National Young Audiences Week

This week we are joining our fellow affiliates in a national celebration. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives recently issued resolutions designating this week of 2012 (March 12th-16th) as "National Young Audiences Week" to honor the contributions Young Audiences has made to schools nationwide through its arts-in-education programs. The goal of this week is to encourage people across the nation to recognize the importance of arts in society.

The Senate resolution states that arts education "including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students." President Barack Obama even wrote a proclamation recognizing National Young Audiences Week and the importance of arts-in-education.

The arts-in-education programming offered to schools by Arts for Learning not only fosters academic success, but supports personal growth by developing critical thinking, problem solving skills, teamwork, creativity, discipline and cross-cultural understanding. National Young Audiences week will be celebrated across the nation all week with events, programs, and speakers to promote Young Audiences arts-in-education programs.

Our Indiana chapter is proud to be celebrating 50 years this year of making the arts an important part of learning. To discover more about our program offerings, please visit our website at www.yaindy.org

On a sweeter note, Chocolate Fest is back with a fun new twist! Click here to find our profile and click on the Chocolate Fest blog for up-to-date information on what is sure to be a tasty event!

Angelina, Arts for Learning Intern

Arts in Education Goes National

In recent years, many schools have focused less on the arts and more on math, science and reading test scores. However, that hasn't stopped many educators around the country from using the arts to teach these academic subjects. Many believe teaching math, science, or history through the arts helps students become excited about the topic and develop their own concepts. In doing so, they not only learn the required information, but they remember it too! Take a look at some instances of "arts in education" happening around the country.

Recently, students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama used
mosaic art to learn about math and history. The designs were modeled after the historic quilts from Gee's Bend, a former ex-slave community in Alabama. Click here to read more!


In 2008, the National Education Association published an article that interviewed several teachers from around the country using art in their classrooms to teach math and science. In Tacoma, Washington an arts education group called Arts Impact uses dance and visual arts to teach kids about geometry. Fourth graders are learning to use their bodies and giant rubber bands to represent the concept of geometric transformation. Math teachers in East Oakland, California have their students use real-world statistics to understand big numbers and how powers of ten can be used to describe these numbers. The students then make posters to share their findings with the rest of the class. Read the full article here!

Last year, in the Kenton County School District of Kentucky, 8th graders learned about the history of Kentucky through music, dance, and drama. The program is part of the District's gifted and talented ASCENT Arts program. Watch the video here to see what the students say about using the arts to learn!

Around this time last year, sixth graders at Grand Ridge School in Jackson County, Florida used bottle art to explore history. Students re-created a historical figure using recycled soda bottles. They then had to learn three facts about the person they chose and share them with the class. Click here to read the full article!



Finally, nursing and medical students right here in Indianapolis, Indiana are using the arts to learn. A voluntary program developed by Meg Moorman (RN) and Jeff Rothenberg (MD) unites nursing and medical students from IU at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where they learn about Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). Observations and conversations about objects of art help the students convert their observations into thought and their thoughts into a shared dialogue. This also takes two groups of students, who rarely get to learn together in the classroom, and puts them in a situation where they can learn together, so they can work together. Read the full article here!

Young Audiences Arts for Learning in Indiana provides a great residency taught by dancer and choreographer Melli Hoppe that teaches kids some of the fundamentals of science through dance. The residency is called "Water Dance" and allows students to choreograph their own dances that represent parts of the water cycle and states of matter. Watch Melli in action here!

For more information on how Young Audiences Arts for Learning can help you integrate arts in education in your classroom, visit our website at www.yaindy.org

Angelina, Young Audiences Arts for Learning Intern

(No copyright infringement is intended. All credit goes to the original authors of the articles, photographers of the photos, and producers of the video.)

An Arts in Education Flashback

Let's face it...for most of us, it's been a while since we cracked open a textbook, wrote a book report, or constructed a science project. Much of what we learn in school as children is lost by the time we reach adulthood. But what DO you remember most from your school days? Has a particular concept or lesson stuck with you all of these years? If so, it's probably safe to say it was presented to you in a unique and engaging way. Maybe you played a game or designed a poster...and we all learned our ABC's from singing a simple song.

