ArtsNOW

This week's spotlight shines on a new member of the ArtsNOW family: Dalraida Elementary STEAM Academy in Montgomery, Alabama! 🎨✨

As a STEAM magnet school, Dalraida already buzzes with innovation, creativity, and collaboration around every corner, so arts integration is right at home in this school community.

We welcomed Principal Dr. Bryan Cutter to last year’s Principals’ Network Conference, where we discovered his background in choral music education AND his excitement to learn new instructional approaches. His energy and enthusiasm to bring learning to life is contagious!🎶

This summer, he brought a team of Dalraida teachers to our Foundational Seminar and this fall, they officially kicked off their first year with ArtsNOW!

We're so inspired by the heart this team brings to their classrooms, and we can't wait to see where this year takes them.

Drop a 💛 below to help us give Dalraida a warm welcome!

Last call to save your seat for our free Research Briefing!📋

Tuesday, October 13 at 11 AM ET, we're sharing brand-new research from ArtsNOW partner schools across Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama, and we'd love for you to be there!

Our CEO and President, Pamela Walker, will host this one-hour virtual Research Briefing. She'll be joined by three research guests:

⭐️ Dr. Ashlee A. Lewis and Dr. Dalisha Shingler of the University of South Carolina Research, Evaluation, and Measurement Center; and Dr. Melinda Mollette, external evaluator for our U.S. Department of Education grants.

Together, they'll share what the research reveals about relationships, risk-taking, classroom climate, and problem-solving in arts-integrated classrooms. They'll also talk about what it all means for students, educators, and school districts.

Whether you're an educator, a school leader, a parent, or someone who loves seeing students thrive, there's a spot for you!

Register for free at the link below, and tag a colleague who'd love to join you.
👉 bit.ly/46f0tGi

EASE is officially underway! ✨

Across our partner schools, educators kicked off the school year by jumping into hands-on experiences with arts integration, exploring how theatre, dance, music, and visual arts can bring STEAM concepts to life in ways that stick.
🎨🎭🎶💃

EASE is a partnership between ArtsNOW, Young Audiences - National, and Young Audiences of Louisiana, bringing STEM engagement through the arts to classrooms across Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana.

Site visits, kickoffs, and leadership meetings are behind us, now school visits in focused art forms have begun! We can't wait to see these ideas move from pre-planning into classrooms.

We're so excited to be partnering with:
Ellen Woodside Elementary
Gateway Elementary School
Mitchell Road Elementary School
Tigerville Elementary School
Deer Chase Elementary School
Gracewood Elementary School
Monte Sano Elementary School
Sue Reynolds Elementary School

Stay tuned throughout the year for more grant updates, and for individual features on all of these incredible schools. Let's go, EASE! 💛

Exciting news: we're hiring a Project Coordinator to join us at our Columbia, SC office!🎉

The Project Coordinator works hand in hand with our consultants, educators, and leadership team to bring arts-integrated learning to schools across three states.

Day to day, that means coordinating school visits, planning professional learning sessions and conferences, supporting grant-funded initiatives, and helping us measure the difference this work makes for students and teachers.

We're looking for someone with a bachelor's degree and experience in education, hands-on experience with arts integration, and a real talent for organization and project coordination.

📅 Apply by October 31
📩 Send your resume to Senior Director Regi Strickland at [email protected]

Full job description at the link below. Please share with anyone in your network who'd be a great fit!
https://artsnowlearning.org/now-hiring-project-coordinator/

This week in is V.L. Heard Elementary School in Savannah, GA - an ArtsNOW partner since 2018. 🎨✨

Eight years in, arts integration isn't an add-on at Heard. It's the fabric of how they teach.

As a STEAM-certified school (working to get recertified this year!), students move between science, technology, engineering, art, and math like it's all one connected way of thinking — not separate subjects on a schedule. That shift doesn't happen by accident. It happens because a staff decides, year after year, that creativity belongs at the center of learning, and then does the work to keep it there.

Join us in celebrating Heard Elementary and the educators who built something that lasts. 🌟

We’re excited to see arts integration getting a spotlight in Berkeley County, SC!✨

A big thank you to Berkeley County School District for sharing the story of our growing partnership and the work happening in local classrooms.

