Expanding Harmonies: Launching the YALA EASE Pilot Program at the ArtsNOW Foundational Seminars
Our commitment to educational innovation frequently takes us beyond state lines to ensure Louisiana remains a national leader in arts-integrated education.
YALA team shows out during a workshop at the ArtsNOW Foundational Seminars.
Earlier this month (June 3-5) members of the YALA administration team, our school partner, and our teaching artists traveled to a beautiful lakeside resort on Lake Lanier to participate in a dynamic, two-and-a-half-day foundational seminar hosted by our regional sister organization, ArtsNOW. This multi-state gathering brought together educators from across Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and now Louisiana to map out forward-thinking models of creative learning.
For YALA, this intensive seminar marked a critical milestone as we prepare for the upcoming fall rollout of our new, multi-year federal grant initiative: Educational Advancement through STEM Engagement also known as EASE.
True to our collaborative spirit, YALA didn’t journey there alone but hosted an exceptional 11-person delegation of administrators and math teachers from our local partner school, the Dolores T. Aaron Academy (DTA), who will be piloting the EASE program this coming semester.
From the Administrator’s Desk:
"We already do the work of bringing our administration and our classroom teachers into summer professional development, but ArtsNOW also looks at what it looks like to have district leaders in there to increase buy-in and support. — Kelly White, YALA Director of Education.
What is EASE? Sparking Curiosity Across the Curriculum
The EASE program is intentionally designed around professional development in arts integration to increase educator content knowledge in the arts while sparking the curiosity of the whole learner. By marrying the precision of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) with the foundational principles of the arts, EASE provides multi-tiered program support at every single stage of the professional development process.
Dolores T. Aaron _______working on a bridge project.
The program adapts dynamically to educator needs by building upon core concepts in every lesson. Rather than treating the arts as an extracurricular afterthought, classroom teachers create integrated academic units based directly upon the National Core Art Standards and requisite Louisiana student standards.
The impact of this professional development model is already backed by powerful data from local classrooms. Historically, 85% of teachers who received arts integration training through YALA reported that in-person teaching artist residencies are an effective strategy to learn new skills they can independently use in their classrooms.
Furthermore, 100% of school leaders reported that these creative residencies are a highly valuable use of their teachers' instructional time. As one local principal noted,
"[Students] remember more because they connect the experience to the instruction and that's what builds lasting learning."
Inside the Workshops: The Team's Perspective
The regional seminar challenged even our most seasoned cultural leaders to look at classroom engagement through a brand-new lens. In the breakout music and movement sessions, instructors demonstrated how rhythmic patterns directly engage the mathematical centers of a student's brain, teaching educators how to seamlessly scale a single creative exercise up or down to fit any grade level.
From the Studio:
"As a seasoned teaching artist, you never quit learning. The workshops reminded me firsthand how differently children with diverse learning profiles absorb information. It proved how high the quality of this work is across the country." — Todd Shaffer, YALA Multidisciplinary Teaching Artist
STEM Spotlight: "Tales from the Radioactive Swamp"
The absolute highlight of the conference arrived when the Louisiana contingent showed the region exactly how we bring our heritage to everything we touch. During a timed, competitive group STEM challenge, tables were given a random bag of raw crafting materials—pipe cleaners, molding clay, tape, batteries, and small motors—and told to engineer a functioning landform.
The YALA team constructed a miniature, moving Louisiana Bayou featuring a functioning motorized airboat. To add an extra layer of creative literacy, they synthesized the project with an original poetic haiku to describe the swamp's ecology.
The project, proudly labeled "Tales from the Radioactive Swamp," completely wowed the room, earning widespread praise from Southeastern educators and proving that when learning is fueled by cultural pride and playful imagination, the results are unforgettable.
Leadership Outlook: Designing for Adaptation and Sustainability
Immersing ourselves in ArtsNOW’s established professional development model gave our leadership team vital insights into long-term programmatic sustainability and regional scaling. By observing how these practices shift across state lines, YALA is uniquely positioned to expand our own geographical footprint efficiently.
Co Executive Director Jenny James concentrates on building a landform.
An Executive Perspective:
"Observing how ArtsNOW adjusts to honor the different communities they partner with while maintaining the integrity of the professional learning will be so valuable as YALA adapts EASE to support our partnerships in Louisiana, and consider what those collaborations might look like in different areas of the region.”
—Jenny James, YALA Co-Executive Director
We look forward to channeling this incredible momentum into local classrooms this fall! Stay tuned as we prepare to launch this exciting new chapter in creative education.