The pediatric educators are in the Triad for COMSEP’s annual meeting, April 7-10 at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center in Greensboro. This year’s theme will be “Releasing the Imagination: Encountering the Arts in Education.” The Department of Pediatrics of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is the meeting host.  

“It’s an opportunity for some of our alumni and outreach programs to intersect with the health care community,” said Eva James Toia, director of alumni, career services and outreach at NCSA. “We have Artists Reaching Children in the Hospital (ARCH) at Brenner Children’s Hospital, a fellowship program in aesthetic education at Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education, and a relationship with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit through alumnus Dikki Ellis.” 

A native of Mt. Airy, Ellis regularly visits his alma mater as a guest artist to teach circus techniques to drama students and make visits with them to Brenner Children’s Hospital through the School’s ARCH project. The students perform for, interact with and engage young patients in artistic and creative activities, which in turn help the young patients cope with the anxiety of being in a hospital. The ARCH project was established several years ago by Bob Moyer, head of the high school drama program at NCSA, and Lynn Brenner Eisenberg, who is a member of the board of trustees at Brenner and the board of visitors at NCSA.  

Several months ago, Dr. Michael Lawless, a pediatrician at Brenner in charge of medical student education, contacted Toia about bringing COMSEP annual meeting attendees to the School of the Arts. He explained that the meeting focus, arts in education, was inspired by the work of renowned educator Maxine Greene, who is the philosopher-in-residence at New York’s Lincoln Center Institute (LCI).

Toia mentioned that NCSA has had a long relationship with LCI, which was established in 1975 at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as an innovative approach to arts in education. (In fact, William R. Kenan Jr. Performing Arts Fellowships are offered each year to four graduating college students from NCSA.) As a result, Maxine Greene will be the plenary speaker for the COMSEP annual meeting on Friday morning in Greensboro. Greene will be introduced by LCI Executive Director Scott Noppe-Brandon. 

In addition, Friday afternoon in Greensboro, Judith Hill, a teaching artist from LCI, will use NCSA student musicians in a workshop on utilizing musical performance to enhance listening skills and the imagination – another unique approach to educating physicians.   

With a mission of fostering excellence in pediatric medical student education, COMSEP was established in 1992 and functions under the auspices of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs. The membership is composed mainly of pediatric clerkship directors at medical schools across North America. The council has developed innovative curricula, new teaching methods, meaningful research, insightful evaluation methods, and a host of faculty development programs. 

The North Carolina School of the Arts was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, NCSA became part of the University of North Carolina in 1972. More than 1,000 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. For more information, visit the School’s website at www.ncarts.edu.  

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 MEDIA: You are invited to attend the ARCH presentation and film screening, which will begin at approximately 8:30 PM Friday, April 8, in the School of Filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts. For a press pass, please contact Marla Carpenter at 337-770-3337 or carpem@ncarts.edu in the public relations office at NCSA.

To attend the plenary address of Maxine Greene, which will begin at approximately 9 AM Friday, April 8, at the Grandover in Greensboro, please contact Lisa Elliot at 919-606-6435.