Arts in Education

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How Our Arts in Education Program Began

This program began in 1986 through a grant received from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), enabling the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts (UCCCA) to work with the Catskill Regional Teacher Center and three area school districts (Sidney, Stamford and Unatego) to create a collaborative program dedicated to educating students using the arts. The current program developed from that pilot project, and now serves 35 school districts within our six-county area. Arts in Education Program is now coordinated by: Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES, 6678 County Road 32, Norwich, NY 13815-3554, in collaboration with: Otsego-Northern Catskill BOCES, Frank W. Cyr Center, Stamford, NY 12167; Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts, 11 Ford Avenue, Oneonta, NY 13820; and Catskill Regional Teacher Center, Room 211 Bugbee Hall, SUNY Oneonta, NY 13820.

The arts are an important aspect of human learning. 

The arts:

make a contribution to education that reaches beyond their intrinsic value. An education in the arts helps students learn to identify, appreciate and participate in the traditional art forms of their own communities. As students imagine, create, and reflect, they are developing both the verbal and non-verbal abilities necessary for school progress. At the same time, the intellectual demands that the arts place on students help them develop problem-solving abilities and such powerful thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating. A comprehensive, articulated arts education program also engages students in a process that helps them develop the self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for a successful life.

. . .The Arts Resource Guide, NYS Education Dept.

Though we all understand that the arts add a measure of entertainment to our lives, the arts and artists presented in the Arts in Education program go far beyond that. They help students integrate what they learn about people, events, and places into their own lives. These arts programs promote personal growth and community understanding.

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At the present time the Arts In Education Program is coordinated by:

Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES
6678 County Road 32
Norwich, NY 13815-3554

in collaboration with

Otsego-Northern Catskill BOCES
Frank W. Cyr Center
Stamford, NY 12167

Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts
11 Ford Avenue, Oneonta, NY 13820

Catskill Regional Teacher Center
Room 211 Bugbee Hall
SUNY Oneonta, NY 13820