Exciting new APS partnership

Artwork I had the pleasure to see during a recent visit to Sarah Smith Elementary School.

I am thrilled to announce that APS is now a Partner in Education with the John F. Kennedy Center.  This is a very prestigious partnership that will help us with advancing the arts and whole child development in APS! The district is being added to Georgia’s only Kennedy Center Partnership in Education Team that began in 2001 between the Woodruff Arts Center and Fulton County Schools.

The goal of the program is to foster partnerships among arts organizations, schools and communities. The primary focus of these school/community partnerships is teacher professional development. As a partner, we will be able to hire Kennedy Center teaching artists who create staff development utilizing the arts as a way to learn other subject areas and increase engagement.  It also sets the stage to be part of more Kennedy Center initiatives like Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child (to help address access and equity in arts programming), Changing Education through the Arts (to promote professional learning for educators and teaching artists) and Very Special Arts (to provide arts and education opportunities for students with disabilities and increase access to the arts for all).

What an amazing partnership and opportunity to further whole child development in APS! Thank you to Jessica L. Booth, our Coordinator of Fine Arts, our Fine Arts team and principals for working so hard on the application and outreach. We’d also like to thank The Woodruff Arts Center for the invitation and Dr. Robert Avossa, Superintendent of Fulton County Schools for his support.

Learn more about the partnership here: http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/partners/