professional membership

Featured Member

Arts in Mind logo

Numerous studies have presented support for the claims that the arts are a critical component to students' education and that students exposed to the arts are more likely to excel in other academic subjects. For example, the Conference Board released a report indicating that business and school leaders see the arts as key to preparing students to be creative workers for the global marketplace. Eighty-five percent of surveyed business executives indicated that they are currently having difficulty recruiting individuals who possess creative ability. Yet, arts programs are still often the first on the chopping block, especially in times of national and global financial stress. Promoting the arts in our educational system is a key part in keeping our students competitive as they enter the ever-increasing global workforce.

To make sure that message is heard, Partners for Arts Education—a Syracuse, NY-based arts education organization that aims to inspire learning and leadership for arts in education—provides support and funding to enhance and enrich educational experiences in and through the arts for students, teachers, and artists in the Syracuse area and throughout Central New York. 

Arts in Mind is a program that Partners for Arts Education created to increase the potential for student achievement through schoolwide integration of cultural resources into student learning experiences. The program is a collaborative effort among the Syracuse City School District; Partners for Arts Education; members of the Central New York Arts and Culture Leadership Alliance; and local foundations that are dedicated to teaching, inspiring, and empowering our children through the arts.

Arts in Mind strives to:

• make it easier for teachers to incorporate the arts into learning,
• for cultural organizations to share their offerings with students, and
• for funders to provide lasting support for education that makes a real difference to children throughout Syracuse.

Arts in Mind believes, “when students are given the opportunity to use the arts as a way to connect to subject matter, they tend to be more enthusiastic about their studies, to absorb information more deeply and retain it longer, and to become more competent at other related skills like teamwork, observation, and critical thinking. Students who are engaged are more likely to come to school and stay in school.”

Arts in Mind programs promote three levels of arts-based learning for teachers to incorporate into their classroom experiences: access, alignment, and integration. Art-based learning can take place through providing access for students to experience artwork like seeing a performance, touring a museum, or talking to an artist, whether in school or another location. And that the experience may or may not have a direct connection to their subjects of study. Another level involves aligning the students' experience with art to relate to material they are studying in class. Students may make use of a study guide or similar materials with their classroom teacher to help connect the work of art to their class study. The third level of art-based learning that the Arts in Mind program promotes is to integrate the students' work with an artist in the classroom to create artwork that relates to curriculum material.  An artist works with the teacher to co-plan components of study that combine “standards-based” arts and other curricula to deepen and expand learning.

These three techniques of integrating the arts into classrooms sound great, but for many teachers this is new; and without the teacher's understanding of how to do it effectively the integration can daunting and unsuccessful. So Arts in Mind has also considers professional development for teachers an integral part of its planning and partnerships. Arts in Mind doesn't believe you have to be an artist to use the arts successfully in the classroom. In understanding the importance of assessment for any arts in education program, Arts in Mind has also built into the partnerships ongoing assessment protocols for the teachers so they can adjust their class plans according to what is and isn’t working for the students.  

The integrative nature of the Arts in Mind program provides a dynamic classroom experience for both the students and the teachers. Through working with the arts, the students are developing skills of problem-solving, creativity, thinking beyond preconceptions, and teamwork. Combine these creative skills with standardized reading and math skills, and students will be better prepared to compete in the 21st-century workplace. The Arts in Mind program is another great example of how a community can promote the value of the arts and arts in education through a collaborative effort.