arts every day

things like this make me realize... baltimore is amazing. yesterday morning, steph, tara & i went to mount royal for this big "arts every day" website unveiling. (www.artseveryday.org) mt. royal elementary is one of a few baltimore public schools that became an "arts integration" school last year. (and fitting seeing as their school is right smack dab in the middle of the mica campus.) "arts integration" means that teachers and staff make a concious effort to incorporate the arts into every other subject, with the belief that it will strengthen the entire learning experience. the "launch" featured performances by mount royal students ("it's a hard knock life" from annie, "oh the places you will go," and a song called "i'm a leader") interspersed with quick art affirmations from people like the director of the baltimore museum of art, the fine arts coordinator and ceo of baltimore city public schools. the ceo, dr. andres alonso, spoke of wanting to do this in every single classroom. he called them "lessons with connections" and said that "this is what education is supposed to be about. not test prep. but creating culturally competent kids filled with references." the idea is engaging the disengaged learner, activating creativity, and seeing what will come of it.

i love stumbling across solutions like this. because now no one has to struggle to think of a way art can play a larger role in education. no one has to start from scratch. someone has already put time, money, and energy to developing a structure we can all build on.