Keynote+by+Jessica+Hoffman+Davis

=Keynote by Jessica Hoffman Davis=

Here you can find the keynote address delivered by writer, teacher, researcher and arts advocate, Jessica Hoffman Davis. You can find out more about Jessica by visiting her website, [].

Where Dreams Are Born Jessica Hoffmann Davis, EdD (jessicahoffmanndavis.com) For Plymouth State University Educational Theater Conference Integrated Arts Conference/Peter Pan January 29, 2011

Thank you for including me in this great group of educators who care about the arts. And thank you for the work you do and the magic you make possible for kids.

When I was six years old, my parents took me to see //Peter Pan// on Broadway. Not to the 1960 version with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard (that I saw in high school), but to the 1950 Leonard Bernstein play with music starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff. And it was wonderful. Both Broadway productions were wonderful.

But I think I liked best of all the Trish Lindberg version starring Sam Tolley and Robb Dimmick that I saw right here at Plymouth State the other night. It was magic. It was joyful. And it demonstrated all five features of the arts that I suggest make arts learning different from learning in other subjects and essential to our children’s education*:

First, there is the tangible product, the work of art, the show itself that would not be there were it not for the efforts of so many individuals on and off stage…in the present and in the past

From the work itself we learn about • Imagination…the realm of “what if.” What if I could fly? What if it had been my shadow that was lost? • Agency…the power of “I can.” I can help create something that was not there before I sang or danced or worked the lights on this production.

Second, there is specifically about the arts a focus on Emotion, and that gives us the opportunity to learn about:

• Expression…this is how I feel, let me show you in my performance how worried Wendy was. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Empathy…this is how others feel, look at how the poor lost boys longed for a mother.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Third, there is about the arts a deliberate Ambiguity, a way in which many valid meanings (not one right or wrong answer) can be found in the work.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And from this we learn about <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Interpretation…that my perspective matters. I wonder why the father and Captain Hook are always played by the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">same actor. I think that decision makes fun of authority.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">But we also learn from ambiguity about <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Respect…others perspectives matter. You may think the same actor is used to show us that even grown ups <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">know how to play. That idea interests me. We respect and can learn from one another’s different views.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Fourth, the arts make us aware of Process, the doing that matters at least as much as the done…the rehearsing that is as important as the show.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And a process orientation sets the stage for

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Inquiry…what questions do I have? Do I believe in make- believe? Is Captain Hook all bad? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Reflection.. (purposeful self-assessment)…how am I doing? Does what I do on stage convince the audience that I <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">am an adult? Should I speak louder or look more earnest?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And last and this is all over this particular production of //Peter Pan//, the arts feature Connection: connection to the other performers in the show, the connection between the audience and the players and the writer, and all our connection to every performance of //Peter Pan// that we’ve ever seen or that others have seen throughout time as we are seeing this one today. A connection to our shared humanness.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And that human connection invites intense <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Engagement… I really really care. The very human universal themes that are represented in this show make it <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">absolutely compelling whether I am on stage performing or in the audience making my own sense of what is going <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">on.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And last that sense of social responsibility that the arts awaken <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">• Responsibility… I care about others. I care about the community of cast members and the broader community we <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">all represent. I am responsible for my contribution on stage and in the broader world. I want to make it possible <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">for all children to have homes of their own and to see to see beyond the given in their day-to-day lives.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">From imagination to social responsibility the arts teach our children about what it is to be human and enable them to experience their humanity in thought and action.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Last weekend, I wrote this little poem from which I have learned that it is almost impossible to say “Ah ha” out loud.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“Ah ha,” I speak softly to my small grandson, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">With me in the early morning. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">We have reconfigured as a TV screen <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">The picture window in my room.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“Ah ha,” I tell him, pointing cross the lake <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">To the trees on the opposite shore. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“This is a gift to early risers <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">That those that sleep in will not see.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">The morning light embraces the hills, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">Etching pastel colors into a layered parfait, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">The water, the shore, the sky. I ask <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“What color are the mountains?”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">He is amused. “I don’t see mountains.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“There along the shore.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“What colors are the trees?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">He contemplates, “They should be green or brown.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“Yes but what do you see?”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">Backpacking through his lovely mind, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">Tossing to the side what he thinks must be, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">Realizing we share a secret wonder. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">“Ah ha,” he leans in close, “Pink.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">One of the most important things the arts teach our children is how to see. How to really see and notice what is there no matter how improbable and to see beyond what is there to what is possible in our imagination. That place where dreams are born.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We need to make room for Never Land in all our schools’ curricula. Two many kindergarten children have art and music only once a week, too many middle school children are without a single arts class, and too many high school students who would be engaged by the arts, are giving up on school. Some of them are finding arenas for success in after school arts programs, but more of them are unable to imagine a reality or a future different from what they know.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">These students would be enlarged by as simple an assignment as taking a photograph of any object. When they think of what to include and what to leave out of the image, they will begin not only really to see those objects and to notice their details but also to experience their own mattering, to understand that their decisions make all the difference. When you make your drawing of that lakeside scene, you can make the mountains yellow—the sky wildy magenta. You are in charge of what you make through art. Your vision counts in it all.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In a sea of standardization, surrounded by the perils of right and wrong answers, good and bad, black and white, let us turn to the arts to remind our children that the world is filled with curves where you expect angles and pinks where you expect green, muted colors and blurry lines that inspire us to interpret and to create.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And let us remind our children of their gossamer wings and of the joyful heights that can be reached through flights of imagination. Because whether it’s Neverland or that image you just drew, or that dance you just created, or that song you made up and belted out for all of our applause, there are everywhere worlds of your own making beyond this one.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">My little grandson (who is six years old) found my copy of //Peter Pan// and asked what the book was about. “It’s about a boy who refuses to grow up,” I told him. And I could see the wheels of “what if” spinning behind his forehead as he took that book and put it deep in his suitcase where it could not be left behind and spoke to me directly as if he thought I’d understand: “I’ve got to read it.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Thank you

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">* For more on the five features of the arts that account for essential learning outcomes, see my book on advocacy for arts ed, //Why Our Schools Need the Arts// (2008, Teachers College Press)