Professor Corwin Georges

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — An unshakeable belief in the importance of arts education has led Wittenberg Professor of Theatre and Dance and Department Chair Corwin Georges to serve as a lifelong advocate for the field. Both in the classroom and in the community, Georges shares his talents, time, knowledge and beliefs to preserve and advance arts education.

“Art is another symbol system in which people communicate their ideas, beliefs and values,” Georges explained. “For some people, including many children, it is their most meaningful and effective form of communication and learning. This is a major reason why the arts belong in our schools, and why they should be taught as discrete disciplines.”

Earlier this year, Georges was elected to a three-year term on the seven-member National Leadership Committee of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN). The KCAAEN’s 46 state organizations work with their respective state departments of education, state arts agencies, and professional arts education organizations to strengthen arts education in their states. Members advocate for legislation that supports arts education, provide professional development for educators, and participate in curricular reform and development.

During the past year, Georges evaluated the educational program of the Yellow Springs Kids Playhouse for its National Endowment for the Arts and Ohio Arts Council grants. He also served as evaluator for Springfield’s Arts Interfaces’s after-school education pilot program infusion campus.

A member of the committee that designed the protocol for the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) Academic Content Standards K-12 Fine Arts three years ago, Georges reviewed model lesson plans for ODE, which were written this year to align with the content standards.

"The arts can be integrated with other subjects and thus have the power to help children understand those subjects,”  Georges said. "Furthermore, the arts develop self-regulatory behaviors and skills in students that transfer to other aspects of their lives and their maturation.     

"These include paying attention, cooperating, using feedback, problem-solving, being prepared to work, persistence and assuming responsibility for self," he added.

In June, Georges published his third edition of the Status Survey of Arts Education in Ohio’s Schools. The book examines which arts are being taught, by whom and with what resources in Ohio’s schools.

Georges also serves on the boards of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Springfield’s new theatre group Stageworks. In May, he directed Our Town by Thornton Wilder for Stageworks. Chosen by the Dayton City Paper as its weekly Critic’s Choice in May, the production recently received Honorable Mention in the 2005-2006 Dayton Area Theatre Season. In addition, Georges serves on the board of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and in December of 2005 was awarded its Arts Educator Award.

"Arts programs have the ability to transform schools into strong learning communities where students take responsibility for their learning,” Georges said.

- Phyllis Eberts

081-06

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