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Arts education leader Christine Fisher announces retirement

Fisher led Arts in Basic Curriculum Project for 18 years

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 March 2019 [caption id="attachment_39351" align="alignright" width="225"]Christine Fisher Christine Fisher[/caption] COLUMBIA, S.C. – Christine Fisher is to retire from the Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project this month after spending nearly 20 years working to provide comprehensive arts programs in schools across the state. Fisher, who lives in Florence, began her career in arts education in the classroom, teaching chorus, guitar and musical production at Dillon High School and then elementary general music, beginning band and middle school band in Florence School District One through 2001. She left that year to become executive director of the ABC Project, a partnership among the S.C. Arts Commission, Winthrop University, and S.C. Department of Education that works with schools and districts across the state to maintain and expand arts opportunities for all students. It is based at Winthrop in Rock Hill. Under Fisher’s leadership, the program grew to serve 84 schools or districts and 171,000 students this school year and played an important role in making sure the arts were included in the landmark Profile of the South Carolina Graduate in 2015, a rigorous set of standards for college and career readiness adopted by the state General Assembly in 2016. “Christine Fisher has spent her entire career being a tireless advocate and supporter of arts based education in South Carolina. I am so appreciative of Christine’s leadership from being the only music teacher to be named our state teacher of the year to her service as the director of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project where she has brought access to the arts to students across our state and shared her tremendous wealth of knowledge with countless educators. I along with South Carolina’s arts community will miss her dearly,” S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said. Many highlights dot the timeline of Fisher’s career. She was twice selected as a school and district Teacher of the Year, and twice selected as one of the five South Carolina honor roll teachers. Selected as the South Carolina Teacher of the Year in 1998, she is the only music teacher to hold the honor in the program's history. The S.C. Arts Commission awarded her state’s highest arts award, the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts, in 2006, and she received the Winthrop University Medal of Arts in 2012. “She has changed many thousands of young lives for the better. They, and we, owe her heartfelt thanks and praise for her life of unselfish, tireless devotion to arts education for everyone. We wish her nothing but the best in her retirement—and more time for music-making,” S.C. Arts Commission Executive Director Ken May said.

Full Statements on Christine Fisher's retirement

MOLLY SPEARMAN S.C. Superintendent of Education

“Christine Fisher has spent her entire career being a tireless advocate and supporter of arts based education in South Carolina. I am so appreciative of Christine’s leadership from being the only music teacher to be named our state teacher of the year to her service as the director of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project where she has brought access to the arts to students across our state and shared her tremendous wealth of knowledge with countless educators. I along with South Carolina’s arts community will miss her dearly.”

KEN MAY Executive Director, S.C. Arts Commission

“The first time I ever heard Christine Fisher speak, she told the moving and powerful story of how the arts, specifically music, saved her life. As I reflect now on her retirement, I realize that all of her work, her entire amazing career, has been about paying forward—at increasing orders of magnitude—the wonderful, transformative gift that she was given. From her early days teaching in Dillon and Florence, to her ground-breaking tenure as State Teacher of the Year, to her long, outstanding service as Executive Director of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, she has changed many thousands of young lives for the better. They, and we, owe her heartfelt thanks and praise for her life of unselfish, tireless devotion to arts education for everyone. We wish her nothing but the best in her retirement—and more time for music-making!”

JEFF BELLANTONI Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Winthrop University

“Christine has been an integral part of the arts community at Winthrop University for 18 years. We had the pleasure of recognizing the impact she has made in 2012 when she was awarded our Medal of Honor in the Arts. Her passion and commitment to integrating the arts into education throughout the state is unmatched. Christine’s steadfast support of the arts is evident through her many years of service as an educator and arts advocate, and she will be missed.”

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

With a commitment to excellence across the spectrum of our state’s cultures and forms of expression, the South Carolina Arts Commission pursues its public charge to develop a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic vitality for all South Carolinians. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants, and leadership initiatives in three areas:
  • arts education,
  • community arts development,
  • and artist development.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696.

Tuning Up: New Doster sculpture + arts teacher honored

Good morning!  "Tuning Up" is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order...

Spartanburg spreads the love. There's some new public art in Spartanburg with an unmistakable message. I Love You was unveiled yesterday in the city's Morgan Square. Students from the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind spent a bit more than a year working with teaching artist Bob Doster, a metal sculptor and 2006 recipient of the Verner Award in the artist category, on the work – the American Sign Language signal for "I love you." An Arts in Basic Curriculum Project grant from SCAC helped make the collaboration possible. Speaking of the Verner Award, please see below. Florence One arts teacher takes home title. Another week, another big win for arts education in the school district: Moore Intermediate School arts teacher Sharri Duncan was named the district's 2018/2019 teacher of the year. (Last week, the district announced a massive investment in arts education, though the two news items are not related. - Ed.) When presented with her financial prize, Duncan – whose parents were both teachers – pledged to spend it on her students. Congratulations, Sharri!

Evergreen (for now): Time is running out!

  • Nominations for the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards for the Arts (right) are due Thursday, Nov. 8. All it takes to start the process of awarding an artist, arts organization, business or foundation, government entity, individual, or arts educator/institution one of these prestigious awards for significant contributions to the arts in South Carolina is one letter. Don't wait. Find out more now! (Noms for the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards are due at the same time. Here's info on those.)
  • Applications for $5,000 individual artist fellowships are also due Thursday, Nov. 8. Unrestricted awards will honor achievement in visual arts, craft, music composition, and music performance. Don't miss out!
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Tuning Up: Summerton street painting + big arts ed news

Good morning!  "Tuning Up" is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order...

