AAC: PAL Initiative

Dana Grant provides professional development to improve teaching of performing arts

The Acadiana Arts Council is proud to announce that they are one of few fortunate recipients to be awarded funding from the highly competitive Rural Initiative Program of the Dana Foundation. The primary arts education focus of the Dana Foundation is to fund professional development programs for rural public schools across the United States.

This grant received by the AAC will enable them to launch the PAL (Performing Arts Learners) Initiative, which is designed to improve teaching of the Performing Arts in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms in the public school systems throughout Acadiana. Furthermore, the Dana grant will provide for the creation of a year-long mentoring program for participating educators.

Local master artists/educators Danny DeVillier, Amy Waguespack, and Cissy Whipp have been chosen to design, develop and lead the PAL Initiative. Using their expertise in the art forms of music, theater and dance, they will work with the participants – in teams and individually – throughout the duration of the grant. Project Coordinator, Paige Krause, will organize and schedule the components of the project in school systems throughout Acadiana.

An initial 6-hour professional development seminar was offered to performing arts classroom teachers, pre-service teachers, arts specialists, and administrators. The seminar enabled the participants to further develop their skills in teaching the performing arts, and gave them more experience in integrating the arts with other core curriculum. After completing the seminar, participants were eligible and encouraged to apply for the mentoring program, which partnered them with the master artists/educators to work directly in their classrooms.

For more information on the PAL Initiative, please call 337.233.7060 or email info@acadianaartscouncil.org.

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