President Obama, aided by prominent artists, hopes to help turn around low-performing schools with a new arts education program, the White House announced on Monday.
Called Turnaround Arts, the program aims to improve academic performance and increase student engagement through the arts. It was developed by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in cooperation with the Education Department and the White House Domestic Policy Council. The two-year program will work in eight public schools chosen from among the lowest-achieving institutions that are receiving School Improvement Grants through the Education Department.
Artists on the committee — including the painter Chuck Close, the actress Sarah Jessica Parker, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the dancer Damian Woetzel — will each “adopt” one of the selected schools for the length of the program to support the arts education efforts.
