WASHINGTON, D.C.: PHILADELPHIA READS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving children’s reading skills, is being nationally recognized as one of 18 youth arts and humanities programs to receive the prestigious 2007 Coming Up Taller Award. PHILADELPHIA READS will send adult and student representatives of its program to Washington, D.C. for Monday, January 28 ceremony to be held in the East Room of the White House, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. Mrs. Laura Bush will present the awards. Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The President’s Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to administer the program, which was founded in 1998.
The Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of young people, and provide them with new learning opportunities and a chance to contribute to their communities. The awards also highlight the contributions that historians, scholars, librarians and visual and performing arts make to families and communities by mentoring children. More than 350 nominations were received by the program in 2007.
“Arts and humanities activities have a wonderful way of enabling young people to discover their unique talents and interests while forging a path to success in school and life,” said Adair Margo, Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. “PHILADELPHIA READS opens up a vibrant world of learning and growth experiences to children during one of the most important formative periods of their lives.”
“PHILADELPHIA READS is an organization that provides supports for children’s literacy in many ways,” said Adrienne Jacoby, Executive Director of PHILADELPHIA READS. “The experiential learning touches the souls, minds and spirits of children, inspiring them to continue reading, learning and creating art. Their success will play a major role in making Philadelphia a city of readers and learners.”
Through its summer reading program known as SWARM (Science, Writing, Art, Reading, Music), PHILADELPHIA READS incorporates activities in art, music and science to help teach literacy skills to children in first through third grades. The program operates at 20 recreational camps in areas of Philadelphia that tend to provide fewer summer enrichment opportunities. It specifically targets children during the summer months, when educational gains can falter and when many children lack supervision.
“Art and literacy are intimately intertwined, using creativity as their base,” said Judy Ringold, Director of Public Education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which partners with the program. “Children create and interpret stories visually as they begin to read and write, so their overall learning is improved through their experience with the arts.”
The literacy programs typically run about 20 hours a week, for six weeks, and each year there is a special theme that guides that writing, music, art and science activities that children participate in as well as the books they read. Artists from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and musicians from the Academy of Community Music partner with Philadelphia reads by providing lesson plans and visiting the SWARM sites to offer hands-on art and music projects. The children also tour the PAFA museum and attend children’s concerts at the Mann Music Center.
The National Constitution Center, PennCORD, the Free Library of Philadelphia and Reading Is Fundamental also participate in the program.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities bridges the interests of federal agencies and the private sector, supports special projects that increase participation, and helps incorporate the humanities and the arts into White House objectives. The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Because democracy demands wisdom, the National Endowment for the Humanities serves and strengthens our Republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent federal grant making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners.
For more information please visit the following Web sites:
www.phila.gov/philareads
Coming Up Taller: www.cominguptaller.org
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: www.pcah.gov
National Endowment for the Arts: www.arts.gov
National Endowment for the Humanities: www.neh.gov
Institute of Museum and Library Services: www.imls.gov
