SAN FRANCISCO (March 15, 2018) – The San Francisco Arts Education Project, celebrating its 50^th anniversary in the 2018-19 school year, today received the prestigioius Dreamcatcher Award from the San Francisco Unified School District’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Inspired by individually crafted Native American dreamcatchers, highly endowed and talismanic works of art believed to have the power to capture dreams and prevent negativity, the Visual and Performing Arts Department of the San Francisco Unified School District proudly presents Dreamcatcher Awards as part of the SFUSD Arts Festival to honor individuals who have inspired the San Francisco educational community through the excellent work they have done to promote the vision and the promise of the SFUSD Arts Education Master Plan.

Dreamcatcher recipients come from various parts of the community, including arts teachers, school arts coordinators, principals, administrators and community arts partners. The Visual and Performing Arts Department is proud to recognize these arts education leaders with the annual Dreamcatcher Awards, which made their debut in 2007, along with the Master Plan, and have provided our community with a way to recognize and celebrate the excellent work provided by these exemplary and inspiring arts leaders.

SFArtsED Artistic Director Emily Keeler and Program Director Camille Olivier-Salmon were recognized with the award for Community Arts Partner. In his introductory remarks, William Hack, a VAPA supervisor, said:

“Elliot W. Esiner believed that, ‘The arts are fundamental resources through which the world is viewed, meaning is created and the mind is developed.’ SFArtsED receives this Dreamcatcher Award because they continue to realize Ruth Asawa’s vision to bring artists-in-residence into the classroom and San Francisco schools for 50 years, and they are currently serving more than 20 SFUSD schools. Their high-quality programs and standards-based instruction are rooted in innovative arts practice and thoughtful, strategic planning that involves school leadership and community in essential ways. Generations of SFUSD students have participated in SFArtsED’s successful summer camps, many with full scholarships, and hundreds more have participated in the nationally recognized SFArtsED Players, performing both classic and original works of musical theater. And they collaborate with the Visual & Performing Arts Department in assuring that schools, including Transitional Kindergarten classrooms, have balanced arts education in visual art, music, choir, musical theater and dance.”

About SFArtsED

Founded in 1968 (as the Alvarado School Arts Workshop) by renowned artist Ruth Asawa, SFArtsED has transformed the lives of children, their families, teachers, artists and volunteers. Programs include SFArtsED Summer, In-School Artist Residencies, After-School programs, The SFArtsED Players Musical Theater Company, Interdisciplinary Arts Program and apprenticeships for college and high school students. SFArtsED moved into its new space at Minnesota Street Project in March 2016, marking the first time in the organization’s 50-year history that it has a space of its own for instruction, exhibition, seminars, workshops and gatherings of all kinds.
www.sfartsed.org

For more information, photos or to arrange interviews please call 415-551-7990, e-mail chad.j@sfartsed.org or visit www.sfartsed.org.