Rural Arts Collaborative -Carmelle Nickens

The Big Bang in Arts Education

by Carmelle Nickens, Founder, Rural Arts® Collaborative

Most recently, as we said goodbye to 2021, a year still fraught with challenges in our personal lives, in our schools and in education because of an ongoing pandemic, we welcomed 2022 with a bang…literally a “big bang” in Southwestern PA. On January 1st, a sonic boom that literally shook several counties, including Fayette, could be heard and felt in households and communities in the region. Some thought it an earthquake, others a storm, but some simply thought, nature was having a big idea. The Rural Arts® Collaborative (RAC) Arts Education Project is a prime example of how the “big bang” of an idea can lay the foundation for amazing things never thought of, for students and schools, to experience and appreciate the arts in a different and meaningful way. Ten years ago, the “big bang” of an idea started for the Rural Arts® Collaborative Arts (RAC) Arts Education Project: to enhance the existing arts education curriculum in rural schools, so those students, who often do not have access to rigorous arts programs, were able to experience an engaging and unique experience that would, hopefully, impact their lives and their journeys in life to come. After several years of being involved and working with after-school arts programs that were designed to extend the art education experience for students, it was clear that there was a need to focus on developing a project that would work alongside existing arts curriculum in the classroom and align with other disciplines to give students a co-curricular, hands-on experience. Not every child who is involved in arts ed classes is destined to be an artist, but we do know that the arts enhance learning abilities in math, science, and other disciplines, and are an excellent foundation for fostering and developing the learning process: “The “hands-on” experience fosters the 10 primary skills that are essential for learning across the board: Creativity, Confidence, Problem Solving, Perseverance, Focus, Non-verbal Communication, Receiving Constructive Feedback, Collaboration, Dedication and Accountability,” (Washington Post, Strauss, 2013). Since its creation from “big bang” idea to inception, with Fayette County Cultural Trust (FCCT) as the RAC fiscal agent, we have received funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, EQT, the Community Foundation of Fayette County, Grable Foundation, and others to recruit professional teaching artists to work in school districts in the southwestern PA counties – Fayette, Greene and Washington, with the intent to infuse a diverse arts education approach into existing curriculum, enhance social and cognitive learning for students, and contribute to sustained partnerships amongst educators, artists and students in the region in their arts programs.

RAC Artist Hiromi Katayama teaches students at Bentworth Middle School in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Dedication of a mural in the city of Johnstown. This mural was painted by Artist Hiromi Katayama’s students at Johnstown High School in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

The “teaching artist” concept is not new and has been extraordinarily successful as an enhancement to existing arts curriculum for many years. This term applies to professional artists in all artistic fields. Teaching artists have worked in schools and in communities for many decades. Teaching artistry as a field really began in the 1980s. In response to the arts education cutbacks in schools during the Reagan Administration, arts organizations began to provide services directly to schools, and artists were employed to deliverer those services. In recent years, surveys and data has shown that teaching artists do not become replacements for art teachers and the professionalization of teaching artistry inculcates respect, more preparation and inclination to build good partnerships with school art teachers, and a greater range of ways to have students succeed in arts education and other disciplines within the school culture. With FCCT as the fiscal agent for the RAC program, over the past ten years, we have created incredible and amazing relationships with some extraordinary artists who not only deliver amazing skills working side by side with students and teacher teams, but also cultivate an attitude of long-term learning for students who are a part of these project. The learning experience becomes an experience about, in and through the arts. The RAC project has demonstrated through surveys and outcomes, that it promotes cognitive development, behavioral and social development in students, who develop a sense of focus, dedication and creativity while involved in these projects – truly a “big bang” for them on many levels. Given their mission to enhance art in the region, FCCT was aware that a robust arts education program contributes to creativity, problem-solving skills, and academic achievement across the disciplines. Creating and developing a program utilizing teaching artists, teaming with classroom teachers, offering a content-rich experience in the classroom for a full semester has been beneficial for everyone, particularly the students of Fayette, Greene, and Washington county school districts. Prior to the pandemic, each residency was a full academic year placement, in-class, working with a lead art teacher or a team of lead teachers in those residencies who prefer a cross-curricular approach. However, due to the ever-changing day-to-day challenges presented by Covid, we have had to scale back to one full semester, albeit in person, hybrid or totally virtual. But the beauty of this is in the outcomes – the final “big bang” for the students, schools, teachers, artists, and the regional communities has been just as impactful. The artists and students have been as adaptive and committed as they were prepandemic, giving their all to produce amazing final outcomes. The RAC Teaching Artists utilize a project-based learning approach, requiring a final project outcome in the form of an exhibit, mural, public art piece, installation, drama or dance performance or video to create some lasting and impactful end to the project for the students, the schools and their communities.

