As the UNLV Performing Arts Center closed out its season last spring, the audience offered up a standing ovation for the performers. Just as deserving of the applause was a patron sitting in her usual Row M seat of Ham Concert Hall.
Longtime supporter Bernice Fischer had given the College of Fine Arts a donation and told Dean Jeff Koep to spend it where it was most needed. He earmarked some funds for the ArtsBridge America program, a collaborative effort between universities and local school districts to incorporate arts into K-12 education.
More Than Frosting on a Cake
Louisa McDonald, associate professor of art history and the program's faculty mentor, says that ArtsBridge does more than bring art into the classroom; it becomes woven into every thread of the children's learning experiences. Graduate students spend a semester working in elementary school classrooms as ArtsBridge scholars.
"The (graduate) students invent a way to bring their art form into the core part of the curriculum," McDonald says. "It's not art as the frosting on the cake, but art as the most nutritional part of the learning process."
The ArtsBridge America program strives to demonstrate that having the arts in education is valuable -- particularly in urban and underserved areas -- and promotes interdisciplinary knowledge while enhancing students' appreciation of cultural activities.
"Last spring, one dance student worked with elementary students enrolled in a science class," Koep says. "The UNLV student helped the elementary students create a dance that explained different types of insects and how they move given the body types of specific insects."
Fischer's gift provides the ArtsBridge scholars a stipend to assist them with tuition, materials, and transportation to the school where they will be teaching. Recipients are selected based on their creative teaching proposals, and McDonald expects the application process to be competitive again this year.
A Childhood Without the Arts
Fischer is gratified that her donation is being used to bring today's youth something her childhood lacked. As a young girl in rural Alabama, she had no opportunity to hear live concert music, visit an art gallery, or watch a dance troupe perform.
"I wasn't introduced to the arts until I went to Texas Women's College," she recalls.
There, she developed a zeal for performing and visual arts, and, since she arrived in Las Vegas in the late 1950s, has been a dedicated supporter of all types of arts programs. Her seat was originally assigned to her by noted writer, producer, and former president of the Directors Guild, Charles Vanda, who was the director of the Performing Arts Center from 1967-88.
"We all need art in our lives, especially as young children," Fischer affirms, in her signature Southern lilt. "My heart is with the arts, and we all should do our part to make sure they're not forgotten."
