Any Given Child Madison

Ensuring the Arts for All

As we prepare the young people in our community for college, career and community, it is essential that we invest in providing a well-rounded education that includes the arts for every child.

In July 2013, Madison, Wisconsin was named the 12th city in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program to make that investment happen. Overture Center for the Arts is proud to take a leading role, representing the arts community, in partnership with the City of Madison and Madison Metropolitan School District.

The primary goal of the Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child program is to assist communities in developing a plan to ensure there is equity and access to arts education for all K-8 students in their schools. As a national leader in arts education, The Kennedy Center brings to this program more than three decades of work with thousands of students, teachers, principals, administrators, business leaders and art administrators across the country.

A Vision

It is the vision of the Any Given Child Madison Community Arts Team that all students have access to a comprehensive arts education with inclusive, diverse and integrated learning in all art forms every year.

A Statement of Need

There is currently an opportunity gap in arts education that exists among K-8 students in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Some students have the opportunity for multiple arts experiences nearly every day while others have very little.

In order to create equitable access to a comprehensive arts education for our K-8 students, the community needs to increase its resource coordination and capacity, particularly with resources for certified arts specialists, arts integration in non-arts classrooms, and partnerships with community artists and organizations.

The Goals

In order to support high quality arts education as an essential part of a well-rounded education for all students, the Any Given Child Madison Community Arts Team set the following long- term goals:

• Cultivate leaders and develop and sustain systems for access and equity
• Create arts-rich schools
• Cultivate a community network
• Develop an accountability system that tracks and reports Any Given Child Madison progress
• Advocate for arts education

For more information, please visit the Any Given Child Madison website or contact Director of Education and Community Engagement Alanna Medearis at amedearis@overture.org or 608.258.4148.