Creative Communities: Surrounding Children with The Arts in Dallas

Wednesday, October 21, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Organized by Mary Trudel, senior communications officer, The Wallace Foundation.

Moderated by Rory MacPherson, senior program officer, The Wallace Foundation. Presented by Gigi Antoni, president, Big Thought; Erin Offord, director of parent and family engagement, Big Thought.

Together Dallas Independent School District and arts education group, Big Thought, have implemented a new program called “creative communities,” an initiative that aims to make the arts a vital part of out-of-school time and other neighborhood programs, funded, in part by The Wallace Foundation. The project brings together librarians, parks and recreation managers, school representatives, youth and cultural programmers, parents, church workers and other community figures to assess neighborhood needs to determine which arts programming is most beneficial and culturally relevant to youth inside their communities. Neighborhoods are paired with an out-of-school time representative who collaborates with local leaders to develop youth arts activities in sync with neighborhood desires.

Attendees at this session will engage around how arts programming can maximize the assets of neighborhoods and provide an array of desirable, culturally relevant options for children near their homes.

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