Receives 2011 Arts|Learning Corporate Support of Arts Education Award for Target Arts Program
BOSTON (April 25, 2011) - Target Corporation has been selected by Arts|Learning to receive the 2011 Arts|Learning Corporate Support of Arts Education Award. The award recognizes Target’s commitment to arts education in Massachusetts through its support of the Target Arts Program, a partnership between Citi Performing Arts Center and Boston Public Schools (BPS) to provide free in-school arts learning opportunities for students in grades K-12. Since 2010, Target Arts Program has served 17 Boston Public Schools and more than 6,700 students. Target Corporation will be honored at the 25th Annual Champions of the Arts Award Ceremony at the State House on May 25th.
"Like Citi Performing Arts Center, Target believes that every youth has a right to have a creative life, experience art, and express themselves creatively," said Josiah Spaulding, President and CEO of Citi Performing Arts Center. "This award recognizes Target’s efforts to ensure that this vision is realized in the Boston community. We look forward to continuing to work together toward this future."
Boston Public Schools Superintendent, Carol R. Johnson adds, "We are pleased that Target has chosen to invest in our efforts to expand arts enrichment programs and engage students in creative skills building that can enhance and sometimes accelerate their core academic learning experience. This recognition of Target’s commitment to expanding access to arts experiences and education for our students is well-deserved."
As a unique city-wide partnership between Boston Public Schools, Target, and Citi Performing Arts Center, the Target Arts Program fills a critical need for performing arts programs in Boston’s public schools, providing opportunities for students to see, learn, and participate in the performing arts, both in the classroom and in the theatre. Since January 2010, the Target Arts Program has invested more than $150,000 in Boston’s youth, serving 17 Boston public schools, including 7 of the 12 Turnaround Schools, and reaching more than 6,700 K-12 students through artist residencies, in-school performance assemblies, and free tickets to local professional productions in Boston’s historic Theatre District.
For more about the Target Arts Program and see video and photos, visit Citi Performing Arts Center’s media gallery (citicenter.org/gallery/). For more information about Citi Performing Arts Center’s arts education programs, call (617) 532-1256 or visit citicenter.org/education.
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ABOUT TARGET ARTS PROGRAM
The Target Arts program is a unique city-wide collaboration among Boston’s fine arts, cultural, and municipal organizations. The program aims to improve school success, engage families, and strengthen community by giving access to Boston’s rich offerings of music, dance, visual arts, theater and cultural events to students and families who typically have no opportunity to engage in the professional performing arts. Arts and cultural enrichment celebrations will develop diverse audiences by bringing information to the community through school-based development, community outreach, and citywide collaboration. The BPS Arts Office in partnership with Citi Performing Arts Center coordinates Target Arts programming. This programming includes in-school residencies and special guest artist visits and an invitation to view professional performances at Citi Performing Arts Center and other Boston Theatre District venues.
ABOUT BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The Boston Public Schools serves more than 56,000 pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students in 135 schools, and in 2006 won the Broad Prize for Urban Education as the top city school district in the country. Superintendent Carol R. Johnson has made expansion of arts education one of the cornerstones of the Acceleration Agenda for the Boston Public Schools (BPS). In partnership with community organizations, Dr. Johnson has committed to giving students of all ages greater access to the arts – including music, dance, theater, visual arts, and more – during and after the school day. In 2008, Dr. Johnson convened an Arts Advisory Group and commissioned a study to assess the state of arts education in the district. Following the release of the study in February 2009, BPS, in collaboration with EdVestors and other organizations, announced the creation of a $1.5 million Arts Expansion Fund to support school-based arts programs, expand district capacity to coordinate arts education initiatives, and support research and planning efforts in support of the expansion initiative. New arts investments over the past year include the creation of a citywide marching band and high school choir, among others. In October 2009, BPS was awarded a $750,000 “Arts for Young People” planning grant from the Wallace Foundation to build on the work underway and to develop a long-term sustainability plan for expanded arts in schools across the system. For more information, visit bostonpublicschools.org.
ABOUT CITI PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Citi Performing Arts Center, which includes both the Wang Theatre and Shubert Theatre, is one of the nation's foremost not-for-profit performing arts institutions. As New England's largest cultural venue, it honors all aspects of the performing arts offering theatre, opera, classical and popular music, international ballet, contemporary dance, one-night engagements, and Broadway musicals. As a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization located in Boston's historical Theater District, Citi Performing Arts Center offers a diverse mix of educational workshops, lectures, and community activities through its education department; collaborates with artists and local performing arts organizations, and acts as a champion for the arts in the Greater Boston community by aggressively helping to make the arts an integral part of the community's collective, daily experience. For further information, please go to www.citicenter.org.
ABOUT TARGET
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) serves guests at more than 1,600 stores nationwide and at Target.com. Target is committed to providing a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to unique and highly differentiated products at affordable prices. Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income through community grants and programs like Take Charge of Education. Today, that giving equals more than $3 million a week.
PRESS RELEASE Release Date: April 25, 2011
Contacts: Julie Banks | Citi Performing Arts Center (617) 532-1247 | jbanks@citicenter.org
Matthew Wilder | Boston Public Schools (617) 635-9494 | mwilder2@bostonpublicschools.org
Target Communications (612) 696-3400