2018-11-15T19:18:58-06:00 2017-12-31 BRUCE E BERNSTIEN & ASSOCIATES 10440 N CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY STE 1040 DALLAS TX 75231 990 2017-01-01 342038797 29 PIECES % KAREN BLESSEN 29PI 2147701219 6327 Vickery Blvd dallas TX 75214 KAREN BLESSEN founder 2147701219 2018-11-15 true BRUCE E BERNSTIEN P01424343 2147060840 66.196.249.54 75901220183195000027 2018-11-15 P 0C2E5B42A0002C7C3CC4D11F92BC4F176C6F914F 595337210D422B070848ABD885C9FFEC9F98D423 2017 2019-02-21 02:37:17Z X today Karen Isbell 6327 Vickery Blvd dallas TX 75214 254136 false X www.29Pieces.org X 2005 TX 29 PIECES USES ART TO AWAKEN, UPLIFT AND GIVE VOICE TO THE CREATIVE HUMAN SPIRIT TO MAKE GENUINE, POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE. 6 5 2 6 0 274094 245194 5107 7800 0 0 -979 1142 278222 254136 4286 0 0 0 67043 53909 0 0 0 214783 88840 286112 142749 -7890 111387 41210 147120 7082 1705 34128 145415 29 PIECES USES ART TO AWAKEN, UPLIFT AND GIVE VOICE TO THE CREATIVE HUMAN SPIRIT TO MAKE GENUINE, POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE. false false 128555 133942 in 2017, 29 pieces focused on expanding our education program, artists making a kinder world, and successfully realized growth in this area. not only did we achieve our goals of creating 3 new lessons and scaling the program through offering regional teacher trainings, but our efforts led to some new opportunities. -new curriculum developmen: 29 pieces created three new curricular modules, curiosity, forgiveness and souls hidden; piloted these three lessnons among teachers in spring 2017; and trained teachers in these and other lessons in fall 2017. the curiosity lesson is based on a line by persian poet, mahmud shabestari:"cleave the heart of a raindrop, a hundred pure oceans will pour forth." the lesson involves wonder of the natural world and particularly the water cycle. Students learn about their connection to water and why the protection of our water sources is important to us all. Students create their own visual signage, which they use to make water-resist prints. The objective is to elicit curiosity, to think about ways to create an ecologically harmonious relationship with water, and to encourage seeing water and all aspects of the natural world with curiosity and wonder. the forgiveness lesson is based on a line from st. therese of lisieux:"i see no imprint of mh sins. in a moment, love has burned everything." Students are invited to enter a quiet space for creating accordion journals, using color and shapes to move through a process of forgiveness: reflection, visualization, acceptance, and release. The objective is to provide a safe and positive way for students to identify wrongdoing and to equip them with methods for conflict resolution they can continue to practice. the souls hidden lesson is based on a line by rabbi abraham lsaac kook:"come. enjoy. come, find peace. taste delight." students learn about various cultural traditions and make three-dimensional assemblage projects to memorialize ancestors, unseen souls, those who are far off, or even those who are yet to be. The objective is to help students validate their own heritage and to learn about respect of other cultures. -TEACHER TRAINING: 29 Pieces trained 210 teachers in the DISD Samuell Feeder Pattern schools of Southeast Dallas and Garland ISD teachers of Pathfinder Achievement Center in the three new lessons. Additionally, we trained 32 art teachers in Birdville ISD in the FORGIVENESS and LOVE lessons and 60 art teachers in DISD in the LOVE, RESPECT, HEROES & HEROINES, and GREAT PEACEMAKERS lessons. Additionally, 29 Pieces presented the SANCTUARY lesson to 30 teachers of the Dallas Irma Rangel Young Womens Leadership School and the RESPECT lesson to 36 teachers of the Grand Prairie Young Womens Leadership Academy. The 360+ teachers trained represent over 50,000 students. NEW OPPORTUNITIES: Our work in schools led us to deepened awareness of challenges that students in poverty face as well as to the burdens that teachers carry in serving their students. Our more intimate awareness of teachers fatiguing workload and the enormity of students life challenges opened three new opportunities for educational program development going forward: -HOPE LESSON: We began creating a new lesson on HOPE with the aim to serve the resiliency and self-efficacy of students and teachers experiencing duress. -DREAMCATCHER LESSON: We began conceptualizing a new lesson on DREAMCATCHERS with the aim to use art to give students the opportunity to learn Native American history and also to create a piece of art in which the student puts the recipient first as that is the intent of Dreamcatchers. -UNT TEACHER PROJECT: 29 Pieces is in exploratory conversations with Dr. John Gasko of the Emerging Teacher Institute at UNT Dallas about partnering on a civic initiative by which to serve, celebrate and elevate D-FW teachers. We anticipate using art workshops as a means of inquiry into the needs of often overstretched and under-resourced D-FW educators and will seek to raise public awareness as a means of advocating for increased support. -DIGITAL LEGACY: Recognition of teachers limited resources and capacities has led us to further enhance the accessibility of our educational curriculum. We have begun plans for a digital platform which will make all of our lessons and implementation instruction available free of cost to any potential user. This project will involve web development, video production, and marketing planning. NEW INTERFAITH/INTERCULTURAL WORKSHOPS: We also saw opportunity to respond to heightened heightening suspicion, hate, and violence in the wake of the 2016 election by offering our education lessons as community workshops serving intercultural and