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Description
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The University of
California, Irvine's School of the Arts hosts the ArtsBridge
project, which supports teams of graduate and undergraduate
artists serving residencies in the local community. The
success of the program demonstrates how a traditional
program can change both statewide educational practice and
the kinds of roles graduate students pursue. Under the
guidance of a faculty mentor, graduate and undergraduate
students serve as the master artists and design and lead
classes in collaboration with classroom teachers. Their
students are local K-12 students, many of whom live in
underprivileged communities, and pediatric cancer patients
at the UCI Medical Center and other hospitals. The program
focuses on enhancing literacy skills, engaging the artistic
imagination, and building strong interpersonal and
intercultural relationships. In three years, the program has
expanded dramatically, growing from six scholars at UCI in
the spring of 1996 to more than 800 scholars working
statewide during the 1999-2000 academic year.
With ArtsBridge programs now
in hundreds of classrooms around the state, the research
generated by individual projects has begun to influence the
way the arts are taught in the public schools. Some of the
graduate student research, such as a recent project on the
dance and music of early California, is taking a more
permanent niche in the mandated K-12 curriculum. In
addition, this year the program inspired two doctoral
dissertations in UCI's Department of Education. ArtsBridge
scholars are exposed to a range of people and disciplines,
which takes them beyond traditional spheres of artistic
influence. They are meeting representatives from
corporations, leaders in state educational policy, and
members of the California Arts Council.
ArtsBridge also is expanding
the options available to graduate students, who are finding
careers in disciplines such as social work, public policy,
digital media, and arts and health. Because ArtsBridge joins
young people and the scholars instructing them, it has had a
strong two-way impact. ArtsBridge believes that the whole
community benefits when a student of the arts teaches
artistic self-expression to young people who may have had
few opportunities; and ArtsBridge has breathed new life into
education programs that have experienced budget cuts. Our
campus artists are strengthened by the rich experiences,
teaching in ways that reflect their interests and serving
their communities. By giving its scholars a fellowship
stipend (rather than academic credit), ArtsBridge
demonstrates that their work and art have value.
http://www.arts.uci.edu/ucartsbridge
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