ArtsBridge America: Bringing the Arts Back to School

Abstract

This article examines the origin of ArtsBridge America, a K-12 school/university arts education partnership. It also summarizes findings from a research study on the effect that ArtsBridge participation had on a sample of university arts students. The study indicated that the transition from student to teaching artist required transformation of abstract procedural knowledge into a more flexible and fully assimilated performance capacity that could be adapted to a wide variety of situations. In addition, ArtsBridge helped university students move from a focus on the individual (self) and domain (arts) to a larger social/cultural sphere (field). Findings indicated that important interdisciplinary connections could be made, mentor relationships developed, and a nurturing environment for the development of creativity built through ArtsBridge program activities.