Using Theatrical Performance for Student Empowerment; NorCal School of the Arts.

What happens when theater arts meet social-emotional learning and conflict resolution? Join me, Jeff Holden, in this thought-provoking episode as we shed light on the extraordinary work of the NorCal School of the Arts with Michele Hillen-Noufer, Executive Director. We'll explore how this organization seamlessly integrates music, theater, dance, and visual arts into educational settings and communities, benefiting everyone from pre-kindergarten students to adults. Michael, a former fourth-grade teacher turned program manager, shares his unique insights on merging theater arts with SEL, thanks to funding from sources such as the City of Sacramento, the CARES Act and the Department of Homeland Security.

This episode also highlights the essential role of arts-based Social-Emotonal Learning programs in fostering structure and routine for students, particularly those experiencing trauma. We discuss innovative methods like theater games and conflict resolution strategies that not only meet educational standards but also provide therapeutic benefits. The importance of trauma-informed, culturally relevant training for teaching artists is underscored, along with the newly introduced theater and dance credential in California, which opens up career pathways for aspiring teaching artists. Additionally, we delve into the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture in Sacramento, showcasing tools like the AEP6 calculator.

Lastly, we celebrate the profound influence of arts education on students, teachers, and the broader community. Hear about the life-changing benefits of grants, such as the $100,000 from Impact 100, and how they enable the organization to further its mission. From implementing conflict resolution and empathy-building practices in classrooms to exciting expansions in after-school programs, this episode is a testament to the lasting impact of arts education. Listen for inspiring personal anecdotes, logistical challenges, and innovative collaborations that make a real difference in students' lives.

To learn more about NorCal School of the Arts, visit: https://www.norcalsota.org/

Highlight Timestamps
(04:09 - 04:45) School Offers Programs K-12 and Adults
(07:52 - 09:09) Performing Arts Impact on Conflict Resolution
(17:11 - 18:25) Teaching Artists and Theater Credential Program
(21:57 - 24:41) Assessing Impact and Accountability for Grants
(29:04 - 30:44) Conflict Resolution Through Theater
(41:51 - 43:45) The Art of Teaching and Performing
(46:19 - 47:48) Water Conservation Play Collaboration in Community
(49:28 - 50:27) Empowering Education Through Unique Methods
Chapter Summaries
(00:02) Arts Education Nonprofit Overview
NorCal School for the Arts brings performing arts into schools, impacting economy and community through innovative approach and data collection.

(04:36) Theater Arts and Conflict Resolution Programs
Michael integrates theater arts with SEL and conflict resolution, aided by grants and therapeutic exercises for students.

(13:19) Implementing Arts-Based SEL Programs in

Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates and newsletter. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

00:02 - Jeff Holden (Host)
But you can say state funding is costing us. 

00:05 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah. 

00:05 - Jeff Holden (Host)
It could cost us something Right, and it's prolific in the nonprofit space. Right now, everybody's concerned because of the budget deficit number one. 

00:14 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Oh yeah, long lines to be there actually. 

00:18 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Right. 

00:21 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, great, yeah, great yeah. We just posted, actually, a calculator that arts organizations can go in and they can find out their exact impact on the region, based on their numbers. Yeah, and we just put that up, the AEP6 calculator, but yeah, you mentioned that. 

00:41 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's mentioned in here. Oh, okay, is that? 

00:42 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
great, yeah, oh yeah, Randy Cohen. I was like what the heck is that it's mentioned in here. Oh okay, Is that great? Yes, yeah, oh yeah, Randy Cohen. I was like what the heck is that it's just something I don't know. 

00:48 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Maybe it's a new bill or something I don't want to I'm not going to touch that one, but if you want to, I think you could say that. 

00:55 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes. 

00:56 - Jeff Holden (Host)
There's a calculator, is it it'll be on your website, or is it? 

00:59 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
on. Yes, it's on what I'm just looking right now. I mean it also talks about the economic, social impact of Sacramento, of Sacramento County, and you know there were 3,000 organizations that participated. You know personal income paid residents. I mean there's all this data. 

01:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah. 

01:20 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Because we just have to collect the data in order to continue to prove relevance and prove that we are. 

01:27 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Making a difference. 

01:28 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely impacting the economy. 

01:31 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's a big one, and for the other arts organizations who are saying, okay, we could use a little support here. 

01:37 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right, and they talk about event-related expenditures. The event-related expenditures when you go out to see a show and what that looks like. You know. 

01:46 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So we're not only supporting students in the classroom, but we're actually changing the dynamic in our community for performing arts. 

01:54 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right, absolutely All the way through. That's a good way to put it. 

01:57 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah and feel free to chime in, because there'll be a place to address that. 

02:02 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, oh, and there's so much to talk about. Yeah, there's so much to talk about. 

02:06 - Micheal (Guest)
There's a lot. There's a lot of like arms to NorCal too, I want to make sure that you're okay on time because we're starting almost 40 minutes in. 

02:13 - Jeff Holden (Host)
We'll probably be about 1230 by the time we're done. Okay, okay, sounds good, okay good, cool, were you recording all that. Yeah, I started to get us going, I stopped. Okay, good, good, okay. So I'll start. The introduction will come later. I'll start with a welcome and then just a little bit back and forth Thanks, happy to be here, blah, blah, and then I'll get into my thing. Sure, okay, ready, yeah, three, two, one, michelle, michael, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

02:54
Thank you for having us. We're happy to have you here. You know, I have to admit, you know I was way off base when you told me what the organization was all about, because I would think you know NorCal School for the Arts it's drawing and you know art, art stuff, that's tactile, haptic art, not performing arts. But it never dawned on me that what we're really talking about is taking performing arts into the school. Would you give us a high-level overview of what the organization is before we get into the details? 

