“We invited Whoop Dee Doo to work with teachers in the Art21 Educators program during our annual summer institute and they absolutely exceeded our expectations. Not only did Whoop Dee Doo involve EVERYONE in the process, but they also allowed teachers to own the process and add ideas along the way. Whoop Dee Doo is definitely one of the most exciting artists we have worked with in the Art21 Educators program since we began in 2009.”

Joe Fusaro, Senior Education Advisor, Art21, New York, NY

Students participating in our workshops gain technical, conceptual, and professional development from working directly with professional artists toward the realization of the many dimensions of a Whoop Dee Doo production: community outreach, site-specific installation, materials, processes, performance and documentation. We find that by example our students excitedly aim to approach problem solving throughout the workshops as an opportunity for innovation and creative growth. Our encouragement to problem solve and innovate the use of basic art materials such as cardboard and paper shows students that anything can be made with the support and creative ingenuity of a team regardless of previous artistic experience. 

Our students play a principal role in every aspect of the project.  Individual and group assignments are created that make the students actively responsible for many of the major components of the project from community research, materials and processes, to fabrication. Each WDD project varies in scope and scale, and new project elements and assignments are created specifically for individual students. 

We strategically organize each workshop series to fit the project calendar and create a course arc that allocates time for a variety of teaching methods. 

Upon the completion of a WDD project, our students have worked to facilitate creative collaboration with varied artists and performers within their community, conceptualized and fabricated site-specific installation, and participated in the exhibition and public promotion of a final performance. The learning opportunities available with a project of this scale are varied.  Upon project’s end, our students leave with a profound sense of ownership and camaraderie.

Past programming partners have included SFMOMA, The Knockdown Center, The Museum of Art & Design, Art21, The High Line, The Museum of Modern Art, The Smart Museum, Abrons Arts Center, DHC/ART, and Verge Center for Arts & Culture among others. Whoop Dee Doo has been featured in Art in America, Artforum, Vice, Rhizome, Artsy, and Hyperallergic, and is a featured artist project in ART21's documentary series New York Close Up.

YOUTH IMPACT 

Whoop Dee Doo connects with youth groups to be fully involved members of the creative team. Wherever we travel nationally and beyond, we often partner with organizations and programs including Boys & Girls Clubs, afterschool programs, highschool classes, and organizations providing creative opportunities for system-impacted youth and young adults. 

Youth collaborators see the direct influence of their ideas, skills, and interests in every show, and establish professional connections with a robust network of peers and professional artists. Their participation in a Whoop Dee Doo production can range from 1 week to 2 months depending on the scale of the project. 

Youth collaborations gain hands-on experience: 

• Working as a team to invent creative design solutions 

• Cultivating technical production skills 

• Producing immersive installations 

• Engineering live audio and special effects 

• Building intergenerational understanding and meaningful community connections 

“Working with Whoop Dee Doo showed me how to be softer on myself while still hustling harder. During my work with Whoop Dee Doo I got to see myself grow and heal through art making and being surrounded by youth and artists. I was given the opportunity to try so many new things from costume making to taking up as much space as I could on stage with my voice and body. I got to connect back to myself as an actor to show myself my full potential and everything I am capable of as an artist. It really boosted my confidence. On top of that I had a really good support system. I felt very admired and loved and heard the way my ideas and art impacted the finished product of the show.” 

• Kamilah, 19, young collaborator from Sunset Youth Services, October 2022 project 

YOUNG ARTIST INTERNSHIP (YAI) PROGRAM 

Whoop Dee Doo provides arts mentorship opportunities for NYC youth that are seeking hands-on technical, artistic, and conceptual production skills through intergenerational collaboration.

YAI participants work at the intersection of community engagement and contemporary art, they work with Whoop Dee Doo artists to teach workshops and provide creative guidance throughout art making-demos and experience the full process of our collaborative productions from start to finish. 

Our YAI program engages participants by allowing them to work as genuine collaborators that are learning the skill sets necessary to curate, produce, and create events within their own communities beyond their work with us. 

PROGRAM DETAILS 

YAI participants will be instrumental in every aspect of WDD’s programming, and will take on a variety of roles, including:

• Audience outreach 

• Teaching alongside WDD artists in workshops 

• Scenery design & construction

• Prop making

• Costume design & construction

• Music composition & performance

• Choreography & dance performance

• Experimental Lighting design 

• Stage management