Teachers from across the state are scheduled to gather in Meridian on Wednesday and Thursday to build on their arts in education foundation through the Mississippi Arts Commission’s 2009 Whole Schools Initiative Spring Retreat. 

The event will be held at the MSU Riley Center. 

Classes offered at the spring retreat will help teachers learn how to integrate the arts into everyday curriculum. It also provides an opportunity for teachers to network and learn from each other about successful methods of arts integration.  

This year’s spring retreat, themed “Thinkin’ Thru Jazz! The Art of Improvisation,” offers an abundance of outstanding classes including a lecture and demonstration by the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Sarah Cunningham, Director of Arts Education at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will present a class on grant writing and an overview of the NEA’s grant programs. 

In addition to teaching a class entitled “Jazz, An American Story,” Eli Yamin, Artistic Director of The Jazz Drama Program and Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Middle School Jazz Academy, will entertain attendees Wednesday evening.

The Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Initiative is Mississippi’s first comprehensive statewide arts education program. The program uses the arts as a vehicle for promoting high-quality instruction and learning for students in all disciplines. 

In addition to the two retreats, the week-long Whole Schools Institute, held each summer, provides an in-depth, premier training opportunity for schools involved in education reform through the arts.