MSAC ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE EDIT STUDENT ANTHOLOGY

Voices Fly features exercises and poems from the Arts-in-Education Program 

Voices Fly captures Virginia Crawford and Laura Shovan’s more than 20 years of combined experience teaching poetry to students through the MSAC Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Program. The program supports meaningful arts education experiences through grants that fund hands-on, intensive workshops for a small core group of students. Past and current MSAC artists-in-residence include visual artists as well as musicians and playwrights.

NEW STUDENT POETRY ANTHOLOGY IS AN ONLINE RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS
Voices Fly features exercises and poems from the Arts-in-Education Program

Baltimore (July 3, 2012)—The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) today released Voices Fly, an anthology of Maryland students’ poetry that also contains a selection of teaching exercises designed by MSAC Poets-in-Residence.

The anthology draws on editors Virginia Crawford and Laura Shovan’s more than 20 years of combined experience teaching poetry to students through the MSAC Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Program. The program supports meaningful arts education experiences through grants that fund hands-on, intensive workshops for a small core group of students. Past and current MSAC artists-in-residence include visual artists as well as musicians and playwrights. 

In his message to readers of Voices Fly, Governor Martin O’Malley stressed the value of arts in education: “Learning through the arts teaches young people to use many different mediums to communicate ideas. Students who can express concepts through poetry, dance, drawing or song have a competitive edge in the creative economy of our future and help enrich our communities.”

Co-editor Virginia Crawford says that workshops often surprise classroom teachers: “As a poet-in-residence, I've seen children dive into language through poetry when other sorts of writing have not caught their interest.”

 “Editing the anthology was a rare opportunity to collaborate with our fellow teaching poets, highlighting the work we do and the students with whom we work,” said Laura Shovan, one of the editors. “As the poems in Voices Fly demonstrate, A-i-R poets provide the tools for writing, but the students provide their powerful voices.”

Voices Fly is an excellent and inspiring resource for teachers, parents, and students. It can be downloaded at www.msac.org/aie.

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About the Maryland State Arts Council
The Maryland State Arts Council, an agency of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts, is dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. The mission of the council is to encourage and invest in the advancement of the arts for the people of Maryland. For more information about the Maryland State Arts Council, visit the MSAC web site at www.msac.org or call (410) 767-6555 or TTY 1-800-735-2258.

About the Artist-in-Residence Program
The Artist-in-Residence program engages a small core group of students and teachers in hands-on intensive workshops over a number of days or weeks.  A larger group benefits from additional activities including artists’ lectures and demonstrations and projects developed by classroom teachers with the artist’s assistance.  Names of artists selected by the advisory panel to participate in the Artists-in-Residence Program are listed in the Artists-in-Residence Roster.  Artists are selected for inclusion in the Artists-in-Residence Program on the basis of artistic achievement and ability to work with students and faculty in a school environment.  Residencies are available in performing arts, visual arts, poetry, and playwriting. More information and to search the roster of artists: www.msac.org/aie_ar.