California Schools Announced as Part of Turnaround Arts Partnership
For distinguished arts education advocates Frank Gehry and Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, their arrival this week in Washington, D.C. signals a new day, and renewed hope, for ten California elementary schools among the lowest performing in the state. Gehry and Feruzzi Shriver are headed to the White House to take part in the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) launch being hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. The First Lady will welcome state affiliates to the Turnaround Arts program of which a handful of states were accepted, with California having the largest statewide affiliate program to date.
Turnaround Arts is a public-private partnership launched by the White House in 2012 designed to help failing schools develop and implement high quality arts education that will be used specifically to effectively address and turnaround the pervasive and persistent problems found in high-poverty, chronically underperforming schools. By using the arts as a tool in failing schools’ turnaround efforts, students are strategically engaged while they learn 21st century skills critical to their success.
Other well-known celebrities committed to be an artist mentor of a California school include Jason Mraz, Forest Whitaker, Kerry Washington, Frank Gehry, Rashida Jones, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Marc Anthony, Tim Robbins, Chad Smith and Russell Simmons.
Turnaround Arts CA is unique in the nation due to the fact that they are working with schools throughout the entire state, not just one region. These are schools that are located in both urban and rural areas and that have a high level of student diversity. The ten schools chosen for the California are located in varying geographic areas across the state and selected based on criteria that placed them within the required 5 percent range of the most challenged in the country. School locations include Kings, San Bernardino, Alameda, San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, Humboldt, Jan Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. The superintendants and principles of each school also flew to Washington, D.C. for the launch ceremonies.