The
Frick Art and Historical Center has awarded Mt. Lebanon's school district with the 2010 Roy A. Hunt Foundation Award for Commitment to Education in the Arts and Humanities.
In creating the award, "the idea was to honor teachers who successfully integrate the arts into their curriculum throughout the year, and don't just make a field trip because it fits in specifically with one element of their curriculum," says Susan Bails, the Frick's assistant curator of education. "It's an award for infusing the arts throughout the curriculum."
When times are tough, "arts education usually is the first thing that gets cut," Bails says. "But I do think there are angels out there that manage to pursue an arts agenda in their schools and make it happen. … We try to establish relationships with teachers like that and we get a lot of teachers coming back year after year."
Student programs at the Frick are designed to meet specific academic goals, and that's a priority for teachers. But Bails says many also appreciate that "it's about so much more than meeting an academic standard. It's about all kinds of other things… problem solving, engaging them in the world around them" and inspired kids' own creativity.
The teachers at Mt. Lebanon's schools, Bails says, really understand that. And their community benefits from that approach.
"When the adults around them value the arts," she says, "it means something to children."
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Writer: Melissa Rayworth
Source: Susan Bails, Frick Art and Historical Center
Image of students from the Markham Elementary School kindergarten in Mt. Lebanon courtesy of the Frick