Reaching Every Student
We have three top priorities in the work we do: being good stewards of our facility, providing for our Partners, and making the cultural arts available to children, primarily accomplished through our award-winning and long-standing Arts Education program. In effect, Chapman Cultural Center touches every student in the county by providing a variety of programs that will give them access to the arts. These programs include Muse Machine, artists’ residencies, a student art gallery, and scholarships.
Advantage: Arts & Science
Chapman Cultural Center's Advantage: Arts and Science program reaches a broad cross-section of the nearly 46,000 K-12 students enrolled in public schools in Spartanburg County, as well as hundreds of others enrolled in private schools and special programs such as the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind. It is a multi-faceted educational outreach, both onstage and in the classroom.
Core Educational Programming
Muse Machine Program
Through Chapman Cultural Center’s Muse Machine program, schools receive three professional performances onsite during the year — one each of music, theatre, and dance. These informal performances acquaint students with a particular genre or art form by professional artists who also discuss not only the art form and presentation but what it is like to be a practicing professional artist. The Muse Machine program serves schools throughout Spartanburg County (including 25 Title I schools). In addition to in-school performances, the Muse Machine Program provides teachers with professional development opportunities through an annual Summer Institute for Teachers that offers graduate credit in the latest STEAM and arts integration techniques. Click to see the Muse Machine Schedule.
Artist Residencies
With partial support from the South Carolina Arts Commission and Duke Energy, Chapman Cultural Center sponsors one-week professional artist residencies that provide in-depth student learning opportunities directly tied to South Carolina state learning standards in both arts and academic subjects. Teaching artists and classroom teachers work together to develop lesson plans that involve students in hands-on activities, as well as post-residency assessments of the impact on student learning. The goal is the same: to provide experiential learning opportunities that support statewide learning priorities. Residencies involve a range of art forms — including performing arts, visual arts, and creative writing.
Other Initiatives
Beyond these core activities, Chapman Cultural Center's Arts Education Program sponsors special performances for young audiences at Chapman Cultural Center. Both local arts groups and touring companies participate in this programming.