Out of the Black Box (OBB) is a workshop series to help children in grades 2-5 to uncover the magical logic of electronic circuitry through arts and crafts. Together we build electronic circuits by making sculptures with conductive clay, paintings with conductive paint, drawings with robots, and more. The activities in this series are designed to encourage participants to produce collaborative works with their peers—emphasizing collectivist values of equality, care, collaboration, compromise, open communication, and emotional intelligence, and unity. Participants leave each workshop with a basic understanding of electronic circuitry and a deepened exposure to multimedia art-making practices.

OBB is inspired by the 90s children television series Out of the Box. In Out of the Box, teachers Tony and Vivian lead a community of children through interesting arts and crafts activities, while also instilling values about friendship, communication, and relationship-building. We aim to create a similar environment for values-based exposure to art-making by extending the focus to be inclusive of STEAM education.

This workshop series was co-taught by Neta Bomani and Bomani Oseni McClendon for students at Joseph Miccio Community Center in the summer of 2019 and for students at P.S. 15 Patrick Daly Magnet School for the Arts through the fall 2019 semester. Out of the Black Box is hosted by Pioneer Works and coordinated by Tiffanie Harris, Director of Community & School Programs Pioneer Works.