FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2007

Contact: Gregory Liakos, Communications Director 617-727-3668 x343
or Rob Watson, Communications Coordinator 617-727-3668 x268

CREATIVE MINDS FOR A CREATIVE ECONOMY

MCC Launches New Education Initiative

(Boston)…The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) today announced a new, broad-based education initiative called Creative Minds for a Creative Economy, which seeks to expand learning opportunities for young people in the arts, humanities, and sciences through school programs and out-of-school activities.

"We are growing increasingly aware of the role of the creative economy in driving growth and prosperity in Massachusetts," said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker. "But the fundamental building block of the creative economy is the creative mind. Our future depends on young people who can think imaginatively, generate ideas, and find new solutions to old problems." Creative Minds for a Creative Economy combines new initiatives with established grant programs, teacher training, and advocacy in local communities and statewide. These include:

Creative Schools: This program funds schools and districts working to integrate the arts, humanities, and sciences into the curriculum, in partnership with cultural organizations and artist-educators. The MCC now supports 35 Creative Schools programs with two-year grants. A full list can be found here.)

YouthReach: MCC’s nationally renowned YouthReach Initiative supports partnerships between cultural and community organizations that integrate rigorous out-of-school arts and science opportunities for youth at risk. These two-year grants fund 37 YouthReach programs across the state.

Creative Transitions: MCC will work with the state’s Division of Youth Services, community and cultural organizations, to engage teens involved in the juvenile justice system with intensive experiences in arts and culture during residential custody and after they are released to their communities. This program will build on the pioneering work of programs such as the Community Music School of Springfield’s “Renaissance,” and the Playwright Mentoring Program at Barrington Stage Co., two highly successful YouthReach programs. The long-term goal is to integrate the arts into the juvenile justice system statewide.

Kennedy Center Creative Community Inventories: Using a model established by the Washington-based Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, MCC helps communities identify their arts education resources. Local educators and advocates then take that information and work to build a central place for the arts in their schools. MCC has worked with nine communities to date, including Springfield, New Bedford, and the Southern Berkshires Regional School District, with positive results.

Teacher Training in the Arts: Professional development for art specialists and classroom teachers alike is critical to their success, particularly when their ambitions include integrating the arts into other areas of the curriculum. MCC will expand a pilot program it developed with the National Endowment for the Arts to immerse teachers in exemplary works of art to improve classroom instruction and help integrate the arts into other curricular areas.

Other initiatives include Poetry Out Loud, an NEA-sponsored poetry recitation contest for high school students; Explorations in Puerto Rican Culture, a multi-year partnership with the Springfield Public Schools to integrate Puerto Rican arts and culture into classrooms; and Creative Teaching Partner Fellowships, grants to support residencies of master teaching artists in schools. The MCC also will continue to support creative learning for young people through its Organizational Support grants to non-profit arts, humanities, and interpretive science organizations, many of which use MCC funding for education programs; and through Local Cultural Council grants, nearly half of which serve school children.

"Arts and culture are an essential part of a strong educational system--in school and beyond," said Walker. "By investing in these programs and services, we can help our communities and our schools create the kind of rich learning environment that our children deserve."

About the Massachusetts Cultural Council
The Massachusetts Cultural Council is a state agency that promotes excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and sciences, to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The MCC pursues this mission through a combination of grants, services, and advocacy for nonprofit cultural organizations, schools, communities, and artists. MCC's budget for the current fiscal year is $13.4 million, including $12 million from the state of Massachusetts and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources.