Luther Burbank Center for the Arts Recognized as First Arts Organization Included in Sonoma County's Upstream Investments Policy

Today, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (The Center) announced its recognition as the first arts organization to be included in Sonoma County's Upstream Investments Policy. This policy, sponsored by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and widely supported throughout the community, seeks to eliminate poverty in Sonoma County and ensure equal opportunity for quality education and good health in nurturing home and community environments.

The Upstream Investment's Policy Committee recently approved The Center's Professional Development: Arts Integration Tools for Teachers program to be included in their Portfolio of Model Upstream Programs. The Center's Professional Development program works in conjunction with the esteemed Kennedy Center for the Arts Partners in Education to provide workshops that help local educators learn new ways to integrate the arts into their classrooms as a tool to improve learning, comprehension, and retention for all core subjects, including math, science, literature, and social studies. The Center's Professional Development program is the only one of its breadth and depth in the Bay Area.

"As an organization whose mission is to use the arts to improve the quality of life for everyone in our community, it is gratifying to have our Professional Development program recognized by the County in this way," said LBC President and CEO Rick Nowlin. He continued, "The arts can be a powerful tool for learning, and we have seen again and again the ways in which the arts can be used to strengthen learning and self-confidence, and help students find their identity and voice."

Sonoma County's Upstream Investments Policy seeks to promote local initiatives to help better the local community rather than focus on limited resources to repair difficult societal problems after they occur. Upstream Investments strategically target the factors that lead to many problems in the Sonoma County community, intervening early with outcome-based programs and policies to reduce the occurrence of these problems before they require more drastic and expensive services. The initiative places an emphasis on prevention-focused intervention and policies for children, families, individuals, and the community to increase equality and promote opportunities that reduce future monetary and societal costs. The Policy states its "Downstream Vision" in Sonoma County is to see that poverty is eliminated and all people have an equal opportunity for quality education and good health in nurturing home and community environments. Upstream Investments inclusion of the Center's Professional Development program in its Portfolio of Model Upstream Programs highlights Luther Burbank Center for the Arts' continued commitment to improving the Sonoma County community through arts-integrated, evidence-informed practices.

Each year, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts presents a series of professional development workshops in conjunction with the esteemed Kennedy Center for the Arts Partners in Education program. The workshops, which feature the nation's finest teaching-artists, help local educators learn new ways to integrate the arts into their classrooms. Though the Professional Development program is open to all teachers, the Center partners with the Sonoma County Office of Education, Healdsburg Unified School District, and Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts to strategize and plan content and topics for each year's workshops. Upcoming programs feature techniques to help students improve their writing by creating dialogue through drama, offered art as a means for exploring and understanding prejudice, and explored drama strategies for motivating students who are learning English as a second language.

In 2016-17, the Center has expanded the program to include five workshops, which will take place during school days, allowing more educators the opportunity to participate. The Center's Professional Development program also offers classroom modeling where the Kennedy Center teaching artist demonstrates a workshop strategy directly with students in a local classroom. The Center is able to provide this opportunity to as many teachers as possible based on the number of teachers attending the workshop from a school site, the school's need, and scheduling and availability. Each professional development session also includes targeted lesson plans that meet Common Core Standards. The schedule for The Center's 2016-2017 Professional Development workshops held at Sonoma County Office of Education is below:

2016-2017 Professional Development: Arts Integration Tools for Teachers Workshops

Arts Integration: Explore the Definition & Apply Through Story Development
Grades K-12 | Tuesday, October 25, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Acting Right: Drama as a Classroom Management Strategy
Grades K-8 | Monday, November 28, 2016 from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Motivating the English Language Learner Through Drama
Grades K-5 | Monday, January 23, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Reaching Students with Autism Through the Arts:
Implications for Inclusive Arts Classrooms Music, Visual Art, Dance and Theater
All Grades | Wednesday, February 28, 2017 from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies Through Visual Art
Grades 3-8 | Monday, April 25, 2017 from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.

For more information on Upstream Investments, please visit http://www.upstreaminvestments.org/.

For more information on Luther Burbank Center for the Arts' Professional Development program, please visit
http://lutherburbankcenter.org/education/professional-development/.

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