VAPAE Receives Catalyst Award
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (VAPAE)
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (VAPAE) has been designated the 2015 recipient of the UCLA Community Program of the Year Catalyst Award.
The Catalyst Award recognizes a UCLA Community Program that has made a significant impact in the communities it serves. The School of the Arts and Architecture’s outreach to the greater Los Angeles community—through VAPAE’s Arts Education Teaching Sequence, afterschool programs, Classroom-in-Residence at the Hammer, and public events series—is being recognized for demonstrating a commitment to providing arts education to students, teachers, and the community and for achieving UCLA’s tripartite mission of education, research, and public service.
VAPAE, an innovative arts education program, fosters the creative and intellectual growth of UCLA Arts students while providing much needed arts education curricula to children in underserved communities. It was developed in the School of the Arts and Architecture in 2009-10 under the direction of Professor Barbara Drucker, Associate Dean, Community Engagement and Arts Education, and Director of the Visual and Performing Arts Education Program.
Drucker, a dedicated advocate for arts education and an eloquent spokesperson for the importance of early and life-long exposure to arts education, transformed the School’s nascent arts education program into what has now become an award-winning school-wide program that distinguishes UCLA locally and nationally as an innovative leader in progressive arts education.
“It is such an honor to be recognized with this award,” says Drucker. “Providing quality arts education experiences to diverse communities in the greater Los Angeles area is critically important to us. We are grateful to all of our partners and supporters for helping make this program what it is today. VAPAE is very lucky to have an unparalleled leadership team and group of dedicated teaching artists who are passionate about bringing the arts into the lives of K-12 students in underserved communities.”
The Catalyst Award will be presented to VAPAE on October 8, 2015 at the annual UCLA in Downtown L.A. Reception at the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters.
VAPAE is made possible through the generous support of the Rosenthal Family Foundation, the Ring Foundation, and Harold Williams. Additional support is provided by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, Shirley and Ralph Shapiro, Alan M. Schwartz, Merle and Gerald Measer, The University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA), and the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.