The position of executive director for A.R.T. is an exciting continuation of the years I have spent in education as a teacher and administrator. The majority of the students we serve are from low-income families, and it is enormously gratifying to provide these children with the opportunity to meet and to work with artists and to explore their own creativity.   The one gift that can never be taken from a child is a good education. An essential part of a good education is exposure to the arts.  With the help of our Board, the dedication of our staff, and the support of our many friends, we will continue our 115-year tradition of giving a great gift to Chicago’s young people. I am pleased to part of this great mission. 

Teachers from five Chicago schools joined with A.R.T. and area cultural institutions last June to conduct the third annual American Art Summer Institute. Generously supported by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the five-day Institute laid the foundation for the  Fall 2008 A.R.T in-class residencies and allowed teachers to greatly expand their knowledge of American art.
 
Loyola University of Chicago’s Museum of Art (LUMA) hosted initial sessions of the 2008 Summer Institute, coinciding with LUMA’s Manifest Destiny/Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the American Landscape exhibition of Terra Foundation’s American art collection. After touring the exhibition with the LUMA staff, teachers and A.R.T. Artists collaborated in developing American art-integrated classroom lessons. Artists mentored teachers by modeling classroom presentations of artwork and introducing related hands-on art projects. The teacher-artist teams created display boards to highlight the connections of art and core subject material. The Summer Institute culminated with a docent-led tour of the American galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Education staff from the AIC also presented an overview of their Teacher’s Resource Center and their web-based resources for educators.

A.R.T. Artists continued their mentorship of Summer Institute teachers in the 2008-2009 school year by bringing American Art Partners programs directly into their classrooms. Through this effort, supported in part by a CityArts Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, artists and teachers joined to present the American art-integrated lessons designed during the summer directly to students. This model program represents an exceptional synergy among arts and education partners throughout Chicago. Classroom teachers, A.R.T. staff and artists, and our civic partners look forward to another successful collaboration over the coming year.

A.R.T. Artist Matt Woods presented professional development workshops to teachers at the Michigan Charter School conference in Detroit on the topic of creating Dreambooks with students. Participating teachers learned basic bookmaking techniques and were introduced to the work of artists who incorporate text and image into their work. In preparation for conducting a similar activity in their classrooms, participants utilized bookmaking techniques such as folding and stitching, and then they wrote and illustrated books about their most memorable dreams. Matt commented, “I appreciated the opportunity to work with fellow teachers and creative people who are passionate about education, despite the challenges they face working in public schools.”

Earlier this year, A.R.T. Artist Kaja Overstreet conducted an after school art program at South Loop School for students who participate in chess programs conducted by Chess Education Partners and children who play chess on their own. In this program students created their own unique chess sets. Following is a description of the program by one of the young artists...

We started making our chess sets in November in our after school class with Ms. Overstreet. First, we picked a topic for our chess sets. I picked land and sea animals. We made chessboards with cardboard paper. We made thirty-two chess pieces with clay because each side has 16 pieces. My land animal chess King is a lion and the Queen is a lioness. My favorite pieces are the turtle Knights. We finished our chess sets by making a box and decorating the top. If you like to play chess, I suggest you make a chess set.

This year A.R.T. Artist Gail Wolf is conducting a multiple-session art integration mentoring program at Jordan Community School. The four participating teachers and their classrooms have been involved in activities that connect with their science curriculum, such as looking at cells through a microscope, creating observational drawings of the cells and drawing botanic plants, birds, reptiles, and mammals. Just before the holiday, Jordan School Assistant Principal Cindy Zucker reported that she asked her teachers to prepare a wish list, and one of the teachers replied, “My wish has already come true; thank you for sending Gail Wolf to my classroom”. Another teacher told Gail that her students look forward to Fridays, as that is the day she is at the school.

The administrators and teachers at Jordan School have been very responsive to incorporating arts integration into academic instruction, as arts integration complements the school’s model. For ten years, Jordan School has employed the Comer School Model. This model, which was developed by Yale University professor Dr. James P. Comer, is responsive to the six developmental pathways along which children mature: physical, cognitive, psychological, language, social and ethical. Gail notes that the school’s responsiveness to the children it serves is evidenced in their high level of engagement in school activities, their interest in learning, and their mastery of subtle and sophisticated concepts.

At the onset of the after school program I conducted at the National Teachers’ Academy (NTA) I learned that most of the primary age students did not know what murals were; they had never even seen one. Initially we talked about murals and we looked at images of murals in Chicago.  During this phase of the program, we began to discuss the theme for the students’ mural: community heroes.  We talked about what a community was and what entitled a person to be called a hero. Then, looking out the window of the school’s art room, which has an amazing view of the neighborhood and downtown, we began to draw buildings we saw as well as the people in their neighborhood and at their school.  We talked about what made our homes special, our favorite family traditions, and our favorite activities in the neighborhood, creating drawings as we went. We incorporated these drawings into a final sketch for the mural. When we looked closely at the final sketch, we realized that something was missing: children! So we created portraits of each student and collaged them onto the mural.  The first mural we created was based on community: the school, the buildings, the city, and most importantly, the people.  We then created a second mural that depicts the students’ heroes: their parents and relatives, people like firefighters who protect their community as well as historical and contemporary heroes. One of the “heroes” of the mural-making process was South Loop’s own Mr. Valencia, who helped the students make connections between the things they learned during school day and the discussions we had after school.  

The A.R.T. staff and artists are proud of the national recognition that Robert A. Black School received from the United States Department of Education for supporting students’ academic achievement. Robert A. Black School is one of only two Chicago Public Schools to receive a Blue Ribbon Award this year. The school’s principal, Thomas Little, and one of the lead teachers, Sheila Phillips, traveled to Washington to receive the award. Mr. Little said, “To go to Washington and receive that award is one of the highlights of my career as an educator.” A.R.T. has worked with Robert A. Black School for a number of years. We know firsthand that the high level of commitment demonstrated by the school’s administrators and teachers is reflected in their students’ academic success.

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This summer Cescily Washington assumed the newly created position of performing and fine arts coordinator for the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). Cescily brings an insider’s understanding of the value of the arts to her position with AUSL as she has performed, studied and held an internship with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Philadanco – the Philadelphia Dance Company, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Ballethnic in Atlanta, GA, Deeply Rooted Dance Company, The Black Ensemble Theatre and Light Opera Works in Chicago, IL. In addition, Cescily has performed and choreographed for celebrities such as Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Nicholas Cage, Martin Sheen, Blair Underwood, TC Carson, Marla Gibbs and civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Coincidentally, Cescily went to high school in Phoenix, AZ, with A.R.T. Artist Damon Lamar Reed. The A.R.T. staff and artists are enjoying getting to know Cescily, and we deeply value the support she provides.