also lies adjacent to the old Shepaug Valley Railroad bed, rich in history for discussion along the way.

The group will take two slight detours off Tunnel Road to investigate RLT’s Battle Swamp Brook Preserve and the Tunnel itself, a 235-foot passage through bedrock in SRA’s Steep Rock Preserve, from which the road received its name.

The program will start at the main parking lot of Steep Rock Preserve located at 2 Tunnel Road, Washington Depot, CT. Due to the Tunnel Road bridge closure, access to the main parking lot is only obtained via Spring Hill Road off Route 199. Once reaching RLT’s Battle Swamp Brook Preserve on Judd’s Bridge Road in Roxbury, a shuttle bus will bring all participants back to Steep Rock Preserve. We’ll finish the program with a short hike from our drop off point at the Institute of American Indian Studies back to the Steep Rock main parking lot. Participants should wear appropriate footwear for a long, moderately difficult hike and bring plenty of water. Inclement weather will postpone the program until the following day, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, at the same time. All ages are welcome, but please take note of the hike’s length.

Saturday, September 30, 1:00pm

Orange Shirt Day is observed on September 30 in Indigenous communities throughout North America. This annual event commemorates the residential school experience in Indigenous communities, and serves as a reminder to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation. This year, join IAIS staff for a screening and discussion of Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools. Participants are encouraged to wear an orange shirt. We are also seeking donations of shoes that can be used for an empty shoe display, as a reminder of the thousands of children who were lost to the residential school system. Shoes can be of any style, but children’s shoes are preferred. We appreciate shoe donations in advance, but you can also bring them along to the screening.
Please note: Due to the challenging legacy of the Native American residential school system, the topics discussed during this event might trigger strong emotions for some participants.
Space is limited in the screening and pre-registrations are appreciated. Please visit our website to register. This is a FREE event, but donations are always appreciated. Information on relevant organizations and initiatives to support will also be available at the museum.

Register here

Photo Submissions Grades 6-12

ASAP! is pleased to announce that submissions are open for CYP! Students in grades 6-12 are invited to submit two photographs based on this year’s theme: Curiosity. Join us for an in-person exhibit on Sunday, November 12th, 2023 where the top 60 selected photos will be recognized, and the top four honorees will be revealed. The top two photographers from middle and high school will receive the 2023 Dylan’s Wings Photography Award. This award is presented by Ian Hockley, Executive Director of Dylan’s Wings for Change, to the photographer whose piece most thoroughly embodies the criteria.

Due Date for submissions is Monday, October 2nd, 2023.

The Frederick Gunn School presents “Waterfronts and Woodcuts,” a special exhibit featuring work by Don Gorvett, a Boston-born artist acclaimed for his hand-pulled color reduction woodcuts recording maritime subjects. The exhibit will run from October 2nd through November 10th in the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. An Artist Reception will be held on October 19th from 5pm-6:30pm.

Gallery hours (for the public) are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm. Parking is available in the Upper Parking Lot off Kirby Road, with a limited number of accessible parking spaces outside the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center.

Book Bans. Fantasy as history. School Board intimidation. Violence targeting LGBTQ+ people. These are the fronts in the spreading culture war that is engulfing America. And they’re the focus of Common Ground with Jane Whitney’s next conversation, “Culture War: America’s Blood Sport.”

The all-star panel will be discussing some of the most explosive issues in America and will examine how our democracy is threatened by the continuing effort to exploit our social and cultural differences to score partisan points – what amounts to nothing less than pouring gasoline onto our smoldering divisions.

MSNBC Anchor Ali Velshi is coming in person. Sociologist James Davison Hunter is beaming in. And we’ll be announcing more guests in the coming weeks.

Join them on Sunday, October 15, at 4pm with Common Ground with Jane Whitney.

Learn more

Join us for a Pre-K and Kindergarten Coffee Hour for Parents on October 19th!

Pre-K and Kindergarten students are remarkable! Their world is small, so we create a nurturing environment for them to explore how COURAGEOUS they can be; yet, we also give them the foundation and the space to explore CONNECTIONS to themselves, each other, and the world around them. We teach them that they are mighty… and then, we guide them to activate the power of their imagination through play.

We would love to share more about our unique Pre-K and Kindergarten program with you during our Coffee Hour for Parents on Thursday, October 19 at 9:30 a.m. We’re excited to talk to you about the many ways your child can experience the academic and social-emotional benefits of a Rumsey Hall education!

A Pre-K and Kindergarten Coffee Hour for Parents will include: a time to meet our teachers and administrators; a tour of our magical campus and vibrant Pre-K and Kindergarten room; a peek into an enriched day in the Rumsey Hall Lower School, and (of course) coffee!

Learn more and sign up on our website at www.rumseyhall.org or contact our Admissions Office at [email protected] or (860) 868-0535.

The Frederick Gunn School presents “Waterfronts and Woodcuts,” a special exhibit featuring work by Don Gorvett, a Boston-born artist acclaimed for his hand-pulled color reduction woodcuts recording maritime subjects. The exhibit will run from October 2nd through November 10th in the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. An Artist Reception will be held on October 19th from 5pm-6:30pm.

Gallery hours (for the public) are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm. Parking is available in the Upper Parking Lot off Kirby Road, with a limited number of accessible parking spaces outside the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center.

In this episode, Common Ground with Jane Whitney examines the consequences of the stark cleavage, the values that drive economic policy and the connections between our political and economic crises.

Learn more

WAA is passionate about arts education. Whether you are an experienced artist or a novice, WAA offers a range of opportunities for creative exploration. We provide a nurturing place for people of all ages to develop their skills and explore new artistic directions with classes in painting, ceramics, sculpture, drawing, and more.

View current class offerings

The Frederick Gunn School presents “Waterfronts and Woodcuts,” a special exhibit featuring work by Don Gorvett, a Boston-born artist acclaimed for his hand-pulled color reduction woodcuts recording maritime subjects. The exhibit will run from October 2nd through November 10th in the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. An Artist Reception will be held on October 19th from 5pm-6:30pm.

Gallery hours (for the public) are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm. Parking is available in the Upper Parking Lot off Kirby Road, with a limited number of accessible parking spaces outside the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center.

In this episode of Common Ground with Jane Whitney, young people leading our journey into the future talk about their visions and how they crashed through the limitations imposed by conventional wisdom to build movements that are powering change all around us.

Learn more

In this episode of Common Ground with Jane Whitney, a diverse panel from across the political spectrum discusses how the country, which once elevated science into the unofficial national religion, came to accept the parasitic oxymoron of “alternate facts.”

 Learn more