03:28 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, absolutely. We are an arts education non-profit organization. So you know again, we do bring in the visual arts when it comes to the sets of the productions, but really the arts modalities that we're talking about are music, theater, dance. Am I missing one, mike? The visual arts. 

03:49
Those are the main ones that also can include poetry, it can include media arts. I mean, there's so much that goes on when you're putting on a production, but we bring educational opportunities to students during the school day after school. Educational opportunities to students during the school day after school. We have camps and classes on site, but also, again, the majority of the work that we're doing is in classrooms. 

04:15 - Jeff Holden (Host)
What grade levels do you serve? Is there a spectrum from kindergarten to high school, or what is it? 

04:24 - Micheal (Guest)
Yeah, we serve all the way from pre-kindergarten all the way to 12th grade and you know, look into we even, you know, work with adult members of the community on our productions. 

04:36 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, and Michael, if you could speak a little bit to your background, I think that would be helpful for everybody to understand from whence you came to how you got here Absolutely. 

04:48 - Micheal (Guest)
Yeah, a lot of my work experience is in classroom teaching. I was a, I ended up as a fourth grade teacher and then, after a little family tragedy, I left the teaching profession for a little while and came back into the nonprofit space, into arts education, and so currently I'm the program manager for our theater, arts and SEL program as well as our social emotional learning, and I work in our conflict resolution and theater arts outreach program, as well as the program manager. 

05:19 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So, as these programs are in the school, you have a greater deal of relevance and understanding to what some of those teachers are going through and what they're having to deal with, to where maybe you can help interpret the best way to work with the students. 

05:33 - Micheal (Guest)
Absolutely. Having stood in their shoes and done the overwhelming, sometimes work that they do, I know how to relate and how to develop our teaching artists to work in that environment. 

05:46 - Jeff Holden (Host)
I would imagine that anything we can do to help support them in a classroom is welcome in terms of what they have to deal with. Absolutely, michelle. How does the program get into a school? How does a school even know you exist? And then, if they find out about you, how do they get their classrooms integrated to where you can come and integrate or implement the program? 

06:11 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, so it started with the City of Sacramento CARES Act grant where we received a grant and we were actually already able to go into the classroom and offer that to the district and so really it can be grants that we receive. 

06:29
When we started at a school district, at Sac City Unified School District, the program was so popular they had us come back and double the number of classrooms that we were in the second year. So it's just become very popular among the classroom teachers that we've been able to grow it. So it could be. You know we do a lot of grant writing, a lot of just trying to continue the programs that we're already in the districts and the classrooms that we're already in and then provide even more. So we also had the Impact 100 grant that helped us take our conflict resolution theater arts integrated with conflict resolution to other districts and we received a Department of Homeland Security grant, for that was a two-year grant and that was a violence prevention grant. So the DHS recognizing the importance of these types of programs to build community, to engage students so that they can have authentic classroom relationships with fellow students, how to deal with conflict, how to recognize emotions, how to de-escalate emotions, so this was perfect for what they were trying to accomplish with their grant. 

07:48 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And we're going to talk a little bit more about funding in just a minute. Getting back to the classroom and what happens in the classroom with the students, from a performance standpoint, I'm just thinking, you know myself, there's a protocol for whatever that particular performance is that you're teaching, I'm assuming. But the students, especially in a conflicted situation, where maybe that student's, you know, isolated, not very vocal, maybe would open up in this situation because they get to impart the real them in character. Do you see that? How does the program actually work? What do you see? 

08:33
And maybe you know, let's start with conflict resolution, because that's a really easy one for me to wrap my head around. You know you have students all day long. It's just what kids do. You know there's problems and there's bullying and there's issues of conflict that don't get resolved necessarily in the classroom. But obviously there's something that happens with the performing arts of this that you know. If Homeland Security is willing to contribute, you know a significant amount of money to supporting the program. They see value in it. So what is it that happens in, let's say, with the Conflict Resolution Program first, and then we'll get into SEL. 

09:09 - Micheal (Guest)
Well, I've always seen theater arts as something that's very therapeutic, you know, I know that from a really young age, like a 9 or 10-year-old kid, you know getting to be part of theater camps and you know summer camps, those types of things. It's a great way to explore yourself. You know your different regions of your psyche, you know, and, um, you know, put on these, these different characters, and try on different, uh, you know, different aspects of of yourself, really, that you, you know, normally a kid wouldn't give themselves permission to do so. But theater says yes, we're. Yes, you know, as, when we're teaching improv, for instance, you know yes, and so it's a saying yes to like different, exploring different parts of yourself. And so, you know, it lends itself perfectly into exploring, okay, well, who am I in this community, in this, you know, the school, this classroom, and like, how can we use theater to explore these conflicts that are coming up? Explore, you know, and different aspects of ourselves and how that creates, you know, conflict. 

10:14 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Is. Can you give me an example of, maybe a situation in a school where you disarmed something as a result of the performance? Yeah we do hear that frequently, yeah well it's interesting because— I'm sure the teachers love that. 

10:31 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
It starts with theater games, it starts with theater exercises, and all of our lesson plans and all of our curriculum have the theater standards and the SEL standards as well ELA standards, so they're very standard-based ELA, just for the benefit of oh English. Language Arts. Thank you. 

