ArtsZones are geographical areas anchored by schools that are linked integrally to their surrounding neighborhoods and arts resources in the communities and the larger city.
Arts Zones are…
Collaborative
An ArtsZone is a place that commits to the arts as a key tool in transforming communities and keeping youth engaged and successful in and out of school, where arts organizations work with one another, collaborating with neighborhood organizations and schools to increase the role of the arts in the lives of children, youth, families and community members.
Celebratory
An ArtsZone supports and expands the intersection where communities come together around the common goal to support and celebrate the impact that the arts can have in the lives of children and youth. An ArtsZone helps parents, teachers, and artists develop their own capacity to improve their own and their children’s lives through creating and celebrating arts.
Enriching
An ArtsZone is a place where schools that have the resources, commitment, and imagination to integrate the arts into their school’s culture. An ArtsZone is able to incorporate arts programming, utilizing the talent and resources of school staff and a rich variety of arts organizations, into a dynamic tapestry of arts-infused learning that enriches the entire school over a period of multiple years and gets students and parents excited about learning.
Supportive
An ArtsZone provides annual day-long and other forums involving students, teachers, artists, and families looking at quantitative and qualitative measures of the student’s success, exploring the role of the arts in school and community development with the aim of building capacity and steadily strengthening the initiative.
Transformative
By supporting creativity, an ArtsZone can transform the individual, the community, the school, and even the neighborhood. Students will have new opportunities to develop artistic skills, creative capacities, and be exposed to new aesthetic experiences. The arts can bring a whole school together; strong communities need great schools and great schools have strong arts programs.
Sustainable
An ArtsZone is the spark that ignites ArtsRising, propelling it to become regional, giving increasing numbers of students the opportunity to participate in a thriving economy in which the skills of imagination, intellect, and innovation are valued.