SINGING OUR STORIES

CANTANDO NUESTRAS HISTORIAS

A Bilingual Music, Poetry & Storytelling Residency with Bob and Denise Gomez

Arts For The Schools welcomes musicians, educators, and storytellers Bob and Denise Gomez for a joyful bilingual residency celebrating language, culture, music, and the stories that connect us.

Through songs, poetry, guitar, harmony, and storytelling in both English and Spanish, Bob and Denise will invite students to explore their own voices while experiencing the richness of Mexican American culture and bilingual expression.

When we share our songs and stories, every language becomes a bridge.

During this interactive residency, students will explore:

• Songs and poetry in English and Spanish

• Music as a form of storytelling

• Mexican American history, culture, and traditions

• Rhythm, rhyme, melody, and creative language

• Identity, family, community, and belonging

• The beauty and strength of speaking more than one language

• Opportunities to create and share their own words, verses, and ideas

Meet Bob and Denise

Bob Gomez is a songwriter, singer, guitarist, poet, longtime bilingual educator, and former Poet Laureate of Watsonville. His work brings music and poetry together to celebrate culture, community, peace, and social connection.

Denise Gomez is an experienced educator and musician who joins Bob in song, harmony, and storytelling. Together, they create welcoming performances that encourage students to listen, participate, sing, and recognize the value of their own cultural and family stories.

Students will not simply hear two languages—they will experience how music allows us to understand one another.

Presented as part of Living Cultures, Arts For The Schools’ residency series connecting students with the music, stories, traditions, and creative voices of cultures from around the world.

THE RIVERS ARE OUR BROTHERS

Music, Watersheds & the Stories That Connect Us

A Sounding the Wild Residency with Majel Connery

This fall, Arts For The Schools and Musica Sierra are joining forces with Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) to bring music, environmental science, storytelling, and outdoor learning together for students at Truckee Elementary School, Loyalton Middle School, and Sierra Expeditionary Learning Academy.

At the heart of the residency is acclaimed composer and performer Majel Connery’s The Rivers Are Our Brothers, an ecological song cycle that gives voice to the natural world. Rivers, clouds, trees, mountains, and water itself become storytellers, inviting students to consider how every part of a watershed—and every person living within it—is connected.

What happens upstream flows downstream.

Through live music and imaginative storytelling, students will explore:

• Watersheds, hydrology, and the water cycle

• Connections among rivers, wildlife, people, and communities

• How water moves through interconnected natural systems

• Cause and effect within local ecosystems

• Environmental responsibility and water stewardship

• Personification, metaphor, creative writing, and artistic expression

Expanding the Wonders of Watersheds

The residency will complement SWEP’s Wonders of Watersheds programming for fourth- and fifth-grade students. The Watershed Musical Field Journal will serve as the connective learning tool, helping students carry ideas from the live performance into their classroom and outdoor watershed studies.

Through original music, drawing, writing, observation, reflection, and nature-journaling prompts, students will be encouraged to:

• Notice closely

• Ask thoughtful questions

• Make connections

• Imagine from nature’s perspective

• Understand their own place within the watershed

The experience will extend beyond the performance, giving teachers and students a shared resource for continued learning with SWEP throughout the year.

Students will not only learn how a watershed works—they will be invited to listen to its story.

Presented as part of Sounding the Wild, Arts For The Schools’ arts-integrated eco-literacy initiative connecting professional artists, classroom learning, environmental science, and the natural world.