What does an arts-in-education partnership look like?  What happens in the classroom? Click on the title for more information on any of these successful partnerships.

CNY LCB (art$TART) Funded Programs:

"Tricking the Eye" Students learn about the use of illusions in past and present art. They brainstorm, plan, revise, and paint a mural depicting life-size students performing daily school activities with the technique of trompe l'oeil painting. (2009)

"Photographic Storytelling" Fourth graders visit the Onondaga Historical Association to expand their classroom learning about slavery, abolitionism, and the Underground Railroad. With a photographer, students create a photographic illustration depicting a scene from this historical period. (2009)

"All School Sings" Jowonio's preschool students use clay to explore the connection between music, nature and visual art. (2009)

'History of Literature' Mural A collaboration between Advanced Studio Art classes, Digital Photography class, and Honors/AP English classes,  students paint a mural, created jointly by English and Art students, depicting classical literary images, characters, and symbols. (2009)

"Fabric and Folktale" Chittenango Middle Schools students combinesEnglish Language Arts and Home and Careers skills with the disciplines of art and music to understand the cultural foundation of textiles and storytelling. (2009)

"Bird World" Students at Millard Fillmore Elementary explore the nature of birds through direct observation, the role of birds in literature, and the place birds have in the human psyche as evidenced by legend and folklore by practicing scientific observation and data recording, and creating bird masks to use in stagings of student-written bird legends. (2008)

"Weaving Connections" As part of the year-long focus on Africa at Montessori School of Syracuse, students explore textiles as a practical necessity, a method of recording history, and a cultural link in Africa. They produce a piece that becomes a woven record of their participation. (2008)

“Analysis of Self Through Literature and Art” ELA and Art come together at Madison Central to introduce students to the communicative languages shared between the visual arts and the written word.(2008)

"Connect on Home" Carthage Middle School students work with a professional recording engineer to bring their musical performances to family members in the military. (2008)

"Evolution of Sound" Franklin Magnet School 5th graders learn the scientific principles of sound, energy, vibration and basic electronics, and the human element of emotional responses to music and the artistic choices behind creating pieces of music, through a series of hands-on experiments using simple materials and instruments. (2008 - Arts in Mind Pilot School)

"The Sound of the Drums" Danforth Middle School students rehearse and perform with African drummer/dancer Biboti Ouikahilo, making connections to a culture that is related to, but different from, their own. (2008 - Arts in Mind Pilot School)

"Nature's Cycles in Clay" Jowonio pre-schoolers' innate interest in nature and their enjoyment in manipulating clay combine as they explore aspects of the natural world. Their ceramic work is installed in the school lobby. (2008)

"Making Dulcet Sounds" Oswego Middle School students build Appalachian dulcimers in technology class, then learn to play them with Dan Duggan. They perform at school and in the community, and record the performance. (2008)

"Sew, Why Not?" Through collaborative creation of a traditional fabric quilt, Chittenango 7th graders learn about westward expansion of the United States, and how migration of people leaves a "cultural trail," disseminates ideas, and causes people to work together. (2007)

"Chaos" Millard Fillmore Elementary students create music reflecting the natural sounds caused by weather events, use the art of Jackson Pollack and various weather imaging to inspire a collaborative mural, and create theatre pieces based on their science and art explorations, using the power of art to represent, interpret, and internalize concepts of weather. (2007)

"Understanding Life on the Underground Railroad" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary students use improvisation, characterization, music, quilt design and dramatic play to develop an original short play portraying what life was like for the people who journeyed to freedom on the Underground Railroad. (2007)

"The Art of Weaving in Native American Cultures" Starting on small table looms and graduating to a floor loom, students incorporate traditional Navajo methods and patterns along with their own choices to weave a rug for permanent display as part of Montessori's year-long focus on the Americas. (2007)

"I Am a Landscape" Salem-Hyde Elementary students learn to use photography as a tool to facilitate individual artistic expression so personal opinions can be explored without a right answer. (2007)

"Interactive Sessions in Baroque Culture" Nottingham HS students appreciate what life and politics were like in the 17th and 18th centuries, and how the Baroque era is relevant to the present, through creating, performing, and participating in music, poetry and theatre. (2007)

"New York's Native Flora & Fauna - Bringing the Outside In" Students research plants and animals found in New York State and then create paintings of their animals/plants. Their original artwork is incorporated into a wall mural in Allen Road Elementary's library. (2007)

"Creating Community Through the Arts" Poetry, visual arts and music are integrated via commonalities of imagery, rhythm, pattern, form, and texture. Students translate poetic elements into a ceramic wall mural that represents Morgan Road Elementary's community and its commitment to Character Education. (2006)

"Struggles" 19th- and 20th-century African-American literature and poetry are integrated with the history of African-Americans during Abolition, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement at Cicero-North Syracuse HS.(2006)

"ArtStoneWorks" K-6 students at the New School are introduced to Native American art, culture, and history through Seneca-Cayuga sculptor Tom Huff's instruction in soapstone carving. (2006)

"The Layering Project" Nottingham HS students explore the meshing of text and image and its connection to the play Intimate Apparel with fiber artist Ann Clarke and Syracuse Stage. (2006)

"The Art of Community" Van Duyn Elementary and Open Hand Theatre explore cultures from around the world through the study of mask and puppet theater. (2005)

"Interactive Sessions on Baroque Culture" Nottingham HS students explore explore the connection between Baroque symbols of power and those of our own time, making connections to social norms and political realities through theatre, music, and dance. (2006)

