Carolyn Clark, Writer, Musician
Originally from Pasadena, Texas, Carolyn Clark graduated from the University of Houston, then moved to New York City to become a professional French hornist. The city broadened her horizons a bit and, while she is still a performer, she has also found happiness as a church music director, textbook editor, children’s book author, and teaching artist. Currently living in Staten Island, Carolyn founded the Staten Island Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005, and serves as its executive director. The orchestra performs approximately ten concerts a year. SI Phil partners with our local Jewish Community Center and Carnegie Hall to bring the Weill Music Institute’s “Link Up” program to Staten Island students in grades 3-5. The orchestra also sponsors a mentoring program for music students at a local Title I high school.
Inspired by the 2007 documentary, Young@Heart, Carolyn started a choir for older adults in Staten Island. The success of that choir led to a spot on the Lifetime Arts artist roster, and to another choir at Dyker Heights Library in Brooklyn that started as a twelve-week course and is still going strong five years later. In March 2015, both choirs made their off-Broadway debut in The Events, at New York Theatre Workshop. Carolyn is also a teaching artist for Brooklyn’s Elders Share the Arts, and has taught musical instrument-making classes in the Parents as Arts Partners Program of the Center for Arts Education.
TATIP Work
Carolyn has been intering at The Young Women’s Leadership School in Jamaica, Queens with CWP Mentor Teaching Artist Katie Rainey.
“Carolyn met the wonderful folks at Community-Word Project through their Summer Institute: Teaching for Social Justice, where she did her first ever protest march in Union Square Park. She enjoyed it thoroughly, so she signed up for the TATIP program. TATIP has been an excellent learning adventure, both inwardly, through possibilities for reflection, and outwardly, with opportunities to observe mentors and collaborate with colleagues. Carolyn had a great internship experience observing Katie Rainey’s 9th grade creative writing class at The Young Women’s Leadership School in Jamaica, Queens, and enjoyed collaborating with Jiji Kikhia on a teaching path about the blues in music, art, and poetry.”
Most Memorable TATIP Moment
“My favorite TATIP moments include playing the “Circle Game,” where we learned that a person’s status in the world is determined largely by the luck of the draw, learning about Equality vs. Equity—the difference between offering each person the same solution and giving each person the solution they need, “Living with Ambiguity”, there’s no such thing as simple answers—the world is made up of many shades of gray, not black and white, and the CWP mantra “I have a voice. My voice is powerful. My voice can change the world.” TATIP has made me believe it can.”
Find out more about Carolyn here:
Facebook
Website
YouTube
Dyker Singers performing “Brooklyn”
Check out Carolyn’s Teaching Path she created with her partner Jiji Kikhia.
You can read more about Carolyn’s experience in these blogs she wrote: Social Justice in the Classroom, A Safe Place to Be, Not A Cookie-Cutter Task and more forthcoming!
Interested in TATIP? Find out more about our 2016-17 Program!
See more of our 2015-16 Graduates in the 2016 TATIP Anthology!
