SMARTS Arts Education Program
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SMARTS Arts in Education's goal is to spark creativity and imagination through live arts experiences with acclaimed North Carolina artists. The programs have an overall goal to inspire and prepare students for creative lives and careers. Arts Davidson County coordinates programming annually with qualified NC artists, nonprofit organization personnel, school administrators, and teachers in the three public school districts, as well as independent schools in Davidson County. Some of our past artists have included Julia Taylor Ebel, Poet and Author; Mike Wiley Productions’ “One Noble Journey: A Box Marked Freedom", Pierce Freelon "The Beast, and Shared Radiance, a performing Arts Company.
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During the 2022/2023 school year, Phillip Shabazz a well known poet will bring his "Powers of Poetry Project" to several Davidson County Schools. The "Powers of Poetry Project" is a creative writing workshop which concludes with a celebratory Poetry Slam. Students will have a hands-on experience of learning how to write different types of poems, share, give, and receive feedback. They will come away from the workshop with new capacities and ideas for improving their writing.
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The arts not only enrich our lives, communities and culture, but they are vital to a child’s education. A strong arts education promotes the skills children need to be successful. Skills such as creativity, collaboration with their peers, confidence, cultural awareness, empathy, and critical thinking. Support Arts in Education in Davidson County by donating today!
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SMARTS Arts 2019 - The Beast
Reviews from the students:
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Thank You for the great performance from the Beast!! It was a great and I love the improv - like the scatting and all that. When the singer called the younger kids to scat and dance I’ve learned from that show that 2nd graders are braver than me. I would not have done that in front of the whole school.
Thank you for paying for the Beast to come sing at our school. I had fun and I enjoyed the music.
-BK
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Thank you for bringing the beast to our school. I learned something new about music called gospel music. I like when they were informing us of some stuff about music. I didn’t know that storytelling went along with music. The person who was rapping was really good and the other guy - the one with the piano- was good at the singing parts too.
Thanks again,
DC
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Thank you,
For paying for us to see The Beast! The music was lively and I liked learning about the 3 elements of music. Assemblies are interesting and fun when the students get to be a part of the program. I didn’t get to go to the front, but I was able to sing along.
-E
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Thank you so much for arranging (paying and scheduling) The BEAST to come to Charles England Elementary School. It was really cool seeing a live band in our school. I have music at my school every year and we have learned about the different elements before, but The BEAST presented it in a fun way and an easy to remember way.
Thank you for choosing our school again.
From,
MB
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Dear Arts Council,
I had a fun time Monday listening to the performance from the Beast. The musicians are very talented and I thought it was funny when they had the teachers get up and dance in front of the students. The band even let the students be a part of the program as well. I enjoyed learning about the different elements of music, but my favorite part was the scatting (I’m not sure if that is how you spell it). At first I thought it was going to be improv, but then I changed my mind when I heard the band members do some scatting.
I hope we get to do more things like that at our school.
Thank you very much,
JE
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This program is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
