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SUMMER ARTS FOR YOUTH program RECEIVEs
COMING UP TALLER AWARD FROM FIRST LADY
laura bush at THE WHITE HOUSE

L-R: First Lady Laura Bush, James Cole, JoEllen Florio Rossebo
(Young Audiences of Indiana President & CEO), and Caren Prothro, President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Summer Arts for Youth (SAY), which offers Indianapolis-area youth a chance to work with teams of multidisciplinary artists to improve literacy skills, is being nationally recognized as one of 15 youth arts and humanities programs to receive the prestigious 2008 Coming Up Taller Award. JoEllen Florio Rossebo, President & CEO, Valarie Cole and her son, James, a SAY participant, traveled to Washington, D.C., for a Nov. 14, 2008 ceremony at 9:30 AM at the White House, where they accepted the award from Mrs. Laura Bush.

Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The President’s Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to administer the program, which was founded in 1998. Summer Arts for Youth is the first program from Indiana to win a Coming Up Taller Award.

The Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America’s youth and provide them with new learning opportunities and a chance to contribute to their communities. The awards also highlight the contributions that historians, scholars, librarians and visual and performing arts make to families and communities by mentoring children. More than 350 nominations were received by the program in 2008.

Created by Young Audiences Indiana, Summer Arts for Youth summer camps take place at various Indianapolis community sites. Participants work with teams of accomplished artists, who lead lessons built around high quality children’s books. The professional teaching artists engage the young people in arts activities such as drawing, sculpture, acting, storytelling, music and dance to bring the subject matter of the books to life. Each creative activity is enriched with exercises that build and strengthen reading skills during the summer in order to build a foundation for success in the coming school year.

The SAY program includes a leadership component, in which teenagers ages 15-19 years old serve as Youth Leaders. To qualify for this position, youth must demonstrate responsibility, a positive attitude, a willingness to work hard, and an interest in the arts. Youth Leaders serve as role models for younger SAY participants in addition to assisting the SAY teaching artists and documenting the activities with photos, videos and journals. Youth Leaders also earn compensation in recognition of their service, thus having the opportunity of short-term employment as well as the chance to develop leadership skills.

“For two decades, Summer Arts for Youth has been an exemplary program, continually evolving to meet the needs of urban youth. It is a creative approach to learning,” said JoEllen Florio Rossebo, President & CEO, Young Audiences Indiana. “The success of Summer Arts for Youth is that it offers children ages 6-12, an outlet for self-expression and a voice as they interpret literature through multiple art forms. It challenges the participants to become storytellers, strengthens reading skills, and cultivates a love of books and the arts. Literacy, community building and leadership development contribute to Summer Arts for Youth’s power to address various attributes in each child.”

“Arts and humanities activities have a wonderful way of enabling young people to discover their unique talents and interests as they forge a path to success in school and life,” said Adair Margo, Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. “This remarkable Young Audiences Indiana program builds on the power of storytelling to stretch children’s imaginations and ensure that learning never takes a holiday even during the summer months.”

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities bridges the interests of federal agencies and the private sector, supports special projects that increase participation, and helps incorporate the humanities and the arts into White House objectives. The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Because democracy demands wisdom, the National Endowment for the Humanities serves and strengthens our Republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent federal grant making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners.

Click here for the article in the Indy Star.

For additional information, please visit the following
Web sites:

Coming Up Taller
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
Institute of Museum and Library Services

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