PITTSBORO — The Chatham Arts Council is excited to kick off its 2022-23 Artists-in-Schools Initiative season this month with visits to all elementary and K-8 schools in the county, as well as its Virtual Academy.
From African drumming to jazz ensembles to theatre artists, students will experience live performances and take part in engaging workshops, all designed to strengthen connections with core curriculum. Artists include Gaspard&Dancers (modern dance), Diali Cissokho (West African music), Phillip Shabazz (poetry), Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana (Flamenco dance), Mike Wiley (theater), Black Box Dance Theatre (modern dance), The Magic of African Rhythm (African drumming, dancing, storytelling and visual art), John Brown (jazz music) and Willa Brigham (textiles).
Since 2015, AIS has been bringing professional teaching artists into schools to help make deeper curriculum connections through art and music. AIS began in just two elementary schools, and this season, the Initiative will be at 15 elementary schools, plus middle grades at three K-8 schools. The CAC has a vision to be in every single Chatham public school, every year, by 2025.
“If you’ve seen a live theatre performance, a live music concert, visited an art gallery in person, you know the incredible power of experiencing art first-hand,” said CAC Artistic Director Cheryl Chamblee. “But access to art experiences is not equal for all sorts of reasons. Many families in our community just don’t have the resources.”
The Chatham Arts Council is working to bring professional arts experiences to all children in our community through our Chatham Artists-in-Schools Initiative. CAC partners with public schools in Chatham County to provide artist residencies to kids, ensuring the arts really are for everyone. Unique in the region, the Council does not require schools or teachers to find funding, making equitable access available to public schools across our county, regardless of resources.
Studies show that the arts help students develop innovative problem-solving skills and build self-confidence — providing a creative outlet and offering a path for processing trauma.
Students across the country were deeply impacted by two years of uncertainty, loss and isolation, and artists residencies for many have been a way to open back up.
“Some of our students needed more opportunities like this to make sure they come out of their shells,” shared a 5th-grade teacher at Siler City Elementary.
Making direct curriculum connections
Research shows that students who participate in the arts are not only more resilient; they are also more academically successful. According to Americans for the Arts, they are four times more likely to be awarded for academic achievement, four times more likely to participate in academic fairs, and three times more likely to be elected to student government. CAC’s AIS artists will be creating deeper curriculum connections in a variety of ways:
• Nationally recognized theatre artist Mike Wiley: social studies and writing
• Modern dance company Black Box Dance Theatre: science, math and dance
• Grammy-nominated jazz musician and educator John Brown: social studies and music
• West African musician and storyteller Diali Cissokho: math, social studies, dance and music
• Poet Phillip Shabazz: writing and poetry
• Spanish dance company Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana: social studies, math and dance
• Modern dance company Gaspard&Dancers: social studies and dance
• Two-time Emmy Award-winner Willa Brigham: writing and sewing
• The Magic of Africa Rhythm, a group that focuses on the African concept of Ngoma, the “rhythmic thread” that links drumming, dancing, storytelling and visual arts together: social studies, science, dance and music
“Over the years I’ve performed and led multiple AIS residences,” said Mike Wiley, one of the inaugural AIS educators. “And in that time I’ve grown more and more proud of the Chatham Arts Council’s vision and ability to see the overwhelming need for the arts at the intersection of history, culture, race, and social change. The audiences of young people, as well as educators, continue to be deeply engaged in learning about how far we’ve come as a nation, and how much farther our ancestors would like us to go. Because my family and I live and love here in Chatham County, it’s uniquely important to me that the families in our community benefit personally and locally from the history that has shaped our country nationally.”
About Arts for Resilient Kids
CAC educates children through the arts via four initiatives in our Arts for Resilient Kids (ARK) program. In addition to the Chatham Artists-in-Schools Initiative, ARK includes Truck-and-Trailer Roving Performances, bringing mini arts parades directly into Chatham neighborhoods,
ArtAssist for Kids, offering access to arts materials and after-school arts lessons to children with the most need, and ClydeFEST, an old-fashioned kids’ folk art festival that has delighted kids of all ages for the last 20 years.
In the 2022-23 ARK season, two Truck-and-Trailer events are currently scheduled: Love’s Creek in Siler City in early November and Nature Trail in North Chatham in early May. ClydeFEST is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023 (rain date April 23). More information about all of these events will be available on the CAC website in the coming months.