We are offering an opportunity for educators to participate in our ART SMART professional development workshops that are designed to show the relationship and importance of using arts education to augment the teaching of the content areas. An understanding of the relationship between the curriculum, the Florida State Standards and theatre arts education will be explored.

In a report published in 2000 the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities revealed the results of several years of research studies on the subject of the impact of arts on learning. The findings demonstrate that the arts and especially participatory arts such as theatre and music are uniquely positioned to teach the skills of creativity, imagination and collaboration needed in the new century.

In responding to this report, the US Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, stated: Through engagement with the arts, young people can better begin lifelong journeys of developing their capabilities and contributing to the world... [the report] also shows that the arts can play a vital role in learning how to learn, an essential ability for fostering achievement and growth throughout their lives. Mr. Riley continues, If young Americans are to succeed and to contribute to...our "economy of ideas," they will need an education that develops imaginative, flexible and tough-minded thinking. The arts powerfully nurture the ability to think in this manner.

In the report, "Learning In and Through the Arts: Curriculum Implications," (by Judith Burton, Robert Horowitz and Hal Abeles of the Center for Arts Education Research, Teacher's College, Columbia University, July 1999), the researchers describe the findings of a study of over 2000 public school students in grades 4 through 8, showing a significant relationship between in-school arts programs and creative, cognitive and personal competencies needed for academic success. In schools with high arts availability these competencies were also observed transferring to other subject areas such as science, math and language. In the areas of creative thinking, expression, risk taking and imagination, the high-arts students achieved scores four times those of the low-arts students.

In late 2005, Irene Horowitz, Director of Educational Outreach for Gulfshore Playhouse, conducted an assessment/survey of educational institutions in Collier and Lee counties. The goal of the survey was to determine what type of theatre arts education was missing from the current curriculum and how the Playhouse could collaborate with specific schools to create appropriate programs and workshops. Research has shown that learning and social attitudes improve measurably as a result of involvement in performing arts activities.

Approximately 130 Educational Outreach packets were distributed. In Collier County there was significant interest in program offerings such as Staff Development for credit, Social Studies teachers and students collaborating in the writing of historical monologues, bringing movement workshops into Physical Education and Science classes, and Shakespeare programs into the English classes.

In late 2006, she partnered with elementary, middle and high-school educators throughout Lee and Collier counties to explore ways to integrate the arts into the learning process in just such a manner as described in the two preceding research findings. In Spring 2007, our workshops were implemented into the schools.

As educational institutions have been forced over the past thirty years to make difficult choices in curriculum the result has been the loss of the arts as a major educational tool. With the help of local support, national and regional funders and private benefactors, Gulfshore Playhouse's ART SMART programs deliver theatre arts curriculum to help diversify and expand educational tools available to teachers and schools.

"I am excited about the Gulfshore Playhouse Outreach Programs. In today's world, young people are inundated with electronic entertainment through the media, and some students are never exposed to live performances and performers. Bringing books, literature, and drama to life can only build enthusiasm for literacy in our students which in turn will enhance their literacy skills".

Jeanine Brakefield, Language Arts Curriculum/Virtual School
District School Board of Collier County

"It is important that students understand the contributions the arts have made to America. Efforts by Gulfshore Playhouse to bring artists into the schools to interact directly with students will broaden their cultural horizons, increase their understanding of the people and events that have influenced modern America, and will, by having students create their own works, reinforce key communication and academic skills necessary for their future success".

Jack Bovee, Social Studies Coordinator
District School Board of Collier County