DEPARTMENT: Pre-K 4 SA
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Kathy Bruck, CEO
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Arts Fund MOU for Wolf Trap Affiliation
SUMMARY:
This item includes possible approval of an amendment to the current Pre-K 4 SA MOU with Arts Fund of San Antonio to support a partnership with Wolf Trap.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Wolf Trap is the only national park dedicated to the Performing Arts. It is located in Vienna, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, a program of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, has long been recognized as a national model for utilizing the performing arts to support young children’s cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development to prepare them for school, while enhancing educators’ instructional skills.
Through a sponsoring organization, affiliates replicate the Wolf Trap Institute model at the regional level, customizing goals and strategies to meet the needs of each community. Wolf Trap has sixteen national affiliates including Arizona, Delaware, Delta (Arkansas, Memphis, Mississippi), Detroit, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Nashville, New Jersey, New York City, North Carolina, Southern Nevada, South Florida, and Western Pennsylvania.
ISSUE:
In December 2015, Pre-K 4 SA entered into a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Arts Fund of San Antonio to last until October 1, 2016 to initiate San Antonio as an affiliate of Wolf Trap with Arts Fund of San Antonio and Pre-K 4 SA as sponsoring agencies. The MOU originally totaled $49,500.00 in services and Pre-K 4 SA is now asking to increase this total dollar value to $61,500.00. Final approval of this amendment is pending approval by the City’s Small Business and Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA) Program. Staff will submit a waiver for the process in the coming weeks. This MOU would fund an initial demonstration residency week, travel expenses for artists visiting the Pre-K 4 SA Centers, an affiliation video, administrative costs of the demonstration, and documentation through P16 to capture and track progress and success of participating students of the program moving forward. Additionally, a grant totaling $15,000.00 from the City of San Antonio Department of Culture and Creative Development allowed for the program to provide added training of Pre-K 4 SA teachers in this subject.
The announcement of San Antonio becoming the 17th Wolf Trap affiliate, the first in Texas and the second in the Southwest, will be made later this spring. San Antonio performing artists are being recruited currently by Arts Fund San Antonio, who is the representative local Arts agency. These artists will be trained in February by Master Performing Artists from Wolf Trap. They will offer 16 planning and teaching sessions in an 8 week residency to early childhood teachers in public and private schools in San Antonio including Pre-K 4 SA. Each week the artist and the teacher prepare a lesson together on a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) topic, which the performing artist will conduct with the assistance of the classroom teachers followed by a collaborative debrief of the lesson. Gradually, the artist will become more of a coach for the teacher, until the teacher is able to plan and present the lesson, using performing arts, by herself.
After the initial phase with Arts Fund and Wolf Trap, the goal of Pre-K 4 SA would be to maintain teacher development by having at least one residency at each of the four Education Centers annually. This would entail having one resident artist conduct 16 planning and teaching sessions, over the course of 8 weeks, in one classroom at each Center.
ALTERNATIVES:
If the Board does not approve the MOU amendment, Pre-K 4 SA will not be able to obtain full benefits of the Arts Fund services and Wolf Trap affiliation.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funds for this MOU are available within Pre-K 4 SA’s Donation Fund. Donations received for this agreement are restricted and cannot be used for other purposes.
The total $61,500.00 is to fund the following activities: residency workshops fee for two Education Centers, travel and airfare for artists, required travel to Wolf Trap to include lodging, administrative support, operations, promotion, evaluation, documentation of students moving forward.
In future years, Pre-K 4 SA will support ongoing residencies through the Professional Development component of the Annual Operating Budget. It is estimated that this will cost approximately $2,500.00 per residency times 4 Education Centers totaling $10,000.00 per year.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the Board approve the amendment of the Memorandum of Understanding between Pre-K 4 SA and the Arts Fund San Antonio by $12,000.00, increasing the total dollar value of services from $49,500.00 to $61,500.00. All of these funds were donated for this express purpose.