Multidisciplinary NYU Steinhardt Team Leads Arts and Technology Workshop in Korea

25 Ganghwa Project was a week-long multimedia arts workshop for middle and high school students in Ganghwa Island, South Korea.

Last summer, multiple NYU Steinhardt faculty traveled to Ganghwa Island, South Korea, to lead a collaborative, multimedia arts workshop for middle and high school students. Called 25 Ganghwa Project, this weeklong series of classes in music, dance, theater, and visual arts with a throughline of technology was designed to help teens build creativity and confidence by exploring areas outside of their comfort zones.

A large group of people pose for the picture on a stage, standing in a group with arms out under bright stage lights — 25 Ganghwa Project students and faculty

25 Ganghwa Project was spearheaded by Youngmi Ha, adjunct professor of Music Theory and Composition and director of Convergence Arts Lab (CAL). CAL specializes in creating hands-on, experiential learning environments where students can expand their artistic skills and learn to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary context.

“What sets CAL workshops apart are our focus on the value of the process of making art, rather than just the finished product, and the way we provide collaborative opportunities for individuals to expand their horizons, which leads to unexpected discoveries and achievements,” says Ha. “25 Ganghwa Project was a collaborative opportunity not just for participants but also for the NYU Steinhardt family, including faculty, alumni, and students. Each one of us found something we did not expect.”

4 faculty wearing matching shirts stand on a stage and make hand and arm gestures, behidn them is a projected image of empty stadium seating — 25 Ganghwa Project faculty

Other faculty for 25 Ganghwa Project included Deborah Damast, program director and clinical associate professor of Dance Education; Clare Hammoor (MA ’13, EdD ’18, Educational Theatre), director of learning for Prison Journalism Project; and Yumi Na, professor of visual art at Sookmyung Women's University.

In addition to taking discipline-specific classes, students learned how to collaborate across disciplinary lines, such as music and theater or dance and visual art. Technology was used as a tool across all disciplines to create art and increase engagement with students.

The week culminated in a group performance at the Ganghwa Performing Arts Center. Students worked in small groups and with guidance from faculty comprising various interests and talents to create, produce, and co-present a multimedia artwork using the theme of “Door; Knock, Enter, Imagine.”

5 students stand and kneel in a classroom to make a triangle shape using their arms — 25 Ganghwa Project students

“A big part of the community-building and team-building effort was getting these students to collaborate and communicate with us and each other,” says Damast. “English is not commonly spoken in Ganghwa, so it was up to us as educators to find entry points into the pedagogy. By the end of the week, students had gone from being very shy to being able to express themselves through multiple mediums.”

Two NYU Steinhardt students also traveled to Ganghwa to support the middle and high school students and assist faculty: Jung Hwan Kil (Music Business) and Erin Yoon (Dance Education).

“Traveling to Ganghwa with Professor Damast was a meaningful experience for me as both a student and an educator,” says Yoon. “In her dance classes, I supported communication by translating between English and Korean, and through that process I learned from the students’ creativity, openness, and cultural perspectives. Serving as a bridge between faculty and students allowed me to witness how movement and communication can connect people beyond language. It reminded me of the power of art as a shared, reciprocal learning experience.”

25 Ganghwa Project was supported by a grant from the Incheon Education Ministry.