arts bridge

What is Arts Bridge?

Arts Bridge is a professional development program sponsored by the BYU ARTS Partnership to provide classroom teachers with an in-depth and practical experience in a selected art form. In an effort to impact school culture and deep learning through the arts, teams of teachers and school leaders at select elementary schools collaborate with BYU students and faculty mentors on the development and implementation of an Arts Bridge Project. The Arts Bridge program follows the model from ArtsBridge America, a national network of similar programs that has been implemented in over 30 universities throughout the United States.

The needs of the school, students, teachers, and/or community will determine the details of each Arts Bridge project. For example: projects may include grade-level teams or various grade-levels. A theme may be chosen for the entire team or a variety of integrated content may be represented in the final product. There may be several art-forms involved or the team may choose to do a deep dive into one art form. The goal is to strategically align people, content, and resources to maximize the impact of the arts on student learning in each project.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • District Arts Coordinators or District Arts Instructional Coaches (Project Leaders)
  • School Principals (Project Support)
  • Elementary classroom teachers (Project Development and Implementation)
  • BYU students from one of the arts education programs in dance, drama, music, or visual arts (Project Development and Implementation)
  • Professional Teaching Artists or BYU Faculty members (Teaching, Mentoring, and Project Development & Quality Control)

Schedule and Commitment

Arts Bridge occurs each year in the Fall. Arts Bridge scholars apply in the spring during the Winter semester and then make plans with their arts bridge team during the Spring & Summer in preparation for their teaching experiences in the Fall. Each scholar can plan on working around 50 hours in the Fall semester on collaborating, teaching, lesson planning, blogging, and other tasks.

To apply to be an Arts Bridge Scholar, please complete the online application and submit the required documents to the Arts Bridge Coordinator, Heather Francis at heather_francis@byu.edu.

  • Fill out the application form online.
  • Ask a faculty member to fill out the recommendation form.
  • Send an arts resume that your background and past experiences.
  • Send a cover letter regarding your interest in this position.

Apply by March 16th.

 

Apply to be an Arts Bridge Scholar Here Recommend an Arts Bridge Scholar Here

 

2019-2020 Arts Scholars' Blogs

Dance:

Raegan Goulding Nelson 
Lesley Olson Gee 
Katy Pearson Hopkin 
Sydney Chatterton 
Angela Warnock 
Amanda Brown 
Sarah Barnett

Drama:

Shue Man Esther Ting 
Rosalynn Eardley 
Megan Wasden Bates

Music:

Sarah Barnett Daniel Summit 
Sarah Earl 
September Powell Howard 
Allison Bullock Wild 
Marissa Johnson

Visual Arts:

Kylie Park 
Deanna Huffcutt Nielson 
Audrie Flinders

View Past Years' Blogs