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FOCUS FIRST
What's In This Issue
Time is flying by!! We only have a few more editions left of our TAA weekly newsletter to share with you for this season. Next week, we will announce our 2024 TAA Bravo! Banquet & Performance headliner!! Then, we will finish up the month by highlighting more of our stellar line-up of faculty, musers and daily performance artists. Be on the lookout for exciting news on who and what we have in store for TAA 2024.
In this week's newsletter, Faculty Focus introduces three more outstanding 2024 TAA faculty members. Get to know Upper Middle/ Secondary Theatre Instructor Ryan Kasprzak, Elementary/Lower Middle Music Instructor Ruth Dwyer, and Trio Track Visual Art Instructor Mike Mitchell. They will all be bringing impressive skills to their Academy classrooms this summer.
Plus, keep reading on to meet our June Teacher Hero!
And a final reminder - it is still not too late to apply for the TAA Summer Institute. We have a great array of talented instructors and artists that you will not want to miss!! Time is running out, so register now!
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Faculty Focus
Summer 2024 TAA
Ryan Kasprzak
Upper Middle/ Secondary Theatre
Core TAA Session: Physical, Faster, Funnier
Ryan Kasprzak is the co-head of acting for musical theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and an adjunct faculty member at Montclair State University. He recently served as dance supervisor for Hamilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role. Kasprzak received a Chita Rivera Award nomination for his Broadway debut in Bandstand under the direction of Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler. His Broadway national tours include: Billy Elliot (associate resident choreographer/dance captain) and Fosse (dance captain). His television work can be seen on NBC’s Smash and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. His choreography has been featured in numerous regional productions and in New York Musical Festivals’ award-winning shows. Kasprzak continues creating new work with Parallel Exit: Physical Comedy Theater. He received his degree in acting from Marymount Manhattan College and a degree in choreography from Wilson College.
MORE ON TAA 2024 THEATRE SESSIONS
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Faculty Focus
Summer 2024 TAA
Ruth E. Dwyer
Elementary/Lower Middle Music
Core TAA Session: Harmony In Sequence: From Pitch Matching And Sight Reading To Harmony For All
Ruth E. Dwyer is internationally recognized as a youth and children’s choir specialist and Kodály educator. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for national and international colleges, universities, honors choirs, and festivals. Dwyer has recently retired from the Indianapolis Children’s Choir after thirty-six years as a conductor and director of education and as artistic director of the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir. Her ensembles have performed across North America, Spain, and central Europe. Her teaching experiences also include nineteen years as a public school music educator and adjunct professor with Butler University. Dwyer has authored several music education text books for Illinois Central College and is a frequent guest author for the Hal Leonard choral music text book series. She is an accomplished composer, arranger, and is the editor of the Ruth Dwyer Choral Series with Colla Voce Music.
MORE ON TAA 2024 MUSIC SESSIONS
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Faculty Focus
Summer 2024 TAA
Mike Mitchell
Visual Art: Trio Track
Core TAA Session: Building And Playing A Diddley-Bow
Mike Mitchell is the art education coordinator at Tennessee State University. His personal research encompasses animation, art writing, curating, drawing, instrument building, mail art, painting, performance, poetry, rubber stamping, sculpture, skateboarding, sound art, social practice, and songwriting. He is a Crayola Creativity Ambassador, a Makey-Makey Ambassador, member of the Educators’ Cooperative, founding editor of Number Inc.’s Young Art Writers Projects, and founder of the Little Free Skate Shop (LFSS) which operates out of his office and Missy Lindsay’s art classroom at McGavock High School. In the past three years LFSS has redistributed more than one hundred skateboards to high school students in and around Nashville.
MORE ON TAA 2024 TRIO TRACK SESSIONS
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TAA Teacher Hero Award Winner
Congratulations to Allison Bush!
The Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation is very excited and pleased to announce the June 2024 TAA Teacher Hero Award winner – Allison Bush! Allison is an exemplary music teacher with many talents. She teaches at Union Elementary STEAM and Demonstration School in Gallatin, Tennessee and was nominated for this honor by her principal, Lance Taylor.
Please read below to learn more about this outstanding arts teacher!
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ALLISON BUSH
JUNE TAA TEACHER HERO
Allison attends the TN Arts Academy each summer to learn and grow from other outstanding educators and experts in various fields of music. She brings back her learning and enthusiasm to Union STEAM, applying the learning and new ideas to benefit all students at the school. Allison carefully plans meaningful lessons that keep the attention of all students. She has grown Union music from a music class that just had “recorder karate” to a renowned program that features recorder levels and performances, a forty-plus member choir, a percussion ensemble, a movement team for performances, bucket drummers, ukulele groups, and participation and leadership in the district’s music program, Sumner Celebrates. Allison has four groups that perform in this program, including the choir, percussion ensemble, ukulele group, and bucket drummers. She has earned the Channel 2 Educator of the Week award, and was nominated by parents who saw how much she had grown the school’s music program. Allison has also been nominated for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award.
