FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2008
Contact: Greg Liakos,
Communications Director 617-727-3668 x343
or Rob Watson, Communications
Coordinator 617-727-3668 x268
MCC Recognizes Outstanding Teaching
Artists
Five Teaching Artists Receive $7,500 Fellowships
(Boston) The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) has recognized five teaching artists for exceptional work, releasing $37,500 in new funds for Creative Teaching Fellowships. This new program, the first of its kind in the nation, supports residencies of master teaching artists in schools as part of the MCC’s Creative Minds initiative to promote arts education and creative learning in Massachusetts.
“Teaching artists and interpretive scientists play a critical role in education by reinforcing creative thinking, animating learning, introducing students to new ways of seeing the world, and providing important role models,” said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker.
The MCC’s Creative Teaching Fellows will each receive $7,500 to implement their projects in schools. The 2008 recipients are:
- Kimberly Connors-Hughes’ (Littleton Middle
School) program, entitled Art, Archaeology and the Ancient
World, introduces middle school students to ancient art as
viewed through the lens of archaeology.
- Jennifer Jacobson (Dexter Park Elementary School, Orange)
will create and implement a curriculum and assessment portfolio
for an afterschool program designed to inspire children through
storytelling and community service.
- Joy Lamberton (Silver Lake Middle School,
Kingston) will create a teaching packet to help middle school
teachers use arts-integrated curricula to teach the World of Shakespeare.
She will also document the thinking processes that a teaching
artist and veteran teacher use in developing a collaborative curriculum.
- Pell Osborn (Shady Hill School, Cambridge) will mentor a partner teacher in developing an animation program for students.
- Steven Ratiner (Thoreau Middle School, Concord) will develop A Poet’s Retreat: Making My Place in the World, a multi-disciplinary curriculum focusing on two pivotal literary figures: China’s Du Fu and Henry David Thoreau.
Applications were accepted from eligible Massachusetts teaching artists who have been selected as Creative Teaching Partners, the MCC’s roster of artist, scholar and scientist educators.
MCC’s Creative Minds initiative seeks to advance the skills and professional
standards of teaching artists in Massachusetts. The initiative has
sponsored a ground-breaking series of summer teacher institutes and
conferences designed especially for artist-educators in recent years
in partnership with Lesley University and the New England Consortium
of Artist-Educator Professionals. For more information on Creating
Teaching Fellowships and the Creative Minds initiative, visit
www.massculturalcouncil.org/creativeminds.asp.
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.