10:51
So we're incorporating all of those because, again, you have to stay relevant to why we're in the classroom helping to support the goals of the classroom teacher. But I think the students start to learn things that are relevant to conflict resolution without knowing because they're having so much fun. But there have been stories where, you know, they've come in from the classroom and or they've come in from the recess into the theater arts classroom and something just happened and they literally unpack it using what they're learning in the class, which is the four steps of mindfulness and four steps of conflict resolution, and so that they're addressing that right there, which is, you know, is pretty exciting. A lot of role playing happens, though, prior to that, so they don't have to use something that's raw if it's not necessarily appropriate to the situation. 

11:41 - Micheal (Guest)
Definitely, and it really is. You know, we're helping create a framework for bullying, addressing bullying issues, addressing, you know, little spats between students. You know anything in between? Yeah? 

11:54 - Jeff Holden (Host)
What I think you said just a minute ago is the steps and the protocol, to make sure everybody understands. This isn't just coming in and learning some performance. You memorize your lines for a play. There's not only a full protocol, it's a curriculum. This is a platform, it's a course, so to speak, and it's every bit as detailed as anything else that a teacher would be doing. Speak to that a little bit, and maybe initially as a former teacher. 

12:24 - Micheal (Guest)
Definitely. I mean, you know, having gone through teacher training programs, through a master's in education, you learn a lot about creating curriculum, about you know structuring lessons and creating units. So I was very impressed with, immediately with what Michelle had put together in terms of you know, just a really solid structured curriculum that you know at the time was a 20 terms. Of you know just a really solid, structured curriculum that you know at the time was a 20-week program. You know it's going to go back to that as well, but it's, you know, it's really very targeted towards exactly you know a goal and an objective, which is you know how we structure every kind of lesson even when we're teaching fractions, which is how we structure every kind of lesson, even when we're teaching fractions. 

13:08
So I've lost my train of thought, though. Yeah, well, that's great. 

13:09 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
You were good Because it does act as a learning experience, professional development we won't say professional development, but it does act as that for the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher receives all the lesson plans. They learn the theater games alongside the students. So when we're not there, when the teaching artists leave, then the classroom teachers can still play those games with the students. For the conflict resolution portion of it we also had a contributor, kelsey Thompson-Briggs, who is an expert in the conflict resolution space, expert in the conflict resolution space, and she was just so helpful in collaborating on those lesson plans so that we could really marriage theater competencies with the SEL, conflict resolution competencies, weave those into all of the lesson plans. 

13:58 - Micheal (Guest)
Definitely, and just like any good lesson, all these lessons are standards-based. So, Michelle's taking the English language arts standards, all of our visual and performing arts standards for the state of California, and there's some national standards that have been developed for social emotional learning. So we're incorporating all of those to use as a guide to structure those lessons. 

14:19 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Let's go to the classroom just for a second. The protocol is there, the curriculum is there. What does that look like when you plug it in? And maybe that's more for the benefit of the teachers who are going to listen and hear it and go. Oh okay, I get it. What does that? What does it look like when you orient into a particular classroom or school? 

14:41 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, that's a good one. Well, as far as like what it includes. Yes, yeah, that's a good one. Well, as far as like what what it includes. Yes, well, as far as you know, for theater, you know you look at, uh, just my entire life when you walk into a theater class. What, what can you expect? You can expect to, you know, physically warm up your body, vocally warm up your body, do some improvisation games. Um, you know a, a moment where everybody is contributing. You know that you are going to be on the spot as the student sitting there at one time. 

15:10
We know that for students that are dealing with trauma, that a specific order is important for them to know what's coming next. So if they're like I love the improv game, but I really don't like the physical warmup or the vocal warmup or whatever it is that they might have an issue with, they know that it's going to move through that and we're going to get beyond that. So when they know the routine and there's a, there's a structure to it, I think that that helps them get on boards. You know pretty quickly after, by the second lesson, they know what's coming, but a different game, not the same improv game lesson. They know what's coming, but a different game, not the same improv game, and then you know we'll have like the main lesson of what we're what the learning is and then a wrap up. 

15:54
So it's pretty pretty well structured, but very similar to an acting class. 

15:56 - Jeff Holden (Host)
How long is the the session? Let's say in a in a classroom setting. Each workshop's about 60 minutes. 

16:02 - Micheal (Guest)
Okay, so about an hour? 

16:03 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, and do the teachers identify sometimes students that maybe could you focus over here or over there with that particular student who maybe has a need or has experienced something, but this may really benefit them. 

16:19 - Micheal (Guest)
Absolutely. I mean a lot of our students in this area are going through so much. You know very tough circumstances for such young people and you know our classroom teachers, local educators, really understand that. So I mean I always ask them to brief our teaching artists on what's going on in the room and so that they can have a better sense of what the needs are there. So yeah, definitely the teachers will identify certain students that need extra support or, you know, a gentler touch. 

16:48 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right To be careful not to drive too hard into their Absolutely yeah and our teaching artists are incredibly intuitive and they're you know, mike does wonderful training on classroom management. So they're trained in social, emotional learning strategies. They're trained in trauma informed and culturally relevant and just again that classroom management. So we're constantly doing trainings for our teaching artists, which are always so fun. You get a lot of theater people in one room and it gets to be. 

17:19 - Jeff Holden (Host)
I can imagine it's their fun. 

