Creativity Connects: Arts in Early Learning brings together community leaders in five diverse cities to spark a dialogue about early learning through the arts. The project, funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, is being implemented in partnership between Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, a national leader in early childhood arts integration; and the Institute for Child Success (ICS) an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and policy organization.
The goals of the project are to:
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Convene key stakeholders in the arts, education, business, social services, and philanthropy
- Facilitate meaningful conversations about the effectiveness of early childhood arts integration
- Foster the creation of actionable plans to incorporate the arts into early childhood classrooms
Together with ICS, Wolf Trap traveled to Seattle, Milwaukee, Charleston, Denver, and Los Angeles, to accomplish key project initiatives in each city including:
- Host free one-day symposia for community educators, artists, administrators, business and government leaders and other arts and early education professionals, to spark dialogues about the power of the arts in early childhood education
- Conduct in-classroom residencies with Wolf Trap Teaching Artists, where community stakeholders could see the work in action
- Develop issue briefs that take a critical look into key issues identified by each community, including STEM, inclusion, language development and literacy, and social/emotional development
- Award an artist fellowship to a local community artist to produce an original piece focused on the arts and early learning. Artists are charged with developing a work that explores the meaning of childhood in America, how it’s changed, and our vision for the future
Topic: STEM and Family Engagement
Topic: Social & Emotional Development
Topic: STEM
Topic: Inclusive Learning Through the Arts
Topic: Supporting Early Literacy and Language Development Through the Arts