Attack Theater teaching students at Bentworth Middle/ High School in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Bricolage teaching students at Trinity High School in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Currently, the RAC project is underway for the 202223 school year in the following Fayette County school districts in PA: Albert Gallatin, Brownsville, Frazier, Laurel Highlands and the Fayette Career and Technical Institute (CTI). In Greene County, we have presence in these districts: Carmichaels, Central Greene, Southeast Greene, and West Greene, and the Intermediate Unit #1 (IU#1) Waynesburg Campus alternative school. We are concluding projects in Washington County in Bentworth and Beth Center school districts. During the past ten years, RAC has served a substantial number of the IU#1 campuses, been in over 70 PA schools, and touched the lives of over 20,000 rural students. In 2017, partnering with Oglebay Institute, FCCT introduced the RAC project into West Virginia’s northern panhandle schools - private, public, and Diocesan - and has since cultivated a successful delivery of these projects, working interstate with both PA and WV artists who are multi-talented and adaptive in whatever school or community they find themselves placed. FCCT also recently expanded RAC into Jefferson County, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, and is partnering with the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (CATF) on a project that was created to foster diversity and literary cultural awareness for students in rural schools and communities, and also expose these students to a more robust arts education curriculum that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to experience. With a host of multi-talented and exceptional artists, in both PA and WV, we have been successful in creating amazing projects and outcomes for rural schools, students, and communities. Among those artists who have been a “big bang” for the RAC project, we would like to acknowledge those who have collaborated with us over the past 10 years:

Diane Adams – muralist Glynis Board – journalist Adam Booth - storyteller Hiromi Katayama – Japanese watercolorist and origami artist Rebecca Kiger - photographer Michael McKowen – installation and multi-media; dramaturgy Laura Jean McLaughlin - ceramics James Moore – musician (trumpet) Frank Morgan – muralist Jes Reger – watercolorist Michelle Sabol – glass artist and jewelry maker James Simon – ceramics and mixed-media Calvin Stemley – musician (saxophone) Nancy Tyrone – collage and painting Cody Vanata – screen-printing Robert Villamagna – installation and multi-media Attack Theatre (Michele de la Reza & Allison Popieski) – dance Bricolage Production Company (Sam Turich, Jeffrey Carpenter, Tami Dixon) – theatre and immersive art production Contemporary American Theatre Festival (Margaret McKowen) – theatre

When challenged with the rigors of going into unfamiliar territory, meeting students on their own turf and terms, and giving them a memorable experience that, hopefully, will impact their lives in so many ways, albeit they become artists or not, each artist or organization has done that on so many levels. As professional artists they bring their skill and craft to light the way and create that “big bang” in offering their individual talents and perspective in the arts for students to embrace a “new way of seeing, thinking, being and doing” – which is the Rural Arts® Collaborative mantra. Fayette County Cultural Trust has been the force and “big bang” behind the Rural Arts® Collaborative and arts education in this region to build a strong home for the RAC. The project continues to flourish in Southwestern PA school districts (as well as in WV with our partner Oglebay Institute) with continuing support from the Benedum Foundation, and additional funding from EQT and Grable. We are ever grateful to our funders, supporters, schools, teachers, and administrators for believing in this project that has made a difference for so many rural schools and students in our region. Always believe that you can make a difference and create a “big bang” idea that with arduous work, dedication, and perseverance, can eventually become a reality to make a positive impact on a student’s path and journey. Let us continue to light the way with a “big bang” in the arts for our students and for our future.

For more information on RAC please visit our website at RuralArtsCollaborative.org

This mural, painted by artist Diane Adams and funded by the Rural Arts Collaborative, features a Conestoga wagon, which carried freight along the National Road, the first federally-funded highway. Opening circa 1818, the road passed through Washington, from East Maiden Street to Main Street to West Chestnut Street, and stimulated growth in population, businesses and industry in the region. Bradford House Museum, Washington County, PA.

Michelle Sophia Sabol teaching students at Madonna Catholic School in Monongahela, Pennsylvania

Carm Nickens, RAC Founder