17:22 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, they're entertaining and just amazing people. 

17:25 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And there's not always. Or is there always a teaching artist in the school during the session, during that our session? Does that always include a teaching artist? 

17:36 - Micheal (Guest)
absolutely that's our. That's. Our job is to bring our teaching artists and uh right into the classroom, at least, at least for this program. Okay, yes. 

17:45 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
And the wonderful thing about this is that my other hat that I wear is I teach at Sac State and I wrote and helped to develop the theater and dance credential. Because there is the new theater and dance credential in the state of California, so some of our teaching artists may go on to get their theater credential now that there are funds through Prop 28 to have those. What did I say? The theater credential? 

18:10
Yeah, the teaching credential, the teaching theater, credential in the theater realm. But so we will have that ability to potentially inspire them to potentially do that if they want to do that. 

18:26 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And that's actually a nice little diversion, because there was just recently a study that revealed $241 million in economic impact from nonprofit arts and culture in Sacramento. $241 million million dollars. And so we move. Not only do we move our students through to benefit them in so many ways in the classroom, but, should they choose to move into the field, they now are a participant in our greater economic impact. And then, as we were talking a little bit earlier, michelle, you were saying the teaching artists. Now they're performing artists and they have an economic impact because they're the people we go to see. 

19:09 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
And benefit. 

19:11 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So there's a really huge web of value that could potentially start in the classroom just from what you're doing here with the students, not to mention the benefit in the classroom of the social-emotional learning and the overall conflict resolution that helps the teacher teach easier. I guess in some way, shape or form, I'm sure they would say well, yeah that's just scratching the very surface, but it's beneficial. 

19:44 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, and that really you know looking at cross-sector work, you know bringing the arts into another entity, like we do with conflict resolution, with violence prevention, all of that. There are so many opportunities beyond what we're already the arts sector, arts is contributing to the economy. There are so many other ways that is currently happening due to this cross-sector work, sector work. The one thing I wanted to say about that is you know, the AEP6 involved nonprofit arts organizations in Sac. 

20:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
County providing data. Yeah, and let's talk just a little bit more in detail. Aep6 is what? 

20:25 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
The Arts and Economic Prosperity. 

20:30 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Oh, good, that was even better. I wasn't even expecting that much out of it. 

20:33 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, yes, arts and Economic Prosperity Study, and that was it's provided by American for the Arts. 

20:40 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Okay, and that data of impact is something you have available to, where it's easily accessible for anybody who wants to see what that impact was. 

20:49 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right. So I'm on the board of the Sacramento Alliance for Regional Arts and we were a part of making sure that the arts organizations in the county filled out that survey so we could collect that data, and we currently on our website info at artsforsacorg sorry, artsforsacorg we have a calculator where an organization can go in and put in some data and get their impact. So if we're writing grants, then we can have that available to us. So it's really important because the arts sector arts and culture sector is a big contributor. We provide employment, we are getting people out, and it's not only economically but also just socially and people need this. Especially after the pandemic we learned we need connection and the arts help us do that in the community. 

21:44 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Not only do we see the value through a study like this, but I would imagine there's probably some sort of I want to say grading, because I don't know what else you might call it but through the classroom performances. How do you measure effectiveness of the program? Because with the kind of money that you get from those grants, I know they're going to look for accountability. What does that look like? 

22:08 - Micheal (Guest)
Absolutely Well. A lot of our data comes from surveys of our classroom teachers. So, as I mentioned, we're bringing a teaching artist an experienced artist that is also a teacher into the classroom to work hand-in-hand with a classroom teacher, and so we ask our classroom teachers, as often as they can hopefully every week, every time they have a session with us to fill out this feedback survey, and it asks them a couple number of metrics to, you know, to rate their experience and to give a little feedback on how the process is going for them. And so we use that data to assess where we're at and, you know, assess the impact and the success of the program. 

22:46 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, you know, michelle, you mentioned a little bit of the funding. We kind of scratched the surface of that. But getting into it a little bit deeper, impact 100 was a $100,000 grant. That's a huge amount of money, you know, just locally for the organization. What sort of presentation, what did they want to see? What was important for you to share, to be able to demonstrate that you were worthy of a gift that large, to be able to demonstrate that you were worthy of a gift that large, right? 

23:14 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, you know it's interesting because I think that what we're doing is resonating with a lot of people. We all can see you turn the news on. I mean, every morning when I watch the news and I see how people are not able to work through their emotions, they're not able to recognize what we're trying to teach the students about conflict. Conflict is not a bad thing, it's a human thing and it's an opportunity for deeper understanding of what's happening, of the other person and their perspective. And this is what resonated with the community that voted in Impact 100, that we're using arts as a tool to reach the students in that way and that there will be a system that they can think about. You know how should I go from feeling this way to you know, approaching this person and sharing my feelings and then coming to some sort of resolve? But also, you know how is that going to continue? 

24:11
The fact that the teaching artists have the lesson plans and they get the curriculum means that they can use it for years to come. So we're not just impacting that, we're impacting classrooms for many years because the classroom teachers may utilize that. We bring big boards that have the four steps of nonviolent communication so that board lives there and so the students can always turn and look at that. Have the four steps of nonviolent communication so that board lives there and so the students can always turn and look at that in the classroom. So I think that was part of it. And also, you know, recognizing. I think at the time National Alliance on Mental Illness had put out a percentage of students that had seriously considered suicide. 

