For
the past six 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. As a result of funding achievements for
2006-2007 we have continued to be deeply
and intimately involved with Remington Elementary students, teachers, parents,
administrators and the respective communities. With the aid of newly procured
grant funding in excess of $150,000 for the 2006-2007 school year, we have
continued to promote true and sustainable transformation and improvement of
educational practices. We have provided visual artists, dancers, theater
artists and musicians to teach with classroom teachers using their respective
art forms to teach core subjects and to make learning fun, more effective and
more penetrating. This is coupled with intensive and creative professional
development for teachers. This year we were able to pay for a guitar teacher in
partnership with the Barthelmes Conservatory to use a high tech guitar
laboratory for numerous classes. We were able to hire a full time Art Resource
Coordinator who coaches teachers how to use arts across the curriculum to teach
math, social studies, science, reading, and other core subjects. The halls are
filled with diverse displays of child creativity. We have also brought dance
and movement into the classroom as well as theater. Additionally, because we
feel it is so important for all children to have exposure to Tulsa’s wealth of
resources, we have sponsored multiple field trips for all grades. Children have
been to the Air & Space Museum, Gilcrease and Philbrook, the movies (for
Charlotte’s Web), the Okmulgee State Park, and the Jenks Aquarium. The costs
for admissions as well as transportation have been covered through our program.
As of September, 2006, we began a
process of integration into the Tulsa Public School (TPS) system and are
re-formed as Program CREATES. We have
saturated this high poverty elementary school with art, music, drama and dance
activities that are targeted to the standards, benchmarks and educational
expectations of the TPS curriculum. We are also actively involved in activities
that would allow us to expand services to additional high-risk elementary
schools as a part of a “West Side Initiative”. We welcome all visitors to come
to Remington and see the art on the walls, hear the music in the halls, and
experience first hand what can happen through true community partnereships. For
more information or questions please contact Deborah Bright, Grant Manager at
deborahbright@yahoo.com.