"Creating Opportunities to Honor Veterans" West Genesee HS students with local glass artist and veteran Jerome R. Durr create a stained glass window for the Syracuse Veterans Administration Medical Center. (2005)

"Japanese Culture and Art" Montessori students learn about the Japanese arts of origami, calligraphy, flower arranging, garden design, aesthetic food presentation, and meditation as part of the year’s continental focus on Asia. (2005)

"Local Landscapes" Jordan-Elbridge Middle School students work with ceramic mosaic artist Ginger Dunlap-Dietz to design and construct a clay mural. (2004-05)

"Let Freedom Ring" Oswego HS 9th grade students and approximately 35 senior level music theory and art students with poet Georgia Popoff (2003)

"Superfudge Through the Students’ Eyes" Marathon CSD, Appleby Elementary 2nd grade students in with dramatic artist John Tomasello (2003)

"To the Beat of Your Own Drum" Syracuse University Early Education and Child Care Center with musician David Etse Nyadedzor (2003)

School Arts Partnership (SAP) Funded Programs:

Note: The School Arts Partnership grant was discontinued in 2008. Projects at this level of funding are now administered through NYSCA's Empire State Partnership Project-based Planning and Implementation grants.

“Service Learning: Curriculum Links to Community Service” An interdisciplinary project connects curriculum to the social issues of hunger and homelessness in the community through the creation of a mosaic mural. (2007-08)

"Through Our Eyes: Digital Photography for Middle School Girls" uses digital photography and personal narrative as a tool for self-examination and reflection. Students study and practice photography, discuss female self-images, and create original monologues, culminating in a gallery showing and scenes from the monologues at the school’s Spring Arts Fair. (2007-08)

"Digital Story Workshop and Writing Extensions" Pre-K - grade 1 students create imaginative videos based on their play, enhancing language skills. They reflect on the meaning of their stories, create costumes and props, and draw and write books that complement these stories. (2007-08)

"Underage Cabaret" 9 - 11th grade students write, rehearse, and perform dramatic productions that link literary and personal life issues at a neighborhood professional theater using original material developed in their ELA classes. (2007-08)

"Making Books Sing at PS 39" Students read Monica Gunning's A Shelter in our Car, and use theater activities to explore the characters. Then, each class uses a different book as a basis for drama games and creative play that build literacy skills. (2006-07)

"Reading and Writing under the Ancient Night Skies" Using mythological stories about the constellations and empirical data about the stars, students explore both expository and creative writing processes. Original theatre productions are part of a day-long community celebration. (2006-07)

"Chinese Children's Folk Song/Dance/Art in Language Class" Students reinforce their Chinese language development through singing, re-telling, and acting out Chinese folk songs, playing Chinese games, discussing (in Chinese) their folksong-based Chinese brush paintings, and performing Chinese dances. This helps facilitate communication between generations and the transmission of culture. (2006-07)

"Playing Around" After researching historical and contemporary games, students create games that are inspired by ancient civilizations. The project expands a peer mentoring project and develops learning resources created by the students. (2006-07)

"Developing Citizen Artists at PS/IS 111" After seeing a fully staged version of Antigone, students create new citizen-choruses, integrate them into the play, and perform them alongside professional actors. As students adapt the plays to their own lives, they explore how their personal ethics and choices might have civic consequences. (2006-07)

"Knowledge Alive! The Struggle for Freedom against Tyranny" Students at Maplewood Intermediate learn about the history of slavery in their community through storytelling, dramatic role play, creative writing and drawing. (2006-07)

"Women of the Past Moving Forward" The Westport partnership connects students with their sense of home and pride of place in a rural community by interpreting the life of a local, nationally significant woman through a different art forms, relating her life experiences to their own. (2006-07)

“Shakespeare Onstage and In the Classroom” at Lakeland High School helped students discover Shakespeare's plays as three-dimensional dramatic texts to be performed. Guided by a teaching artist, they explore the plays' language and stories through voice, movement, and acting. (2005-06)

"Write a Play!" at the Renaissance Charter School motivated students to reach inside and write authentically. All goals in writing, creativity, and higher-order thinking are met through incorporating social studies themes into a creative work of drama. (2005-06)

“Spanish as a Living Language” at PS 24 included playmaking as a way to draw English-speaking students together with Spanish-proficient ones to accomplish work together in Spanish. They focused on the standards for drama and movement via exercises, plays, improvisation and performance. (2005-06)

"Antigone and The Oresteia" at Martin Luther King Jr. High School of Arts and Technology challenges students to actively participate in the public forum – first by connecting to the big ideas of these classic Greek plays, then by expressing and articulating their opinions. (2005-06)

"Becoming a Classroom Community" at Glen Head Elementary uses dance and poetry to explore friendship, conflict, trust and community. (2005-06)

"Connections" at Questar III uses the work of Calder and Miro to explore science, math, and social interaction, addressing issues of interconnection and the concept of community with special education students by creating mobiles, murals, and mandalas. (2005-06)

"The Art of Sailing" The South Street Seaport Museum gives students at the NYC Museum School hands-on experience with navigation, cartography, physics, architecture, design, and visual arts on board historical sailing vessels in New York Harbor. (2004-05)

“Theatre of Government” at The Heritage School looks critically at the constitution and its relevance to our everyday lives. Students create an original play based upon historical and current issues relating to the constitution (2004-05)

"The Art of Liberty" at P.S. 99Q Kew Gardens engaged students and teachers in producing five large murals and four adjacent smaller murals throughout PS 99 reflecting events and aspects of US History. (2004-05)