Partners in the Arts program moves to the School of Continuing Studies at UR Downtown
Partners in the Arts, the region’s premier arts-in-education program, has joined the School of Continuing Studies with offices at UR Downtown.
Administration of the Partners in the Arts program has been transferred to the School from the Arts Council of Richmond effective September 15, 2009. The University has hosted the Partners in the Arts Summer Institute for local educators for a number of years.
Partners in the Arts trains K-12 teachers in the greater Richmond area to use the arts to teach core subjects.
To provide educators the resources they need to integrate arts into the curriculum, the program partners with teachers from public school divisions and local independent schools and with with local arts and cultural organizations and individual artists. The goal of these partnerships is to strengthen arts integration in elementary, middle and high school education.
Partners in the Arts was established in 1992 when the National Endowment for the Arts funded a proposal, submitted by arts advocate Joan Oates and the Arts Council of Richmond, for an arts-in-education program. Oates remains actively involved in the program while Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Sheehan directs the program.
Oates and Sheehan “are thrilled with this transition.” Looking back on an already successful collaboration with the University since the program’s inception, Sheehan has reason to be thrilled. “Being fully affiliated with UR SCS gives us many more opportunities to serve teachers and students [by] working with a range of SCS and university programs.”
And since Partners in the Arts will be housed at UR Downtown, Sheehan suggests that “reaching out to the area’s education community and arts organizations becomes even easier. It all means more teacher training, more grants to schools, and ultimately an increase in the number of K-12 students who will have the experience of arts integration in the classroom.”
Dr. James L. Narduzzi, dean of the School, shares Sheehan's enthusiasm about the transition. Narduzzi adds that the partnership embodies the University’s strategic plan: “Serving educators, fostering partnerships across boundaries, engaging local artists and arts organizations, and helping educators design and implement interdisciplinary curricula fits well [with the strategic plans of the University and the School], and we look forward to a long and healthy relationship.”
Incidentally, if the name Liz Sheehan sounds familiar, it should. She is no stranger on the University campus: she held the position of assistant director of the Women in Living and Learning (WILL) program for a time.
Learn more about the Partners in the Arts Summer Institute for Educators and look for a new section on the SCS Website for the program.
Posted September 18, 2009