Billy Lamont’s poetry workshops, designed to strengthen student’s writing skills, are aligned with New York State English Language Arts Standards for Reading and Writing. Lamont explains the different forms of poetry, giving examples from his own poetry, and speaks about the importance of knowledge, imagination, and wisdom of heart and mind for success in life. Lamont affirms that students have a right to their own feelings and that it is healthy to express themselves through poetry. Lamont recites his poem, ‘Dignity’ to help students understand their unique value and to inspire them to fulfill their great potential. In support of The Dignity Act, he tells students that they can gain an understanding and empathy of other people, including those from different cultures, through reading their poetry. He emphasizes the importance of empathy in building community and stopping bullying in our schools. BILLY LAMONT BIO 2025 Billy Lamont is a NY based American poet, spoken word artist, recording artist, and experimental multi-media performance poet, with a reformer spirit, and international reach. He has been interviewed and performed on national television a number of times, including Joe Franklin Show, MTV, and MUCH MUSIC Television broadcast from Toronto, Canada. He has toured and performed with Lollapalooza rock festival several times including in the Poetry Tent in 1994, on The Lab side stage in 1995, and representing Jubilee USA/International in The World Of Just BeCauses activism tent while performing poems of activism on the Booty Camp side stage in 2003. He has appeared on college and major radio stations across the U.S. including Z-100 live from Lollapalooza in NY in 1994. He has also given in-store book signing events at major and independent bookstores throughout the U.S. Lamont has three books of poetry, and as a recording artist has nine album CD/digital download releases. His latest book Words Ripped From A Soul Still Bleeding: Poems For The Future Edition is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon as a paperback, or as an eBook, and all his albums can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music. He was awarded a Guinness World Record for his poetry performance contribution to a benefit song for Love Hope Strength Foundation and those fighting cancer, that was recorded by Mike Peters of The Alarm in 2014, and was the ‘longest officially released song ever.’ This song titled The Scriptures was written as a seed of peace for Muslims, Christians and Jews in The Holy Land. His 1998 debut album CD/digital release Into The 21st Century was a benefit for Teen Challenge, with performances by two of his greatest influences, the legendary Allen Ginsberg and the brilliant Mike Peters of The Alarm on the title track. In his later years, Ginsberg expressed his love and support for Lamont’s poetry with permission to use an audio sample from one of his first recitals of the Beat Generation epic poem Howl. The passion to inspire hope and to be a voice for everyday people is at the heart of his poetry. His poems encourage dignity, uphold life and have been a catalyst for many people to live in a more loving way, to find their own voice and for personal and social reform

We offer dynamic, bilingual programs tailored for our diverse community, showcasing author visits, writing workshops, poetry readings, and engaging cultural events. Through immersive experiences, we celebrate heritage as our superpower, focusing on Afro-Caribbean culture and exploring themes like personal and cultural identity, belonging, migration, and family values. Our programs are designed to be engaging and culturally responsive, offering a rich fusion of experiences for all.

SchoolAssemblies.com offers interactive, high energy, engaging and fun assembly programs that are tailored for students from kindergarten through 6th grade. Our current roster includes: STAND UP, STEP IN, STOP BULLYING! - Our popular antibullying assembly for schools features music, virtual characters, game shows and participation all wrapped up into a fun but important school assembly program. BOT! THE SECRET WORLD OF ROBOTS - It's never too early to introduce kids to the world of STEM. Your kids LOVE ROBOTS and they'll love this show too! HIP HOP SPELLS R.E.S.P.E.C.T! - Lack of interpersonal skills are the epicenter for problems in today's schools. Through this engaging interactive hip hop show, dance icon and student favorite, DJ Reggie stresses to your kids the importance of the "five pillars of good character." TIME-TRAVELING INVENTORS - With the help of our real-life time machine, your kids will embark on a mesmerizing journey that brings them face to face with some of history's greatest inventors! It's a lively blend of interactive games, laughter, and hands-on excitement, that inspires a passion for history and innovation! THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA - Patriotism is more than a song and this rousing musical assembly proves that. It's rare to find an inspirational, interactive program which instills those once cherished values back into America's classrooms. This "revolutionary" program does just that! Using humor, music and participation SOA is a sing-along favorite! CHRISTMAHANUKWANZAMADAN! - This multimedia-filled, multi-cultural magical tour of music from several winter holidays presents your kids with a reminder that the world is so much bigger than our own backyard. A holiday sing-along celebration and, we bring SNOW to every show!

