We all know that parents will show up to see their children perform. Parents will beam with pride at the elementary school play, the middle school band concert, or the high school choral concert. We shouldn’t underestimate, though, the power of the arts as a more strategic approach to long-term parental engagement.

Last Wednesday was a late night at the office for me. It was a late night because we hosted a Parent Workshop, as part of our ELLA (Early Literacy Learning through the Arts) program serving Martin Luther King Preschool Center in Richmond Public Schools. ELLA uses theater, music and movement to teach early literacy skills for Pre-K students, with an emphasis on vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Since the beginning of the ELLA program, parental engagement has been a purposeful component. It is our belief that a healthy and active relationship between a Pre-K child’s parent and their teacher will lay the foundation for continued parental engagement throughout the course of the child’s academic career. Further, it is our belief that the arts offer a level playing field of sorts, a non-threatening environment for risk-taking and trust-building, that can play a unique role in cultivating a sense of comfort and rapport on the part of the parent. Previously negative experiences from personal schooling of the parent can be replaced by new, long-lasting, fully-engaging and empowering relationships with their child’s teacher for years to come.

Our approach is to host two to three parent workshops throughout the course of the year that 1) introduce parents/caregivers to our program, and 2) introduce accessible arts-based strategies for supporting literacy development (with an emphasis on vocabulary and reading comprehension) in the home.

Read the full article about engaging parents in the arts by Janet Starke at Americans For The Arts.