Programs

Students Take pART in the ARTs

Each year the arts council presents curriculum-related cultural arts performances for grades K through 12 throughout the county.  This program annually reaches more than 30,000 local school children and teachers.  The arts council works closely with the Cabarrus County and Kannapolis City schools and superintendents to carefully select programs based on artistic merit and curriculum fit.  Teachers are provided study guides that relate the performances to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Grades K-1

Doug Berky in No Show

April 19-23, 2010

Doug Berky’s amazing shows combine physical comedy, masks, movement theatre, circus art and storytelling. In No Show, a performance has been scheduled, but the actor fails to show. Or does he? What will happen when a spectator finds himself unwittingly on stage? Children and adults will be on the edges of their seats, eager to find out.

Study Guide

Grades 2-3

Opera Carolina's Jack and the Beanstalk

March 16-19, 2010

Opera Express, Opera Carolina’s educational touring company, engages children and families throughout the Carolinas with professional performances that help students understand and appreciate opera as an art form that integrates all of the fine arts and humanities. Students will enjoy Jack’s adventures as they see him grow from an irresponsible little boy to a giant-conquering hero.

Study Guide

Grades 4-5

Tarradiddle Players in The Commedia King Arthur

October 13-16, 2009

Tarradiddle Players of Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, brings the joy and wonder of the stage to audiences of all ages. This fast-moving production features well-known Arthurian stories, making it a perfect introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Lancelot and the Ogre, and King Arthur himself.
Study Guide

Grade 6

Glenis Redmond

November 30-December 3, 2009

When Glenis Redmond performs, audiences are brought to their feet by her grace, intensity and passion as she brings poetry to life. She has shared her gift of words across the globe, generating critical acclaim from London to Haiti, and from New York to California, with special recognition in her native South. A nominee for poet laureate of North Carolina, she was also named the Southeast Regional Individual Poetry Slam Champion in 1997 and 1998.

Study Guide

Grade 7

Obakunle Akinlana's African Cultural Experience

February 2-5, 2010

Obakunle Akinlana is a storyteller who uses shekeres, drums and other African instruments to immerse audiences in the culture of the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria. A writer, recording artist and producer of the annual Igunnuko African Heritage Festival in Charlotte, Akinlana has performed throughout the United States and West Africa. For these interactive performances, he will be joined on stage by an African drummer and dancer.

Study Guide

Grade 8

Mike Wiley in Tired Souls: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and Jackie Robinson: A Game Apart

September 29-October 2, 2009

Virtuoso actor Mike Wiley will bring American history alive with performances of his acclaimed one man shows. Schools can select Tired Souls: The Montgomery Bus Boycott or Jackie Robinson: A Game Apart. In Tired Souls Wiley portrays several characters as he tells the story of how Rosa Parks’ refusal to relinquish her bus seat to a white man sparked a movement among Montgomery’s black citizens that would carry their cries for equality around the world and to the halls of the Supreme Court. A Game Apart dramatizes the life of the African-American athlete who pushed the color barrier to its breaking point as it details significant events in African American sports history.
Tired Souls Study Guide
Jackie Robinson Study Guide

High Schools

North Carolina Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare to Go

February 16-19, 2010

Designed as an exciting, high-energy introduction to the most well-known works of Shakespeare, Shakespeare To Go brings six actors to area high schools to perform abbreviated versions of entire plays. Actors incorporate the student audience into every program, giving students the valuable experiences of both observing and participating in a live performance of the Bard’s work. Schools may choose between productions of Hamlet or The Taming of the Shrew.

Artist Residencies

Students in local schools are able to experience in-depth arts-in-education through artist residencies. In these intensive programs, an artist works with small groups of students for several days. Elementary school students have learned dance and Spanish culture via residencies conducted by the Latin Ballet of Virginia, and middle school students experienced poetry with poet and author Phillip Shabazz. The arts council is available to help schools select and schedule residencies for their student body.

Art Enrichment

Students in local elementary schools learn about great works of art through the Art Enrichment program. Volunteers conduct short lessons in classrooms all across Cabarrus County using poster-sized reproductions and sculptures from the arts council's collection. The works cover many subject areas and periods in history. Orientation programs for new volunteers are held each fall. The Art Enrichment program works as a wonderful supplement to the children's classroom experience and introduces children to famous works of art that they might never see otherwise. Volunteers often relate the art to the classroom curriculum, such as color and shape in kindergarten, North Carolina history in the higher grades and special presentations during Black History Month.

Gallery Tours

The Galleries welcomes tour groups from schools and the community. Tours can be tailored to specific age groups or artistic themes and may also include information about the architecture of the 1876 courthouse. Each exhibition has a scavenger hunt to help younger students learn about the art.

Gallery Talks

The Galleries regularly sponsors lectures and demonstrations by exhibiting artists as well as academicians, architects and other experts in conjunction with its exhibitions. These events often are co-sponsored by the Cabarrus Art Guild.