Community Arts Partner – The Creative Advantage

Participant Details

Individual Bio or Organizational Statement: Born into a family of music Olisa played in family bands from the age of 4. Her specialty is improvisation with a keen ability to compose full songs on the spot. A writer of expressive songs, Olisa offers Hip-Hop, Soul, and RnB with a funk-folk twist that stays rockin'. Olisa began exploring hip-hop and the art of eMCee at the age of 11. Her journey with music brought her to theatre in 2003. Under the genius of Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, she was schooled in the Acting methodology of Ritual Poetic Drama within the African Continuum and where she became a part of www.TheConciliationProject.org (TCP) (501c3) Olisa believes that artists and art are vital to the state of culture and society and hopes to share her soul through performance. Olisa dedicated herself to becoming a master. Olisa earnerd her BFA, magna cum laude, in performance and her MFA in theater pedagogy with a dual focus in Acting and Directing and Voice and Speech. She is a certified instructor in RPDWAC , Archetypes for the Actor and the Oxyrhythms. Olisa has been a professional teaching artist for over 15 years and believes in the power of the creative spirit to foster resilience.

Type

Previous School Partnerships: Asa Mercer Middle School: Griot Girlz OST program Denny International Middle School: The Stolen Ones program (Marcia Arunga) Interagency SW: Spoken work class via Artscorps

Other Trainings or Certifications

Teaching Philosophy + Approach: I work at building confidence and fostering a love for learning by being the example. I am willing to make mistakes, acknowledge those mistakes and make a point to learn from them. I find joy in their mistakes; I thank them for the opportunity to learn. When they say, "I can’t" I say... "... yet." I know they are getting it when they add the word yet without my reminder. Persistence, Growth Mindset and Critical thinking are supported by instilling a love for learning, willingness to fail and a desire to understand how and why that failure was valuable. We are taught, as a culture, to serve the self not the tribe. When we climb mountains, we step on the heads of those around us afraid that if we slow to help them, we will fall, we will fail. We are climbing, alone, focused solely on the peak that we were sold as success. We are taught that this is not only an acceptable way to see the world but an expected one. I do not believe this. I believe in collaboration, in relationship, in the value of community. I may be good alone, but together we are great.