Welcome to I Am Urban Gateways, a forum for discussion and reflection surrounding a cause that we want everyone in our community to celebrate: Arts education, and instilling creativity in the lives of Chicago’s youth.
This blog from Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education aims to increase awareness of arts education and its crucial role in Chicago-area schools, as well as taking you inside UG classrooms to experience our innovative arts programs, meet our talented teaching artists, and see their impact on our students. We want ArtsEd to thrive in every school and community—Every Art, Every Child, Every Day. And we want you to help us get the word out.
We hope you’ll find this blog thought-provoking, informative, poignant, and imaginative (Where would arts education be without a little imagination? Where would society be without imagination?). What you’ll find here: Stories from our amazing teaching artists, photos of Urban Gateways students and their artwork, testimonials from teachers and principals about how UG and the arts are impacting their schools, plus statistics, news, and current issues in arts education to keep all our advocates informed.
As one of the largest and most comprehensive arts education organizations in the country, our arts programming reaches more than 80,000 Chicago children each year. Read more about us here.
We’re thrilled that you’ve found us! We want to hear your voice, and we want to get you involved. Don’t let the arts get lost in the shuffle. Keep imagining, and keep reacting.
“Without Art, we are but monkeys with car keys.” [Author unknown]
Comment with an arts-related quote that inspires you to action!