Integrating the Arts

This year, students performed on stages, hosted international artists, played new instruments, and deepened their knowledge of the world!

By: Benjamin Rickert, BCS Communications Dept.

Buncombe County Schools prioritizes the arts as part of preparing students for their tomorrow. This year, students performed on stages, hosted international artists, played new instruments, and deepened their knowledge of the world! It was a fantastic year for the arts, with new opportunities created through joining the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Partners in Education program alongside LEAF Community Arts.

A primary focus of the partnership is to provide sustainable and robust arts-based professional development for teachers, ensuring excellent arts opportunities for students of all ages. This summer, a BCS team joined arts integration specialists from across the country in Arlington, Virginia to gather ideas for use in classrooms this upcoming school year. This team is also working to create a BCS arts integration conference for the summer of 2020.

Read our original Top Story announcement of the LEAF / Kennedy Center partnership.

The Kennedy Center defines Arts Integration as “an APPROACH to TEACHING in which students construct and demonstrate UNDERSTANDING through an ART FORM. Students engage in a CREATIVE PROCESS which CONNECTS an art form and another subject area and meets EVOLVING OBJECTIVES in both.”

According to Arts Education Specialist Ms. Laura Mitchell, the team sent to Arlington included herself, Sara Moore, Sherri Green, Mary Thoreen, Beth Lane, Jennifer Reed, Beth Myers, Bill Feste, and Stephanie Wolfe. (Pictured above, lower right.)

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Buncombe County Schools