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| Classical Guitar students performed at the reception. |
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, I joined Darrell Ayers, Vice President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mayor Lee Leffingwell and AISD Trustees Williams, Torres, Moya and Bradley at the launch of the Any Given Child Initiative.
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| Joining me at the launch were (from left) Mayor Leffingwell, Jim Ritts, Brent Hasty, Darrell Ayers, and Trustee Williams. |
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| Dr. Brent Hasty and AISD Trustee Vincent Torres. |
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| Dr. Hasty, and AISD Trustees Lori Moya and Cheryl Bradley. |
This an unprecedented partnership in arts education among community arts organizations, AISD and the City of Austin. It is designed to provide all AISD students with the opportunity to attend arts-rich schools and to ensure every child benefits from learning in a creative classroom. The Any Given Child launch event took place at the Stateside Paramount Theatre.
Dr. Brent Hasty, Executive Director of MINDPop, summarized the findings of a year-long study of the arts programming in Austin. The study was funded by the Kennedy Center for the Arts and conducted by a diverse group of arts educators, representatives of nonprofit organizations, and staff from AISD and the City of Austin. The year-long review found that strengthening arts education and creative learning for all students is vitally important to maintaining Austin's strong creative community and economy. The creative sector generates more than $4.35 billion in economic activity, more than $71 million in city tax revenues and almost 49,000 jobs.
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| Jonah Kai Steiner, Zoe Westbrook, Janessa Castillo, and Jack Feger performed a shadow box play. |
I was so proud of our students and staff, who really put on a great show. Supporters of the arts were treated to a shadow-box performance by four students in Ms. Sloan McLain’s second grade class at Brentwood Elementary. Their creative performance of a fairy tale illustrated how the arts are used in social studies and language arts instruction.
There were performances by the Bedichek Middle School Mariachi Band...
and a performance from “Mariachi Girl,”a co-production of Teatro Vivo and ZACH Theatre in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Theatre and Dance.
