Dafmark Dance Community Outreach Programs

Thank you to the dancers Cathedral Preparatory School and Ms. Jessica Lucas for choosing to donate to the Dafmark Creative Arts Center. We appreciate your generosity and desire to ensure other youth in the kids of Erie have access to the arts. Thank you!!!

This semester our youth at the Dafmark Creative Arts Center have been working with teaching artist, Mr. Aaron, in Wood Working class to learn the importance of tool safety and development of self sufficiency. With time and determination they will construct a free library for our community here at the John E. Horan Garden Apartments. The power and future is in their hands!

Erie Arts and Culture’s Director’s Seat highlights the partnership between the Dafmark Creative Arts Center, the Erie Art Museum and Erie Arts and Culture’s teaching artist Nicholas Cardell Gore to bring to life the Kids As Curators exhibition with our youth through a 4 month long residency. When organizations work together in partnership we can do so much more than we each could have done alone. Dafmark is grateful to have partnered with the Erie Art Museum, Erie Arts & Culture and Nicholas Gore on this special project.

If you haven’t seen the Kids As Curators exhibition it is still up at the Erie Arts Museum. Go check out what our youth have created for the Erie community to experience.

Our newest From the Director’s Seat is live, marking one year in this role and a moment to reflect on the work, the people, and the purpose behind it all.

From powerful performances and youth-led exhibitions to community conversations about the future of Erie, this edition captures the moments that remind us why this work matters.

Read the full post on our blog here: https://www.erieartsandculture.org/blog/from-the-directors-seat-a-year-of-heart-hustle-and-humanity

Last Friday our youth shared their Black History Month Presentations at the Erie Art Museum as part of the opening event for their Kids As Curators Exhibition. They all did an incredible job! Today we took the opportunity to acknowledge each youth who participated and to give out the special awards for outstanding presentations (In each age group).

1st Place Top overall performance: Demarcus - Martin Luther King Jr.

2nd Place (Middle & High school): Saryah - Madam C.J. walker

2nd Place (Elementary): Patricia - Maya Angelou

3rd Place (Middle & High school): Kaylyn - Mae Jemison

3rd (Elementary): Bella - Basquiat

Honorable Mention: Itznalyis - Langston Hughes

Best Prop: Beronika - Rosa Parks

Best assistant/performer: Zy’ale - Simon Biles

Tomorrow is a big day!!!! It is the opening of Kids as Curators: No Community Without “U” or “I” at the Erie Art Museum, which is a relaunch of the Kids As Curators program that was originally developed by the incredible Kelly Armor. This program that ran for years was centered on giving students true creative control, empowered young people to collect, curate, and design exhibits around ideas that matter to them, and to demonstrate that museums are living, breathing spaces for fresh perspectives.

Tomorrow exhibition was created by our students from the Dafmark Creative Arts Center who had the privilege to work with Erie Arts and Culture rostered teaching artist Nicholas Cardell Gore. He worked weekly with the youth from September through December of 2025 to guided them through exploring how museums collect, interpret, and present artwork. Through mentorship and guidance Nicholas supported them through curating their own exhibition made of works created in his class as well as those created in classes taught by the other Dafmark teaching artists during 2025. Youth were also able to visit the Erie Art Museum in the beginning of the residency to learn from the Erie Art Museum team: Executive Director Laura Domencic, Arts & Curatorial Manager Jamie Keim-Pomorski, Education Manager Alex Anthes, and Collections Manager & Lead Preparator James Pearson.

This has been an really special project for our youth to be a part of. As an added bonus, for the community, our youth have been working on Black History Month projects and realized that the exhibition was about community and that community is built on history and wanted to share what they have learned about their history during their exhibition of No Community Without “U” or “I”.

So please come out tomorrow between 4 - 6PM to support our youth and meet the next generation of creatives and help the Erie Art Museum usher in the relaunch of Kids As Curators, centering youth as voices that should be heard in our museum and city!

Due to the extreme temperatures and windchill forecast for Tuesday, the Dafmark Creative Arts Center will be CLOSED. Know that when the Erie’s Public Schools closes due to weather we do as well.

Stay safe and warm. We plan to see you all on Wednesday.

Due to the continued Winter Storm Warning which is scheduled through Monday evening at 7PM it has been determined safest for parents, staff and teaching artist to close the Dafmark Creative Arts Center on Monday, January 26th.

We plan to resume classes on Tuesday, January 27th. Thank you for your understanding in helping to ensure everyone stays safe.

We are so excited to partner with OpenedEyes to have their new LENS program in house weekly with Mr. Shannon Lofton. This program is designed to lead powerful sessions with youth ages 6–17, focusing on resiliency, anti-bullying, active communication, and perception, helping students see themselves and others through a lens of understanding and growth.





Thank you to all of our funders who make our after-school and summer programming possible.
- Housing Authority of the City of Erie
Erie Insurance
ECGRA - Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority
City of Erie Government (CDBG)
Erie Women's Fund
PA Nita. M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centet Program (Funded in full or in part with a federal USDE grant provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education)
And all other private donors

Today we are closed to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day. Classes will resume on Tuesday, January 20th.

Last week as we prepared for the approaching holiday we took the opportunity to learn about Dr. King and what some of our youth dreams consist of…..
- To help others
- for Homeless people find a home
- Get out in nature
- For Abandoned animals to find a home
- To get better grades
- To Finish school
- To be successful in life
- “To read a whole book myself”