Artists, Educators Join Us at Integrated Arts Conference

Artists and educators will come together January 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the 20th annual Integrated Arts Conference presented by Plymouth State University’s Educational Theatre Collaborative (ETC). The daylong program will be held at the Silver Center for the Arts on the PSU Campus in Plymouth.

The conference is one of four aspects of ETC’s 2015 initiative, which culminates with a full-scale production of The Sound of Music, January 21-25 in the Hanaway Theatre at the Silver Center. Other projects are an Arts Workshop for children in grades K-6 and an exhibition of art works by school children from across the state on themes from The Sound of Music.

Following welcomes by ETC Creative Director Trish Lindberg, and Marcia McCaffrey, N.H. Department of Education arts consultant, Ginnie Lupi will present the conference keynote address, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” Lupi joined the N.H. State Council on the Arts as director in early August, after eight years leading a multi-county arts services organization in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. She is a visual artist with a long professional history in nonprofit organization management, grant writing and fundraising, statewide trade association leadership and public policy analysis.

Breakout sessions with concurrent workshops will be held from 9:55–10:50 a.m. and 11–11:55 a.m. Session topics explore implementing and empowering arts integration connections in the classroom; connecting concepts from The Sound of Music to various curriculum areas and the new National Core Arts Standards; bringing movement and dance into the math classroom to make learning more engaging and to deepen student understanding; the arts of improv, basic puppetry and character development; exploring and gaining confidence with media arts and the National Core Arts Standards; exploring how basic technology can expand students’ learning and understanding, and how to preserve projects as a lasting product.

See workshop descriptions.

The conference is presented in association with the New Hampshire Department of Education, with support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Arts Learning Network.

The registration fee of $125 includes the full-day conference, a staff development certificate, lunch, refreshments, an electronic teacher resource book, and a ticket to The Sound of Music! ($105 without performance).

Register online or by telephone, call Deb Stalnaker at (603) 535-2933.

Participants may also earn graduate credit for an additional cost. Contact Professor Trish Lindberg for information about graduate programs. Tickets for The Sound of Music are available at the Silver Center Box Office, (603) 535-2787 or (800) 779-3869. Tickets are also available online at silver.plymouth.edu. The Sound of Music is presented through special arrangement with R&H Theatricals.