Ernest Disney-Britton, Site Coordinator for the Any Given Child Indy program recently attended the Any Given Child Exchange from January 31 – February 1 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where he and two other Any Given Child Indy colleagues met with representatives from other Any Given Child sites. Below, Ernest reflects on the Exchange and talks about next steps for Any Given Child Indy.

“Right now Indianapolis is a shining example of how to keep the community at the heart of arts education change. That was my core takeaway from February’s national meeting of Any Given Child at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. where 23 cities gathered including Fresno, CA, Houston, TX, and Jacksonville, Florida. In only six months since we began the five-year implementation phase in September, look at all we have already accomplished:

1. Raised over $8,000 for arts organizations to work in local schools;
2. Trained 150 teachers and arts administrations in arts integration;
3. Identified eight pilot schools;
4. Completed a national study to create an online portal for arts education resources;
5. Received 202,389 claps from voices of support on Facebook during National Arts in Education Week.

It’s been an exciting first few months. However, these are only a handful of outcomes toward our long-term goal of ensuring that 100% of the 23,000 K-8 students in all IPS schools have access the dance, theatre, media arts, as well as music and visual arts.

So, what’s next? Please join us from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15 at Former IPS #27 – 546 E. 17th Street, now headquarters for Arts for Learning to hear more, and to begin work on Indianapolis Arts in Education Week 2017.”

Ernest Disney-Britton
Director of Grant Services & Education Partnerships
Arts Council of Indianapolis