Kennedy Center Institute Supports Fox Cities P.A.C. and Appleton Area School District

Representatives from the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and the Appleton Area School District (AASD) have been invited to participate in the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Partners in Education Institute April 25-28. This local partnership between the Fox Cities P.A.C. and AASD is one of 12 partnerships selected from across the nation to participate in the program aimed at creating professional development opportunities that develop teachers' knowledge of the arts and empower them to use the arts in their classrooms.

 

The Fox Cities P.A.C. and AASD collaboration met the Kennedy Center's criteria for selection by effectively demonstrating the potential for the arts organization and school system to initiate or expand programs for teachers and the stated commitment by both partners to collaborate on developing programs.

 

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center's President, Susan Stockton, is honored that the Center was selected for this program saying, "The Kennedy Center is renowned for their work in promoting arts integrated education, and we are thrilled to be selected amongst our industry peers for this highly competitive venture." Stockton sees this collaboration as a next step in the Center's support of education in the Fox Cities. "We have a great education program here at the Center, and this program is going to help us expand the impact of the performing arts in education beyond our facility. There are opportunities to make the arts a part of any classroom, and this partnership will empower local educators from all academic backgrounds with new techniques through professional development opportunities."

 

Appleton Area School District Superintendent Lee Allinger welcomes the opportunity to expand arts related professional development opportunities for the district's educators. "We are fortunate to live in an area that supports the arts both in our schools and the community. The Kennedy Center program will allow us to work with teams from across the country to explore how arts education can support what is happening in our classrooms."

 

While at the institute, the Center's Director of Programming and Community Engagement Amy Gosz and AASD's Fine Arts Coordinator Jim Heiks will meet with national education leaders and guest artists and work together to develop a plan to build arts-based professional development programs for teachers of all disciplines. Participants will examine the variety of educational offerings for teachers developed and refined at the Kennedy Center since 1976.

 

The Kennedy Center's workshops for Washington, D.C.-area teachers serve as a focus for the Partners in Education Institute. Since its establishment in 1972, the Kennedy Center's Education Department believes the inclusion of the performing arts in a broad-based curriculum improves the quality of a child's educational experience. The Kennedy Center's Education Department is committed to its leadership role in promoting higher standards of national performing arts education programs and policy.

For more information about the participating teams and the Partners in Education program visit kennedy-center.org/education/partners.