Community Partners
Hartford Performs brings visiting artists into Hartford Public Schools to teach curriculum in creative new ways. We take Hartford kids out to area arts organizations to ensure they experience professional dance, music, theater and museums. And we provide Hartford teachers with professional-learning programs that help them use art techniques in their classrooms to help kids learn and develop. Almost 14,000 students in all 30 PreK-Grade 8 public schools in our city benefit from our system each year.
HOT Schools, (Higher Order Thinking Schools)
Kinsella is a HOT School and is supported by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism with master teaching artist visits, professional development and standards based arts integration. In HOT schools, the arts are rigorous academic subjects, each with its own sequential curriculum that conveys knowledge not learned through other academic disciplines. HOT schools integrate the arts across disciplines, creating arts-rich environments that motivate students to make connections between and among subject areas and ideas. HOT schools cultivate a democratic school culture to which all members of the school community contribute and in which individual leadership is emphasized. The HOT approach is reflected in a school’s commitment to child centered, experiential, arts integrated teaching and learning. In an arts infused environment, the processes of creating, performing and responding lead to increased achievement, increased attendance by students and staff, lower rates of retention, higher self-esteem, decreased discipline problems, greater parent participation and a growing sense of community.
The Re-Center is dedicated to helping transform K-12 schools into equitable learning environments free from impacts of racism. As one teacher said, "This work is not just useful, it is essential if we are committed to the health and academic success of all students."