Growing Up Artfully 2011 The Lehigh Valley Arts Council will present the annual Growing Up Artfully Awards for Excellence in Arts Education at its spring 2011 arts in education workshop at Penn State Lehigh Valley. The awards recognize long standing k-12 programs that bring quality arts experiences to our students and our community.
Current research and press attention has been focused on the need to foster creativity in all disciplines, but financial constraints and test schedules are resulting in cuts to arts programs in many schools. Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D., will address the teaching of creativity in her keynote remarks at the Lehigh Valley Arts Council’s annual Growing Up Artfully event, to be held on Thursday, April 14, 2011 from 1:00 to 5:00pm at Penn State Lehigh Valley. The forum will present strategies for addressing these challenges and highlight successes by regional schools with awards to three k-12 programs for bringing quality arts experiences to our students and community. Act 48 credit will be available. Dr. Cramond’s particular interest is the identification and nurturing of creativity, especially among students considered at risk of an alternative diagnosis (ADHD) or dropping out. An international and national speaker, she has published numerous articles and teaches classes on giftedness and creativity. She holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Georgia at Athens and received her M. Ed. in educational administration from the University of New Orleans. She is a former elementary and middle school teacher and describes herself as "the survivor of parenting two creative children". Varissa McMickens will discuss best practices in student-centered learning and the arts environment. She is Director of ArtsRising, a collaboration of the Philadelphia Education Fund, Fleisher Art Memorial, and Public Citizens for Children and Youth which expands access to arts education in the Greater Philadelphia region. Ms. McMickens has served as Executive Director for the Distict of Columbia Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative and as co-chair of the Collaborative’s Professional Development, Summer Institute for Teaching Artists, and Arts Education Initiative (supported by the Ford Foundation and the Distict of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities). She has held positions with the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts as Regional Coordinator of its local DC area professional development program and then as Assistant Director of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. Ms. McMickens holds a B.S. in Speech Communication from Syracuse University. A panel discussion about how schools teach creativity, moderated by Ms. McMickens, will follow these presentations. Participants will include Dr. Cramond, Dr. Gerald Zahorchak, superintendent of the Allentown School District, and sculptor Scott Atiyeh, Salisbury High School art specialist. Ronald Cowell and Jordan Crosby from the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC) will introduce guests to the Arts and Education Initiative (AEI), a public policy and advocacy project designed to promote a robust arts environment with diverse and bountiful educational opportunities for all Pennsylvania citizens. After making the case for increased attention in the arts community to the state-level policy making process, the presenters will report on the major policy-related issues facing arts education in schools and communities as they have emerged in the preliminary phases of the multi-year Initiative. Arguments for keeping and bolstering the arts in schools will be reviewed, and guests will learn how to become effective advocates for arts education in their own neighborhoods, as well as through opportunities presented through the Initiative. Time will be allotted for inquiry and interactive discussion. Mr. Cowell is the president of the EPLC. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1975 to 1998, where he was majority or minority chair of the Committee on Education for twelve years. He is a member of advisory committees for the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development and A+ Schools in Pittsburgh. Ms. Crosby is Director of the Arts and Education Initiative (AEI). She is assembling a statewide coalition of partners who are investigating the role of the arts in public policy and strengthening the relationship between the arts and education communities of Pennsylvania. She has taught in secondary and postsecondary classrooms, galleries, and museums and served as head of school and teacher programming at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to view the Making My Mark exhibit in the Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley. This display of collagraphs and collages features work created by Southern Lehigh and Trexler Middle School students in the Lehigh Valley Arts Council’s Urban/Suburban after-school program. Poet Michael Barnett and visual artist Claire Marcus teach the program in collaboration with art specialist Lynn Yocum and language arts teacher Holly Walker at Southern Lehigh and Trexler teachers Linda Anderson, consumer science, and Karen Shaffer, science. The day will conclude with the Lehigh Valley Arts Council annual membership event. American bebop and cool jazz pianist, composer, and vocalese singer, Bob Dorough will will be honored with our first Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution to Arts-in-Education. Bob is perhaps best known as a voice and primary composer of many of the songs used in Schoolhouse Rock!, a series of educational animated shorts appearing on Saturday morning television. Award presented at 6:00pm. Enjoy complimentary refreshments, cash bar, and the Lehigh Valley's jazziest networking event.
Awards will be announced during the 2011 conference at Penn State Lehigh Valley, which will include a reception to celebrate regional excellence in arts-in-education. Please contact Lehigh Valley Arts Council, Arts-in-Education Program Coordinator, Claire Marcus at cmarcus@lvartscouncil.org with any questions. 2010 Awards for Excellence in Arts Education
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