Expanding Horizons: Educational Passport Reaches More Schools and Students

The second year of Erie Arts & Culture’s Educational Passport pilot program is in full swing. The program, which is funded by a grant from Erie Insurance, creates opportunities for students in Erie County’s United Way Community Schools to engage with arts and culture experiences with partner organizations throughout the community.

This year, in addition to returning schools Pfeiffer Burleigh Elementary and Union City Elementary, we have expanded the program to include McKinley Elementary and Elk Valley Elementary. Students from each grade level at all four schools will enjoy in-school visits, field trips, and return tickets from one of six community partners: the expERIEnce Children’s Museum, Erie Philharmonic, Erie Playhouse, Hagen History Center, Erie Art Museum, and Tall Ships Erie. 

As spring rolls around, kindergarteners will enjoy visits from the Children’s Museum mobile museum, first graders will get to try out trombones, cellos, and other instruments brought to their school by Erie Philharmonic musicians, second graders will enjoy an Erie Playhouse show, third graders will tour the Hagen History Center, fourth graders will get to explore the exhibits at the Erie Art Museum, and fifth graders will sail on the Lettie G. Howard. These activities are supplemented by in-school programs with teaching artists from Erie Arts and Culture and from the partner organizations themselves. 

Erie Arts & Culture embarked on an exciting new project in partnership with Better Everyday and the Eagle’s Nest Program of Academic Distinction in Erie’s Public Schools. EAC rostered teaching artists Kim Moses and Hayes Moses have worked with students at the Eagle’s Nest on an original musical, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, written by Hayes Moses, Jr. and chronicling the rise of Motown amid America’s social and cultural transformation. The special Black History Month celebration premieres February 27 at 12:45 pm at the Eagle’s Nest auditorium at 1129 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Also for Black History Month, Erie Arts & Culture partnered with Erie’s Public Schools and the Erie Reader for a unique experience for students at Erie’s High Schools. EAC rostered teaching artist Nicholas Cardell Gore brought the three organizations together to launch a portrait contest for students at Erie High School and Collegiate Academy. The students learned about portraiture, and also about the lives of three local African American women: Gwendolyn Cooley, Candace Battles, and Dorothy Smith-Frazier. These three extraordinary women met the students, posed for portrait sessions, and told their stories, allowing the students to have the unique experience of seeing local history come alive before their eyes, to ask questions, and to connect with important members of the community. The winning portrait, of Gwendolyn Cooley, was by Collegiate Academy senior Rory Gardner and was featured on the cover of the February issue of the Erie Reader. The other portraits were featured inside the issue and on the website.

Check them out here: A Local Black History Lesson in Portraiture - Erie Reader