24:56
And it's like 19% of high school students have seriously considered suicide. And that's our students are suffering, and a lot of that is the technology that they're not communicating in the same way that I did when I grew up Right, because you had to look at each other face-to-face, there was no texting and, sadly, the pandemic forced them into the technology way faster than they may have been. 

25:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Naturally it was headed that way. But when you shut everything down and there's no communication because there's no physical interaction, over a course of almost two years, you're forced into the technology. And then the technology does what it's showing to be doing, you know, and it's causing the disassociation with, you know, interaction, which is everything we need. Community, I agree. Yeah, we need that classroom interaction and yeah, it's. 

25:48 - Micheal (Guest)
It's a, it's an unfortunate situation and our over reliance of that digital communication just makes everybody more and more dissociative every day and disconnected. But you know, theater is, I guess, at least for me, the antidote, the ultimate antidote for that, because it is about face-to-face communication and being in the moment with somebody that you can't get anywhere else Right, and it doesn't work digitally. 

26:12 - Jeff Holden (Host)
You know a visceral sense in talking to somebody versus talking to a screen. And you get it. If you say something, you can see a wince or a movement or whatever, whereas on the screen you may just see a face. So you don't know what else is going on. You don't know what that body language looks like, but on a stage or even in a classroom setting, not only are you experiencing it as the person performing but the recipient of your actions is aware and the whole observation of the classroom is there. 

26:51 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, and you had asked for some examples and I'm just trying to think examples and I'm just trying to think, you know. One that comes to mind is for the younger kids, captain Kindness and just practicing empathy through role playing. But you know, they love the opportunity to be Captain Kindness and to come over. You know whether it's offering a statement of empathy or whether or not it's learning an apology circle, learning how to apologize. 

27:13
you know from the heart and not the head, and what does an authentic apology look like and why is it important in this ecosystem of classroom? You know. 

27:21 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And so with these little guys, you get to call them out on that. No, really mean it, I'm imagining is something like that would go. 

27:28 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, well, we'll use a book and then of a story of a character that has a hard time with apologizing, and then they get to become that character and turn to the person and apologize and the next person has to practice receiving the apology. So these are just I mean, there's so many of these games and examples and other games for the older students, but all developmentally appropriate based on the grade that they're in. 

27:54 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Oh, that has to be. That just has to be a blast as a teacher seeing some of this going on. 

27:59 - Micheal (Guest)
Yeah, a lot of this. Sel, this social-emotional learning, is firstly about increasing awareness. You know, awareness of the movements of emotions within yourself and awareness of others. You know which is empathy, you know where are they at and then you know how do we meet in the middle. And so, you know, a lot of these activities are directed towards this increasing one's empathy and one's sense of awareness of what's happening. 

28:26 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Well, and how significant to catch that early start, that early you know whether it's first grade, second grade, third grade. Those are all still very formative years for the students to pick up on some of that before they start building the walls and the masks and the facades of what they need to do to survive. 

28:46 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, and that goes into a lot of our programming. You know, if they want to start, oh, our fourth graders really need it, I'm like'm like, okay, let's do fourth grade, but my, I encourage you to also start with the younger grades because every year, if, if they're receiving these messages, you know it becomes a part of them. The idea behind the the conflict resolution, violence prevention through theater idea I started thinking about how, as an actor, we practice our lines, we memorize our lines and we walk out on stage in a very stressful situation, regardless of how long you've practiced, regardless of how long you've been doing it. Opening night is nerve wracking. 

29:26
It's your first time in front of an audience and I started thinking about there have been times when I've walked out on stage and been you know, just like you know that deer in headlights, like oh my gosh, but I relied on my rehearsal and you just take one foot in front of the other, right, mike? 

29:44
You know this because you have a background in performing as well. It's one foot in front of the other and you keep going and I thought to myself it's a similar thing to when you're in conflict and you have that and you're overcome by your emotions. You don't know what to do that if the students had a script that they had practiced over and over like ideally they would have this year after year after year that they knew they had something to lean on when the emotions were too big, I'm going to go over here, I'm going to take some breaths, I'm going to do some mindfulness and then I'm going to allow for some reflection time. Whatever it is that they would have that script that we as actors have in those moments that are terrifying when you walk out in front of an audience. 

30:30 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And so much better to start young, to have that script with you as you go through, when the times really get even more challenging, because it doesn't get easier as we age. 

30:41 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Absolutely. Yeah, right, exactly, exactly. 

30:44 - Micheal (Guest)
It's. I mean, I think it really it fosters, you know, a really. It just is the perfect timing for them in their level of development, especially these young grades, our program and these methodologies of nonviolent communication, social-emotional learning, it just fits exactly where they're at where they're at, but to get to put it in a fun container with theater and get to participate in all the gifts that it brings, I think it's a cool opportunity for them. 

31:18 - Jeff Holden (Host)
I'm sure the teachers just love what they see too from the development of the students. Not only the fact that it's a break for them in some way, shape or form they have a third party come in which allows them to decompress a little bit. It does shape or form. They have a third party come in which allows them to decompress a little bit, but over time. I would imagine that your readmission or recurrence in certain schools is they want it every year. 

31:41 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, absolutely yeah, the classroom teachers are emailing us often like what's going on for next year? How do I sign up? 

31:48 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, I don't want you to go away, but at some point do you run out of opportunity because of funding? 