"She is a highly successful music teacher at both a high-poverty and lottery-based school of choice. Allison is driven to grow as a musician and music teacher, all while promoting the love of all things music to thousands of elementary school-age children."
Lance Taylor, Principal of Union STEAM Elementary
"By initiating a partnership with Third Man Records in Nashville, she has given choir members the chance to record and receive their own album, fostering a sense of achievement and pride in their musical accomplishments. Students under her guidance not only learn about music but also develop a deep appreciation for the art, fostering lifelong connections with the world of music. Her contributions to the music education program have left a lasting and positive impression on students, parents, and the entire school community."
Stephanie Richerson, parent
"She is a person who does her job to the best of her ability every single day, is a team player, strives to continue to grow and develop in her craft, and is someone fully dedicated to ensuring all the children around her have access to vibrant and joyful music making. There is no teacher more dedicated to her students and her craft."
Abra K. Bush, Dean, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
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The TAA Foundation Board of Directors and the TAA Administrative
Council congratulate TAA 2024 June Teacher Hero Allison Bush,
Union Elementary School Principal Lance Taylor, and Sumner County Director of Schools, Dr. Scott Langford for their commitment to excellence in teaching and
their support of arts education.
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About The TAA Teacher Hero Award
The Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation created the TAA Teacher Heroes in Arts Education Award in order to recognize those teachers who every day put their talent and creativity on the line to go over and above what is required. TAAF's goal is to honor and recognize TAA Teacher Heroes by showcasing their accomplishments. Now more than ever, it is important to let the world know how much extraordinary work is being done in classrooms and schools across the state and nation by our most dedicated arts educators.
The 2024 Teacher Hero Award nomination period is now closed. The nomination period for 2025 will open on October 1, 2024. Thank you for supporting the TAA Teacher Heroes program!!
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Piano Duo Sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton Perform at TAA 2023 | |
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"I am so encouraged by the work in the time spent at TAA. The Academy cohort allowed for a community to be built as we continue on our journey and growth as educators. The high caliber of teachers, performances, and clinicians was inspiring."
- Grace Stipelcovich, East TN
TAA 2023 Upper Middle/Secondary Vocal Music Participant
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Academy Essentials
What You Need To Know
WHO, WHEN, AND WHERE: The Tennessee Arts Academy is held on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville on July 14-19, 2024. The Academy is designed for K-12 arts specialists, elementary classroom teachers, librarians, pre-service college education majors, and school administrators.
WHAT: Intensive discipline-specific training, nationally renowned speakers and performers, unique interdisciplinary workshops, and a host of fun and festive special events are all part of the TAA schedule.
FEES: The registration fee is only $449.00. On-campus housing is available for a nominal additional fee.
REGISTRATION INFO: Click here to apply for the 2024 Academy. First-time applicants receive priority acceptance. Regular registration continues through the end of June or until classes have been filled.
Don't miss the 2024 Tennessee Arts Academy!
It is a life-changing and awe-inspiring week.
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TAA MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Tennessee Arts Academy is to provide exceptional quality professional development, arts training, support, encouragement, information and renewal to K-12 teachers and to promote and honor the role of the arts in the lives of all Tennesseans.
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The Tennessee Arts Academy is a project of the
Tennessee Department of Education and is funded under a grant contract with the State of Tennessee.
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Major corporate, organizational, and individual funding support
for the Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation in 2024 is generously provided by:
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Significant sponsorship, scholarship, and event support for the
Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation in 2024 is generously provided by:
Madeline and David Bridges; Marion and Stephen Coleman; Solie Fott; Rena Ellzy; Morel Enoch; Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation; Jim Holcomb; Patricia A. Hudson; Ron and Karen Meers; Michael Meise; J. Tabor Stamper; Theatrical Rights Worldwide; Jeanette and Bill Watkins; Watkins College of Art at Belmont University; and Talmage Watts.
The Tennessee Arts Academy is funded in part by
Metro Arts / Nashville Office of Art + Culture.
Special thanks to the Robert K. & Anne H. Zelle Fund for the Fine and Performing
Arts of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee for their
funding support for the 2024 Tennessee Arts Academy programs.
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Help Support TAA by purchasing a Tennessee Specialty License Plate. A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of Tennessee Specialty Plates goes directly to the Tennessee Arts Commission, which in turn, provides grants to the Tennessee Arts Academy. Click here to learn more about the Specialty License Plate program. Buy one today!
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Your donation helps the Tennessee Arts Academy
bring in world-class faculty and performers, provide scholarships, and continue our legacy as the premier teacher training institute for arts education!
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