The Arts Come Virtually To CMS

Press release from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools:

3/5/2021

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Arts Department has collaborated with several Charlotte arts organizations to provide Exposure, Experience and Education Virtual Field Trips for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The program has the potential to reach more than 100,000 students.

From March through mid-May, the Children's Theater of Charlotte, Charlotte Ballet, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte Symphony, Mint Museum, Harvey Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture, and Opera Carolina will provide exceptional performing and visual arts experiences for CMS students.

"This is a very unique and exciting opportunity for our kids, our schools and our community," said Dr. Mike Chilcutt, assistant superintendent of fine arts. "It's been an honor to be able to collaborate with our creative arts partners to make this happen."

Exposure builds student awareness of the rich and diverse arts offered in Charlotte while providing real world practice in 21st-century skills such as, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.

Students in each grade level, through the experiences provided by the arts partners, will have the opportunity to learn about:

● Kindergarten and first grade: The Children's Theatre of Charlotte will present a virtual performance of My Wonderful Birthday Suit. The performance focuses on understanding and accepting others. The play is based on the book The Skin You Live In.

● Second grade: The Charlotte Ballet will present a virtual performance of Last Stop on Market Street, the story of a bus ride that celebrates people of all backgrounds. This play is based on the book Last Stop on Market Street.

● Third grade: The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art will provide virtual and guided tours of its collection while employing visual thinking strategies to help students build a deeper understanding of the work.

● Fourth grade: The Charlotte Symphony will provide a virtual performance of its "One Musical Family" education concert. The concert features music from a diverse group of composers.

● Fifth grade: The Mint Museum will provide a virtual tour of its collection with a focus on the work of Kehinde Wiley and other diverse artists. The Mint will build on the use of visual thinking strategies to facilitate understanding of the artwork and promote critical thinking skills.

● Sixth grade: The Children's Theatre of Charlotte will present a virtual performance of Tropical Secrets. The play tells a little-known story of exiles from Nazi Germany in Havana. It provides background and increases students' readiness for the study of the Holocaust.

● Seventh grade: The Harvey Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture will provide a virtual tour of 20th-century African-American art that includes several works from the Harlem Renaissance.

● Eighth grade: Opera Carolina will provide a virtual performance of I Dream. The show focuses on the last 36 hours of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life through a series of dreams, premonitions, and reminiscences that lead up to the April 4, 1968, assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.

Chilcutt will be featured with arts representatives in the Hello CMS podcast. In Episode 9: Exploring E3 and Fine Arts, Chilcutt talks about "The Why?" for the E3 Virtual Field Trips. Click here to listen.

This press release was produced by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.