2012-282 EDC -Arts Chapel Hill Carrboro Public School Foundation for Spring 2012 Grassroots Arts Awards $1,240

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PAGE ONE PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1. Describe the project to be undertaken: The Phoenix Academy Arts Program offers students a number of opportunities: ✓ Students have the opportunity to work with members of their community. To begin, many students at Phoenix Academy are in need of positive community role models.The community members facilitating the workshop series engage the students with many positive activities. In the past year, students have gained a sense of self-worth by working with community members. The Sacrificial Poets currently facilitate after-school programs at Carrboro High School and work with many of our students in the Boomerang Program at the YMCA. Their organization would be a great addition to the school community at Phoenix Academy. ✓ Students will see and understand the importance of arts-based learning. In addition to being active members of a community, students also see the importance of arts- based learning.Arts programs help students to reach educational and social goals. Many of the skills found in our Phoenix Academy Arts Program are transferable to the work-place or college setting. Planning, self-assessment, goal-setting, and relationship building are skills that students take away from the Phoenix Academy Arts Program. ✓ Students will have the opportunity to become leaders in the arts curriculum after the workshops series. After the workshop series, students have the opportunity to share with peers, siblings, and neighbors. Many students end up embracing the arts after exposure. We have a number of students that aspire to become performance artists but have not had the opportunity to build upon this interest. Students at Phoenix enjoy engaging with activities such as spoken word poetry, dance, and drama. I believe that many of our students will begin to integrate the arts-based experience they gained at Phoenix into other areas of their lives. 2. Describe the need the project will address: Students at Phoenix Academy have no access to arts programs during school hours. My goal has been to integrate the arts workshops into the English curriculum. The spoken word workshops offered by the Sacrificial Poets easily integrate into the Standard Course of Study and the new Common Core Standards. 3. State yourlyour group's capability to undertake the project(experience with similar programs or other grants, instructional experience, etc.): During my student-teaching semester at UNC-Asheville, I implemented a number of strategies to foster student communication, creativity, and community in the classroom while simultaneously meeting requirements. My primary tool to this end was introducing students to spoken-word poetry and facilitating an open forum where students could explore their voices and that of their peers. This culminated in a grant for research into this method. The grant allowed me to work with Graham Hackett, director of the Poetix Program and Asheville Area Arts Council.Additionally, the Public Schools Foundation funded the Arts Program for its pilot run in 2011-2012. This grant gave me the opportunity to work with Will Mcnerney and CJ Suitt of the Sacrificial Poets. The students at Phoenix have a close relationship with the poets and the community they represent. The program has been a success and would like to continue. I have also received a grant from the Sustainability Committee for our school garden.