Richmond Public Schools is proud to be a part of Turnaround Arts, a national public-private partnership that leverages the arts to help turn around the nation's lowest performing schools.  Turnaround Arts is a national program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  It was founded in 2011 by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, a White House advisory committee on cultural issues under the leadership of former First Lady Michelle Obama.  The program is based on the premise that high quality and integrated arts education can strenghthen school reform efforts, boost academic achievement, and increase student engagement in schools facing some of the toughest educational challenges in the country.

Turnaround Arts in RPS

Turnaround Arts:  Richmond is serving 3 schools in the district, Woodville Elementary School, Martin L. King, Jr. Middle School and Binford Middle School.  Each of these schools has been identified as a priority Title 1 school and meets the criteria of a Turnaround Arts school.  Richmond Public Schools is the first school division in the state of Virginia to host a Turnaround Arts program.  As a partner school, each school will receive resources from the National program to support the work of Turnaround Arts and to leverage the arts for positive school change. In addition, each school will be assigned a mentor artist, who is celebrated in the performing arts.  These mentor artists include: Dan Zanes and Claudia Eliaza  (Woodville Elementary), SPEECH (Martin L. King, Jr. Middle) and Jason Mraz(Binford Middle).

Through strategic use of the arts, Turnaround Arts:  Richmond will support each partner school in the development of a program that has a lasting and deep impact on the entire school community, especially the students.

For more information contact:

Suzanne Mallory-Parker, Local Program Director

sparker4@rvaschools.net

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