Norman Arts Council Presented $8,800 Check to Norman Public Schools
The Norman Arts Council and Board President Don Sherman presented a check in the amount of $8,800 to Norman Public Schools at the regularly scheduled monthly board meeting on Monday, September 18, 2006. The awarded amount will help provide matching dollars for the Norman Arts Council Arts-in-Education Project serving more than 12,700 school children a year.
The Arts-in-Education Project is composed of three programs. The Visiting Artist Program (VAP) gives students hands-on art learning under the direction of visual and performing artists whose specialties range from visual arts, music, dance, drama, writing, photography and video/film. The Readers & Writers program brings published writers and illustrators into schools to speak with students on the art of writing. The literary professionals do readings, offer writing/illustrating instruction and enlighten children to the possibility of writing as a profession. Most importantly, the program allows children to understand that an author is a real person and not just a mysterious name on the cover of a book.
Creative Problem Solving through the Arts (CPSA) is a program in which NPS counselors from each school identify a small group of children dealing with various day-to-day challenges. The counselors collaborate with artists certified in art or music therapy to developed customized programs for the children. The artists then guide the students through art-related exercises educating the children in creative alternatives to overcoming sudden trauma and/or ongoing anti-social behavior. Topics addressed may include: anger, friendship, teamwork, esteem building, and others.
The NPS and NAC kicked off the year with two workshops for school counselors at the Sarkeys Annex. The counselors met with their CPSA staff at the workshop and made arrangements for when sessions will occur. Anne Harris, Todd Balcolm, Natalie Davis, and Sharon Heath are the specialists for the 2006-2007 school year.
Several of the aforementioned programs are made possible in part through support from the NAC’s Hotel Tax Grant Program, Oklahoma Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Republic Bank and Trust, First American Bank, AT&T, Therapy in Motion and through the generous support of the NAC membership. For more information on the Norman Arts Council and programs, call (405) 360-1162 or visit www.normanarts.org. For more information on the NAC and programs, call (405) 360-1162 or visit normanarts.org.