Friday (10/9) on the theater news site Backstage.com, Brett Zongker reports, “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is starting a new program that could reinvent arts education for schools struggling with budget cuts and fewer art teachers, organizers said Friday. The pilot ‘Any Given Child’ project announced Friday for schools in Sacramento, Calif., could be expanded to as many as three cities each year, the center said. Under the strategy, the Kennedy Center will link local arts groups with schools to help teach students in grades K-8. The groups will draft long-range plans specific to each city to ensure all students have access to music, theater and the visual arts. The Kennedy Center is devoting about $500,000 to begin the program and expects to keep costs low for local schools. … [Kennedy Center President Michael] Kaiser said schools need a comprehensive way of teaching the arts, as they do with math, to ensure students have the skills necessary for a U.S. economy increasingly driven by creativity. The center said artistic groups could create specialized lessons to meet the needs of schools’ curriculums.”
Posted October 13, 2009
