Arts Education in the Schools

After School Programs

Since 2000, Let There Be Arts has partnered with Lincoln County School District to provide arts classes, support art clubs, provide materials or special guests artists for after school programs. The program began at Taft Elementary when that school got a small grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to provide after school arts for one year. The principal asked LTBA to implement and oversee the program. Local and regional artists and educators were hired to teach a variety classes, including music, movement, visual arts and drama. It was a huge success and parents asked for more. We never looked back. LTBA continues to provide after school arts program every year and has expanded to support after school programs at both Oceanlake, Taft Elementary Schools and Taft Middle School.

Artists In Residency

This dynamic program brings local, regional and national artists directly into the schools to work with the students. LTBA has not only developed and scheduled residencies independently, but has also formed partnerships with organizations such as National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Coast Council for the Arts and the Ford Family Foundation’s rural Artist in Residency program to bring professional, working artists and teachers directly into the classrooms. Without fail, when students have these hands-on learning opportunities with ‘real-life’ artists, everyone wins: students, artists, parents, teachers and communities.
Currently, LTBA funds two to four artists in residency per year in Lincoln City. These residencies range from one to three weeks.

Concerts in the Schools

Without this program, many children in Lincoln County would never attend a Chamber Music or Jazz concert, hear a harpsichord, classical guitar or lute, or listen to an operatic soprano hit her high notes and then demonstrate to them the specifics of her training. These are just a few of the opportunities Let There Be Arts has provided through its concerts in the schools program. By partnering with organizations, such as Neskowin Chamber Music, the Newport Symphony, Lincoln County Community Concert Association, or the Portland Youth Symphony Organization, LTBA is able to capitalize on their musical calendars to schedule those musicians directly into schools. In addition, LTBA also schedules fundraising concerts of its own, such as the recently instated Soundwaves Summer Music Festival, or the popular Sunday Afternoon Concerts at the Freed series. As a result, some of the notable musicians who have played for students are The Allora Baroque Ensemble, The Oregon Renaissance Band, The Ethos String Quartet, Don Latarski and Marilyn Keller, Bottom Line Duo, Russian pianist, Pavel Egorov, Brazilian pianist, Alexandre Dossin, lutenist Ronn McFarlane, and The Newport Symphony Orchestra.

Americana Music Project

The Americana Project was developed in 2000 by Brad Tisdel in Sisters, Oregon, to inspire the creativity of young people and to demonstrate the cultural and historical significance of American roots music and cultural expression. In 2003, he extended the program to Taft High School through the partnership and support of Let There Be Arts. The project has three distinct components. A music class to teach students to play guitar, write songs, record and perform. The class emphasizes folk, blues and jazz and brings together the cultural significance of these American art forms. An integrated curriculum is used to make educational ties between the history, creative writing, music, social studies, art and video production classes. The Americana Project also connects community, by including student participation in fundraising, concert production and through visits by local, regional and national artists. Every year, six students receive scholarships to the annual American Song Academy, a 3-day workshop for songwriting presented by world-class instructors and performers at the academy.

Art Based Field Trips and Assemblies

In this rural coastal community, students have limited opportunities to see art shows or museum exhibits, or to attend plays, concerts or dance performances. To help alleviate this situation, teachers and administrators are able to submit funding requests to LTBA for admission to a specific event or to bring a show to perform at a school assembly. Through this program, Lincoln City students have visited the Portland Art Museum and a variety of local and regional art galleries, seen productions at Oregon Children’s Theater and Northwest Children’s Theater in Portland, and a variety of theater and dance productions at the Performing Arts Center at PAC. Assemblies have included performances by Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre, Artists in the Schools, the Jefferson Dancers and more.

Yoga in the Schools

There is considerable research showing that teaching yoga to children helps them develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination. Yoga has also been shown to help the hyperactive and attention-deficit child to channel impulses in a positive way. Yoga is a living art that helps all children to acquire strength, balance and calm self confidence. By introducing basic yoga to children, we give them a gift that will benefit all through their lives.
In 2005, LTBA began a pilot program at Taft Elementary School that would introduce yoga first to teachers, then to students. The techniques were specific to young children and gave teachers breathing and stretching exercises they could use directly in the classroom. The staff responded positively and the next year a full licensed yoga instructor was hired to teach weekly classes to students and teachers. Yoga classes are now in place at two additional schools and the program continues to be positive and very popular.

Creative Dramatics

Students at Oceanlake and Taft Elementary schools have been able to participate in rotating drama classes during or after school since 2003. Drama in education is based on the natural abilities of students to express themselves in dramatic play. It employs the child’s natural processes of perceiving, responding, imagining and improvising. Drama is active and fun while teaching concentration, relaxation, trust, control of body movement and characterization. The goals of involving children in drama are to increase a child’s ability to communicate ideas and feelings effectively, to build self-confidence, self-awareness and self-motivation, to develop creative as well as intellectual curiosity and eagerness for lifelong involvement with the arts, to encourage each child’s unique talents, to teach children to respect different talents (audience skills) and to introduce children to the power of movement and body language as a communication tool.