I am a third generation artist whose paintings of race horses are in a number of private collections of prominent horse people across the country. I would like to do presentations involving reading my children's book "Awesome Elijah," a drawing lesson, and play and sing the song that I wrote that goes with it, or play a professional recording of it. Elijah, the calf, is rescued from certain death, and grows up to be a much loved steer who is ridden at a Horse Expo at the Saratoga Race Course. This true story illustrates just what an effect one act of compassion can have on so many lives.

1st Amendment-1st Vote, Inc is a non-partisan civic engagement opportunity for high school teens who identify as girls to engage in the democratic procress and impagine themselves in elected office or professional government-relations positions. Our VISION: gender parity in US elected offices at local, state and national levels. In 2020, this pathway to government leadership program produced an award-winning short film series: "Virtual Video Visits to 11 Historic Sites Along the Central NY Women's Rights Corridor" highlighting the legacy and way-of-life of Haudenosaunee Clan Mothers.

I am a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of books for young readers. I can offer visits to schools, writing conferences, and to local libraries. In the schools, I do small and large group assemblies and offer writing workshops. I live in Utah but frequently travel in the New York area.

5 Loaves Farm is a unique urban farm that serves as a living classroom where we teach hands-on, minds-on lessons about science and social topics relevant to students in grades K-12. We love working with teachers to provide experiences tailored specifically to your curriculum needs. Our unique position as a farm that includes fruit trees, greenhouses, chickens, bees, and so much more, right in the middle of an urban neighborhood, provides the opportunity to connect various areas of study into meaningful learning experiences for your students.

Kevin Kurtz is an award-winning nonfiction children's author (www.kevkurtz.com) of over 25 books for kids grades kindergarten to middle school about science, nature, and technology. Kevin can provide up to five 45-minute presentations during an all day school visit. He can do different presentations for each grade level. For assembly programs, Kevin can read and discuss one of his books or present highlights from more than one book. The highlights can be focused on specific science curriculum topics, on the process of writing nonfiction, or be a grade level-appropriate “greatest hits” selection from my books (You can see the list of highlight topics here: http://www.kevkurtz.com/school-visits.) The book reading and highlights presentations will also include sections on how Kevin became a children’s author, the process he uses to write nonfiction, and a Q&A session at the end. Kevin can also do writing workshops for smaller groups with a maximum of 30 students per program. Workshops are for grades 3 and up. Kevin will lead students through the process of researching, writing, and editing nonfiction and work as a group to produce informational texts. Writing workshops can be extended to a week-long residency where Kevin will lead groups of students through the steps of creating nonfiction texts in more detail.

