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Young Audiences Launches Early Literacy Program in Local Schools

February 17, 2009 – Atlanta, GA – Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is delivering its smART stART early literacy program to eight Title I metro Atlanta elementary schools – five Atlanta Public Schools (Cook, Garden Hills, Heritage Academy, Miles, Scott), two Dekalb County Schools (Brockett and Flat Shoals), and a Marietta City School (Hickory Hills) – reaching 37 teachers and 619 students.

smART stART targets at-risk kindergartners in Title I schools by combining Georgia Performance Standards for language arts with the Quality Core Curriculum standards for fine arts to improve literacy and storytelling skills. YAWAC has provided this signature program for over a decade, helping students to learn and appreciate reading.

The eight schools, increased from five last year, chosen to receive the smART stART program benefit from eight-session residencies with a Young Audiences teaching artist. Each 40-50 minute session focuses on one aspect of the arts, incorporating music, dance, theater and visual arts into students’ language arts experiences in the classroom. Research has shown that the arts are an integral part of the learning process, as well as a child’s overall oral language and literacy development so the residencies are customized for each school based on both curriculum requirements and the teachers’ evaluation of their students’ needs.

Prior to these residencies, YAWAC conducted three planning workshops, allowing smART stART artists, early childhood specialists, YAWAC staff and volunteers to collaborate with one teacher from each of the eight designated Title I schools. The purpose of these sessions was to create common objectives for all residencies, create evaluation tools, and provide professional learning for all participants. This joint effort, along with parental involvement through Family Creativity Nights, ensures that smART stART is as effective as possible. During last year’s program, a student deemed non-verbal began telling stories during the residency and in turn, his teacher has since changed his classification and is seeking to change the learning path he is on.

This year’s program was made possible by the sponsorship and support of The Coca-Cola Company, Target, Waffle House Foundation, Inc., Macy’s Foundation, and the Junior League of Atlanta.

Tony Kimbrell, Executive Director, could not be happier with the additions to this year’s program. “smART stART is just one shining example of Young Audiences’ commitment to improve and enrich the daily lives and learning of children through high quality arts experiences both in and out of school. Seeing the children engaged and excited about learning reminds me how meaningful our work is,” says Kimbrell.

About Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is Georgia’s leading provider of arts-in-education programming. Part of the prestigious 31 chapter national Young Audiences organization, YAWAC brings the power of live arts experiences to Georgia students from pre-school to high school. From a small organization of nine artists in 1983, YAWAC is celebrating 25 years of service and has grown into a force in arts education, comprising more than 65 professional artists and ensembles that reach nearly 700,000 students each year in over 50 counties statewide. We fulfill our mission – to improve and enrich the lives and learning of children through high quality arts experiences – by providing a dazzling and culturally diverse array of curriculum-based assemblies, workshops and residencies in music, dance, theatre, literary and visual arts. For more information, please visit www.yawac.org.

About Woodruff Arts Center

The Woodruff Arts Center is the largest arts center in the Southeast as well as one of the four largest in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it combines five visual and performing arts divisions on one campus as one not-for-profit organization. Opening in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art, Young Audiences and the 14^th Street Playhouse.