With funding support from South Carolina Arts Commission and ArtsNOW Advancement Grants, Moncks Corner Elementary Li'l Bucks and Sangaree Elementary School Stars are joining us as partner schools! Over the next three years, we’ll work alongside teachers and students through professional learning, demonstration lessons, curriculum planning, and ongoing support to bring arts integration into their classrooms.

We’re proud to continue building on the work already happening across the county, and grateful for the opportunity to work with so many dedicated educators!💙

Read the full story from Berkeley County School District:

$44,000 ArtsNOW Advancement Grants will bring arts integrated lessons to MCE, SRE Some crafty lessons are well on their way into the classrooms of these two elementary schools. Mon...

Curious about bringing the arts into your classroom - but want a practical place to begin? Check out Arts Integration 101! 🎉

Spend a day with us exploring how dance, music, theatre, and visual arts connect authentically to the core content you're already teaching. You'll leave with ready-to-use lessons and tools you can bring straight into your classroom.

Check the details carefully - due to popular demand, we've ADDED a date in South Carolina!

GEORGIA SESSION: https://forms.gle/vuPA2jYor4aJgZD87
📅 Thursday, November 12 | 9am–3pm
📍 2905 Premiere Parkway, Suite 125, Duluth, GA 30097
💲 $150 Registration Fee
🎉 Early bird deadline: September 30

SOUTH CAROLINA SESSION: https://forms.gle/CTovLDpW3smMJAvL7
📅 Monday, November 16 | 9am–3pm
📍 1026 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29201
💲 $150 Registration Fee
🎉 Early bird deadline: October 7

Seats are limited in both locations! Register by the early bird deadline and get a FREE 32 oz. YETI Rambler.

Know someone who'd love this? Tag them below or share this post!

We've always had ambitious goals at ArtsNOW💫🌟

In 2021, we began a five year federal grant that required measurable literacy improvements across six schools in Georgia and South Carolina.

The benchmark set by the U.S. Department of Education was 30% of fourth graders improving their reading scale scores.

As we near the finish line for the , we are proud to report that 78% of participating fourth graders improved their reading scale scores!🎉

This is yet another reminder that the arts belong in every classroom.

We think results like this deserve to be celebrated! Want the full picture behind this number, and others like it? It's all on our blog, and honestly, it's worth the read. https://artsnowlearning.org/why-the-arts-belong-in-every-classroom/

National Arts in Education Week 2026: Why the Arts Belong in Every Classroom The students sitting in today’s classrooms will enter a world that demands flexibility, creativity, and strong problem-solving skills.

This week's shines bright on one of our partner schools: Cannons Elementary School in Spartanburg, South Carolina! 🎨✨

Now in their 4th year partnering with ArtsNOW, Cannons has truly blossomed into a leader among our South Carolina schools.

Under Principal Elizabeth Phillips' leadership, arts integration has become part of the fabric of the school, not just a program on top of it. That kind of buy-in doesn't happen by accident, it takes a leader who believes in it!

This October 21, Cannons will host a Demonstration of Learning Day, so if you're interested in seeing the arts in action - this is a great opportunity to do so!
👉 Register here: https://forms.gle/FCVVcoNX31Ue11dn8

Join us in celebrating Cannons Elementary, a school community where creativity keeps growing. 🌟

Do you think arts integration is just for primary grade students? Think again! 🎭

Arts integration is an effective teaching approach at any grade level, and our recent visit to Woodmont Middle School in Greenville County Schools is a great example.

During professional learning focused on theatre techniques, Woodmont teachers explored ways to use theatre games and strategies to help their students deepen understanding of classroom content. And the engagement was off the charts!

Eighth grade science teacher Mr. Ewen shared that his students “really enjoyed the theatrical integration into the lessons” and that the activities helped them connect with the material in new ways. So much so that he’s already exploring more ArtsNOW lessons and strategies to bring into his next unit on Newton’s Laws.

Arts integration isn’t about making learning “fun” just for the sake of it. It’s about giving students new ways to engage with and understand what they’re learning - at every grade level.

Check out our lesson library today, featuring K-12th grade content! 👇
https://artsnowlearning.org/resources/integrated-lessons/