For the past five years, since July of 2001, Project CREATES, a
research and service project funded by the Barthelmes Foundation of
Tulsa, has been managing a program of comprehensive school reform based
on integration of art and music into public education. During this time
we have been deeply and intimately involved in these schools with
students, teachers, parents, administrators and the respective
communities. With the aid of grant funding in excess of $1.5 million we
have refined our
program over time to provide essential elements necessary to promote
true and sustainable transformation and improvement of educational
practices. We have provided access to visual artists, dancers, theater
arts and musicians to teach with classroom teachers using the arts to
teach core subjects and to make learning fun as well as more effective.
We have been providing violin, viola, cello and drum instruction to
hundreds of elementary school children from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
This is coupled with intensive and creative professional development for
participating teachers. These services have been conducted in four (4)
elementary schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma that fall into the 95-99
percentile for free-and-reduced lunch programs. There is a high ratio
of ethic diversity: one school is 98% black, one is 55% Hispanic, one
is 25% Native American and one is highly transient (apartment dwellers)
and culturally diverse.
As of September, 2006, we began a process of integration into the
Tulsa Public School (TPS) system and are re-formed as Program CREATES.
This year we have focused our resources on one school. Thanks
to the support of TPS and additional funding from various foundations
and other donors we have been able to saturate this high poverty
elementary school with arts and music targeted to the standards,
benchmarks and educational expectations of the curriculum. We are
currently seeking support to expand our program to additional high-risk
elementary schools as a part of a “West Side Initiative”. For more
information or questions please contact Deborah Bright, Grant Manager,
at the numbers and address listed below.
refined our
program over time to provide essential elements necessary to promote
true and sustainable transformation and improvement of educational
practices. We have provided access to visual artists, dancers, theater
arts and musicians to teach with classroom teachers using the arts to
teach core subjects and to make learning fun as well as more effective.
We have been providing violin, viola, cello and drum instruction to
hundreds of elementary school children from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
This is coupled with intensive and creative professional development for
participating teachers. These services have been conducted in four (4)
elementary schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma that fall into the 95-99
percentile for free-and-reduced lunch programs. There is a high ratio
of ethic diversity: one school is 98% black, one is 55% Hispanic, one
is 25% Native American and one is highly transient (apartment dwellers)
and culturally diverse. 
Thanks
to the support of TPS and additional funding from various foundations
and other donors we have been able to saturate this high poverty
elementary school with arts and music targeted to the standards,
benchmarks and educational expectations of the curriculum. We are
currently seeking support to expand our program to additional high-risk
elementary schools as a part of a “West Side Initiative”. For more
information or questions please contact Deborah Bright, Grant Manager,
at the numbers and address listed below. 