Arts in Education is our philosophy at Young Audiences Arts for Learning. We believe that the use of arts in other areas - such as science, social studies, language arts, technology, and math - can be a helpful tool to engage children in learning and bring fun and unique activities into the classroom. However, the philosophy of integrating the arts into education is not a new concept. In fact, teachers have been using the arts to engage students in the classroom and aid in the learning process for generations!

Does anyone remember the educational film created by Disney called
Donald in Mathmagic Land? Released in 1959, this was one of the most popular educational films Disney ever created. The movie combines the visual arts, music, and the classic humor and animation of Disney to explain to children how math can be found in music, architecture, painting, sculpture, sports, games, and nature. The short film also makes references to history, science, engineering, and technology. Donald in Mathmagic Land is a wonderful example of how education can be integrated and how the arts can be used to learn about math.

Watch Donald in Mathmagic Land here!


During the 1990s, a couple educational programs on PBS television emerged that taught children about basic science concepts. Shows like The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy are two of my favorites! Bill Nye the Science Guy ran from 1993-1998 and is still frequently used in classrooms today as an educational medium. Each episode was about 25 minutes long and featured Bill, a funny, upbeat scientist who taught kids about a specific science topic. The show
mixes serious science with fast-paced action and humor to keep kids interested and learning.
The episodes incorporate the visual arts and music to convey science concepts. Most episodes contain a mock song parody and a music video substituting a scientific summary of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. There is even one episode devoted entirely to music!

Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy "There's Science in Music" here!


Who remembers the last time Saturday morning cartoons were an educational experience? I do! One of the best things to ever happen to Saturday mornings was Schoolhouse Rock! This was a series of animated musical educational short films that aired during Saturday morning cartoons on ABC. The topics covered included: grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The show originally ran from 1973-1985 and was revived from 1993-1999 with both old and new episodes. The episodes are only about three minutes long and use cleverly animated cartoons with very catchy songs to teach kids about different scholastic subjects. The great thing about Schoolhouse Rock! episodes is that they are still useful in classrooms today because they truly work. If you have ever watched an episode you know what I mean. You can't help but learn because the song won't leave your head for days!

History/Government in Schoolhouse Rock! (The Preamble). Click here!

Grammar in Schoolhouse Rock! (Conjunction Junction). Click here!

Math in Schoolhouse Rock! (My Hero, Zero). Click here!

Science in Schoolhouse Rock! (Interplanet Janet). Click here!

Integrating the arts in education has always resulted in fun, engaging ways to learn and ensures that educational experiences become lifelong lessons. I can still recite the Preamble to our constitution and sight examples of math in architecture thanks to these wonderful instances of the arts in my early childhood education. So, share these videos with your children, or your students, and continue the movement to use the arts in education as a way to engage children in an interactive way of learning that helps develop valuable academic, social, and emotional skills.

-Angelina, Young Audiences Arts for Learning Intern

Prince Julius Adeniyi

It is with much sadness that we have recently learned about the passing of Nigerian drum master Prince Julius Adeniyi. He was a teaching artist for Young Audiences of Indiana for over 30 years, having only recently retired in 2009. During this time, he taught thousands of school children about West African culture through music and drumming. Prince was also recognized as the National Young Audiences’ Artist of the Year in 2002.

Prince Julius Adeniyi was born into a long line of royal drummers of the Yoruba tribe in his home of Nigeria. He learned the art of drumming from the teachings of his grandfather, and continued to pass those lessons to many students throughout the years. With the help of his friend and Young Audiences colleague, Jack Gilfoy, he formed the ensemble Drums of West Africa. This group became widely popular and performed in many of the area’s ethnic festivals, including the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. In addition to his musical talents, for a number of years Prince also owned and operated Sambusa Hut, a West African style restaurant located in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood for a number of years.

Please follow the links below for other memorial posts about Prince Julius Adeniyi:

Memorial Post by Traditional Arts Indiana director- Jon Kay

Memorial Post by Lotus: Education and Arts Foundation

Nick Rabkin Event Follow-up

Check out the link provided to view photos of Nick Rabkin's presentation about Teaching Artists and the Future of Education...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigcar/sets/72157627968828425/