Tune up arts education

The theater group performed “Finding Nemo Jr.” while the band, choir and orchestra sections put on recitals. An art exhibit was on display in the cafeteria.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER A+E EDITOR

While schools were closed for summer break, some halls and classrooms were filled with music.

Manatee County students were hard at work developing their musical abilities during the School District of Manatee County’s first visual and performing arts camp.

The camp was a part of the district’s plan to revitalize its visual and performing arts programs after involvement in the programs throughout the district dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, schools throughout Manatee and Sarasota counties adjusted the way they taught visual and performing arts due to the districts having to accommodate the move to a remote or hybrid learning model as well as not having the resources needed to ensure students could learn and perform safely.

Angela Hartvigsen, a fine arts program specialist for Sarasota County Schools, said online and even hybrid arts education does not accomplish the same results as in-person programs, she said.

Since the pandemic, the districts have been working to boost their programs and get more students involved.

Manatee’s two-week camp, with sections for band, choir, theater, orchestra and art, was attended by 331 students entering sixth grade through ninth grade. It contained two tracks — intermediate/advanced for students with previous experience and beginner for kids dipping a toe into the arts pool for the first time.

The camp’s finale was a summer showcase held at Parrish Community High School.

“It was an awesome showcase,” said Jeramiah Bowman, the curriculum and instructional specialist for visual and performing arts for the School District of Manatee County. “We had kids performing after seven days of instruction. All the kids were really supportive of each other. The staff were fabulous.”

Bowman’s hope is the campers will bring their excitement back to school in August. He wants beginners to continue their arts education in the upcoming school year and then come back to another free arts camp next summer.

But Bowman is a realist. He knows two weeks of playing the clarinet or painting watercolors isn’t going to erase the learning gaps and emotional trauma students suffered because of school closures and remote learning.

But an arts boot camp can get students jazzed, Bowman believes, and that can carry over into learning in general and improve mental health.

Part of the push for arts education in Manatee County comes from the district’s expansion from Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to include arts, thanks to a voter referendum.

In March 2018, Manatee voters approved a 1-mill property tax referendum, which called for more instructional time for students, pay increases for teachers and staff and the expansion of STEM and career and technical education programs. In November 2021, voters renewed the referendum and included funding for visual and performing arts programs.

The referendum, grants and other funding sources helped underwrite the summer camp, restore arts staff positions cut during the pandemic, provide transportation to see performances at area arts venues and other schools and more.

The deterioration in a student’s vocal or musical ability isn’t measured with the same rigor at the secondary level as proficiency in math or reading. But there is no doubt that this year’s artistic performances showed marked improvement over the 2021-2022 year, according to Hartvigsen.

“Listening to music performances or looking at artwork in our spring art show, it’s clear the quality is coming back,” she said.

In Sarasota schools, teachers have brought in adjuncts to work with students. Young students are paired with older students who act as mentors to encourage their artistic progress, Hartvigsen said.

One sign of the improvement in Sarasota’s arts education, Hartvigsen said, is the number of arts instructors nominated as the 2023 Teacher of the Year. Among 40 nominees, five taught either dance or music.

The winner of Teacher of the Year was Tim Ferguson, a music teacher at Garden Elementary School in Venice.

The districts are working with community partners to showcase student work and host performances around Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Sarasota County Schools collaborates with some of the area’s arts institutions including Art Center Sarasota, Venice Art Center, Sarasota Orchestra and Venice Symphony.

In May, Sarasota students displayed their artwork in the North County K-12 Spring Art Show at Art Center Sarasota, and the Venice Art Center hosted the district’s South County Art Show.

Hartvigsen and Bowman want to encourage students to get involved in the arts as early as sixth grade, which is students’ first opportunity to dive into arts programs.

“When students get to sixth grade, they decide whether they want to pursue the arts. In music, you can pick from band or orchestra. You can have art class every day instead of once a week. It’s the entry way into what will become a seven-year experience,” Hartvigsen said.

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