The Shanti Process:

Plan, Create, Celebrate, Reflect/Evaluate.

Plan: Shanti program director, teaching artist and teachers/site coordinators meet before the beginning of each program to jointly plan and develop a project to achieve the individual site’s classroom/community objectives along with art and nonviolence objectives. Sustainability, an integral part of all Shanti programs and planning, includes a focus on skills transfer so that the teachers/site coordinators can continue to use art and nonviolence integration skills after the conclusion of the Shanti program.

Create: Led by the teaching artist, participants begin by creating a set of guidelines that all agree to follow. Group work is utilized in every session so that the program begins and ends with shared decision-making. Together, the groups of students choose their topic and theme and during the course of the residency develop and create their original artwork. Throughout the process participants are challenged to learn to communicate, cooperate, negotiate, form group decisions, and employ creative brainstorming and critical thinking. Each such skill encourages creative problem-solving.

Celebrate: Each program ends with a celebration at which participants perform or display their original artwork for the benefit of the entire community--students, parents, and neighborhood. In addition, participants reflect on the process and share what they have learned.

Reflect/ Evaluate: Shanti collects qualitative data through journals, observations, artist and participant notes, and pre- and post- testing. This information allows everyone involved to monitor the project while it is going on and to make adjustments as needed. At the end, this information is evaluated to gauge how effectively proposed objectives were met, identify successes, and understand areas which can be improved in future programs.