The Music Center Announces New Arts Integration Symposium

The Music Center today announced its first Arts Integration Symposium for K-12 educators to be held at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion from July 18-20, 2018. This new program features a first-ever collaboration with both The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts where educators will have access to a team of experts from all three of the nation's leading arts institutions. Teaching artists from across the country will join together to share their approaches to engaging students in transformative arts education programs and offer participants access to a wide range of professional development. This opportunity is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation as part of the Annenberg Next Generation Arts Education Program.

The symposium, part of The Music Center's 2018 Summer Arts Studio for Educators - which builds on The Music Center's success with its long-standing Institute for Educators - will include presentations by nearly 20 teaching artists in dance, visual arts, theatre and music. Each organization will share its unique approach to arts integration with instruction that provides hands-on experience in the key concepts and techniques for incorporating the arts to deepen classroom curriculum. From science and math, to language arts and social studies, The Music Center's Arts Integration Symposium will provide the tools for educators to align the arts with many content areas, including 21st Century Learning Skills, Next Generation Science Standards, Social Emotional Learning, Common Core and English Language Development.

"The Music Center is thrilled to work with The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center on this new project that celebrates arts integration and provides a platform to share our collective knowledge with educators nationwide," said Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. "By empowering teachers and providing them the tools they need to bring core subjects to life for students, we can help educators increase the effectiveness of their curriculum, improve a child's overall classroom experience and foster an environment where innovation and creativity thrive."

"The Music Center's Arts Integration Symposium represents the first time the education community will have broad access to the depth of experience and resources of these three incomparable arts organizations," said Keith Wyffels, associate vice president of education for The Music Center. "To work with some of the leading teaching artists in the country is a rare professional development opportunity that will increase the ability of educators to bring more creativity, imagination and self-expression into the classroom."

The Music Center's 2018 Summer Arts Studio for Educators offers additional professional development programs including the Arts Integration Retreat (July 23 - 24, 2018) and Arts Integration Camp (July 30 - August 3, 2018). The two-day retreat will explore Social Emotional Learning in more substantial ways and help K-12 teachers build core competencies in these areas through music and movement. The five-day camp will offer K-6 educators valuable arts-based skills and strategies to express scientific concepts through creative movement, visual arts and music - and align to the Next Generation Science Standards.

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 K-12, teachers and aspiring young talent throughout Los Angeles. With the belief that the arts enrich 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.

The Kennedy Center's (The Center) education programs, including those of its affiliate VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, have become models for communities across the country and have unlocked the door to learning for millions of young people. The Center and its affiliates stage more than 400 free performances by artists from throughout the world each year on its main stages and every day of the year at 6 p.m. on its Millennium Stages. Lincoln Center Education, now in its 43rd year, is committed to enriching the lives of students, educators and lifelong learners by providing opportunities for engagement with the highest-quality arts on the stage, in the classroom, via digital platforms and within the community.

For more information about The Music Center's Arts Integration Symposium and the 2018 Summer Arts Studio for Educators, visit https://www.musiccenter.org/education/Professional-Development/2018-summer-arts-studio

About The Music Center
The Music Center is Los Angeles' home to the world's greatest artistic programs and events with four iconic theatres and an outdoor plaza. In addition to its four-renowned resident companies - Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil - The Music Center presents an international dance series, free and low-cost public programming and special events and activities for all ages. From its early days, The Music Center has been a pioneer in arts education and offers a multi-faceted program from K-12. With The Music Center On Location, the non-profit performing arts organization brings programming to locations outside of its Downtown Los Angeles campus. The Music Center also programs and manages Grand Park, a 12-acre adjacent greenspace, with year-round free programming. For more information, visit musicenter.org Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@MusicCenterLA).