About AEI

Through carefully selected performances and exhibitions, well prepared local teaching artists, and committed school partners, the Arts in Education Institute brings together components that enable teachers to link artistic experiences to larger educational goals.

Interaction among teachers, students, and AEI trained teaching artists -- local professional musicians, dancers, actors, artists, writers, and storytellers -- prepares students for upcoming performances and integrates elements of the performance into grade level curriculum. Intensive teacher training in workshops with teaching artists during the AEI annual Summer Session strives to inspire new teaching strategies applicable to all components of the curriculum as well as the arts and aesthetics.

During the school year, classroom activities promote participatory learning in the context of analysis and evaluation of the processes behind creating a work of art. These activities encourage critical thinking, reflection on human values, stimulation of creativity, awareness of cultural heritage, and development of cognitive tools that promote understanding.

By the time an AEI performance comes to a school, the participating students and teachers are actively involved. They have considered a variety of aspects of the work of art they are viewing and have a framework for directing their attention and stimulating their perceptions. Students and teachers are no longer passive observers, they are prepared to fully participate in a performance and integrate it with their learning.