Skip navigation

Send this site to a friend

Arts Commission News

MAC Announces Whole Schools Initiative's Model School Sites

DATE:          March 31, 2009 

CONTACT:    Susan Dobbs, MAC Public Relations Director

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

JACKSON - The Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) recently designated five Whole Schools Initiative Model School sites.  This distinction is based on an on-site panel review of the school, evidence of superior instruction through the arts for every student, continuous training of educators in arts integration, and the inclusion of an open door policy to all visitors interested in arts based school improvement methodology.  There are currently eighteen schools that are participants in the Whole Schools Initiative.  

MAC will award $5000.00 to Oak Grove Primary School, Hattiesburg; Nora Davis Magnet School, Laurel; Jones Middle School, Laurel; St. Richard Catholic School, Jackson; and Casey Elementary School, Jackson.  The schools can use the funds to purchase supplies, provide continuing education for their teachers, build a website, or create informational printed materials to share with other schools. 

Each school will be honored for their excellence in implementing the Whole Schools Initiative at a special presentation later this Spring by the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Executive Director, Malcolm White.

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 curriculum in order to further prove the powerful role the arts play in  learning.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Wallace Foundation, Donna & Jim Barksdale, 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.  MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi.  The agency serves as an active supporter and promoters of the arts in community life and in arts education.

 

###

 

« Back to headlines