interfaith understanding. We facilitated our RESPECT lesson among Muslim and Christian groups in October 2017, and that success led us to launch a new Interfaith Connections program in 2018. SCULPTURE: 29 Pieces explored the initiation of work on two new sculptures, Piece 10 and Piece 20, and began work on our next public sculpture project, PIECE 10, as an outgrowth of the SOULS HIDDEN lesson we created. this sculpture, based on a line from abraham lsaac kook's poem "radiant is the world soul." 29 pieces is partnering with south dallas Cultural Center, working with their youth clientele, on this new project. "souls hidden" lesson/exhibit": we intend to leverage the piece 10 project through related educational programming and exhibit of student art by facilitating our accompanying "souls hidden" lesson in two dallas schools (100 students). Assemblage products will be exhibited in public venues coinciding with Dia de los Muertos. CHALLENGES Participating teachers glowing comments (often unsolicited) demonstrated the positive impact of our effort to train teachers in Artists Making a Kinder World lessons. birdville director of fine arts danny detrick reported that "the teachers were simply ecstatic about the day. They got so much out of it and have already implemented ideas into their plans for this year.you had a huge impact on them and we are very grateful." pathfinders special education teacher madison dolph related that theri experience with our lessons "truly makes us feel closer and more connected as a staff. so, that is beyond powerful!" similarly, disd samuell feeder Pattern teachers relayed gratitude for ways our lessons enabled them to know each other better, process difficult situations, and work with their kids who face life challenges. The gratitude and relief teachers expressed conversely reflected the fatiguing workload they often shoulder, and we experienced some challenge in our work with teachers. Although we received very positive feedback, we found it difficult to track teacher experience with our lessons in their classrooms. Thus, as we scaled our program reach among students by training teachers to facilitate lessons independently, we lost some ability to evaluate teachers effectiveness utilizing our lessons largely because teachers are already overburdened by administrative tasks. Our response is to look for ways to tailor lessons to best serve teachers without adding to their reporting burdens. Additional plans for targeted feedback are under deliberation. 29 Pieces also experienced some challenge relating to working with large educational bureaucracies operating with limited funding. Limited school funds and bureaucratic requirements present major challenges for a small organization like ours and create instability within our collaborations. This instability sometimes causing our partners to abort plans at the last minute exposes 29 Pieces to risk. Our response is to make our services more accessible and affordable while taking precautions so that our investments are limited should our partners unexpectedly cancel participation. 1808 508 The Piece 24 Project A two-part collaborative project involving art and education thematically-based on the line "make my hands respect the things you have made" from native american prayer, "let me walk in beauty." The Piece 24 Sculpture Between January and December 2017, 29 Pieces began design for the completion of the mosaic base and signage for Piece 24, a permanent 20 ft. mosaic sculpture created by 29 Pieces and donated to the city of Dallas. 683 4675 29 Pieces explored the initiation of work on a new sculpture, Piece 20. 131046 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 10 0 true 2 true false false false false false true true false false false false false false false X 6 5 true false false false false false false true true false false true false true false false false false X KAREN BLESSEN 2147701219 6327 VICKERY BLVD dallas TX 75214 Karen Isbell President 1.0 0.0 X X 0 0 0 Sondra Cox Vice-President 1.0 0.0 X X 0 0 0 Diana O Connor Secretary 1.0 0.0 X X 0 0 0 Kelly Nash board member 1.0 0.0 X 0 0 0 Mauricio Navarro EXECUTIVE Director 1.0 0.0 X X 0 0 0 Karen Blessen EXECUTIVE Director 1.0 0.0 X X 53000 0 0 53000 0 0 0 false false false 0 245194 10201 245194 OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 900099 7800 7800 7800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 595 0 595 595 OTHER INCOME 547 547 547 254136 8942 0 0 0 0 53000 53000 0 0 0 0 909 909 0 0 2575 2395 180 0 0 0 41835 34518 7317 483 450 33 5084 4702 382 91 85 6 0 19343 18012 1331 8 8 0 0 0 0 895 895 2005 1841 164 GRANT APPLICATION WRITING 5968 5665 303 MOVING EXPENSE 1981 1842 139 CLEANING SERVICE 1725 1604 121 REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE 1711 1606 105 5136 4409 727 142749 131046 11703 0 32912 131510 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1806 1597 6207 3086 4017 3121 0 10799 0 0 0 0 0 0 2475 93 41210 147120 7082 205 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1500 7082 1705 X 34128 145415 0 0 0 0 34128 145415 41210 147120 111387 -100 X false false false X 143762 122283 262993 274094 245194 1048326 0 0 143762 122283 262993 274094 245194 1048326 513490 534836 0 0 30 15 547 592 1048918 60434 0.50989 0.57894 X 0 6207 3086 3121 3121 0 DUE KAREN BLESSEN 1500 1500 FORM 990, PART VI, LINE 2 family relationship between board members: Kelly Nash and Karen Blessen are married FORM 990, PART VI, LINE 11B PRIOR TO FILING THE FORM 990, A COPY OF FORM 990 IS PROVIDED TO EACH BOARD MEMBER TO REVIEW AND PROVIDE COMMENTS FORM 990, PART VI, LINE 19 THE ORGANIZATION MADE ITS DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC UPON REQUEST FORM 990 PART IX LINE 11G DESCRIPTION:CONTRACT LABOR TOTAL FEES:41835