Louise Potash, Arts for Learning San Diego Board Member
10/30/2018
I recently learned a bit about the synergy between the Kroc Center and Arts for Learning. I had the opportunity to chat with Deidra Davis, Arts and Education Director at The Kroc Center, and separately, Sherrie Brown, Community Programs Manager at Arts for Learning, about the shared program. What was most interesting to me, was the fact that the descriptions of the way the program is not only executed, but received, were nearly identical. The mutual respect and camaraderie was evident, as were the missions and visions of the program.
For over a decade, Arts for Learning and the Kroc Center have collaborated to produce the Family Arts and Literacy Program. These FREE monthly events held at the Kroc Center serve the surrounding community, but are for everyone. The essential components are organized around a theme, and correlated with an in-school workshop. The Family Arts and Literacy Nights include a performance, a visual arts project, and a FREE book to take home.
This is far from an arts and crafts gathering. This is first class artistic performance and engagement, and an outstanding program for focusing on ideas and/or people who have influenced history and culture, fostering learning with excellence,fluidity and FUN.
As Arts for Learning moves into its 55th year in San Diego, evolving from Young Audiences to a more multi-faceted organization, it has garnered a distinctively stellar reputation for cultivating an outstanding roster of teaching artists. These teaching artists are doubly gifted—artistic in pedagogy and in their art genre. The teaching artists serve our community not only as artists, but by teaching our local children and collaborating with classroom teachers to enhance learning. Highly trained and skilled artists, they represent Arts for Learning’s call to inspire students and elevate learning, as well as build a knowledgeable, creative, community.
From the San Diego Ballet and Symphony to museums and individual artists, the Family Arts and Literacy program introduces children and their FAMILIES to the arts, and makes experiencing an art form, producing a work of art, and reading, FUN. It’s the antidote to the daily challenges that wear us down.
The program is FREE to FAMILIES everywhere in San Diego, whether or not they reside in the immediate vicinity of the Kroc Center (6845 University Avenue, San Diego 92115). Of course, funding ensures that this program will continue for future decades, and for our children’s future San Diego community. We are most grateful for all the support.
It is easy to miss the stories and experiences of excellence happening around us, as we are inundated with seemingly unrelenting crises or, even the everyday challenges of life.
I hope you will join me in spreading the word about the Family Arts and Literacy program, and the synergy and collaboration between the Kroc Center and Arts for Learning.
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