Q&A with Arts Education Director Ava Hughes
As the Arts Education Director at Chapman Cultural Center, Ava Hughes has dedicated her life to enriching arts education in Spartanburg County and strengthening our children’s creative capital. Ava was recognized by The SC Art Education Association as the 2015 winner of the Dr. Deborah Smith Hoffman Mentor Award, which is awarded to the person who most demonstrates a commitment to mentoring art educators by supporting their professional and personal growth as artists and educators. This interview was conducted by Hamilton King, who himself is a product of the Spartanburg County School System and was undoubtedly affected and inspired by Ava’s years of service and commitment to having the best arts programs in Spartanburg County Schools.
Q: How did you first get involved with Chapman Cultural Center?
A: I was hired by the Arts Council, in 1974, when we were located in an old house across from Converse College. So when The Arts Partnership was formed in 1993, I became the Director of Arts Education.
Q: What inspired you to start working in the Arts and the field of Arts Education?
A: Well, in my job with the Arts Council we saw how taking classes in any of the arts – visual arts, dance, music, theatre – how much that changed children and adults. It helped them grow, it helped the children be more confident, and they just enjoyed it so much that I just started taking more of an interest in seeing that more people have that opportunity.
Q: What are some of the main programs that you work with to help grow and advance arts education in the Spartanburg County School System?
A: We call our program The Arts Advantage, because the arts give children an advantage in life and in their career. We have artist residencies and performances in the schools. The residencies consist of hiring professional artists in any discipline – we have writers, actors, visual artists, sculptors, anything you can name – and placing those artists in schools for as little as one week and as long as six weeks. The other part is the Muse Machine program. Schools that join the program get three in-school professional performances – music, dance, and theatre.
Q: How is the Muse Machine looking this year?
A: It’s great! We have over 50 schools signed up, which is a record for us! This means over 150 performances that will expose thousands of Spartanburg County children to the performing arts.
Q: What would be an example of one of the Muse Machine performances that you are really excited about this year?
A: One of our theatre artists, Mike Wilie, is a one man show! He is an African-American actor and play write, who does one man shows about famous black Americans in history. They’re very informative but also talk about race relations in a very accessible way for any aged student. This year he is doing a show called “One Noble Journey,” and it’s about a slave – Box Brown – that’s his nickname. He mailed himself North during the Civil War. So he follows that story, he becomes Box Brown, and he gets students in the audience up on the stage to play different parts. It makes history come alive!
H: All of these amazing programs that Chapman Cultural Center is able to go out and do and that you are able to make happen. Where does the funding come from to get these artists into the schools?
A: The bulk of the program is paid for through grants and contributions to the United Arts Fund. We write grants to the South Carolina Arts Commission – sometimes the National Endowment for the Arts, The Spartanburg County Foundation, and other businesses and foundations around the county. Those help supplement so that we don’t have to charge our schools the full price for the program, because if we did they couldn’t afford them.
Q: STEM and STEAM education are buzz words. How are STEM and STEAM education both related and different and why do you think they are being talked about so much?
A: I think that there is a big push to get more technology jobs in Spartanburg and South Carolina in general – and to get more students trained to do those jobs. STEM has a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. But STEAM adds the Arts and design to that. You can’t really be innovative with any of those subjects without the arts. The arts teach children how to think differently and go about problem solving in a different way. So you can’t really have STEM without STEAM.
Q: You talked about the South Carolina graduate and the jobs that are out there. How is Chapman Cultural Center working to make sure that Spartanburg students are getting the education they need to match the newly released profile of the South Carolina Graduate?
A: All of our programs, especially our Summer STEAM Institute for teachers – we keep an eye on how each artist that we are going to put into the school is going to help that student to be a better student in all ways. Creativity and innovation are two of the world class skills – critical thinking and problem solving – collaboration and team work – communication, media, and technology – and knowing HOW to learn. The arts teach all of these necessary skills.
Q: Momentum for Arts Education seems to be growing. Why do you think that is?
A: I think a lot of people are just realizing that people need to be creative. It’s not just about adding 2 and 2, it’s not just about formulas and chemistry – it’s about what you do with those and how you interpret those formulas….what do you do with the chemical molecule once you’ve discovered it? I think more and more people just realize that life is different now and everybody has to be creative. Plus, I think we’ve been fortunate in Spartanburg County over all of these years, all of our school districts have been very pro-arts education. Even when schools across the state were cutting out their art and music teachers, Spartanburg did not. As long as I’ve been working here, our superintendents have always recognized the importance that arts have on student’s success.
Q: When it comes to arts education, have you developed any sort of personal philosophy that is the cornerstone of good arts education?
A: Just that I think that every child deserves a good arts education. Regardless of your economic status, regardless of where you live, every child deserves to reach their greatest potential, and I think the arts help children reach their greatest potential.
Q: You have so much passion for this and that is surely what has made you so successful.
A: I couldn’t do anything without the great art teachers that are here in Spartanburg County. I’m not a teacher, I’m not an artist, but I have great respect for both. It’s part of my job to make sure they can do the best job that they can do. Our whole team at The Arts Partnership works to make Spartanburg the best it can be.
Q: Last question, can you point to a single moment or best day that you’ve had working with the arts?
A: Honestly, every day is the best day for me. My favorite days are days when we have children bussed in for school shows and the first time they come in the door and see the theatre lobby and they say, “Is this the White House???” (Laughing) or “Wow, I didn’t know this was here, it’s so beautiful!” Their mouths drop open, especially the youngest children. Those are good days for me.
This full-length interview was featured in part in Chapman Cultural Center's first donor newsletter – The Weave – and redirected here by keyword "Ava Interview." Thank you for your readership.