Can you share with me who you are and your role with Creative Netwerk?

Morgan: My name is Morgan Nicole Martin and I am one of the Chicago Program Managers. I work with my partner in light, Mike D, on helping make sure that our instructors are not only trained plugged in to programming, working with our site partners, and all that good stuff. I have also really been working on the expansion of both our local programming and funding expansion as well.

Mike: And I am Mike D Chicago, the other half of Program Management for Creative Netwerk in Chicago. I am also one of the teachers of Creative Netwerk. As Morgan said, just expanding light, energy, and positivity and trying to have as much of an impact on the communities in need as possible. And also working on expansion and community partnerships.

What were the Navy Pier Workshops?

Mike: The Navy Pier workshops were free dance workshops over two days in the middle of the Navy Pier mall. If you’re a Chicagoan or you’ve visited Chicago, you know that Navy Pier is a big attraction for locals and tourists alike. Families will come into Navy Pier just to shop or sightsee, and then folks would run into these classes we were hosting and join in and participate. There were multiple classes from different instructors amongst our staff in the city of Chicago. And it was completely free for the community.

Morgan: This took place on March 29th and 30th. It was open to all ages.

Mike: Yes, there were classes with young little ones all the way up to seniors!

Did each day vary?

Mike: Yes, each day was different. The first day, I was expecting to be in this big designated room where people that signed up for the class would come and have some expectations of what they signed up for. When I got there, they had me right in the middle of the mall, with a lot of foot traffic going on. So the first day a lot of kids and parents were on the outskirts of the designated area, so I kept making announcements that the class was open to them if they wanted to join it. Then they joined in and stayed for the majority of the hour and a half class time. On the second day, it was a mixture of kids, but a lot of teenagers and adults that joined this time around. They just saw the dancing and heard the music and came to have fun. I usually do repetitive affirmations like “you got it, you got it”, so the people on the outside of the class were chanting these things even though they started out too nervous or scared to come to the front of the class. I thought that was super dope that I was able to engage with the people that were actually dancing as well as the people that were just cheering on the class.

How did this partnership come to be?

Mike: A young lady follows me on Instagram works for Navy Pier. She reached out and sent me a message about the opportunity and that she thought I would be a perfect fit for this. So I called up Kelli and we worked to get the paperwork in place to be a vendor and even be able to do that.

What was different about the preparation for these workshops compared to normal CN Chi programming?

Mike: I think prepped too much. Because it was nothing like I thought it was going to be! I had a whole choreography piece that I planned to teach but it ended up being so much less structured and we wanted to include people who came by and weren’t there for the whole time. There was a lot I didn’t know this time around compared to a normal Creative Netwerk class, like the age bracket and experience level that I’d be teaching. So I literally had to do an assessment based on whoever was walking across the mall and joining in. So I modified as I went, teaching things like a simple two step or call and response. It was amazing to feed off the energy in the room. I think the way I've been trained through my partners and my friends that do this work has prepared me for times such as this, you know, so it wasn't like a bad situation to scrap what I had prepared and rethink what was needed. We're just gonna meet everybody where they are at and just have as much fun as possible. 

How did these workshops relate to your day-to-day work with Creative Netwerk?

Morgan: I personally wasn't able to be there in person - Mike and I are often dividing and conquering - so you have multiple programs running at the same time. What's really cool is some of our teams that were in our After School Matters program were there at Navy Pier. For us, it's really cool when our teaching artists see us outside of the normal context working with them and being in the community. Programs like this really enhance the work that we do because the teaching artists see that we are using our gifts and talents out in the community and tag teaming there. It really highlights Creative Netwerk because it takes the work with the youth that we're doing, and then our teachers actually see us putting those skills into real life in real time. This type of programming also creates another outlet for our instructors to see how they can use their gifts and talents in another way.

Mike: Yes, and same goes for some of the Creative Netwerk students. There are twins that I first met teaching at the After School Matters program. Then, the second time seeing them was at the Navy Pier workshops, which was like a second icebreaker. You could see their faces light up when they saw me and go, “Oh, that's our teacher!” And we're talking about teens, so just to engage with them and have them see different applications of what they’re learning and be excited about it was so cool.

What did you learn and take away from the experience?

Mike: One of the takeaways for me was to not make assumptions about the accommodations. Because it was Navy Pier, I was expecting a headset, a good sound system. Once I got there, I found a little speaker and a handheld microphone, which I can’t really use because I’m using my arms and hands to demonstrate and teach. So I didn't use the mic and I projected my voice which was amazing too. That was also a good tool to show the teaching assistants that it’s okay to pivot and figure it out.

Morgan: I think at the end of the day, the biggest thing Mike and I talk about all the time is how we can share the gifts and talents of our instructors and everything that we do further integrated into what is already in the community. Of course, we have our set programs with Boys and Girls Clubs and After School Matters, but a big part of what we do is expanding the network in the city of Chicago. So being able to have a presence at live events at places like Navy Pier, where there are already things going on in the community, that’s something that we're continuing and wanting to do more of. So we’re looking forward to doing more of that!