When I struggle during my days, I do art to make things easier to live by." 

Leyel Rada,8th grader, Chavez Middle School

Art has the power to transform lives.  The Hayward Unified School District has made the commitment to increasing arts education opportunities for all students.  In 2018, a comprehensive Visual & Performing Arts (VAPA) Master Plan was unanimously adopted by the school board.  The Arts Learning District Design Team Grant provides further support for the VAPA Master Plan. 

The focus of this project is to create an arts centered, cross disciplinary system of exchange between sixth to twelfth grade educators with the goal of designing sustainable collaboration, practices, and resources. In order to think more deeply and expansively about a topic, this cohort will engage in professional development through the examination of how contemporary artists are making meaning of current issues and ideas in our world.  The goals of the project are to  1) create a cohort of cross disciplinary educators who will engage in collaborative learning around the application of contemporary arts practices; 2) to create a collaborative cross district, cross content community of practice for arts centered learning focused on educators who work with emerging multilingual students and Special Education Students. The strength of this project lies in the connections made between arts educators and those teachers teaching across content areas.

Jume 1st Session lead by CREATE Middle School Teacher Lorena Gutierrez.