What does Arts for Learning do?
We connect schools and community organizations with professional artists and programming of the highest caliber. We recruit teaching artists, assist them in developing workshops and residencies that meet the evolving needs of educators and students, and encourage and provide ongoing professional development for teaching artists. Our goal is to unlock student potential, while working closely with teachers to make cross-curricular connections that open students’ hearts and minds to learning.
Four Essential Elements of Arts for Learning
At the core of all our programming are four essential elements that guarantee the strength and quality of each experience. These elements are:
EXPERIENCE: Providing participants with a live, professional-level art experience delivered by a professional artist.
UNDERSTAND: Providing participants with a new or enhanced understanding of an art form, such as its cultural context, history, tools, or contemporary forms.
CREATE: Providing participants with the opportunity to create and empowering them to make artistic choices.
CONNECT: Providing participants with a link between program content and personal experiences, other academic learning, and/or life-skill development.
Our Services
We offer interactive performances, hands-on workshops, in-depth residencies, and professional development. Our programs are designed to fit within a variety of academic and life-skill curriculums, with grade-specific teacher guides tied to Virginia Standards of Learning available for many of our programs.
Our specially trained performing and teaching artists have adapted their programs to a virtual format to create joyful, arts-based learning for students. Programs can be live, pre-recorded, or a combination of the two. Our on-demand videos can now be accessed directly from our website for smooth integration into the classroom: Virtual Arts Services
If your school, community center, or other program is open for in-person programming, we have artists who are ready to deliver their quality arts programs.
In-Person Programming Guidelines [COVID-19]
| Interactive Performances | Performances are large assemblies that provide a high-quality experience to engage students in an exciting and educational show. |
| Hands-On Workshops | Workshops place teaching artists directly in classrooms, where they work collaboratively with students to create unique works and provide them insight into an art form and content area. This creative process improves students’ ingenuity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Workshops are typically conducted with 30 students or fewer and last about 45 minutes. |
| In-Depth Residencies | Residencies are curriculum-based and consist of multiple sessions of sequential learning—three or more—in which a teaching artist works with the same group of students in a focused setting.
Residencies begin with a planning meeting between the classroom teacher/site coordinator and teaching artist to set the goal and expectations of the residency. They often close with a reflection meeting to discuss the outcomes. |
| Professional Development | Professional development is offered to teachers to provide strategies on how to use the arts to leverage learning in other content areas to make student learning more meaningful and engaging. No arts experience or background is required for these sessions. |
