Educational Experiences

The Arts Center of Cannon County has become a hub for the arts in Middle Tennessee. Education is a central tenet of our mission as well as a founding principle. Through its vast array of programming the organization strives to transform itself from an arts center to a community center in the truest sense of the word. Our model arts education program strives to enlighten all elements of our community. The following are important elements of our programming.

 

School Matinee Program

Entering its 15th year, our School Matinee Program provides educational programming for over 18,000 students annually from a ten county area. Utilizing all volunteer performers, this unique program introduces students of all ages to what is on many occasions their first formal arts experience. In addition over 200 students per year have the opportunity to sharpen their performing skills.

Stage Page

Our commitment to arts education and arts integrated classroom activities has been the driving force behind our creation of Stage Page, our performance guide that each student who attends a performance receives. These guides are designed to prepare students to experience the performance by arousing interest in, providing insight into, and stimulating thoughtful and active response to the performance. Stage Page is accompanied by a resource guide written for teachers by teachers that contains reproducible activity pages that meet Tennessee curriculum standards. These learning guides are designed in-house and emphasize critical thinking and analysis.

Summer Youth Conservatory

This ongoing summer program consists of three multi-week sessions of intensive theatrical training for students ages 6-18, including classes in acting, creative writing, stage movement, and a workshop in which students write and produce their own show.

Arts Education Task Force

The Arts Center is committed to providing teachers with the resources that they need to bring educational arts activities into their classrooms and making arts centered field trips educational.

Class Act Residencies

A mixture of long term residencies and single visits, this program will send professional artists into our county schools teaching hands-on interactive classes.

Conversations with ...

An Interpretive series of discussions with various artists and scholars focusing on elements of the community arts events and feedback sessions which give the audience a chance to meet and ask questions of the performers in local productions.