The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recently announced that Phoenix’s Mountain Pointe High School would receive one of four national awards for schools of distinction in arts education. This Kennedy Center award honors schools that “have done an outstanding job of making the arts essential to the education of their students.”
Mountain Pointe was among schools nominated by the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education. Selection criteria included a review of the ways in which arts education is an essential component of a school’s curriculum and the process involved submission of work samples by each area of arts curriculum in the school – Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Theatre.
Arizona is home to numerous outstanding arts programs. As a professional pianist, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in the music and theatre classrooms of Arizona schools. I have gotten to see firsthand how the arts change the lives of young people. Mountain Pointe High School exemplifies this sentiment and represents the impact a comprehensive arts curriculum can have on a community.
National Arts in Education Week is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on programs like these, and we’d love to hear from you about the programs you’re connected to or involved with. Share your success stories in the comments section below.
Read the full press release from Mountain Pointe High School here and a news article about the award here.
