Art Notes: Feature Article
October 2008
The Right Brain Initiative Launches
By Marna Stalcup, The Right Brain Initiative Program Manager
(all photos by Bill Barry)
After more than a year of planning by a wide spectrum of community participants, the arts education initiative formerly known as Arts Partners launched on September 18th under its new name: The Right Brain Initiative.
The Right Brain Initiative is a collaboration among artists, arts organizations, school districts, governments, businesses and donors working to integrate the arts into the standard curriculum of every K-8 classroom across the region’s school districts. From February through April, 2009, 10,000 children and their teachers will be served in 20 pilot schools across four school districts (see list below). The program is expected to roughly double each year for the next 4-6 years until every K-8 student in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties is being served. RACC is the managing partner of The Right Brain Initiative, which ties directly to RACC’s mission of integrating arts and culture in all aspects of community life throughout the Portland metropolitan region.
 |
Some of the brains behind
The Right Brain Initiative.
From Left: Eloise Damrosch (RACC Director), Carole Morse (RACC Chair), Carole Smith (Portland Public Schools) and Gail Hayes Davis (Young Audiences) |
At The Right Brain Initiative’s celebratory launch at the Winningstad Theatre in downtown Portland, Carole Morse (at left), Chair of the RACC Board and President of the PGE Foundation, spoke of the importance of arts in the classroom. “Studies have proven that children do better in other subjects when they participate in the arts. But our students aren’t getting enough,” she stressed. “It is time to bring arts learning back into our classrooms so that our children can succeed in school and in life.” With the stated purpose to achieve a measurable impact on learning by integrating the community’s arts and cultural resources into the education of every K-8 student in the region’s school districts, The Right Brain Initiative is poised to do just that.
Carole Smith (above), Superintendent of Portland Public Schools, explained why she and other superintendents are enthusiastic about this effort, stating the need to “provide our students with the kinds of educational experiences that increase their capacity, and commitment, to becoming actively engaged citizens.” By integrating the arts into other core academic subjects, our schools will be “actively involving students in their learning; helping them recognize the interconnectedness of multiple disciplines; and challenging them to learn in creative ways that will help them become more open-minded, creative citizens.”
Teaching in creative ways is the hallmark of National Teacher of the Year Michael Geisen’s success. As a seventh grade science teacher in Prineville, Oregon, he uses creativity to help each student connect with the big ideas of science. "We need to honor the full humanity of our children by infusing creativity into everything we teach,” Geisen (pictured at right) told the audience of nearly 200 arts education advocates. “We must realize that students won't be prepared for the 21st century if they only use the left side of their brains to understand science and math, and that they'll only become passionate and engaged in learning if we encourage their natural curiosity and creativity."
The Right Brain Initiative is unique in that it places core emphasis on equitable access to arts experiences that support holistic learning in every classroom across the region.
The 20 participating elementary schools in the pilot program in the 2008-2009 school year include:
Gresham Barlow School District: East Orient, Hollydale
Hillsboro School District: Free Orchards, Jackson, Lincoln Street, Quatama
North Clackamas School District: Ardenwald, Concord, Oak Grove, Spring Mountain, Sunnyside, View Acres
Portland Public Schools: Glencoe, Hayhurst, James John, Markham, Rigler, Sitton, Whitman, Woodlawn
 |
Carole Morse & Michael Geisen,
inspired and excited by this new arts education initiative |
RACC will work in conjunction with three operating partners to implement The Right Brain Initiative this year, including Young Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington. Known for their work in arts education services to schools, Young Audiences will help coordinate the arts experiences that will reach children and their teachers this school year. The program evaluation and professional development partners are in the process of being determined.
For the first-year implementation of the program, more than $550,000 has been raised from the City of Portland, The Collins Foundation, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, the Oregon Arts Commission, the Hillsboro Arts & Culture Council, the PGE Foundation, US Bank, and Bank of America. Each of the four participating school districts has contributed as well, and RACC has just received word that the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation will invest $25,000 per year for the first three years of the program! We are working to raise an additional $235,000 by December 31.
For more information, to sign up for e-mail updates, or to donate to the initiative, please visit www.TheRightBrainInitiative.org, or e-mail TheRightBrainInitiative@racc.org.
A more complete history of the initiative may be found at www.racc.org/TheRightBrainInitiative.
Return to Art Notes Table of Contents
RACC Staff to Contact
Mary Bauer
Communications Associate
503.823.5426
mbauer@racc.org
| 
