Janice Peterson - DAILY HERALD | Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:00 pm
Brigham Young University received a $4.5 million endowment from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation to promote arts education, the school announced Tuesday.
The money enhances a $1.5 million endowment established by the foundation in 2006, named in Beverly Taylor Sorenson's honor. The Beverly Taylor Sorenson BYU A.R.T.S Partnership supports training of university students in teaching and the arts, and works to further train teachers in the field.
"It's huge for us. We're thrilled. The Sorensons have been very generous," said Richard Young, dean of the David O. McKay School of Education.
BYU currently has a partnership with five local school districts -- Alpine, Jordan, Nebo, Provo and Wasatch. The partnership allows the university to work with the districts to improve academics, and the BYU A.R.T.S Partnership extends that connection to the arts. Young said the endowment will provide supplies and resources for teachers who participate in arts workshops. The money will help to train art specialists at BYU and in the field.
"We look forward to the children in our five districts, as well as our BYU students, benefitting from this," he said.
Young said the endowment and partnership with local schools helps to show the importance of arts education for children. While the arts are still important in local districts, Young said they can take a backseat to more academic studies. The partnership teaches educators how to integrate the arts into academic studies so that neither is pushed aside.
"This helps put in a renewed emphasis [on the arts]," he said.
Stephen Jones, Fine Arts and Communications dean at BYU, said integrating the arts into academic studies can have a big impact on the way children learn. Jones said he saw an elementary-school teacher incorporate a play into a Civil War unit. The class was divided into the North and the South, and they presented a play to their parents about the issues and ideas from both sides of the conflict. Jones said the play was a good way for the students to gain a new perspective on the war and why it occurred.
"That really struck us as one of the more effective things that have been done," he said.
Jones said he also received an e-mail from parents who said their fifth-grade son was chosen to act in an opera. The boy was not usually the type to participate in such an outgoing activity, but the parents said it changed his outlook. The boy blossomed and gained confidence, and his schoolwork improved as well.
"Those kinds of stories really hearten me," Jones said.
The endowment is an application of Beverly Taylor Sorenson's idea that the arts are a vital part of children's education, said Elaine S. Harding, executive director of the Art Works for Kids! foundation. The foundation was created by Sorenson with the same goal of infusing the arts into elementary schools.
Sorenson first began the work at Lincoln Elementary School in Salt Lake City 13 years ago, where she found that the inner-city kids benefited from the infusion of arts education. Harding said Sorenson became dedicated to providing all students with the opportunity, and she now contributes money to universities and school districts to further the goal.
"Beverly believes that all kids are at risk in our state because she thinks there's a big gap in the curriculum," Harding said.
The focus on high-stakes testing in Utah takes away the emphasis on the arts, she said, but students can benefit in all aspects if they are taught the arts for at least four years.
Harding cited a comparison between two Salt Lake City schools, one that had a music education program for several years, and one that had none. The school with the music program scored a 70 percent on language arts tests and 61 percent on math tests, while the school with no program scored 43 percent in both areas, she said.
BYU's partnership with local schools gives it a good opportunity to expand arts programs, Harding said, and the expanded endowment will help the university expand its reach in the districts.
"We're very grateful for the work they have been doing and will continue to do," she said.