Want to see an Institute in action? Watch videos of the 2005 Music Center Institute For Educators Arts Capacity Team School Partnerships - Click here.

To read highlights from past Institutes, click here.

WHO CAN ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN THE INSTITUTE

Participation policy has moved from an "open enrollment" to a "school team with administrator" structure as the Music Center's goals focus on establishing and deepening advanced school partnerships for impact in arts education programs.

For information about your school or district partnering with the Music Center through this program, please click here (Word Doc).

2008 INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATORS

From July 28 – August 1, 2008, three schools from the San Gabriel Valley Partner Schools Project started their third year of partnership with the Music Center by sending teams to attend this summer’s Institute for Educators. Mime artist, Sharon Diskin, and classical pianist, Beth Sussman, lead a collaborative Institute focusing on the brilliant musical story Peter & the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.

Sophisticated, yet accessible, Peter & the Wolf is one of the most appreciated classical works of the 20th century. With the inspiration of Peter & the Wolf as an anchor work, classical music will become approachable and unstuffy as you learn active listening, steady beat and mapping out a piece of music.

Participants were also introduced to the ancient art of Mime as they learned to create invisible objects, physical characterizations, creative movement and silent storytelling. Using these newly acquired skills, participants combined mimetic portrayals of the bold, colorful characters in Peter & the Wolf with their own imaginative soundscape and narration to bring this beloved classic to life.

2007 INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATORS HIGHLIGHTS

From July 16th - 20th, 2007, three schools in the San Gabriel Valley Partner Schools Project (SGVPSP) kicked off their second year of partnership with the Music Center by sending school teams of 5 or more teachers and their Principal to the 5-day Institute. The SGVPSP is funded in part by the Rose Hills Foundation. Led by Music Center artists, Madeleine Dahm in Dance and Peter Kors in Theatre, school teams studied "The Sleeping Beauty," a classical ballet performed by American Ballet Theatre based on the age-old fairy tale. The Music Center Institute's two lead artists, five Teaching Artist Fellows, four Apprentice Artists, staff and school teams partnered to support growth in teachers' ability to plan and teach their own arts units of study based on the anchor work and to integrate arts concepts and skills with other curriculum content areas.

"This is like taking the piece of clay and molding it and thinking about where we're going and to be playful. And one day [these students will] be doing a ballet." - Teacher

From July 30th - August 3rd, 2007, seven Arts Capacity Team (ACT) III schools convened to begin their third year of partnership with the Music Center by sending teams of 4 to 5 teachers and their principal to the Institute to study a Model Curriculum Unit featuring "On the Pulse of Morning," a poem by Maya Angelou. Music Center artists, Peter Kors in Theatre, and Beth Peterson in Puppetry Arts, led the in-depth study. Seven Teaching Artist Fellows and four Apprentice Artists, also attending the Institute, collaborated with teachers to adapt the Institute model lesson sequence to teachers' own grade levels. From October, 2007 through May, 2008, teachers and their Music Center artist partners are collaborating to present teachers' anchor work lessons, assess students' creative work and achievement of standards-based goals, and support teachers' increased practice and capacity to teach the arts.

"Through the process and experience of using the theatre and puppetry strategies our understanding (of the poem) has deepened, and now, through relinquishing to the process, has really opened up. I now know where to start." - School Program Director

Click here to see resources related to these Institutes

MUSIC CENTER RECEIVES MAJOR GRANT FROM THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION

The Ahmanson Foundation, one of the largest philanthropies in Los Angeles, has awarded a major grant for arts education to the Music Center. The gift will support the Center's commitment to strengthening arts education in local kindergarten through 12th grade schools. "The endowment grant, one of the largest received for education at the Music Center, will provide ongoing funding for the Center's Institute for Educators" said Mark Slavkin, Vice President for Education at the Music Center. "We are immensely grateful to The Ahmanson Foundation for its long time support of arts education at the Music Center and for this funding for the Institute, which is one of our core educational initiatives. Well trained teachers, administrators and artists are central to bringing sequential arts learning into the core curriculum of our schools."