Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City School District and Youth Theatre at the U selected for Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program

Utah team one of just 14 in the nation

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January 3, 2007 -- Kingsbury Hall, on the University of Utah (the U) campus, has been selected by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, along with the Salt Lake City School District and Youth Theatre at the U, to be one of 14 teams of arts organizations and school systems from across the nation to participate in the Partners in Education Institute, May 9-12, 2007.  The Institute, funded by the U.S. Department of Education; the National Committee for the Performing Arts; the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund; and the Bank of America Foundation, promotes partnerships in communities across the nation between arts organizations and local schools, focusing on the development of education programs for teachers. Robin Wilks-Dunn, education and outreach coordinator for Kingsbury Hall, Rosanne Henderson, arts coordinator for the Salt Lake City School District and Penelope Caywood, artistic director of Youth Theatre at the U, will be attending the Institute in May, with subsequent conferences and training through 2009. (Full listing of national participants below.)

"The arts must be at the heart of every student's learning experience," says Darrell M. Ayers, vice president of education at the Kennedy Center. "The education of teachers is an essential component of any effort designed to affect the artistic literacy of America's young people. The Kennedy Center Partners in Education program lends opportunities to reach this goal."

"As arts education becomes an increasingly endangered species in our schools, making the performing arts accessible to school children in and around Salt Lake City is an essential part of our mission at Kingsbury Hall," says Greg Geilmann, director, Kingsbury Hall. "By participating in the Kennedy Center Institute, we will increase our ability to fulfill this mission by providing arts education and experiences for teachers in the Salt Lake City School District, empowering them to use the arts in their classrooms."

Kingsbury Hall and the new teams selected this year will join the 92 teams from 42 states and the District of Columbia already participating in the Partners in Education program, now in its 16^th year.  At the Institute, participants will examine the variety of education offerings for teachers developed and refined at the Kennedy Center since 1976. The newly selected teams met the criteria by effectively demonstrating the potential for the arts organization and school system to initiate or expand programs for teachers and by stating a commitment to collaborate on developing programs.

The Kennedy Center's workshops for Washington, D.C.-area teachers serve as a focus for the Partners in Education Institute. Institute participants will see events in action, examine how they are planned, implemented and evaluated, and have the opportunity to explore program designs. 

Nearly 1,000 teachers from 16 public school systems in the Washington metropolitan area attend 60 Kennedy Center events each year. These events are designed for teachers working at the preschool through high-school levels.

Established in 1972, the Kennedy Center’s Education Department believes the inclusion of the performing arts in a broad-based curriculum improves the quality of a child's educational experience. The Kennedy Center’s Education Department is committed to its leadership role in promoting higher standards of national performing arts education programs and policy.

For more information about the teams and the Partners in Education program, call (202) 416-8806 or visit www.kennedy-center.org/education/partners.

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SELECTED TEAMS

Kennedy Center Partners in Education

“Fostering partnerships among arts organizations, schools and communities”

Institute

May 9-12, 2007

Junea, Alaska
Juneau Arts & Humanities Council
City and Borough of Juneau School District

Arvada, Colorado
Mountain Chamber Music Society
Jefferson County Public Schools

Boise, Idaho
The Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts (Boise State University)
Joint Meridian School District No. 2

Stonington, Maine
Opera House Arts
Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School

East Lansing, Michigan
Wharton Center for the Performing Arts (Michigan State University)
Ingham Intermediate School District

Concord, New Hampshire
Capitol Center for the Arts
Concord School District

Lancaster, South Carolina
Lancaster County Council of the Arts
Lancaster County School District

Stanford, California
Stanford Lively Arts (Stanford University)
Palo Alto Unified School District

Honolulu, Hawai’i
Honolulu Theatre for Youth
State of Hawai’i Department of Education

Lafayette, Indiana
Purdue University Convocations
Lafayette School Corporation

New Bedford, Massachusetts
The Zeiterion Theatre
New Bedford Public Schools

Meridian, Mississippi
Riley Center for the Performing Arts & Education (Mississippi State University)
Meridian Public School District

Camden, New Jersey
Center for the Arts, Gordon Theater & Stedman Gallery (Rutgers University-Camden)
Camden City Board of Education

Salt Lake City, Utah
Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah
Salt Lake City School District