31:55 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Well, you know, prop 28 is going to be pretty wonderful. For that, eighty percent of the Prop 28 money needs to go to credentialed teachers, as it should, and the 20 percent, though, can be used for community-based organizations, cbos like NorCal Arts, and so, through Prop 28, I believe, and through continued grant writing, I believe that that will continue we are putting the curriculum on it's on a portal, web portal, so that other you know, not necessarily in Northern California, but other places can also have access to that. So that's something that I've been working on doing to have greater access, and, through a conference that I went to with the Department of Homeland Security, people all over the country are very interested in getting a hold of this curriculum. The other thing with the Prop 28 is again, at the end of the day, it's arts based theater, arts, you know, curriculum and lesson plans that we're utilizing. So I've been teaching a children's theater class at Sac State for students that are going to go on to be educators, so they've been getting a lot of theater integrated with SDS strategies. 

33:03 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Just a little subtle way to get this into the classroom, regardless of the program, right. 

33:07 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, Theater everywhere all the time. Yes, absolutely. Just because again, you know, you look at the competencies theater competencies and you've got collaboration, you learn communication. So many benefits, confidence, confidence in speaking and absolutely it's just. It's really a wonderful tool. 

33:29 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Let's talk a little bit about funding. Now for real funding how many paid people are on staff? 

33:36 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
We currently have 60 employees, about 10 full-time employees. We have about 50 teaching artists. That are in the classrooms, because, again, we're doing this program. We're also in the after-school space providing dance, music, theater classes, as well as full productions. We put on what is it? 24 productions sites. 

34:00 - Jeff Holden (Host)
A year. 

34:01 - Micheal (Guest)
This last school year alone, 24 sites. Current school year yeah. 

34:05 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
That's a lot. It is a lot. 

34:07 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's 24 events that you're creating on top of the other curriculum and in school and in the classroom. How many classrooms are you in at any given point in time, so to speak? 

34:17 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
As far as 10-week residencies we had about, I would say 500, close to between 450 and 500 this year, and that's the 10-week residencies, whether it was 10 weeks of theater arts integrated with SEL or 10 weeks integrated with conflict resolution Wow, that's a lot. Yes, yeah. 

34:39 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So you're one of the bigger organizations relatively speaking when you look at nonprofits across the community $2 million plus budget $100,000 from Impact 100, which was great because that's really all local. And then you mentioned your Homeland Security grant of $600,000 over two years. So $300,000 a year there. How else do you fund the organization? What other things do you do to grant writing? I think you mentioned. 

35:08 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, grant writing. We'll have service contracts where districts they will find through their grant funding they will engage with us. 

35:19 - Micheal (Guest)
Oh fee for service, Absolutely yes. 

35:22 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
So through the grants that they're getting whether those are social, emotional learning grants from the CDE but we're able to contract with districts for other funding that they have under funding sources. One, the thing that we are we are currently doing an expansion into the afterschool space as a primary provider and we're providing an arts-based afterschool program. So that is something brand new we are currently we have 50 teaching artists, 10 full-time, and we're now hiring about 40 to 45 more in the summer 40 to 45 more lead teaching artists but they're lead team leaders in the after-school space and also program managers and assistant program managers. So we're currently hiring. 

36:10 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's amazing. Yeah, it's great to hear too. 

36:13 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Absolutely, because those again being able to bring so many of the arts modalities to students who may not have had the opportunity to experience them. We're going to infuse that in our after-school program, so we're very excited about that. We're going to be starting in five schools in July and August. 

36:32 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Okay, in the fee-for-service space, are you finding that the opportunity is still there, given the state's budget situation? 

36:45 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, because Prop 28 was passed. So that's definitely an option. Well, prop 28 was passed, so that's definitely an option. You know, as quickly as we are trying to get people credentialed with the theater and dance credential there still is, that you know there's going to be those couple years where it's going to take the state to get to. I think they have to hire some 15,000 arts teachers theater. You know to what the all the districts are looking for these teachers um. 

37:15 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So which isn't necessarily too bad, because you've got these performing artists and teaching artists who can move into some of these roles yes, absolutely and so you know we're about to hire all of these. 

37:25 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Um, probably most of them will be college students that are looking to go into education, looking to go into the arts, and we're going to be able to bring them on, help train them, get them you know they're all get them inspired and then they can move on to potentially getting their credentials. So we definitely feel like we are a portal and a pipeline to helping staff all of the districts with their theater, dance and music teachers. 

37:51 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, they're coming in more prepared than they might otherwise be. Yes, they've already been in a classroom. Yes, they've been experiencing what the situation is like at varying grade levels. 

38:01 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
And oftentimes what the districts are finding because they're contacting some of them are contacting me to try to find artists. 

38:07
Teaching teachers, theater teachers is they are finding that everybody's like. But I want to teach high school. They all want to teach high school, but I think through our program they're falling in love with bringing the arts to different age groups, to kinders. I mean it's through this program that I fell in love with teaching kinders. I was like when I retire from doing what I'm doing, I want to become a kinder teacher because they are so fun in seeing their. I mean they just open up my own artistry watching how they approach the arts. 

38:42 - Jeff Holden (Host)
They're still receptive. They haven't learned how not to be receptive to whatever it is? 

38:49 - Micheal (Guest)
What I've found from also being a teaching artist with NorCal is they're so imaginative. Imagination comes very natural to them To teach theater to adults or even college students. 

38:59 - Jeff Holden (Host)
There's no judgment in kindergarten, first grade. 