Makeover planned for Summerton streets. The SCAC tries to demonstrate that the arts are alive everywhere in South Carolina. Here's a great snippet from a part of the rural, I-95 corridor. The Town of Summerton 4 MAIN, in collaboration with South Carolina State University Art Department, invites the residents of Summerton and greater Clarendon County to come downtown and help paint the street! This community public arts project is open to all ages and abilities, and you don’t have to be a professional artist or know how to paint either. Just get together with friends and family and help transform one of Summerton’s downtown intersections into an eye-catching, colorful, one-of-a-kind pedestrian walkway. All ages. Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. Florence 1 plans massive investment in "arts ed." If you're connected with us on Facebook, you might be among the legions who saw our Friday post about Florence District One planning to spend $3 million on arts education initiatives over the next year. Not connected? Give us a like! (And here's to news like this becoming much more common.)

Time is running out

Part I. Nominations for the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards for the arts are due Thursday, Nov. 8. All it takes to start the process of awarding an artist, arts organization, business or foundation, government entity, individual, or arts educator/institution one of these prestigious awards for significant contributions to the arts in South Carolina is one letter. Don't wait. Find out more now! Part II. Did you see this week's Grants Roundup this morning? Those who did already know that applications for $5,000 individual artist fellowships are also due Thursday, Nov. 8. Unrestricted awards will honor achievement in visual arts, craft, music composition, and music performance. Don't miss out!
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Two SC school districts recognized nationally as Best Communities for Music Education

Florence School District One and Greenville County Schools are among 476 school districts across the United States to be recognized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation as the Best Communities for Music Education (BCME). BCME recognizes outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders who work together to ensure access to music learning for all students as part of the school curriculum. Districts that have been recognized by the NAMM Foundation are often held up as models for other educators looking to boost their own music education programs. This is the third year in a row that Florence School District One has received the designation. "The impact of this award shows our students and our community how a strong music program can make a difference in the lives of our student population," said Laura Greenway, performing arts coordinator. "The impact is far reaching and reflects in the future success of our students." According to Greenvway, the award recognizes that Florence School District One is leading the way with learning opportunities as outlined in the new federal education legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The legislation, signed into law in December 2015, replaces No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which was often criticized for an overemphasis on testing—while leaving behind subjects such as music. ESSA recommends music and the arts as important elements of a well-rounded education for all children. “Greenville County Schools is honored to have been selected by the NAMM Foundation as a Best Community for Music,” said Bradley Wingate, academic specialist for visual and performing arts. “Recognition of our music programs speaks to the amazing work that goes on in each of our schools and to the high-quality instruction students are provided by their teachers.  We are so very fortunate to have some of the absolute best music educators in the country leading our music programs and are extremely grateful for the ongoing support provided by the district administration and the community.” The BCME program evaluates schools and districts based on funding, staffing of highly qualified teachers, commitment to standards, community support, and participation and access to music instruction. The NAMM Foundation, with the assistance of researchers at The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas, evaluates participants on these factors. Designations are made to districts and schools that demonstrate an exceptionally high commitment and access to music education. Studies have shown that participation in music and the arts contributes to lower dropout rates, higher graduation rates, and higher ACT scores, while teaching children the joys of music and related life skills. A 2014 study by Northwestern University researchers found new links between students in community music programs and academic success in subjects such as reading. A 2015 study, "Striking A Chord," supported by the NAMM Foundation, also outlines the overwhelming desire by teachers and parents for music education opportunities for all children as part of the school curriculum. About The NAMM Foundation The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,300 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about the NAMM Foundation, visit www.nammfoundation.org. Via: Florence School District One and Greenville County Schools

Florence students explore art during summer break

From SCNow.com: See a gallery of photos online.
FLORENCE, S.C. — Art was flying right off the walls at one of the biggest Florence gallery openings of the summer Tuesday night, including colorful portraits, photo-perfect still life sketches and avant garde sculptures. But the frenzy to grab the pieces came in part so that the artists, Florence School District 1 students, could get home and play in the remaining hours of sunlight.
For three weeks, 72 children from grades four to eight took daily art classes at Briggs Elementary to create the body of work at the 26th annual Horizons summer camp for gifted and talented visual arts students.
Laura McFadden, one of the five art teachers who taught the classes, couldn’t have asked for a better group.
“This has been a fantastic year,” she said. “We had a really great group of kids. They worked really hard all summer long.”
The process to get in the Horizons and H2 program — which is a newer extension of the program for a small group of older students — began in the fall when students from across the district were nominated by their art teachers and parents. From there students had to prepare a portfolio of artwork and undergo interviews before being selected for the limited number of spots.
Mary Watts, who has returned to the program for three years, said that Horizons is one of the best parts about summer since it gives her a chance to be creative.
“The program’s a lot of fun, and it’s fun to expand and learn more things about art and meet other people who like art, too,” she said.
This year her favorite project was a “dancing house,” a multimedia 3D anthropomorphic house.
McFadden said the variety of projects the students get to try is what really makes the Horizons experience different from the art classes students get during the school year.
“They’re always excited about clay. Any time they can get their hands on clay they’re really excited,” McFadden said. “But we did some really interesting things with multimedia, with painting in layers, with working in plaster and none of them had done that before. Not sure they liked plaster as much, it’s a little bit sticky, but we try to get a big variety of media and techniques and process in the program.”
In front of a packed house of friends and family, the 60 Horizons and 12 H2 students received awards for completion, attendance and sketch book diary completion. Sarah Park was awarded the overall best in show award for her incredibly lifelike pencil drawing of a bicycle.

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