ABOUT US

Marquis Studios is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing arts-­in­‐education services to 170 New York City public schools annually. We strive to develop a strong partnership between artists and teachers by providing arts programs to supplement traditional classroom teaching techniques. Each residency or workshop focuses on a specific visual or performing arts discipline selected by school staff and administration.

Founded in 1977, Marquis Studios has served over 500,000 students, 28,000 teachers and 18,000 parents at schools throughout New York City. Working with a diverse population, 80% of programs serve students living at or below the poverty line with over 50% of all grant-funded programming serving classrooms containing with disabilities.

Marquis Studios Offers:

  • Programming consisting of ten-week arts residencies taught by our staff of trained teaching artists.
  • A full spectrum of arts residencies that encourage student exploration of visual arts, theatre, music, dance architecture, circus arts and puppetry.
  • Custom designed programs to meet the educational goals set by the school through collaboration with Marquis Studios and classroom teachers.
  • Programs that address New York State Learning Standards, both in the arts and academic areas.
  • Professional development for classroom teachers to provide arts education techniques and concepts that can be brought back to the classroom.
  • Parent/Child Workshops that help parents understand the connection between arts and academics while providing a fun, hands­‐on experience parents and children can share.

OUR TEACHING ARTISTS

Marquis Studios employs 90 professional teaching artists whom specialize in a variety of disciplines. If you are interested in becoming a Teaching Artist visit our careers page.

  • Paris Alexandra

    Paris Alexandra is an Artist, Creative Wellness Practitioner, and Co-Owner of BK Yoga Club, a body positive yoga studio. As a Yoga teacher Teaching Artist, Paris utilizes song, poetry, and movement to inspire self love and transform narratives in beauty, health, & the arts. Paris curates spaces centered around growing in community, artistry, & health. She is a two time Brooklyn Arts Council grant recipient of the co-produced Brooklyn music series, “The Blue Nile BK.” Her creative arts practice includes over 13 years of facilitating in shelters, community centers, schools, colleges, and detention centers. Her workshops infuses the holistic healing practices of meditation, affirmation, and creative visualization

  • Babay L. Angles

    Babay L. Angles (Angelica Janabajal Tolentino) is a Pilipinx Brooklyn, NY-based choreographer, dancer, interdisciplinary performance artist, educator, and activist.  She was raised in South East San Diego, CA and Okinawa, Japan. She holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and a Masters of Arts in Urban Education and Social Justice with a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Social Studies. She has over ten years of experience as an educator, mental health worker, and grassroots organizer in South East San Diego and Oakland, CA.

    Babay L. Angles practices dance, ritual, storytelling, and community building in the languages of funk and soul.  She fuses Breakin’, Rocking, and Modern dance to create narratives of resistance to highlight the strength of people of color, womyn, queer communities, indigenous peoples and those at the margins.

    She is currently a 2nd year fellow for Betty’s Daughter Public Performance and Action Fellowship in 2018.  Her solo work, “May Malas Sa Loob Pero May Datating Pa,” explores the horrors and pains of a fragmented and maladaptive Pilipinx psyche in its process of decolonization.  It has been shown at Work Up 4.0 Gibney Dance, Minka Brooklyn, and the Hemispheric Institute.

  • Laine Barton

    Laine Barton, a theater, puppetry and circus artist, joyfully weaves theater, puppetry, movement and/or circus with a focus on literacy, social studies, and social justice into her residencies. Her programs, Last Night I dreamed the Circus, Mime Matters, The Science of Circus, Convince Me and The Brooklyn Bridge, among others, combine these elements into fun-filled, structured curricular experiences centered on the needs of students from early childhood into middle school. Laine’s theatrical and circus performances include the Kimtom Festival in Shanghai, China, summer fairs in the Western States, and locally for Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Metropolitan Opera, TV’s All My Children, and the Big Apple Circus CCU (was on staff for 14 years). Her shows “Why Read..” and “Grandpa’s Unicorn” can be seen at theaters, libraries and schools throughout the N.Y and N.J. area. Laine has been a Marquis Studios teaching artist since 2014.