Ovation TV is launching a national arts education initiative, which it kicked off in New York City Tuesday night.
Teaming with Cable in the Classroom and the New York City Department of Education's Office of Arts and Special Projects, the network has developed arts-related curriculum units and companion programs.
For Ovation TV's curriculum units, the network engaged NYC-area art teachers over the past year in developing the lessons and selecting programming clips from Ovation TV documentaries, with the initial units focusing on the works of Jackson Pollock, Daniel Libeskind and Robert Rauschenberg. For educators, the program is now available through a newly created education portal, OvationTV.com/educators.
The curriculum was introduced to visual arts students from high schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island, where teachers found that students learned to create and paint in the exact style and with the very techniques used by American masters.
A press event was held Tuesday night at the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Pictured from left to right are Paul L. King, executive director, Office of Arts and Special Projects, New York City Department of Education; Rob Stoddard, senior VP, Communications, NCTA; Debra Balamos, VP of affiliate marketing, Ovation; Frank Gallagher, Senior Director of Education and Media Literacy, Cable in the Classroom; Gaynor Strachan Chun, SVP of marketing, Ovation; Chad Gutstein, EVP at Ovation; and Ron Garfield, EVP at Ovation.
The network also partnered with Columbia Business School executive MBA students to develop a relevant, digital arts education platform and marketing plan.
The project and its outcome will serve as the cornerstone of Ovation TV's free Web-based education initiative.
Ovation TV is the first network to produce and air a public service announcement addressing Cable in the Classroom's newly invigorated mission of fostering the use of cable content and technology to enhance teaching and learning.
"Advocating the importance of the arts in the education of our youth is a critical part of Ovation TV's mission," Ovation TV CEO Charles Segars said in a statement. "This new arts education program not only represents a key element of our ongoing commitment, but also complements Cable in the Classroom's expanded broadband initiative by being digitally accessible to educators."
Gallagher, of Cable in the Classroom, said in the statement: "Ovation TV has found the best way to construct an education initiative -- from the ground up and with extensive collaboration with teachers. It's rare when a programming network goes to such lengths to produce resources that so perfectly align with the needs of educators."
