Joffrey Community Engagement Heads to Garfield Park Conservatory

Garfield Park Conservatory Field trip

Today we took a field trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory. The purpose of this field trip was to see what it was like to collaborate with an organization for a new program. The Joffrey and the Garfield Park Conservatory have teamed up to have a new program called EveryBODY Moves. This program is an 8-week in-person interactive dance and movement class for individuals age 55+!

Upon our arrival we got to meet Mattie, the Director of Program & Interpretation at the Garfield Park Conservatory. She showed us the different spaces that we would be able to use for our new program and gave us a tour around the Conservatory.  

After choosing a space, Mattie gave us a tour of the park and showed us the many different plants, cacti and trees they have. She told us about what they do with all the fruit grown in the greenhouse and what it takes to take care of all the plants in the conservatory. 

Overall, it was a fun experience to see what it's like creating a new partnership and the little things that you don’t think about but are discussed when seeing a space, like testing out different chairs that would be suitable for dancing, or seeing which space is closer to the bathrooms so that the students don’t waste their break.  We are looking forward to our new partnership!