The West Bolivar School District, in partnership with Delta State University’s Bologna Performing Arts Center, recently began an arts-centered education initiative facilitated through the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education Program. On Monday, October 15, the West Bolivar Elementary and Middle School faculty attended an “Arts Integration 101” workshop, led by Mississippi Arts Commission Teaching Artists Althea Jerome and Kathryn Lewis. The workshop also featured Jodie Engle, Whole Schools Initiative program director, and Kim Whitt, Arts in Education program director at the Mississippi Arts Commission. The workshop is the first in a series that will focus on the arts to enrich the instruction of other subject areas and increase student achievement.
On Tuesday, October 16, teaching artists Althea Jerome and Kathryn Lewis led arts integration teaching demonstrations in the elementary and middle school classrooms, in order to reinforce the concepts presented at Monday’s workshop. Another workshop, building on the concepts addressed in the first session, will occur later in the school year.
The Bologna Performing Arts Center and West Bolivar School District were one of twelve teams nationwide selected in 2012 to become members of the prestigious Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Selected because of their demonstrated commitment to the improvements of education in and through the arts, the partnership team participates in collaborative efforts to provide professional development opportunities in the arts for educators.
