AT&T Contributes $50,000 to Atlanta Opera to Support Community Engagement Program

AT&T* today announced a $50,000 contribution to the Atlanta Opera's Community Engagement Program for students and teachers in Grades K-6 to expand and strengthen its effectiveness with more in-classroom education and additional outreach to the general public. Specifically, this contribution will be supporting The Atlanta Opera Studio Tour, which introduces thousands of school-aged children to the art form of opera through a touring production and an education guide to be used in classrooms to prepare students for the opera experience. The Atlanta Opera education guides feature information about the opera including synopsis and composer information, as well as cross-curricular lesson plans and activities corresponding to Common Core Georgia Performance Standards.

The Community Engagement Program provides music education for children and youth and cultivates future advocates for opera and the arts. With the support of AT&T, the Atlanta Opera's Community Engagement Program seeks to serve 29,736 K-6 students by partnering with over 100 schools and service organizations. Of the students served, approximately 90% will be enrolled in City of Atlanta Public Schools and metro Atlanta's many city and county school systems. More than 50 percent of students will be enrolled in Title 1 schools and will be considered underserved and/or at-risk.

The Atlanta Opera's Community Engagement Programs' goals are to:

· Introduce children and youth of all economic and cultural backgrounds to opera through programming of high artistic quality that is integrated with Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and National Standards for Arts Education

· Provide interactive experiences through which children and their families can experience opera together

· Provide professional development opportunities for artists at the high school level

"Arts education is often limited for many students, but it is so important to the overall education of Georgia's young people," said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. "I commend The Atlanta Opera for this wonderful partnership with our schools and AT&T for their continued support of education in Georgia."

"The mission of The Atlanta Opera is to enrich lives through the power of opera and the Education Program is an important foundation of our work," said Emmalee Iden Hackshaw, Director of Community Engagement for The Atlanta Opera. "We know how important arts education is to our young people and the positive impact it can have on keeping more students in school and on track for graduation."

More than a decade's worth of research and study demonstrate the role of arts education in the academic success of students enrolled at all levels of K-6 education. For instance, it is known that:
· High school students participating in arts education average 100 points higher on their SATs.

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