News & Media

The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge is a national competition for high school students who have a passion for writing songs that could be part of a musical theater production. Launched by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as a three-city pilot program in 2016, the Songwriting Challenge offers six semi-finalists mentorship opportunities with professional songwriters and musicians. Finalists will be awarded a school scholarship and more.

This week, we’re joining the nationwide celebration of Arts in Education by looking at innovative arts-based programs that enrich and enhance education. Today, we look at Conducted Stories Improv, a new program devised by Phoenix-based teaching artists Amy Carpenter and Stacey Reed Hanlon that uses improvisational theatre techniques to help teens on the autism spectrum develop social and communication skills. 

This week we're celebrating National Arts in Education Week. Yesterday we talked about some of our arts learning programs and today, we take a closer look at one of our favorites: Poetry Out Loud.

Poetry Out Loud builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth. Poetry Out Loud invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word and theater into the English class. Through Poetry Out Loud, students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.

This week, we're joining the nationwide celebration of Arts in Education.

In July of 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating the second week of September as Arts in Education Week.

On September 7, 2017, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) published Staying Engaged: Health Patterns of Older Americans Who Engage in the Arts, the first detailed look at arts participation habits, attitudes toward the arts, and related health characteristics of adults aged 55 and older. The report is based on results from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), conducted by the University of Michigan with primary support from the National Institute on Aging within the National Institutes of Health.