On Wednesday, October 14 at 3 pm, the National Endowment for the Arts will host a live webinar that examines how an innovative approach to reforming public education through the arts successfully transformed an entire school district. The webinar focuses on the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, which worked with the school system to rebuild access to music and arts education.
In June 2015, Chula Vista Elementary School District, California’s largest K-6 district, announced its decision to reinstate in-school visual and performing arts education at every school. With a $15 million commitment over three years, the district uses sequential arts instruction for every student. This decision was the culmination of a five-year collaboration with San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory to restore music and arts education after a fifteen-year absence. What started in 2010 as the Community Opus Project after-school music program for 65 third-graders has evolved into one of the largest restorations of arts education in the nation. Using an El Sistema-inspired approach, SDYS assisted the district with rebuilding its arts education infrastructure.
Register for the webinar here. An archive will be available a few days after the webinar at
http://arts.gov/videos/webinars.
Posted October 6, 2015
