Tuesday, August 29, 2023
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Wisconsin Arts Board, the DPI is proud to announce the creation of special lessons and materials inspired by Wisconsin artists and educators. These materials will be released in October and will be featured in a specially dedicated issue of ConnectEd.
The materials were developed in response to creative works commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Board in honor of its anniversary. The centerpiece of the 50th anniversary project is a poem entitled “Like the Wind” by poet Dasha Kelly Hamilton, which speaks to the creative capacity already inside each of us.
This project and the intentional connections between music, dance, theater, visual art, and media art demonstrates a crucial throughline. Creativity is a vital human capacity that we must continue to nurture in our students and each other.
The creative pieces, which will be spotlighted were commissioned from Poet Dasha Kelly Hamilton, Composer Erika Svanoe, Visual Artist and Educator Jennifer Handrick, Media Artist and Educator Harry Kellogg, Theater Specialist and Educator Ron Parker, and Dance Educator and Fifth Grade Teacher at the Academy of Chinese Language, Yen Vang-Strath.
Chris Gleason, Arts and Creativity Consultant in the DPI’s Division of Teaching and Learning, said he is excited to engage educators across the state in using these materials.
“The work being done by composer Erika Svnoe and the team of Wisconsin arts educators fully lives into DPI’s mission to advance equitable, transformative, and sustainable educational experiences that develop productive learners, schools, libraries, and communities in Wisconsin,” Gleason said. “My hope for this project is that communities and schools across the state engage with the poem, music, visual art, and lesson plans and use this opportunity to celebrate not only the Wisconsin Arts Board, but also the gift of the human imagination.”
The Wisconsin Arts Board, which was created and signed into law in 1973 by former Governor Patrick Lucey, is a state agency which nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development, and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage.
Stay up to date on all Wisconsin DPI Arts and Creativity news by subscribing to the Arts and Creativity Newsletter.