Lafayette, LA, Places Premium on Arts Education Programs
Arts education can play an important role in workforce development, helping students gain critical skills, like creativity, problem-solving and communication, which are needed to succeed in the 21st century global marketplace. In the Lafayette, LA, region, community organizations, including the Acadiana Center for the Arts (AcA) and Acadiana Symphony Orchestra (ASO), work with local schools to give students a well-rounded educational experience that prepares them for college, careers and beyond.
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Partnering in the Arts in Lafayette, LA
Through its Arts in Education programs, AcA in Lafayette, LA, partners with school districts to bring teaching artists, performers and other cultural experiences into schools. Each year, the Arts in Education programs serve more than 45,000 students, 2,500 educators and 95-plus schools, and they employ some 45 teaching artists.
“The partnership with the Lafayette Parish School System began in 1979 and continues today. As the council for the Acadiana region, we have also begun partnerships with other parishes with plans to expand into the rest of Acadiana in the coming years,” says Bree Sargent, AcA education director. “These partnerships between AcA and school districts ensure that art, culture and creativity are integral to students’ education.”
Sargent says Arts in Education staff work closely with district administration and curriculum specialists, school administrators and teachers to align programs with the needs and goals of the district as well as its individual schools.
“Our programs include not only experiences in the arts for students, but also tools for educators for bringing the arts into their teaching,” she says.
Bringing Creativity to Area Schools
One of the organization’s most notable programs is PACE (Primary Academic and Creative Experiences), which assists schools in teaching the arts and other academic disciplines through the arts. AcA’s team of teaching artists provides lessons in more than 500 pre-K-3 classrooms on a weekly basis.
“Our teaching artists conduct arts integrated classes that advance the state standard curriculum in science and social studies through engaging activities rooted in visual art and dance,” Sargent says. “PACE is based on the idea that children learn in a variety of ways.”
In that same vein, AcA’s newest program called Arts Experiences for All offers arts-related field trips for grades pre-K-5 and through intentional programming, allowing students to experience a different genre of the arts each year, including music, dance, theater, visual arts and creative writing, she says.
Growing the Arts in Lafayette, LA
The ASO also has a rich history of musical and cultural enrichment in the region. For the past 30 years, ASO has operated as a professional orchestra and full-service conservatory, playing a pivotal role in arts education within the Lafayette, LA, community. ASO’s conservatory offers an extensive range of private, in-person music lessons taught by professional teaching artists as well as a series of public-facing programs.
“Our Afterschool Strings program brings strings music lessons to third through fifth graders of Lafayette Parish School System,” says Alicia Zeringue, director of strategic communications for ASO. “We offer that program for free on-site at the schools. We bring the teachers to them, purchase the instruments and allow the kids to use them, take them home and have them as their own all year.”
ASO also operates youth and preparatory orchestras that are designed to give young musicians real-world experience performing in ensembles. The preparatory orchestra caters to children ages 8 to 13, who, as their skills progress, can advance to the youth orchestra. These young musicians can perform at community events, such as the five-day cultural celebration Festival International de Louisiane and an annual holiday concert with ASO’s professional symphony.
Orchestrating Success in the Region
Zeringue says these experiences are invaluable and teach students musical skills and the importance of teamwork, discipline and problem solving.
“Students are learning the fundamentals of playing an instrument – proper technique, posture, etc. – but they’re also learning skills that can help them with academic subjects like math and reading,” Zeringue says. “Then they also learn structure, time management and discipline, knowing that they have to practice on their own time. We’re teaching them responsibility, teamwork and what it means to contribute to a team so that you can all be successful together. I think those are all really important skills they can take with them.”
Zeringue says these programs also play a role in keeping a pipeline of talent flowing to the Lafayette, LA, arts community and workforce.
“All of these programs serve our mission, she says. “These students are the future of music. We cannot continue to have a full-service symphony of professional musicians if we don’t cultivate and grow the next generation of musicians as well as create employment opportunities for them and opportunities for them to grow and hone their craft.”
This article is sponsored by the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission, Lafayette Economic Development Authority and One Acadiana.