Philip Alexander

Summer Seminar workshops (2006) (Photo: Lorenzo Ciniglio)

“Strategizing for Success” is the theme of the 11th annual Summer Seminar professional development retreat sponsored by the Empire State Partnerships (ESP) Professional Development Program. This year’s gathering will be held from July 15-19 at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY.

Summer Seminar is a retreat for teaching artists, arts administrators, teachers, and school administrators. During the seminar’s five days, arts-in-education practitioners will have opportunities to:
Engage in peer-to-peer inquiry discussions about their practice;
Participate in hands-on workshops in a variety of artistic forms;
Learn from nationally-recognized experts in the field;
Explore key issues related to the practice and philosophy of arts-in-education;
Plan with their school-based team;
Consult with seasoned professionals about arts-in-education programming, and;
Network with colleagues from across the state and across the nation.

The ESP program is a funding structure jointly administered with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). ESP supports innovative partnerships between cultural organizations and schools that integrate the arts into the curriculum.

Artists, teachers, administrators, and other attendees do not need to belong to a NYSCA-funded partnership to attend Summer Seminar. All members of the arts-in-education field are welcome and are encouraged to enroll with a co-teaching partner. Though the seminar’s programming is geared toward ESP partnerships, the majority of topics addressed during the week (curriculum design, evaluation, assessment, sustainability, partnership management, professional development, and more) are valuable for all people interested in high-quality arts-in-education programming.

Faculty members for the 2007 Seminar will include the following as well as several others:
Arnold Aprill, Chicago Arts Partnerships for Education, Chicago, IL;
Deb Brzoska, Caldera, Portland, OR;
Gail Burnaford, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL;
Christine Goodheart, Independent Consultant, Rochester, NY;
Bonnie Nizamis, Independent Consultant, Rochester, NY;
José Emilio Rodríguez, Artist, Hollis, NY;
Anne Rhodes, Teaching Artist, Independent Consultant, Ithaca, NY; and
Sonnet Takahisa, World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, New York, NY;
Nan Westervelt, Independent Consultant, Rochester, NY.

Tuition for Summer Seminar is $750 per person; the fee includes meals and dormitory accommodations. Online registration will begin May 15. A detailed description of workshops will be available at that time. For more information on Summer Seminar or the ESP program, visit www.espartsed.org.

Philip Alexander is Program Director for the ESP Professional Development Program.