ART21 ANNOUNCES UNIQUE YEARLONG EDUCATION INITIATIVE
WITH TEACHERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY
New York, NY – June 22, 2009 – Art21, the preeminent chronicler of contemporary art and artists, announced today a new education initiative for select teachers from across the country. Art21 Educators is a dynamic professional development, curriculum implementation, and documentation initiative for fifteen American art educators. Participating teachers were selected from a competitive application and review process led by Art21 staff in consultation with external education advisors. The program will launch in July when teachers will convene in New York City to explore and design new classroom materials derived from Art21’s Peabody winning PBS television series, online videos, and multimedia educational resources about contemporary visual artists. Participating teachers will document their implementation of the new materials during the next school year, providing valuable video case studies for use by educators across the country, and around the world.
Co-hosted by New York University, workshop sessions will also be co-presented at the Museum of Modern Art. The first Art21 Educators summer workshop will take place July 15 through July 21, 2009. Art21 staff will collaborate with artists including Oliver Herring (New York, NY) and educators such as Olivia Gude (University of Illinois, Chicago) to explore the ways in which artists can inform the practice of teaching. The workshops will enable the participating teachers to engage students with new ways of thinking about and creating art.
“We’re excited to work directly with educators to explore how contemporary visual artists can serve as role models for creative thinking, and inspire innovative approaches to teaching and learning,” said Susan Sollins, Executive Director of Art21. “Art21 has a unique position in the art world as a national organization that provides intimate access to the work of contemporary visual artists, and also provides teacher training and multimedia educational resources. Art21 Educators is the next step in the expansion of our reach.”
Using Art21 films and educational materials along with museum and studio visits, participants will return to their schools prepared with units of study designed for implementation during the subsequent academic year. Art21 Educators has been designed to cultivate and support a dynamic network of teachers who are utilizing contemporary art, artists and themes in their classrooms and to subsequently share best practices with educators nationwide. Art21 will document the year in video as well as collect images of student work and written narratives to capture participant experiences. Monthly online forums and distance learning workshops will provide ongoing opportunities for participants to network with each other and continue their work and discussions virtually.
Casey Carlock who teaches at the Mary Lyon Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois describes her desire to participate in this program as an opportunity to gain “a better understanding of contemporary art, a professional support group, and an improved way of communicating contemporary art ideas to students.”
The Art21 Educators initiative is the result of the creation and presentation of Art21 professional development workshops for teachers over the last six years. Recognizing the potential of teachers to support and inspire each other through long-term networks that encourage them to share personal anecdotes and experiences, the initiative will cultivate a collection of case studies, video documentation, and curricular models representing specific ways that teachers are merging contemporary curricular resources and content with innovative teaching strategies.
Jenny Davidson from Seattle Washington says, “Ultimately I would like to create my classroom as a place where understanding contemporary art helps students understand how art plays a role in their lives and their futures.”
The inaugural group of Art21 Educators are:
Casey Carlock, Mary Lyon Elementary, Chicago, IL
Jenny Davidson, Sammamish High School, Seattle, WA
Jennie M. Duke, Beacon High School, Beacon, NY
June Edmonds, Lawndale School District, Lawndale, CA
Kristine Hatanaka, Culver City High School, Culver City, CA
Lluvia Higuera, freelance educator, Los Angeles, CA
Troy Kroft, Glen Rock High School, Glen Rock, NJ
Tanya Manabat, Roosevelt Elementary, Lawndale, CA
Benjamin Morales, Lawndale School District, Lawndale, CA
Pam Posey, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
Joyce Riley, High School For Leadership and Public Service, New York, NY
Joanne Ross, Glen Rock High School, Glen Rock, NJ
Keeley Marie Stitt, Chicago International Charter School, Chicago IL
Lucia Vinograd, Besant Hill School of Happy Valley, Ojai, CA
Stacey J. Ward Kelly, Sargent Elementary School, Beacon, NY
About Art21
Art21 is a non-profit organization that illuminates the creative process of today’s visual artists through the production of documentary films, interpretive media, and live programs that stimulate critical reflection as well as conversation. Art21 offers an independent, behind-the-scenes point of view on contemporary art and artists, producing historically relevant primary source materials of the highest quality, exemplified by the Peabody Award-winning documentary series,
Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, now in its fifth season on PBS. Based in New York City but with a global reach on television and online, Art21’s additional projects include workshops for teachers; public screenings and lectures; and a blog and social media initiatives.
Support
Major underwriting for Season Five of
Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century and its accompanying education programs has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the AG Foundation, the Public Broadcasting Service, Bloomberg, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and by individual contributions to Art21. Art21 Educators is supported by a grant from the National Art Education Association Foundation.
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