Creativity Academy

Your Name: Sheila McGuire and Amanda McMahon
Division and Department: Learning Innovation / Student and Teacher Learning
Other Mia departments involved: labels and panels created by Curatorial. Installation of exhibition by Registration. Digital exhibition by Media and Technology.
Project Name: Creativity Academy
Project date(s): 2013-2021

Project Audience: fourth grade students in Minneapolis and St. Paul partner schools who have little or no arts programming; visitors, including family members, to the annual Creativity Academy exhibition in the Community Commons Gallery

Project Goals:

The goals for Creativity Academy are that the program will help students to:

• Build creativity skills
• Build communication skills
• Build critical thinking skills
• Develop empathy skills
• Connect art to their own lives through discussion, art-making, and creative writing
• Be curious and use their imaginations
• Experience pride in their own creativity and creation
• Create original artworks and writing

Goals for Creativity Academy are consistent with those set forth in all Mia arts education programming by encouraging creativity, critical thinking, global awareness, and empathy; strengthening community; building self esteem; and more. The development of these skills benefits the young learners and fosters the next generation workforce of creative problem solvers and empathetic global citizens.

Project description:

Creativity Academy, which began in 2013 with 159 students, now annually serves 400-500 fourth-grade students from under-resourced schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Over the course of the school year, the fourth-graders participate in an orientation session (new in 2019) and four 1 or 1-1/2 hour lessons (two lessons in the school classroom and two at Mia) led by teaching artists and inspired by artworks in the museum’s collection. Students engage in interactive art discussions, artmaking, and creative writing, that invite them to draw connections between the works of art and their life experiences. Their lessons also encourage them to make connections between their artworks and writing (a creativity skill called Synthesis). At Mia, lessons take place in the galleries and art studios. In 2020-21 the program was completely virtual owing to COVID-19.

Creativity Academy culminates with an exhibition of students’ artwork created in the program in Mia’s Community Commons gallery where they gather to share their work with families and friends. Art-making activities, a gallery scavenger hunt of artworks students studied at the museum, and pizza are provided at this public reception. Grant funds cover the costs to provide buses to and from the schools and Mia to help facilitate families’ attendance. In 2020-21 the exhibition will be virtual.

Creativity Academy was supported by the Friends Children’s Fund in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Since 2017 Aroha Philanthropies has funded the program.

What problem were we trying to solve?

Creativity Academy meets a need for engaging, quality experiences to help students develop their curiosity, creativity, empathy and critical thinking skills through art. Studies show that students who participate regularly in the arts are more self-confident and better able to express their ideas; show increased attention, attendance, and intellectual risk taking; and develop social competencies like collaboration. (President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools, Washington, DC, 2011).

By focusing on under-resourced schools with no or minimal visual arts programming, Creativity Academy aims to provide in-depth creative experiences to students who otherwise do not have access in school.

What was the history of the project?

Creativity Academy grew from a recognition that Mia could support the creative development of students in schools with little to no access to visual arts instruction. We focused on 4th grade since this was a grade level we were not serving in a focused way in other programs. We aligned our vision for the program with 4th grade learning standards in English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Visual Arts. Our global collection and teaching pedagogy focused on inquiry and meaning making through personal experience were great assets to begin with when designing Creativity Academy. This program was brand new in 2013.

In 2013, Mia staff consulted with the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art when developing Creativity Academy. The Brooks’ Art Builds Creativity (ABC) program also focused on art making and writing as catalysts for creative growth. They were working with Marianna Adams of Audience Focus to evaluate their program and had great advice for us around identifying creativity skills we might focus on in our program.

Mia piloted Creativity Academy in 2013-14 with two St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), Battle Creek Elementary and St. Paul Music Academy, which remain program partners to this day.

In year two (2014), Bethune Elementary, a Minneapolis Public School (MPS), joined the program. In year three (2015), they were joined by Hennepin Elementary, a charter school in Mia’s neighborhood. In 2017, Andersen Elementary (MPS) and Prodeo Academy (charter) came onboard.

Although we aimed to switch to a two-year cycle of programming in order to welcome new schools in 2020-21, we decided to stay with our current partners as we made the program entirely virtual because of COVID-19.

During the 2020-21 school year we offered Creativity Academy virtually to all of our partner classrooms. Mia created and delivered individualized art kits for orientation and the four lessons. Classes were offered for an hour via Google Meet and Zoom to students in their homes and in classrooms. The teaching artists made videos of the art instruction component to ensure that students could see the techniques being demonstrated. We produced an online exhibition of the students’ art.

The program has changed a lot over the years, largely based on our evaluations and observations of what was working well and what wasn’t. While the initial larger goals of the program have not changed significantly, the tactics we design to achieve the goals continue to change.

Project Outcomes:

What was the impact of the project?

