C.W. Post Institute for Arts & Culture Featured as a Model of Innovation and Success by the Dana Foundation

Brookville, NY --The outreach programs of the C.W. Post Institute for Arts & Culture at Tilles Center were recently featured as models of successful and innovation approaches to arts education by the Dana Foundation in its publication "Acts of Achievement: The Role of Performing Art Centers in Education."

The publication provides the first study of K-12 education programs offered by performing arts centers nationwide and showcases 74 performing art center institutions, large and small, partnering with their local schools. "It’s an important piece of recognition," said Andrew Berger, Director of Education & Outreach. "We are only one of ten New York organizations honored. This is an important acknowledgement of the quality of our arts education program."

Long Island University founded the Institute for Arts & Culture in 1998 as a means to integrate the arts into academic programs, and to foster the development of the artists, musicians and audiences of tomorrow. It works in collaboration with Lincoln Center, Tilles Center and area grade schools to promote the arts in all realms of education and to the public.

The most intensive part of the Arts Education program is the School Partnership, modeled on the highly acclaimed aesthetic education program that has evolved over a 25-year period at Lincoln Center. It is a comprehensive, year-long approach to teaching and learning about the arts applicable to all grade levels and academic disciplines. Attendance at professional performances at Tilles Center, or viewing of art works at a museum, is combined with artistic explorations in the school led by teaching artists, classroom teachers, and arts specialists. Students learn what to look for and listen to in a performance or art work, how it relates to other areas of curriculum, and how it relates to their lives and the world around them.

To that end, the Institute was also recently granted full membership in the Association of Institutes for Aesthetic Education following a three-year provisional period and detailed review. Each of the 15 AIAE member institutes is dedicated to the premise that perceiving and understanding the aesthetic education in art and life is as essential to education as mastering mathematics or language, and that achieving this kind of understanding is the critical link to successful learning for students and educators. AIAE members work independently toward these goals, partnering with the educators, students, and cultural resources within their communities. The AIAE, which is an international organization with full members in the United States and Australia and provisional members in the United States, Australia, Mexico and Hong Kong, provides a network through which members communicate, advocate, and share strategies for maintaining the highest artistic, educational and administrative standards.

Other programs run by the institute include the Balanced Mind Conferences, a conference on arts education and the New York Philharmonic Residency Program where talented young Long Island musicians from the C.W. Post Orchestra and community youth orchestras work with some of the world's best orchestral artists. In addition, Tilles Center hosts and supports events throughout the year featuring young artists from our community, including the annual MENC All-County Music Festival, and the LIATA Standards of Excellence Art Exhibits. In cooperation with the Music and Art Education Departments at C.W. Post, Tilles Center works to support the training of new teachers, as well as the continuing professional development of teachers across Long Island by active participation in the BOCES Making Connections program and the Long Island Arts Education Roundtable.

The School Partnership, Institute for Arts & Culture, and other Tilles Center Arts Education programs are made possible by funds from the United States Department of Justice, the New York State Council on the Arts, the W.T. Grant Foundation, Newsday Charities/The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, and the corporate and individual supporters of Tilles Center’s annual Swing for Kids Golf and Tennis Tournament.

For more information, contact the C.W. Post office of Public Relations at 516-299-2332 or the Institute for Arts & Culture at 516-299-2388 or visit http://www.tillesartsed.org/.