Impact
Each year the Arts Education Program serves approximately 16,000 students and teachers and provides additional financial assistance to approximately 5,000 youth. Each performance season is aligned with an average of 250 locally taught SOL objectives.
During the 2018-19 season, 235 participating local teachers completed a post-performance survey providing feedback on the educational value of their students’ experience, including input on production quality, and the level of academic enrichment and developmental impact the program provides. Teachers consistently responded that the performance and overall experience met and in many cases exceeded their expectations, and that the performances “complemented curriculum and broadened student understanding”.
Arts Education Program Mission
The mission of the Paramount Theater Education Program is to foster appreciation, understanding, and love of the performing arts.
In The Community
Through partnerships with schools, the program serves students and teachers throughout Central Virginia through live educational performances, artist workshops, master classes, enrichment sessions, and study guides for classroom integration. Arts-integrated instruction has been proven to engage students and increase learning and achievement. The program integrates art and non-art subjects in tandem through performances that are correlated with required Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) objectives and coupled with enrichment activities such as master classes, question/answer sessions, study guides, and more to strengthen student understanding.
“This invaluable partnership continues to make lasting impacts in the lives of our students. Students learn how to be an appreciative audience and to love this community ‘gem’. The Paramount is certainly part of the fabric of our community and its future citizens.”
Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator, Charlottesville City Public Schools
“This experience brought our students together by allowing them to have a common experience that deepened their understanding of history and of their place in history. It was an opportunity to build community and appreciate the value of what we are learning in a performance that was beautiful and moving.”
ESOL & Social Studies Teacher, Albemarle High School
“The Paramount truly provides a unique opportunity for students of all ages to experience the excitement of a live performance here in Charlottesville. We look forward to bringing a new group of students to The Paramount next year to share the experience of bringing the arts alive!”
1st Grade Teacher, Cale Elementary