The project has had many impacts over the years. All of our evaluation studies undertaken with Marianna Adams (Audience Focus) have demonstrated growth in creativity skills or characteristics, including Synthesis and Originality, during the course of the year. This growth ranges from minor to statistically significant.

In general, Creativity Academy impacts learners in numerous ways. We consider the program successful when:

• Students express themselves in artworks and writings inspired by artworks at Mia and their conversations about the artworks
• Students’ writings and artworks express the excitement and wonder students experience during their lessons at school and at the museum
• Students demonstrate creativity in their abilities to create original artwork and writing (Originality) and to show connections between the two (Synthesis)
• Students and their families feel welcome at Mia. For many students, the program gives them their first access to Mia, and for those who visited previously, participation in Creativity Academy offers the children multiple opportunities to experience more of Mia’s art works
• Students are engaged in multiple ways while participating in Creativity Academy including: making personal connections, expressing originality, feeling joy, and working on collaboration

Evolution of Data Analysis and Rubrics

The evolution of the data analysis rubric followed the gradual simplifying of the evaluation focus questions.

School years 2013-14 and 2014-15 rubric closely resembled the rubric used in the Memphis Brooks Museum. We attempted to capture fine-grained data on a student writing, their art making, and the degree to which they are able to create a synthesis between the two.

• Writing-Comprehension (Accuracy)
• Writing-Application (Content)
• Creating-Application (Formal Properties)
• Creating-Application (Content)
• Creating-Writing(Synthesis)

After the two-year break in evaluation studies, the simpler, clearer evaluation question resulted in a cleaner rubric as well. The 2017-18 study moved away from a 5-part student performance rubric to an emerging rubric that identified when something “amazing” happened in student work relative to creativity through the concepts of:

• Originality: Questions, Experiments, Making/Thinking, Expands
• Synthesis: Relationship of Artwork to Writing

This student performance rubric was used again the next year in 2018-19.

Also, in these two studies (2017-18 & 2018-19), staff added a whole-class engagement measure where Mia museum teachers (teaching artists) scored the whole class immediately after each lesson using the following rubric:

• Personal Connections: Relevance, Stories, Time & Place
• Originality: Questions, Experiments, Making/Thinking, Expands
• Joy: Pride, Excitement, Grit
• Collaboration: Helpful, Sharing, Respectful

The study for the 2019-20 school year reduced the rubric even further to focus only on the Synthesis measure from the previous two years: Synthesis: Relationship of Artwork to Writing. This study also dropped scoring the formal whole-class measure in favor of compiling a mini-case study profile of one class in each school.

Resources Used

From 2017 to 2020 Creativity Academy, which is run by Student and Teacher Learning staff, hired three to four teaching artists as instructors and assistants. For the 2020-21 program, all teaching artists were hired as instructors, with additional opportunities to assist with administrative tasks. Mia staff collaborated with Marianna Adams of Audience Focus to conduct five program evaluations.

Program supplies are quite varied based on the design of each lesson. All of the lessons include a discussion component (with slides in the classroom and artwork in the museum galleries), a writing worksheet, and art supplies. Materials selected to support learning about Mia artworks in 2019-20 ranged from markers and cloth patches to create a community story blanket and materials (pipe cleaners, wire, beads, toys, washers and paper clips, etc.) for making wearable art, to paper collage materials for creating a self portrait on students’ photograph, and clay for creating a vessel in the form of an animal.

Project budget and final cost: The budget (including Core Mission Support) for Creativity Academy in 2019-20 was $50,000. The program was fully funded by Aroha Philanthropies.

Reflection

What worked?

Overall, Creativity Academy works great! The model of four lessons, two at school, two at the museum, is tried and true. The introduction of a classroom orientation ahead of the first lesson has proven helpful to the students and Mia instructors. The format of discussion of an artwork, followed by writing and artmaking has also been very successful.

We know from our studies that a majority of students are engaged in multiple ways during the program. The program provides students with creative challenges and opportunities to collaborate, and share their artwork with each other.

The teachers we partner with provide regular and unsolicited feedback about the value of the program to their students. The program provides them opportunities to see their students engaged in creative activities that connect them to art and one another. Although we have not received a lot of responses to surveys sent to teachers following each year of Creativity Academy, the feedback we do get also reveals that they greatly value the program and partnership with Mia.

The family event, which includes pizza dinner and an exhibition viewing, is a highlight every year!

What didn’t?

Over the years we have moved away from more complex poetry writing to simpler writing activities. These are presented as graphic organizers that invite students to write (or draw) about their own lives. This change provides more choices for the students and better enables them to connect their writing to their artwork and vice versa.

In addition to changing the writing activities over the years, we have also changed artworks, creative challenges, and materials when we observed barriers to the students’ success. For example, when we learned that drawing on cloth proved to be difficult for many students we moved to using paper instead to accomplish the same learning goals. We have continued to include artworks that reflect students’ various cultures and communities.

