"Imagine if a city invested in raising the next generation of active and creative young people - just like it invests in streets or parks or good government - imagine what that could mean for every child's learning and development."  - Dallas Arts Partners

The mission of Arts in Mind is to increase potential for student achievement through more equitable access, alignment, integration, and professional development of cultural resources into whole-school planning.

Our Goals:

1. Develop an arts integration plan that aligns with established school improvement plan goals each year.

2. Pool existing resources within schools and the school district for more efficient use of materials, expertise, time, and space.

3. Construct a cooperative framework for financing curricular needs that reduces amount of time each individual must spend gathering many resources for one program.

4. Expand on existing and new relationships with cultural partners for a more dynamic, sustained whole-child education community.

5. Generate measurable benchmarks to assess progress and evaluate needs within each school and across the Syracuse City School District.

In Central New York, our leaders have been exploring the creative assets that might guide economic growth, social change, community strength, and distributed leadership for our vision of the future. Our future will be crafted by the minds of our young people, and research proves that the skills necessary for future success are inherent to the arts.

Professional Development Opportunities Summer 2008
Arts in Mind Institute at Syracuse Stage
Keeping the Arts in Mind: Arts-Based Learning Strategies at Syracuse Teacher Center (click here, then go to p.5)

School and Cultural Organization Surveys
We are currently surveying our cultural and school partners to find out how cultural organizations and schools are currently working together, to help develop the Arts in Mind initiative. If you are an administrator at an SCSD school or a CNY cultural organization, please click on the appropriate link below.

Survey for SCSD schools

Survey for cultural organizations