Welcome to

Collaborative institute of cultural arts

Mission

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Collaborative Institute of Cultural Arts (CICA) is a non-for profit organization that focuses on providing quality art education to children, youth, and adults.

Teacher Model

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Those who work with CICA take on multiple jobs and roles in relationship to the students - acting as citizens, artists, teachers, and learners.

Team Building

The learning environment CICA offers is based on community group learning, sectional learning, frequent performances, and consistent individualized attention within and beyond the group setting.


The Year-Round OnGoing Learning Program

Collaborative Institute of Cultural Arts provides a year round progression and creative learning program that supports student’s transition from childhood into adulthood. CICA’s instructional community works toward a well-rounded unique artistic program despite social and financial hardships and differences; CICA works together to provide artistic and affordable quality learning. The sequence of the teaching process is aligned in congruence to the learning abilities and needs of each student, with the inclusion of continuous formal and informal performances and art shows. We focus on creating a positive social safe haven environment because we believe it is a factor in keeping the students engaged and motivated throughout their time with CICA.  

Social Emotional Learning

CICA structures itself upon a belief, how the development of social emotional learning can create an understanding of one’s identity. As a new organization, CICA understands the necessity of this learning, instructors are encouraged to implement social emotional learning into their lessons. At CICA participants develop their social emotional and intellectual side, as the arts become a source of development on the set of values that are essential to live as a positive contributing citizen and humble human being.

The most miserable thing about poverty is not the lack of bread, roof, money or physical possessions, but the feeling of being no one, the lack of identity, lack of public esteem and the feeling of being ignored.”
-Mother Teresa de Calcuta-

community and family engagement

Family participation is an essential aspiration of CICA. Family members are presented and guided with several ways to support student learning, forming an eager and enthusiastic core audience at all showcases. Instructors actively work to involve the community at large through outreach concerts, performances and art shows. CICA is a new organization located in Brighton Park Chicago that has wide open doors to the community. There is a constant flow and exchange between the inside work and outside relevance and values. CICA believes that a community is based on every individual that surrounds and influences the way we live, learn and interact. CICA is an organization that strives for a collaboration between the community (family, students, neighbors and instructors) in order to better guide the social/emotional and artistic development of each participant's set of skills. CICA looks forward to share a unified vision within our community (Students, Teachers and Parents) to provide our participants with a continuous, consistent, and coherent artistic experience across their stages of development.

emotional development within the family

CICA looks forward to working closely with families, we believe that fundamental social values are formed within homes and family interaction; therefore, parent unconditional support is essential.

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