KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

Purdue Convocations and Lafayette School Corporation are members of the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Selected because of their demonstrated commitment to the improvement of education in and through the arts, the partnership team participates in collaborative efforts to make the arts integral to education.

To that end, the team has created a series of professional development workshops that instruct teachers how to incorporate the arts across the curriculum. Each of the series of three workshops will be conducted by an artist or arts educator who has been selected for inclusion in the Kennedy Center Touring Programs and Resources group. This is a great opportunity for both partners and the Greater Lafayette community. The program has 3 areas of focus:

1. Development of the whole child through arts education
2. Professional development for teachers using arts education to expand student learning in all areas of classroom study (with an awareness of standards/achievement)
3. Professional development for arts organizations and schools through high quality programs and workshops. The Kennedy Center expects these workshops to be participatory and developed closely with the Kennedy Center. They will be planned and structured to produce specific results, and developed to engage teachers, giving them practical value and impact.

Our community will benefit from the years of research and development that the Kennedy Center has devoted to finding the most effective ways to help teachers understand, develop and use the arts in teaching core curriculum. Our students will learn with a widened understanding of how the arts apply to everyday life and will benefit from a more creative and exciting classroom atmosphere. Our partnership will also help foster the next generation of audience members who appreciate the cultural and entertainment benefits that performing arts provide.

Thank you to these teachers and administrators for their leadership in the program.

Laura Clavio
Kelly Coleman
Karen Combs
Judd Danby
Todd Wetzel

All workshops were developed in association with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and are partially underwritten by the U.S. Department of Education; the National Committee for the Performing Arts; the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund; and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.