Arts Integration

The Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) at Columbia College Chicago plays an important leadership role in the arts integration movement through its acclaimed Arts Integration Mentorship Project  (Project AIM).  Arts integration training and program development are key to CCAP's efforts to establish sustainable partnerships between Columbia College, the community and Chicago Public Schools.  Gaining increased national attention, arts integration is a unique teaching practice that weaves the visual, media, performing and literary arts into classrooms to engage students in their own learning.  This approach has a proven impact on a school's curriculum and helps to build students' critical thinking, problem-solving and team building skills often underdeveloped in traditional classrooms.  It also provides invaluable professional development for teachers and artists, and builds school-based leadership infrastructure to sustain and support this practice.

In an effort to continue its support of the field of arts integration, CCAP recently published the book AIMprint: New Relationships in the Arts and Learning. This dynamic teaching tool tells the story of CCAP’s Project AIM through eloquent essays, first person testimony and curriculum samples. It provides teachers and teaching artists nationwide with the resources needed to effectively weave arts integration into the classroom.