ARTS & MINDS

 The Riverside Arts Council’s Arts and Minds arts  education program is comprised of artist/teacher partnerships as well as  workshops, assemblies and less structured residences.  With California  Arts Council funding, partnerships have been formed in a number of  county schools and communities, such as Lake Elsinore, Perris, Mead  Valley, Indio, Nuevo, Corona-Norco, Coachella and Riverside over the  last 19 years.  The Riverside Arts Council designs each residency  project to meet the specific needs of the school or community site being  served.  To emphasize literacy and other curricular skills,  professional artist work as trainers and partners with teachers and site  directors, incorporating the California Department of Education’s  Framework for the Visual and Performing Arts and Content Standards as  they integrate the arts in K-8 curricula.  When the California Arts  Council suspended grants in 2003, the Riverside Arts Council continued  to provide standards-based arts education in after-school programs.   Mead Valley Unified School District is home to Manuel Real Elementary,  which credits the Riverside Arts Council’s arts education program with  contributing to the historically low-performing school’s 147-point jump  in its Academic Performance Index scores and positive changes in school  and neighborhood culture.