WriteOn NYC is one fellowship with two missions: providing passionate writing instructors to New York City schools and providing teacher training and fellowship support students in the New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
WriteOn NYC began as a pilot program headed by its founder, Professor Helen Schulman, with the assistance of
two MFA students from The New School in January 2016.
The program partnered with George Jackson Academy, the only independent
nonsectarian merit-based middle school for boys from low-income families
in New York City, to develop and deliver a creative writing curriculum.
The program has since expanded to classrooms in the High School for
Economics and Finance, a public school in the Financial District of
Manhattan, and other initiatives for young scholars across NYC. Each
semester, students work closely with a cohort of hand-picked teaching
fellows from across genres in the MFA program. In this way, WriteOn
NYC brings the joys of literature and creative self-expression to local kids
while offering MFA students on-the-ground teaching training that
prepares them to enter the job market after graduation.
WriteOn NYC has further expanded its mission by developing a pedagogy and training program for teaching fellows, designed to help them create their own curricula for creative writing and literature courses and providing them with valuable classroom management skills. Thanks to a grant from The New School's Collaboratory, WriteOn NYC was able to design and create its own database of syllabi, a teaching handbook, reading lists, and additional opportunities for use by current and future fellows. The fellowship’s stipend also helps fellows offset some of the costs of attending the MFA program.
To date, 93 New School MFA students and hundreds of New York City schoolchildren have taken part in the program. With the help of a highly engaged advisory board of New School alumni and support from The New School’s University Development team, WriteOn NYC is actively cultivating partnerships with other schools and programs to support its desire and capacity to grow.
WriteOn NYC is made possible through the generosity of founding donors Vicky and David Gottlieb and the tireless efforts of its many MFA student fellows and alumni. Professor Helen Schulman continues to serve as the faculty leader of the program; MFA Creative Writing ’16 alumnus Phineas Lambert, former publisher and director of Guernica and current member of the board of directors of Orion magazine, serves as the program director. MFA Creative Writing '16 alumna Catherine Bloomer, PhD, serves as the associate director.
To learn more about the program, visit WriteOnNYC.com.