Arts Learning

1) To our knowledge, Sumunar is the only organization offering any Indonesian arts-and-culture opportunities in the state of Minnesota. Students involved learn through intensive hands-on experiences. The outcome after a two-week residency is a student performance demonstrating their acquired skills and knowledge, open to parents, friends, and the public. 2) The learning process and the performances are critiqued and evaluated through reflective discussions with participating students and with their teachers. Depending on the practices at each school, written responses are also utilized with both students and teachers. Students often respond with personal thank you notes and/or with drawings that illustrate their responses to the experience. 2: 1. and 2. In each school, the outcome was a group of participating students who had gained a significant set of artistic skills (gamelan music making and/or Indonesian dance), as demonstrated in the culminating performance. They also had gained considerable insight into Indonesian culture, intentionally developed by the artist teachers during the instruction periods. This was evaluated through responses by students and teachers in reflective discussions; in most cases, written comments were also solicited and considered.