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Updated 12/9/2024

Playful Engineers

  • M

    MA

Institution/Business Type: Artist / Creative (Individual)

Playful Engineers is our small, family-run arts-in-education business which creates and facilitates programs promoting play-based, curiosity-driven learning, helping kids learn skills, gain understanding, and build confidence, as they design processes, and make things move! In our hands-on programs, the kids are playful engineers, designing and building artful mechanisms that accomplish tasks, send messages, tell stories, and bring characters to life.

Teaching Artist Jay Mankita founded Playful Engineers in 2015, after 25 years working with kids and families as a professional musician and educator. Since then, we've presented over 1200 programs, both in-person and virtual, at schools, libraries, camps – wherever kids and families gather. This year, we delivered 64 sessions through the non-profit organization Connected North, for Inuit, Metis, and First Nations students in Northern Canada, more than 300 sessions through both the STARS residency program and the Local Cultural Councils programs in Massachusetts, and numerous programs in Connecticut and New York.

Our in-person traveling makerspace programs will come to your town if you’re within driving distance of our home base, but we’ll present our popular virtual programs anywhere across the globe.

Find Me

Jay Mankita
Job Title: Teaching Artist
Phone: 4136273145
Address:
310 Montague Rd
Amherst, MA 01002

Social Media:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

2015

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

2015

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Multi-Disciplinary

Additional Disciplines:

  • Design - General
  • Media - Video
  • Humanities - Science
  • Visual/Crafts - Metal
  • Multi-Disciplinary

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Arts for Social Change / Creative Activism
  • Public Art Projects (In Free, Public Spaces)
  • Community Arts
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Professional Network Gatherings / Events
  • Residency - Community
  • Virtual Events
  • Wedding / Parties / Private Gatherings
  • Curriculum Development
  • Residency - In School
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Design Services
  • Arts Instruction / Lessons
  • Consulting - Organizational Capacity
Seasons Active: spring, summer, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 300

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Artists
  • Businesses
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Houseless/Housing Insecure Individuals
  • Immigrant Populations
  • Incarcerated (or Formerly Incarcerated) individuals
  • LGBTQ Populations
  • Native American Tribes
  • Nonprofits
  • People with Disabilities
  • Rural Populations
  • School Groups
  • Teens
  • Veteran/Active Duty Military Personnel
  • Youth-At-Risk

Languages Available:

  • English

Geographic Reach:

  • Town / City
  • County
  • Multi-County Region
  • State
  • Multi-State Region
  • National
  • International

Accessibility of Services

Accessibility of Services:

  • Access accommodations for people who use a wheelchair and have limited mobility
  • Access accommodations for people who are blind, partially sighted, and have low vision
  • Access accommodations for people who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing

We at Playful Engineers are committed to the goal of people being able to fully participate at all levels of ability and comprehension, supporting ADA policies and infrastructure at each venue we work with. Our programs use materials and activities that can be adapted for participants with different needs. We are responsive to any suggestions towards this from the venues, allowing for ongoing improvements in our inclusivity and accessibility efforts.

Media Gallery

I Have Worked With

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • Connecticut Arts for Learning
  • Fractured Atlas
  • People's Music Network

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • Connecticut Arts for Learning
  • Fractured Atlas
  • People's Music Network

Awards

Awards:

  • Pinnacle Award (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) from Center For Interactive Learning and Collaboration

Education

Education:

  • Self-taught, life long learner!

Special Designations

Designated Arts Community:

  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Amherst Center Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Arlington Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Beverly Arts District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Central Square Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Concord Center Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Downtown Lynn Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Framingham Centre Common Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Franklin Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Greater Springfield
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Lenox Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Marlborough Downtown Village Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Maynard Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Natick Center Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - North Adams Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Orleans Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Plymouth Bay Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Provincetown Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Rockport Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Springfield Central Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Turners Falls Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Wellfleet Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Williamstown Cultural District
  • Massachusetts Cultural District Member - Winchester Cultural District

Artist Info

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • Healthcare Facility
  • School / University
  • Virtual / Remote

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors
  • Pre-Kindergarten-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - Science / Technology / Engineering
  • Design
  • Visual/Crafts
  • Arts Integration - Mathematics
  • Theater

Fee range:

$100 - $1,500

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • Healthcare Facility
  • School / University
  • Virtual / Remote

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors
  • Pre-Kindergarten-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - Science / Technology / Engineering
  • Design
  • Visual/Crafts
  • Arts Integration - Mathematics
  • Theater

Fee range:

$100 - $1,500

Touring Artist

Technical Requirements:

  • need tables, chairs, and participants. We bring everything else.

Accessibility Accommodations Needed:

We are responsive to any suggestions towards this from the venues, allowing for ongoing improvements in our inclusivity and accessibility efforts.

Fee Range:

$500-$2000

State of Residence:

Massachusetts

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

3