The Arts
Actually this is about the arts and STEM. I attended a recent Askquith Forum to celebrate Project Zero’s 50th anniversary. There is no question that the arts have a huge role in education. Now comes news (not so new!) that the arts have an impact on learning STEM.
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Sometimes serendipity occurs. The new ED at Young Audiences invited the former leaders of the Board to a meeting at the Harvard Faculty Club in December 2015 and from that grew the intention to resuscitate Young Audiences Young Artists (YAYA) which I called Sunday afternoon “salons.”
We held them in magnificent houses around Boston, generously made available by people like the Gunds, Swanee Hunt, Mark Volpe and Joyce Kulhawik.
After a lengthy interregnum the next generation YAYA took place on May 22, 2016 at the Pucker Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston. This was the invitation:YAYA May 22 invitation.
It was a lovely event set in a spectacular gallery with student provided music. Several of us who lad contributed our leadership to the organization were recognized as Trustees Emeriti. (I ran into one of Trustees at the State House for a Pioneer event!!!)
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It appears to me that MA’s decision to stay with STEM as opposed to STEAM had more to do with funding than with theory. As a supporter of the arts, I found this article extremely interesting: Vibrant Boston arts scene gets relatively little institutional funding, report finds – The Boston Globe. And it reminded me of our interaction with the artistic director of the Boston Ballet at Island Creek Oyster Bar, when in answer to his question about what cultural institutions we support, we said, ” BSO, MFA, Gardiner, MoS and, of course, Boston Ballet.”