Gigi Antoni of Big Thought has big plans for SLANT 45 — plans that could live long after Super Bowl XLV becomes a memory

By Steve Pate

September 18, 2009

Giselle “Gigi” Antoni, Big Thought’s President & CEO, began working for the Dallas-based, nonprofit organization nearly 20 years ago back in its infancy. It had been founded a few years earlier by Mitch Jericho and Edith O’Donnell.

Today, Big Thought is one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations focused on improving public education through creative learning. With a mission “to make imagination a part of everyday learning,” Big Thought now serves 300,000 school children across North Texas every year, spanning 30 school districts and including more than 6,000 teachers. The award-winning organization has served as a model for other regions in Texas and across the nation in major cities like Baltimore, Cleveland and Portland.

Big Thought was chosen by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee to serve as education partner for SLANT 45, an ambitious initiative with the potential to become a lasting legacy of the first Super Bowl played in North Texas.

Antoni recently took some time to visit about the power of creative learning and the impact of service-learning.

 

Q: What is service-learning?

Antoni: Service-learning connects academic curricula – the facts, figures and concepts kids learn in school – with real-world action. The goal of service-learning is to address community needs in creative, impactful ways that go beyond community service.

SLANT 45 participants will work as individuals, in groups, classes, teams, or even as a family, to research pressing community needs and examine their root causes. From there, they’ll select a target need then design and implement a project to address it. Once their project has concluded, participants will be asked to reflect on their experiences to learn how the project impacted those they served, and also how it touched their lives.

That’s where creative learning comes in. Participants may choose to write a journal or play about their experiences, or document the project in a photo exhibit. The possibilities are endless. We also hope to instill an on-going desire to serve and make a difference.

It’s important that we teach kids how to translate what they learn in school into the rest of their world - and eventually into the workplace. Service-learning offers a chance to build community, connect kids to their neighborhoods and empower them to understand that they can make a difference.

 

Q: What was your own personal interest in helping children through creativity and the arts?

Antoni: When I was a young artist in my 20s, I moved to Dallas right out of a conservatory school in Berkeley, Calif. I started working in local theaters.

I searched for a fulfilling day job that connected to my passion, and I found one working as an artist in residence at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center. For six years, I taught creative learning with incarcerated kids. That became my new passion — it was even more fulfilling than performing onstage.
I started working in schools and hospitals, all over neighborhoods. I became fascinated by the power of creativity and imagination to inspire kids to do something different and make something of their lives. The process of figuring out how to do that is really what service-learning is all about.

 

Q: How did Big Thought get involved with the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee?

Antoni: Bill Lively (the Host Committee’s President & CEO) was taking a look at how his committee could make a broad impact on young people. He contacted us, and we started talking about this unique and exciting opportunity. And along the way we found some philosophical connections.

The North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee has a vision of building bridges between the different communities in North Texas. That vision, and the idea of leaving a legacy long after the Super Bowl has gone, really meshed with what Big Thought stands for. We believe in working together to make a better world for our kids. Together we can do so much more than as individual agencies. So we loved that idea.

 

Q: It sounds as if the SLANT 45 Program will use the NFL’s pinnacle of success, the Super Bowl Game, to encourage similar standards of excellence from children.

Antoni: The Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in the world.
The fact it’s going to be here in North Texas allows us to embrace themes like excellence and high performance and teamwork — the American ideals that go with the Super Bowl — and make it clear to kids that heroes come in many different packages. You don’t have to be a superstar athlete to be a hero. You can make a difference right where you are today.

 

Q: How relevant is the Super Game to your own Big Thought aspirations?

Antoni: It’s an awesome opportunity to implement our mutual ideals on a truly grand scale. I cannot wait to see what 20,000 children will accomplish over the course of the next year. It’s a remarkable chance to really highlight the power kids have. We’re looking for tens of thousands of North Texas kids who want to stand up, work together and make a difference in their communities. The Super Bowl offers a global stage for what we hope will become a global phenomenon.

Q: When do the children get to put their fingerprints on this massive undertaking?

Antoni: The program launches in early 2010 when kids will begin researching, designing and executing their programs and putting them out into the world. Projects will be documented and will continue until the end of October 2010. In February 2011, we’ll celebrate the success of the children who participated and premiere a documentary film highlighting their experiences.

 

Q: It’s still early in the process, but what has it been like for you to jump into the entire Super Bowl picture?

Antoni: It’s a thrill just meeting some of the people involved in the Super Bowl. I’ve enjoyed meeting Daryl Johnston, for one, and the wonderful men and women of the NFL and the Host Committee.

It’s inspiring to see how committed they are to making a lasting difference in North Texas long after their jobs here are done.

They want to set up an infrastructure that will live well beyond this game. There’s a real opportunity for this program to happen every year, no matter where the game is held. And it’s a chance to build a network of service-learning here in North Texas that will carry on the legacy of Super Bowl XLV. It’s going to be an incredible year.