Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 25, 2016, 6 a.m. ET
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities enters into a
partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the
future of the Turnaround Arts Initiative
(WASHINGTON)—Today the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH)
and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announce a new strategic partnership to
implement Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center. The President’s Committee’s Turnaround
Arts initiative empowers high-need, low-performing schools with innovative arts programming
and resources to help address broader school challenges and close the achievement gap. The new
partnership will fulfill the President's Committee’s vision for expanding Turnaround Arts and
aligns with the Kennedy Center’s more than 40-year legacy of providing high-quality arts
education programming across the nation.
“The President’s Committee has determined that the Kennedy Center is the ideal partner
to ensure that the Turnaround Arts program continues to thrive into the future,” said the CoChairs of the President’s Committee, George Stevens, Jr. and Margo Lion. “We are confident
that with this new partnership, academic achievement will continue to be elevated by highquality arts education at more and more American schools.”
“We applaud the President’s Committee’s vision and tenacity in creating, then growing
Turnaround Arts over just five years into the nationally thriving program we celebrate today at
the White House,” said Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter. “This initiative has
produced powerful results in equal access to the arts and academic achievement in high-needs
schools. We are privileged to partner with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities, to bring Turnaround Arts’ important work to the Kennedy Center, building on our
shared mission of inspiring and empowering the next generation of citizens and citizen artists.”
In 2011, the President’s Committee published a landmark report on the status and
benefits of arts education, titled Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future
Through Creative Schools. From the report’s findings, the President’s Committee started
Turnaround Arts as a pilot program in 2012, marking the first federal effort to support the use of
arts education in the targeted improvement of some of America’s lowest performing schools. The
President’s Committee selected schools competitively from nominations solicited from state and
municipal authorities of their lowest-performing five percent of schools in coordination with the
U.S. Department of Education. These schools integrated innovative arts, dance and music
programs, arts integration across subject areas, arts resources, musical instruments, and highprofile artist mentors into the curriculum as a strategy to improve school climate and culture, and
increase student and parent engagement.
A 2014 study on the Turnaround Arts pilot program schools revealed improvements in
academic indicators, attendance, and community engagement, paired with significant drops in
disciplinary issues.
Founding Turnaround Artists Chuck Close, Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington, Sarah
Jessica Parker, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton, Damian Woetzel, and Kennedy Center Artistic
Advisor At Large Yo-Yo Ma lead a group of now 58 Turnaround Artist mentors who have
“adopted” schools nationwide.
The First Lady announced at the White House Turnaround Arts Talent Show today that
the President’s Committee program will expand again, now reaching 68 schools in 16 states by
the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.
Turnaround Arts’ private-public partnership structure will continue to ensure the future of
Turnaround Arts, as the program transitions to the Kennedy Center. As of today, the Herb Alpert
Foundation, and The Rosenthal Family Foundation have already pledged their support moving
forward. Turnaround Artist mentors are also pledging to continue their critical work into the
future as the program continues to grow beyond the end of the Obama administration.
The Kennedy Center has invested more than 40 years into developing a robust and
vibrant educational program, built to serve diverse audiences across the nation. The addition of
Turnaround Arts to the Center’s programming will create opportunities in new geographic areas,
while complementing the program areas already active in the Center which service more than 11
million individuals a year such as ArtsEdge, Any Given Child, Changing Education Through the
Arts, and Partners in Education.
Aligning with the Kennedy Center’s mission will allow the Turnaround Arts program to
benefit from increased access to resources, strategic capacity building, professional development,
a vast network of teaching artists and arts educators, and a strong research and development
component that measures the impact of arts education and aids in refining existing programs, as
well as building new ones. The new partnership will provide both organizations with an
increased capacity to engage with more audiences in more locations, providing enhanced service
to schools in the most at-risk communities around the country that remove the barriers to arts
learning. Turnaround Arts will transition to the Kennedy Center later this year, in preparation for
the start of 2017.
For more information on the Turnaround Arts, visit: http://turnaroundarts.pcah.gov. For
more information on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, visit:
www.pcah.gov.
FUNDING CREDITS
Turnaround Arts national partners include the U.S. Department of Education, National
Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Herb Alpert Foundation, the Rosenthal Family
Foundation, Keith Haring Foundation, Crayola, NAMM Foundation, Music Theatre
International, the AOL Charitable Foundation, JCPenney Cares, Little Kids Rock, the Robert
Rauschenberg Foundation, the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the Laird Norton Family
Foundation, iTheatrics, and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.
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PRESS CONTACTS
Kelly Carnes, Kennedy Center
(202) 416-8441
[email protected]
Eileen Andrews, Kennedy Center
(202) 416-8448
[email protected]
Lora Bodmer, Turnaround Arts
(307) 690-1630
[email protected]