Burrell lands prestigious arts designation by state group

The Burrell School District was selected as one of 26 in the state as a Visual Arts Outstanding Community.

The Pennsylvania Art Education Association bestows the recognition to highlight “exceptional schools that support their visual arts programs,” said Lisbeth M. Bucci, association president.

“Burrell’s arts programs demonstrate rigor, using standards-based curriculum at every level, taught by highly qualified and certified art educators,” Bucci wrote in a email to the Tribune-Review.

Burrell has added the arts program recognition symbol, a blue artist’s palette, on the school district’s website.

“This endorsement of our arts program demonstrates the importance of visual arts education,” said Shannon Wagner, Burrell’s superintendent.

To be included as a Visual Arts Outstanding Community, school district art programs need to be offered to all students, at every level of education, supporting them with a budget for the visual arts.

“The arts matter because they help us understand the world, cultures, our differences and similarities,” Bucci said.

She credits the arts as a catalyst for change.

Although the pandemic has been challenging this year, the arts association still promotes the arts and encourages school districts to hold online art shows and art contests, and to make art programs and supplies accessible.

“We encourage administrators to work with arts educators to develop and promote best practices for their individual learner and classes” during the pandemic, according to the art association’s website.

To learn more about art programs at public schools, visit paeablog.org.