Fifth Annual Houston Arts Partners Conference Set for Museum of Fine Arts This Weekend

The Fifth Annual Houston Arts Partners Conference is expected to draw hundreds of educators, artists, and community leaders to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, this weekend, Sept. 11 - 12, 2015.

This year's conference theme, The Arts Fuel Innovation, examines the relationship between the arts and vital components of tomorrow's creative economy: creativity, versatility, collaboration, and innovation.

The conference is open to all, and teachers may receive up to 15 Continuing Professional Education credit hours for attending. Additional information about the HAP coalition and online registration for the conference are available at www.HoustonArtsPartners.org.

In 2009, Houston Arts Partners began as a unique collaborative initiative lowering barriers to arts education access for all of Houston's children. The coalition was created in response to a specific request from Houston-area education administrators for a coordinated effort to increase arts and cultural partnerships among school districts and arts organizations.

Unearthing critical connections among arts education, arts integration, and success in other core and STEM subjects, the diverse, relevant, rigorous presentations at the conference will be led by teachers and teaching artists. All presentations draw on exemplary partnerships between schools and Houston's outstanding arts organizations, which collectively serve over 600,000 children through arts and arts education programming, both during school and after school. With these arts-based tools and ongoing partnerships, teachers are equipped to prepare their students for opportunities and challenges still in the making.

The Houston Arts Partners Conference, the only conference in Texas to combine arts integration tools and arts education advocacy, has galvanized the Houston teaching artist community and campus educators from across the state, leading to increased awareness of the importance of arts education access for all students. Through Houston Arts Partners, Houston arts organizations and education leaders work in collaboration to create unique partnerships that provide expanded services to educators and administrators of the greater Houston area.

Arts Organization Members: AFA, Art League Houston, Artist Boat, Alley Theatre, Aurora Picture Show, DA CAMERA chamber music & jazz, the Ensemble Theatre, FotoFest International, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston Ballet, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, Main Street Theater, MECA - Multicultural Education & Counseling through the Arts, Mercury, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Society for the Performing Arts, Theatre Under The Stars, Writers in the Schools, Young Audiences of Houston (fiscal agent)

School District Members: Aldine ISD, Alief ISD, Alvin ISD, Brazosport ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Conroe ISD, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Deer Park ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Galena Park ISD, Houston ISD, Humble ISD, Katy ISD, La Porte ISD, Lamar Consolidated ISD, LaMarque ISD, New Caney ISD, Pasadena ISD, Spring Branch ISD, Tomball ISD

For more information or to find out whether your organization or district meets the criteria for membership, please visit www.HoustonArtsPartners.org or contact a HAP member organization.

Houston Arts Partners Rationale:

The arts provide an element of learning for which there is no substitute.

Overwhelming evidence identifies early arts engagement as an essential element in children's creative, intellectual, emotional, and social development, as well as the sole determining factor in whether children become arts patrons as adults.

All Houston-area students should have the opportunity to take advantage of the tremendous benefits of arts education.

Through Houston Arts Partners, non-profit organizations and school districts are uniquely positioned to provide to educators and students the necessary arts experiences, instruction, and integration, as well as to develop their own future audiences in a collaborative and supportive way.

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