39:02 - Micheal (Guest)
So many filters and so many insecurities and they're holding back even when they get to middle school or high school. But kids will go right there with you you know, right into the realm of imagination, and that's how great characters are cultivated. 

39:17 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Well, I can see both of your pleasure in it, just by the emotion that comes out when you're talking about it. 

39:22 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yeah, you know our lesson plans. We have a lot of visuals for our emerging bilingual learners and we have someone coming in to do some training on that and we also have a SPED teacher, a special ed teacher, on our staff who has trained our teaching artists in, you know, because we are in a lot of special education classes as well, bringing our arts programming. So I really feel like all of our teaching artists have not only and I always say you love your art, whether that's theater or music or dance, but then there's the art of teaching and I really feel like just all of the artists being together and training and doing this work and sharing ideas and sharing the challenges that they might have in the classroom, they are inspired with working on their art of teaching. 

40:16 - Jeff Holden (Host)
We have a captive audience right now. If somebody's listened through this far, they have an interest, they're curious to know a little bit more. What is the greatest need in terms of what you're looking at for the organization to continue to grow, to be able to provide more in the classroom? What would you say to somebody with a great interest as we're sitting here today? 

40:41 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
That's a great question. I would say we're looking, you know, we are looking for multiple spaces around, like we have a satellite summer performing arts camp that we're doing in Rancho Cordova. So, you know, looking for opportunities for space is always, you know, a good thing. Of course, everybody needs space, right? 

41:02 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And by space, how much are you talking? I mean, I'm visualizing like a warehouse stage setup, but you don't need something that big, do you? Oh, yes, you do. Sure, we'll take that for sure. Anybody want to be like the. 

41:14 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
You know whatever their name is, performing arts. You know organ building. We will name it after you. 

41:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
All that aside, Ethan Conrad sitting on a bunch of property that I know is vacant. There we go. 

41:24 - Micheal (Guest)
Okay, yeah, absolutely yeah rehearsal space, space to run. You know our classes. We have many. You know classes that you know. Norcal proper runs Performance spaces obviously yeah, classrooms. 

41:38 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
You know it's. We want to continue, you know and I would say you know, Mike, with all your amazing trainings we want to continue to inspire people who love their art form to pass it on. I think about this story. I'll never forget it. I was a ballet dancer. I started, you know, I grew up doing dance and I remember my father. I was in the car and he said well, you know. He said what do you want to do? And I was like I want to be a dancer, I want to be a performer. And he said oh, maybe you could maybe teach too on the side. And I said oh, no, no, no, I'm going to perform. He said, oh, you must not love it enough yet. 

42:15 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's what he said to me Interesting. 

42:19 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
He said you must not love it enough. 

42:20
And I remember I've always like filed that away because I was like what does he mean by that? 

42:25
And when you love something so much you want to pass it on. Another experience I had was I worked in the summers at Interlochen Music Camp, which is a performing arts camp in northern Michigan, and Itzhak Perlman was performing for all. We would all come, all the staff and the students would go and hear these amazing concerts, and he performed and he said, acknowledging that a lot of the audience were classroom teachers that would work at Interlochen during the summer, and he made the statement something like I am a professional violinist because I'm not talented enough to be a teacher. So really acknowledging that art of teaching, and that just kept with, that just stayed with me, you know, acknowledging that, the talents and the gifts of these classroom teachers, and we have been so inspired by the commitment of these classroom teachers and how important what they are doing in the classroom, what it means to them that when we go in there our teaching artists want to do the best job possible to make a difference and to just support the classroom teacher. 

43:30 - Jeff Holden (Host)
How commendable to make a difference and to just support the classroom teacher. How commendable. That's an unusual ask from what we normally hear. Many times it's just can you open up a wallet and send us money? And occasionally we'll hear we need people, we can't get people. It sounds like you've got those two challenging issues for most nonprofits in pretty good shape. Yes, not that I'm sure you couldn't always use more. Oh yeah, I'm sure. 

43:59 - Micheal (Guest)
But the heart of our people. It's amazing. You can see it all the time, anytime you walk into a classroom, a bars or a rehearsal space. Our teaching artists bring a lot of heart into what they do and a lot of just a sense of fun. That's really infectious for the kids. 

44:17 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And I'll bet that makes it easier to get them to participate with the organization. Yeah, you know you're not struggling, you've got great word of mouth. It's a paid gig, yeah, and it's rewarding. It's really rewarding, absolutely. 

44:32 - Micheal (Guest)
And it's really hard to train employees to care, and that's something that I never have to worry about with our staff. 

44:40 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's a great line. Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful to hear. One of the things I ask everybody is collaboration. You know who do you associate with in the community from maybe other nonprofits. Is there any integration with other organizations that you see that they come to you or you go to them? Who might? 

45:01 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
that be. You know well, I'll give an example. 

45:04 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So the Regional Water Authority had heard— I saw that on the website I was scratching my head going what I know. How does that fit in? 

45:12 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right. The Regional Water Authority had heard what we were doing with the cross-sector work, with violence prevention, and so they approached us when the Creative Corps grant came through and said do you think we have this important message of water conservation? Do you think that your artists could, we could collaborate and you could put this out there? And I was like yes of course, the first rule of improvisation yes, and. 

45:39
Of course we will do this. So that grant was twofold, in that the Creative Corps grant was cross-sector but it was also employing artists, and so what a wonderful opportunity for our teaching artists to write the play, to write the PSA. We have a public service announcement that is also out there, um and to to bring that to the community. So we have partnered with this particular play. We have partnered with um fairy tale town with mosac, with nimbus fish, hatchery fish hatchery Fish hatchery. Thank you With. The list goes on. La Familia with the. 

