ArtsLiteracy Project

Brown's ArtsLiteracy Project to Receive National Award

The ArtsLiteracy Project, based in the Education Department at Brown University, will be nationally recognized at the White House on January 25, 2006. The program is receiving the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award, which recognizes outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America's youth.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The ArtsLiteracy Project at Brown University is one of 17 youth arts and humanities programs to receive the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award. The program, which aims to explore and create innovative approaches to arts and literacy education, will be awarded $10,000 for its achievements during a White House ceremony on January 25, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. Project Founder Dr. Eileen Landay will accept the award, presented by First Lady Laura Bush.

"It is a great honor and pleasure for the ArtsLiteracy Project to be recognized on a national level," Landay said. "This contributes substantially to the project’s goal of reaching more students and teachers nationally and internationally and documenting and disseminating our work."

More than 250 nominations were received for the 2005 Coming Up Taller Awards, which recognize and support exemplary arts and humanities programs that provide America's young people with learning opportunities and chances to contribute to their communities. The awards also highlight the contributions that historians, scholars, librarians, and visual and performing artists make to families and communities by mentoring children.

Based in the Education Department at Brown University, the ArtsLiteracy Project has provided opportunities for collaboration among teachers, artists, and students since 1998. The program focuses on professional and curriculum development for teachers and artists and on enhancing students' literacy development through performance and analytical work around challenging texts. ArtsLiteracy work is guided by the Performance Cycle, a pedagogical model developed by Dr. Landay, Project Founder and Clinical Professor of English Education at Brown, and Kurt Wootton, Director of the ArtsLiteracy Project. Brown undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to be involved in the ArtsLiteracy Project through university coursework and classroom experiences in local schools.

The summer component to the program is facilitated through Brown Summer High School. Each summer, 150 diverse students from Rhode Island and Massachusetts spend four weeks participating in ArtsLiteracy courses on the Brown University campus. The program focuses on improving students’ literacy skills and also aims to help young people define themselves, their peers, and their society through the exploration of challenging literary texts. The summer program culminates in the public presentation of unique student performances.

Launched in 1998, Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The President's Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities to administer the program.

For more information, please visit the following websites:

The ArtsLiteracy Project: http://www.artslit.org/

Coming Up Taller: http://www.cominguptaller.org/

President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: http://www.pcah.gov