Performing Arts Education Goes Digital

NEW YORK — Henry Mancini Arts Education (HMAE) has announced plans to bring performing arts curriculum and instruction to middle and high school students digitally. HMAE, a web-based organization founded by Midland, Pa.-based Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center (LPPAC) and partners, will offer an estimated 3,000 online lessons in dance, music, theater, visual arts and cross-disciplinary studies to students via tablets, smart phones, laptops and computers. The lessons will be available to students in traditional schools, as well as home school and virtual school learners.

Schoology, a learning management system provider based in New York, will begin providing this interactive curriculum, which will consist of 32 semester-length courses aligned to the National Core Arts Standard, in fall 2015. Among the many courses soon to be available to students are classical music appreciation, theater history, elements of dance and photojournalism. The courses were developed by a large team of artists, educators and digital learning specialists, according to a statement by Schoology and HMAE, and are designed to give students the same level of interaction with the arts that they would experience in a traditional classroom.

Schoology was a good fit for the ambitious digital arts program thanks to its size, stability and global reach, according to a statement by HMEA. An estimated 8 million learners currently use Schoology in more than 60,000 K-12 schools and universities around the world.

“When we set out to create Mancini Education, we knew that we needed a system allowing us to create incredibly interactive lessons on any device and wanted to work with a partner dedicated to helping us meet our timeline goal,” said Sal Aloe, managing director of LPPAC, in a statement. “Schoology is perfect for developing and deploying our affordable arts curriculum for everyone regardless of budget or technology platform.”

“We are excited to partner with LPPAC and be the platform of choice to help them deliver their curriculum around the world," said Jeremy Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Schoology, in a statement.