46:23
Crocker with we're working on, hopefully, potentially with the zoo, bringing this water conservation play called Drip Drop Hip Hop A Journey Through the American Watershed. And I just want to give a shout out to Julia Flores pop a journey through the american watershed. And I just want to give a shout out to julia flores, our program manager, who really helped the artists collaborate on the writing of it and really took the helm on that and I think that's that's unique, that is really unique. 

46:50 - Jeff Holden (Host)
but you're starting it. The kids, kids, whatever level they are, take that home, they're practicing and it just subtly embeds they are. Take that home, they're practicing, and it just subtly embeds water conservation somehow some way, as they're practicing and performing for their parents and as you roll out the play, obviously it becomes even more and more a factor Well the press and the PR that comes out of the benefit of that. 

47:13 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, well, in this one in particular, it was the teaching artists and the actors that were presenting it, but we did have some classrooms in the older grades where the classrooms actually performed it, so it was both. 

47:28 - Jeff Holden (Host)
It was both. 

47:28 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
But mostly it was our actors, the actors in our company, that were doing that. 

47:34 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yeah, and the way that you're connecting that throughout the community through the organizations that you just mentioned, some of who we'll be speaking with soon. So I'm excited because I share some of the stories that come from one organization to another in those discussions. 

47:48 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Right. 

47:48 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And part of what we hope to do is to also be a catalyst to introduction and cross-pollination and collaboration, because so many times they don't even know the other organization exists, and we were speaking with somebody just yesterday. We don't want you to be a best-kept secret. We want everybody to know about you in any way, shape or form that we can. 

48:12 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, and I would be amiss to not mention the City of Rancho Cordova and the. 

48:17
Enhancement Fund grant that has been really vital in helping us be in the Rancho Cordova community. And you know I'm just trying to think of other partnerships in the Creative Corps grant that came ultimately from the California Arts Council and then all the California Arts Council grants. And we know that there have been proposed cuts to the California Arts Council and that is such an important organization to the arts organizations in the state of California and just really elevating the ecosystem of the arts in Sacramento and making sure that there's equity and that students that wouldn't normally get the arts education you know opportunities that they have those. So yeah, hopefully there will be no cuts to the California Arts Council in the arts state. You know the state budget. 

49:09 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Hopefully, not Unfortunately. 

49:11 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
I know they have a lot to do, but yes, of course Agreed, we understand there are lots of priorities, but and there's a lot of people not happy. 

49:17 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yes, I know we understand. There are lots of priorities and there's a lot of people not happy. 

49:18 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, I know. 

49:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Including the population at large. How do we end up with a deficit like that, right? Well, you both have been wonderful. Thanks, jeff. I'm a huge fan of education and sat on a board for a variety of different educational nonprofits over the course of my time in Sacramento and I think you can do so much with education. You know it breaks the cycles of poverty and it changes the dynamics of families and economies and cities and community. So the fact that you guys are doing what you're doing in such a unique way is exposing so many more students to something that maybe they never would have had the opportunity to see, feel, experience, know. And you do it through the support of teachers, who are the lifeblood of the educational system. We have to have them well in order to do what they do, because they're so, so important, because they're so, so important. So thank you for such a neat approach to it and for such a commitment to both the arts and the students, because it's the combination of both that pushes it out into the community. 

50:28 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Thank you, jeff. Thank you, thank you for having us, Absolutely my pleasure. 

50:32 - Micheal (Guest)
Thank you for seeing that deeply. 

50:33 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yes. 

50:34 - Micheal (Guest)
That's the deep level of seeing. So thank you Well, thank you Thank you. 

50:36 - Jeff Holden (Host)
That's the deep level of seeing. So thank you, thank you, thank you. That's that. 

50:40 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
We're good there's one thing I forgot to say. 

50:43 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Okay. 

50:43 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
What. 

50:45 - Jeff Holden (Host)
I don't know, are we still running, we still good? He heard you. 

50:48 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
So you had asked about how we measure and I wanted to share and I went past me that yeah. 

51:00 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So, michelle, getting a little bit deeper into how you're measured, whether it be key performance indicators, kpis or metrics, what is? 

51:11 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
it that what we have been able to do with an entire school is track those behavioral scores, the behavioral statistics. To track the behavioral statistics prior to the program and then, through the help of Michael Nguyen from Sac State, he's helping us with presenting the collaborating the data, the what are the statistics after the program. So we are tracking and following. Are we making a difference in the classroom? Are we making a difference to these students? 

51:48 - Jeff Holden (Host)
So that's just, you know something, that's and you incorporated our anchor university to help with the integration of that data. 

51:53 - Michele Hillen-Noufer (Guest)
Yes, that's right, and he's joining our advisory board, which we're super excited about. 

51:57 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And I imagine that would enhance the presentation for grants when you have that sort of attachment to data. Exactly, yeah, I didn't mention that. 

52:07 - Micheal (Guest)
Yeah, we developed a student survey for grades four through 12 that asked them to you know rate their own understanding of conflict resolution and nonviolent communication before you know, or in own understanding of conflict resolution and nonviolent communication before you know, or in the early stages of the 10-week program and afterward. 

52:22 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Oh, wonderful, yeah, so you get the pre and the post. 

52:25 - Micheal (Guest)
Absolutely yeah, yeah. 

52:29 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Good.