Music Center Announces Second Annual Arts Integration Symposium

The Music Center today announced the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will participate in the performing arts center's second annual Arts Integration Symposium, which takes place from July 17-19, 2019, at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. With the theme, Deepening Classroom Culture through the Arts, the Arts Integration Symposium-a program of The Music Center's programming engine, TMC Arts-features more than 20 workshops for TK-12 educators led by expert teaching artists in dance, music, theatre and visual arts. These workshops connect the arts with curricular areas including English Language Arts, history, math, science, 21st century learning skills, social emotional learning and social justice. This opportunity is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation as part of the Annenberg Next Generation Arts Education Program.

The symposium is part of The Music Center's 2019 Summer Arts Studio for Educators (formerly known as the Institute for Educators), which builds on The Music Center's long-standing commitment to summer professional development for educators. It encourages teachers to actively participate in creating, performing, reflecting on and assessing their own teaching practices through the arts. Educators work as reflective learners and collaborative partners side-by-side with Music Center master teaching artists. Through this process, educators gain hands-on, creative tools for arts integration, along with renewed ownership and a firm commitment to transform their classrooms, using dance, music, theatre and visual arts as teaching mediums. The symposium offers arts-based tools and techniques to educators from throughout Southern California and beyond, helping them engage and challenge their students in creative, experiential and joyful ways.

"The Music Center is excited to have our esteemed colleagues from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings join this year's Summer Arts Studio for Educators," said Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. "The Smithsonian teams' knowledge and expertise on teaching strategies that help students learn how to express their shared humanity through art will complement the insights shared by The Music Center's teaching artists to create an invaluable learning experience for all participants. This is an extraordinary opportunity for educators to work with and learn from some of the leading teaching artists, both from The Music Center and these two major arts institutions."

"Arts learning is instrumental in fostering student learning in non-artistic disciplines," said Keith Wyffels, associate vice president of education for The Music Center. "The arts are not only a creative and authentic approach to deepening learning in other subject areas, but also actively engage students, and develop their imaginations, and their collaboration, communication and critical thinking skills-all of which are necessary for success in academics, careers and society. This opportunity offers educators an in-depth exploration of culture and understanding through the arts, supporting the Symposium's theme and our organization's mission that individuals unite and connect through the arts."

The Music Center's 2019 Summer Arts Studio for Educators offers additional professional development programs, including the Arts Integration Retreat (July 23-25, 2019) and Arts Integration Camp (July 29-August 2, 2019). The Engaging English Language Learners through Theatre and Movement retreat is designed to provide teachers with tools to develop English language capacity in students through inventive and joyful ways. The Shaping Social Emotional Learning through Music and Movement camp will allow teachers to build skills in social emotional learning, equipping participants with innovative strategies for their classrooms.

The Music Center has long been a champion of arts education with dynamic programs that inspire lifelong learning, take the arts into schools and bring young audiences to The Music Center. These programs engage children from TK-12, teachers and aspiring young talent throughout Los Angeles. With the belief that the arts deepen the lives of all people and are crucial to the development of every child, The Music Center provides in-depth professional and classroom support; student workshops in dance, music, theatre and visual arts that integrate content areas such as English Language Arts, math and science; in-school assembly performances that introduce students to the world of the performing arts by modeling excellence, cultural diversity and rich educational content in dance, music, theatre and storytelling; and student festivals and matinee performances.

For more information about The Music Center's Arts Integration Symposium and the 2019 Summer Arts Studio for Educators, visit www.musiccenter.org/education/Professional-Development/summer-arts-studio. To celebrate the world's musical heritage, please visit music.si.edu/smithsonian-year-music for more information about the Smithsonian Year of Music 2019.

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