Screen Stars Adopt Schools for Obama Arts Initiative

Actors Sarah Jessica Parker, Forest Whitaker, Alfre Woodard, and Kerry Washington are pledging on Monday to take part in an Obama administration initiative aimed at improving arts education at eight of the nation’s poorest and worst-performing elementary and middle schools, according to a report by Brett Zongker for the Huffington Post.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, with officials from the White House and the U.S. Department of Education, is gearing up for the new two-year program called "Turnaround Arts" by enlisting these actors, along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, artist Chuck Close, and dancer Damian Woetzel, to "adopt" a school. The artists will present programs to students and teachers while helping to create community partnerships and raise funds to keep "Turnaround" up and running.

The schools selected for the project are located in urban and rural areas in New Orleans, Denver, Boston, Washington, Des Moines, IA, Portland, OR, Bridgeport, CT, and Lame Deer, MT.  The initiative is aimed at providing new training for educators, as well as art supplies and musical instruments for the schools. More than $1 million per year will be donated by the Ford Foundation, the Herb Alpert Foundation, and other sponsors to support the program.

Through the initiative, organizers are also working to collect data in each of the eight schools and demonstrate how arts can help to increase student attendance, while reducing behavioral problems and engaging students positively. Research shows that arts education can improve graduation rates and school climates, according to Mark Zuckerman, deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

"It's not that the arts are something to put on in the final period of the day once all the real work is done," said Washington to the Associated Press. "Arts are actually how we can help them get the real work done."