Gateway Arts in Education Partnership

In 1999, the Grable Foundation award a grant to Gateway to the Arts, a non-profi arts-in-education organization, to develop and conduct the first institute for aesthetic education in southwestern Pennsylvania. Now, just over ten years later, we are planning our 10th Institute, have established partnerships in districts throughout the region and are as excited as we were ten years ago to be meeting the needs of educators and artists while integrating the arts into the curriculum for the ultimate benefit of the students.  

The first Institute for Aesthetic Education began at Lincoln Center in New York City more than 30 years ago. Maxine Greene, Professor of Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the late Mark Shubart, then Dean at the Julliard School of Music, founded the Institute to provide intensive professional development in aesthetic education for New York City teachers. 'Aesthetic education' is the term they coined for using a work of art as a text for learning. Based uponthe writings of innovative educators such as John Dewey, Dr. Greene and Howard Gardner, the Institute extents the tradition of progressive education with a focus on building cognitive abilities. Since that time, it philosophy has been duplicated at more than 25 other sites internationally. Gateway to the Arts created the Gateway Arts in Education Partnership based on model created at the Lincoln Center.