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Arts Commission News

Eleventh Annual Whole Schools Summer Institute Focuses on "Painting the Big Picture"

DATE:          June 22, 2009 

CONTACT:    Susan Dobbs, Public Relations Director

601/359-6031, sdobbs@arts.state.ms.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

JACKSON—For ten years, the Summer Institute of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Initiative has offered educators new and innovative ideas for classroom arts integration.  The eleventh Institute will be held on the campus of The University of Mississippi July 12 – 16, 2009 and will focus on “Painting the Big Picture.”  

Approximately 300 teachers, artists and administrators from more than 40 schools will gather in Oxford to study everything from the Mississippi Curriculum Framer to ballroom dancing.  The Institute’s highly professional training will give educators the inspiration, knowledge and skills to lead their students toward the goal of reaching their full potential.  “The Mississippi Arts Commission is proud to provide this outstanding professional development opportunity to teachers and administrators interested in providing arts-infused instruction to their students,” said Malcolm White, Executive Director of MAC.  “This agency is committed to show the value of teaching the arts across the curriculum and what a difference it can mean to children today and in the future.”

Classes will begin after lunch on Sunday, July 12th,  with a series of special workshops and arts experiences, followed by a keynote address that evening by the extraordinary community leader, Bill Strickland.  Strickland’s message is simple – give people the tools they need, treat them with respect, and they will perform miraculous deeds.  His work has brought him a MacArthur Genius grant, a Grammy award and a seat on the board of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Institute will be filled with opportunities to learn how to teach math through dance, critical thinking and problem solving through visual art, and how hands-on, sensory lessons in the garden and kitchen can be translated into core subject lessons.

Since 1992, the Commission has provided grant funds, technical assistance and professional development opportunities to Mississippi schools. It is the goal of the Commission to assist schools in the development and implementation of arts-based, interdisciplinary curriculum. The Summer Institute was created eleven years ago to offer comprehensive professional development opportunities educators need to deliver effective arts-infused instruction. In addition to the Institute training, participating Whole Schools receive up to $8,000 a year in grant support, several retreat opportunities during the school year, plus a Field Advisor to offer assistance, support, advice and training. 

 

The Whole Schools Initiative is open to kindergarten through 12th grade and strives to engage everyone from principals to parents to work toward integrating the arts into existing school curricula in order to further prove the powerful role the arts play in learning.  Visit the WSI website at www.mswholeschools.org to learn more about Whole Schools and the annual Institute.  For more information about the Mississippi Arts Commission, visit http://www.arts.state.ms.us/.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation, The Phil Hardin Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. The Whole Schools Summer Institute is funded by a generous contribution from Donna and Jim Barksdale.  MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi.  The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

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