A collaboration with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Education’s (OSPI) Migrant Education Program, Arts Impact and seven school districts from across Washington State, Voices from the Field Arts Academy welcomes 78 middle school students and 20 classroom educators for a week of arts immersion in a range of disciplines.

In its third year, Voices from the Field Arts Academy seeks to provide inspiring arts experiences for middle school students in Washington State’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Education (OSPI) Migrant Education Program. Working with students who often don’t have the opportunity to experience the arts in their regular school day, Centrum collaborates with eight professional artists as mentors to inspire students to discover new strengths and creativity. An avenue for increased literacy and academic achievement, this program provides students with meaningful arts classes that instill skills, confidence, and ingenuity, giving them inspiring new possibilities for envisioning their lives.

With 78 students, their chaperones, and a cohort of teachers from their schools, the week at Centrum is a complete arts immersion and an empowering community-building experience. Theater, visual art, poetry, dance, and music take center stage for one week, guided by an outstanding artist faculty and the idea that the arts reveal essential insights and ways of learning that will resonate meaningfully in the lives of these young people. The week ends with an empowering showcase of student work.

For this program, Centrum is collaborating with the OSPI Migrant Education Program and seven school districts (Grandview, Pasco, Prosser, Mount Vernon, Wahluke, Wenatchee, and Yakima) from Washington State along with Arts Impact, a comprehensive professional development arts integration program for classroom teachers.