Project AIM

Focusing on the integration of text and image, CCAP’s Arts Integration Mentorship Project (Project AIM) explores parallels between arts and literacy learning.  It does this by partnering teaching artists from Columbia College and community-based arts organizations with public school teachers in Chicago and Evanston, focusing in Grades 6-8.  Artists and teachers learn how to jointly create arts integrated curriculum that promotes reading and writing through the arts. 

New for the 2008-2009 school year, Project AIM expanded its approach to include a focus on math literacy through funding awarded under the Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) Grant Program from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement.  This new initiative—Translations: Multi Directional Learning in the Arts, Literacy and Math—will continue the arts integration model developed and implemented at CCAP over the past seven years. 

Working together, Project AIM’s artists and teachers infuse classrooms with creativity and experiential learning that connect personal experiences to the core curriculum.  The talented cadre of teaching artists brings their expertise in creative writing, spoken-word performance, theater, music, visual arts, book and paper arts, photography, and film to the classroom.  Using inquiry-based teaching, students are guided through each step of the creative process from brainstorming, revision and rehearsal, to exemplary performances, exhibitions, and documentation of their work. 

Project AIM has established partnerships with the following public schools in Chicago and Evanston:

• Crown Community Academy, North Lawndale
• Edward Jenner Academy of the Arts, Cabrini
• Marshall Middle School, Independence Park (NW)
• Pulaski International School of Chicago, Bucktown
• Bessie Rhodes Magnet School, Evanston
• Martin Luther King Lab School, Evanston
• Theodore Herzl Elementary School, North Lawndale
• Calmeca Academy of Fine Arts & Dual Language, Brighton Park
• Irma C. Ruiz Elementary School, Pilsen
• Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School, Pilsen
• Benito Juarez Community Academy, Pilsen

The Arts Integration Mentorship Project (Project AIM) is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination program, the Chicago Community Trust, Crown Family Philanthropies, Leo S. Guthman Fund, JCCC Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and an anonymous foundation. Special thanks to Columbia College Chicago.

Federal funding for Project AIM has been ongoing through a four-year U.S. Department of Education FIPSE (Funds to Improve Post Secondary Education) award, and two consecutive Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination awards.

To speak to someone about this exciting work please contact Cynthia Weiss Project AIM Director.

Project AIM News: Click here to download the Project AIM e-newsletter - August/September 2011