I’ll start each workshop with a slide show of my personal journey into the arts. This will start from my entrance into the arts back in high school where I was guided away from the arts by guidance counselors and administration. I’ve found this to be helpful to mention as many students can relate to this. My entrance into the arts started in ceramics and has led me to Mould Making, Metal Casting, Fiber & Silversmithing. I’ll discuss how perseverance, determination, hard work, and elbow grease has awarded me with scholarships, grants, shows, and teaching opportunities that enable me to travel to craft schools and residencies to continue making work. I’ll show the evolution of my work and include photos of in-process works from different studios throughout the years. This introduction will last about 30 minutes concluding with 15 minutes of questions. I’ll continue with about 20 minutes of demonstrations and disperse materials for hands-on building. At this point, I’ll make my rounds to meet with each student and troubleshoot their project ideas and the best way to construct them. I’ll call the class over to discuss which method of building would be best depending on the desired outcome as there is no one way to make something. Program Descriptions Workshop 1: Personification of an Object First steps into the world of Abstract art by warping reality one object at a time. Students are prompted to give humanistic features/characteristics to inanimate objects to create something that’s never existed before. Workshop 2: Re-Create Everyday Objects Students will be asked to bring in 3-5 everyday objects. We’ll discuss different methods of construction, play with scale, and explore the surface through color and texture. Refrain from bringing in objects that are made out of ceramic materials. Workshop 3: Large Forms inspired by the Ancient World and Today This workshop focuses on giving students the necessary skills to create large vessels. Students will be asked to find references of Vessels from Ancient Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, or contemporary artists. -hand-building on a larger scale helps beginner students quickly adapt to the properties of clay and respond to the material quicker than something small. This method of construction [coil-building] is the oldest method of building with clay, allows for lots of adjustments to form and scale for a beginner student, causes you to be attentive to the material. -Discuss the benefits of hand-building and the freedom/ability to build in a gestural way, why this is helpful. -Ask students to choose or draw a silhouette to mimic for their vessel – A blueprint/reference photo is VITAL to making a successful shape, make this mandatory, this will help assist them in achieving the shape they want to. -brief demo on darting– show them how to edit a shape that’s not going in the direction (shape-wise) that they’re going for. Workshop 4: Advanced Techniques Ask students to make an object (sculptural or functional) using the extruder and slab roller. These can be very gestural, architectural, or realistic. -Demo how to construct a form using slabs slumping/wrapping/template techniques (cut-outs slipped and scored together) -Emphasize that the appearance of the object will be determined by what method of construction students wish to use (explain and show examples of architectural vs. gestural, organic vs geometric forms, etc.) -Demo how to use an extruder and how to attach extruded shapes securely together/to the form. Clay & tools can be provided for an additional fee.

I offer a variety of school assembly programs, including shows about recycling and water conservation. In addition I offer workshops in mime, movement and theater.

Middle/High School Why Music Students Excel Motivational Clinic for Band, Youth Orchestra and Chorus (Also appropriate for Theatre Kids.) Program Description This morale and self-esteem building session begins with a ten minute solo performance by Justin. The performance is intentionally virtuosic, leaving no doubt in the student's mind that the artist is a seasoned professional who has experienced success on stage. The objective of this learning experience for students is to reinforce what the music faculty has been stressing all along. That is: the student's musical experience and musical education goes well beyond 'blowing a horn'. This experience is about developing life survival skills. Skills that will help the students to become better adept at problem solving, decision making, enjoying a fulfilling life beginning now and into the future. Justin asks the students to identify skills that they have learned from their musical experience (lessons, practice, or performance) that they have found useful when they are outside the world of music. Skills described by the students typically range from attention to detail and time management, to conflict resolution and ability to accept criticism. At the end of this segment of the session, a list sometimes comprising as many as 24 skills has been articulated by the students. Kolb looks at the students and asks them to seriously contemplate the "skills inventory". Kolb then exclaims, "Look at who you are and what you can do!" He quickly points out that large corporations and even governments invest great amounts of dollars to teach their employees how to acquire these same skills.These sessions are highly informational, uplifting, fun and enhance self esteem. Justin gets along easily with students, parents, staff, and faculty.Willing to tailor sessions to better meet the needs of the students.

For over 10 years, The Art of Education has been helping visual art educators grow. Over that time, our institution has learned a tremendous amount about what art teachers want and don’t want. With that expansive and valuable knowledge and expertise, The Art of Education has evolved into a highly innovative curriculum and professional learning resource partner. The Art of Education's solutions are aligned with New York State Learning Standards for the Arts and are CTLE-approved (#23348). The Art of Education currently partners with dozens of districts across New York including: Freeport Public Schools, Valley Stream Central High School District, Niagara Wheatfield, Niagara Falls City, Williamsville Central, Olean City, Brighton Central, Rochester City, Ellenville Central, East Irondequoit, Phelps-Clifton Springs, Marlboro Central, Waterloo Central, Trumansburg Central, Horseheads Central, West Genesee, North Syracuse, Syracuse City, Liverpool Central, Carthage Central, and many more.