Ingenuity State of the Arts Report 2016-17 Ingenuity_SOTA_2016-17 | Page 29

REFLECTING ON SCHOOL GROWTH
29
Free Spirit Media
REFLECTING ON SCHOOL GROWTH
The faculty and staff of North Lawndale College
Prep—Collins are on a mission to see that
their students develop the skills to get to and
through college. Situated in an often-violent
neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago,
teachers encourage students to combine their
academic ambitions with social activism—
often through art.
North Lawndale—Collins students have the
opportunity to express themselves and develop
creative skills in visual arts, theatre, and media
arts, and many choose to complete their required
senior research project through a year-long
advanced arts course. Only three years ago,
however, this wasn’t the case.
In 2014–15, North Lawndale—Collins only had one
full-time faculty member teaching visual arts and
was categorized as Emerging. Through concerted
efforts by the administration and faculty, and
a partnership with Free Spirit Media, the high
school has expanded their course offerings and
added staffing—in 2016–17 the school had the
equivalent of three full-time arts instructors—
to achieve a score of Strong in 2015–16 and
Excelling in 2016–17.
Amanda Brandimore, the school’s visual
arts instructor and Arts Liaison, attributes
the growing success of their arts programs
to the dedicated faculty who have
enduring support from Tim Bouman, the
school principal, and the rest of the
administration. “The number one reason
for the success of the arts is the people
who work here,” she said.
Like the rest of her colleagues, Brandimore
is acutely aware of the trauma her students
experience outside of the classroom, and as a
result, she tailors her curriculum to address real
issues in the community. Her visual arts students
study contemporary minority artists in order
to connect the skills and techniques they are
learning to a greater social awareness.
This past year, the North Lawndale—Collins
arts department organized their first Arts
Night. The year-end exhibition gave students
space to perform and display their work for
their community and engage with cultural
dance through collaboration with the Spanish
department. Brandimore said she hoped twenty
people would come; she was amazed when 200
students, parents, and community members
showed up.
The event gave students a chance to share and
be vocal about their own experiences. “It was a
really cool energy around the arts that parents
were able to see and students were able to join
into,” Brandimore said.
PROGRESS REPORT | 2016–17