LA Fund's #ArtsMatter Campaign to Launch Arts Integration Curriculum and Professional Development in Fall 2013

First Program Development Grant Awarded to Music Center 

Arts integration improves overall student engagement and academic performance. 

LOS ANGELES, July 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to increase students' access to the arts and to support LAUSD classroom teachers, the LA Fund announced today it is launching the program phase of their #ArtsMatter campaign which to date has focused on advocacy and fundraising.

The LA Fund has committed $750,000 to fund arts integration pilot programs in schools throughout the LAUSD over the next three years. This effort is directly linked to and supports the new LAUSD 5-year arts plan "Arts at the Core" as well as the new Common Core Curriculum in which teachers must integrate the arts in all subject areas.  The LA Fund was instrumental in both funding and supporting the development of the arts plan, and these pilots will directly inform the District's efforts to scale arts integration district wide.

Developed and funded by Los Angeles Fund for Public Education as part of its #ArtsMatter campaign, arts integration pilot programs will be developed and implemented by arts organizations with a track record of success in LAUSD schools. The Music Center is the program's first grant recipient. Other recipients will be announced over the next school year. Each of the partner organizations will receive a grant of $150,000 over three years.

"From these pilots, the LA Fund and LAUSD will learn how best to support and train teachers to integrate the arts so that we have creativity in every classroom," explained LA Fund CEO Megan Chernin. "We see this initiative as transformative," she said. "Arts integration fuels creative thinking, and research shows that students are more fully engaged in learning when the arts are used as teaching tools. Underperforming students particularly benefit from an integrated curriculum, she said. "We believe that partnering with experienced art organizations will develop models for this kind of enriched learning experience for all LAUSD students," said LA Fund executive director Dan Chang.

The Music Center will undertake a three-year investigation of arts-based instructional strategies and curriculum models with 20 partner teachers from five LAUSD middle schools. The new initiative pairs teaching artists with classroom teachers for a full schedule of workshops, coaching sessions, assessment, and presentations of works-in-progress. "The artist-educator partnership is central to the program design, as is The Music Center's annual Institute for Educators. At the Institute the teaching pairs will create and navigate a common language, exchanging tools and strategies while devising and testing new ones. The project's key purpose is to help school communities (student, teachers, leaders and parents) build the knowledge, skills, and understanding needed to sustain thriving arts education programs over time and across shifts in educational priorities," explained Mark Slavkin, Vice President for Education at the Music Center.

"We hope to be a catalyst to expand arts learning in our five LAUSD middle schools and to develop curriculum resources that can be shared with others. By aligning with district priorities, our goal is that these efforts can help students and teachers succeed for years to come," said the Music Center's Slavkin.

"We are thrilled that the Music Center is the first recipient of this pilot arts integration grant.  Throughout the years, the Arts Education Branch and the staff of the Music Center have collaboratively worked to bring the very best arts education to the students of LAUSD.  It is fitting and encouraging to move forward with this initiative with this remarkable team," said Dr. Steven J. McCarthy, LAUSD's K-12 Arts Coordinator.

#ArtsMatter is the LA Fund's campaign to nurture creativity and reimagine arts education in Los Angeles public schools. Decades of research firmly establish the pivotal importance K-12 arts education in developing creative thinking in students. Through arts integration students will access the new national Common Core curriculum through the lens of music, visual arts, dance and theater. "This powerful method of instruction helps students engage in their studies, retain more and become the creative problem solvers needed in our global economy," said Chernin.

Founded in 2011, the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education is a philanthropic organization dedicated to driving positive change in the Los Angeles Unified School District.  The LA Fund partners with LAUSD to invest in innovative, results-oriented programs designed to ensure every student in the nation's second largest school system has a chance to succeed.  For more information on LA Fund go to: www.lafund.org

Twitter:      @LAFund
Hashtag:    #artsmatter
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SOURCE The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education