Aysha Upchurch Departing VSA
Posted Saturday October 21 2017 at 4:48 pm.
Used tags: news, vsa
It is with bittersweet excitement that we announce the departure of Aysha Upchurch from VSA Massachusetts after three and a half years of service, laughter, creation and innovation within our COOL Schools programming, and across the organization. Aysha started with VSA in September 2014 as an Education Intern, and found that the internship was an invaluable complement to her coursework while in school at the Harvard Graduate School of Education -- it allowed her to ground the theoretical frameworks around school-community partnerships, inclusion, and arts integration strategies. She was delighted to join the staff full time in 2015 after her graduate studies to explore and implement coaching supports and professional development programming, also while bolstering the organization's framing of the intersectional and social justice nature of its work and mission.
Aysha took a moment to write her own words of gratitude:
My time at this organization, this family, has been invaluable to me as it has afforded me the opportunity to advance and support work I care about, all while becoming more plugged in to the Boston arts and education communities. When I came to the Boston area three years ago and survived the most evil winter I have ever experienced, I was certain that I would not stay. (I hate the winter.) However, weathering tundra-like temperatures became possible largely in part to the fantastic people I had the privilege to work with and learn from at VSA and the network of local community arts organizations. I believe deeply in the work that is being done for arts and inclusion in schools and the larger community. I also believe that teaching artists and community arts organizations have an indelible role in advancing truly progressive and equitable school reform, and it has been a pleasure to work for an organization that brings those voices into the conversation.
I am eternally grateful that I have been able to be in my role at VSA while also staying connected to academia as an instructor and artist -- with increasing opportunities of the latter sort. Given all of this, deciding to depart has been an emotional and difficult choice, but I also realized that my advocacy and fight would need to shift back to performance, research, and instruction with this new lens and experience from my time at VSA. I move on in professional title and duties, but with the same passion for inclusion and the arts in the new opportunities that await me at Salem State University, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and as an independent artist and consultant.
I will always treasure my time at VSA and the work I have gotten a chance to do. I will be dancing, teaching, and presenting all around the Boston area, so please don't think I'm fading away (visit my website to stay connected).
Aysha, on behalf of the VSA Massachusetts team and constituency, thank you for being you, and for bringing your vivacious presence as the Dancing Diplomat. We will miss you dearly, yet are thrilled for you. May you continue to change the world one kick-ball-change at a time!
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