ALLIED ARTS EDUCATION PROJECT
Contact: Chris Brewer, Project Manager
Phone/email: (360) 676-8548 ext 3 chris@alliedarts.org
Address: 1418 Cornwall Avenue, PO Box 2584, Bellingham, WA 98227
Website: Education at www.alliedarts.org

Mission Statement
The Allied Arts Education Project (AAEP) is committed to supporting our community in the development of equal access arts education programs that create cultural awareness, engage all intelligences, and promote the value of arts as basic education.

Organizational Goals
AAEP helps teachers implement state art standards and assessments through in-class workshops and residencies in visual art, theatre, and dance provided by professional teaching artists. AAEP Curriculum Specialists provide training and mentoring for educators in the integration of arts within the classroom.

Organization Description
The Allied Arts Education Project is a partnership of Allied Arts of Whatcom County and other arts and non-profit organizations in our community. AAEP works to bring local artists into the schools to provide hands-on arts experiences in visual art, theatre, and dance for all students.

History of Allied Arts Education Project
The organization began with a grassroots arts interest survey given to local parents and teachers. Results showed unanimous support for expanded arts education; 90% of the parents expressed interest in additional school arts classes, field trips to community arts organizations, and community display of their children’s artwork. The surveys also revealed that over 75% of the parents were not aware of the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for the arts. In 2000, the group founded Whatcom Arts Education Consortium (WAEC) with the mission to support school arts education. The enthusiastic consortium’s first programs focused on EALRs-based visual art for 350 children in four elementary schools. As the program grew, a community strategic planning effort reached consensus that the local arts agency, Allied Arts of Whatcom County, was the best partner to lead the arts education group forward. In 2001, WAEC became the Allied Arts Education Project (AAEP). Since then the organization has grown to serve more than 7,500 students annually.

About our Teaching Artists                                                                                                                                                       AAEP arts programs are presented by a talented cadre of professional local artists, many of whom also have extensive training in education. The majority of AAEP artists have a bachelor’s and master’s degree, as well as  specialized certifications in their arts field. These are also “working” artists whose work is displayed and sold. Because of this high-quality expertise, AAEP offers a unique and well-balanced Teaching Artist Roster. The excellence and dedication of AAEP artists is the foundation of its arts education program success.

About the AAEP Teaching Artist Roster
AEEP offers visual art, theatre, and dance experiences varying in length from short engaging workshops to longer in-depth community arts/mural projects that build school pride and arts skills as students produce a long-term public work of art. This roster contains information about our artists and the specific programs they offer. Please be aware that, in addition to these offerings, ours talented artists are generally happy to customize their workshops to meet your specific needs.

EALRS and the CBPA’s
Our artists have been trained in the state EALRS and provide teachers with a lesson plan of their workshops including the arts EALRS that have been addressed. Some of our artists are also trained in the latest Classroom-Based Performance Assessment methods and can assist your teachers in learning how to administer them.