What was surprising?

We count on being surprised by the students’ creativity. Presented with a shared set of challenges, students come up with completely original artworks. Sometimes the surprises reveal difficulties in young peoples’ lives. Sometimes they showcase keen humor. Sometimes the surprises show us ways to use materials that we have not seen before.

To what extent did this project support the strategic plan, Mia 2021?

Fueling Curiosity

By providing multiple ways to engage with Mia artworks, Creativity Academy encourages learners to make their own meaning, express themselves, and share their ideas, insights, and opinions outward

Creativity Academy is designed to engage students in making connections between their own lives and diverse artworks in Mia’s collection.

Research has been built into Creativity Academy from its beginning in 2013. This research informs the changes we make to the program.

Engaging Communities

Creativity Academy school partners represent diverse communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and include two schools in our neighborhood, Hennepin Elementary and Andersen Elementary.

Deepening Relationships

Creativity Academy aims to foster in students positive feelings about and trust in the museum and to encourage future engagement with Mia.

In short, what did you learn from this project?

We have learned a great deal from doing Creativity Academy for eight years now. Our learning never stops.

We have learned:

Through multiple visits and engagement with writing and art making 4th grade students in the program demonstrate growth in their creativity (Originality and Synthesis).

Students are engaged across the four lessons, especially in the areas of originality and joy.

Students demonstrate greater satisfaction and success when they are offered more choices (e.g. how to complete writing, art making materials) and clearly understand what is expected of them.

Students are more productive and enjoy the program more when their classroom teacher is engaged and helps Mia’s teachers keep them on track.

The program is successful virtually. We will apply what we learned in 2020-21 to offer a fully virtual Creativity to a rural school, King Elementary, in 2021-22 alongside our other partner schools, who will participate both virtually and onsite.

Relevance

Concisely summarize the big takeaways for Mia, our museum colleagues, and the public.

Internal: What is most important about this to share with other Mia staff? Why should they care?
Creativity Academy is a multiple visit program that annually enrolls 400-500 fourth-grade students from under-resourced schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Our partner schools offer no to very little visual arts instruction and serve 74% to 96% of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Over the course of the school year, the fourth-graders participate in an orientation session and four 1 or 1-1/2 hour lessons (two lessons in the school classroom and two at Mia) led by teaching artists and inspired by artworks in the museum’s collection.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that students in Creativity Academy grow in their ability to create original artworks (Originality) and to make connections between their own writing and art (Synthesis). They also show that students are engaged across four categories: Personal Connections (relevance, stories, time and place, Originality (questions, experiments, making and thinking expands), Joy (pride, excitement, grit), and Collaboration (helpful, sharing, respectful).
Creativity Academy is an excellent example of the importance of consistent, repeated programming in establishing long term, genuine relationships with nearby and neighborhood youth and teachers.
The evaluation component of Creativity Academy exemplifies the importance of committing staff to measuring and making change through evaluation.

In the museum field: How might this project/research impact the practices of other museum professionals? What advice would you give to someone in your position at another museum embarking on this project?
Creativity Academy provides a successful model for a multi-visit partnership program for fourth grade students. The program is successful because Mia staff and our school partners are committed to the planning, classroom time, budget, and evaluation needed to support deep learning and growth across four lessons.
Committing to school partnership programs can present challenges because they only reach a specific audience with focused learning goals and over a set period of time. They can also require a great deal of staff support. Mia, however, views school partnerships as a core way to establish trust and community with both the students and their teachers, schools, and families. Creativity Academy allows us to introduce ourselves in the safety of the classroom and build trust with the students over time, and in turn, they introduce their families and others in their social sphere to us and the museum.
When planning to embark on a program like Creativity Academy we recommend highly that, if possible, museums make a gallery exhibition a program component. It is worth the time, effort, and money to provide the opportunity for youth to share their art with their families at events and on their own. In addition, a museum exhibition is a fabulous way to showcase your work with community youth to your general public and other staff.

Public: What might be interesting to our Mia audiences?
Mia’s audience has the pleasure of viewing the students’ artwork in the annual exhibition. They might be interested in knowing how Mia invites young people to make connections between their own lives and art in the collection. They can learn about what matters to students, how they experience their world, and how they use their imaginations to creatively solve problems. All of the artworks are windows into greater understanding of fourth graders in our neighborhood and nearby.
Our Mia audience might be interested in learning more about school partnership programs and, in turn, seek ways to support programs that could reach more schools and students in the future. Creativity Audience illustrates to our audience that high-quality arts instruction provides opportunities for students to develop creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills, to name a few. The exhibition provides a great way for our audience to learn about the creative lives of young people–our future.