UW–Madison’s Erica Halverson, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, recently spoke about her work and the impact of arts learning on young people in two local media interviews.
In an episode of City Cast Madison, Halverson — who is also the chair of the Department of Theatre and Drama — discusses her hopes and concerns for the future of arts education in Wisconsin, which ranks near the bottom nationally in arts funding. Reflecting on her own work, she notes that arts educators who create meaningful experiences for young people are facing increasing difficulty securing support as both arts and education budgets are slashed.
“We are in a particularly precarious moment,” she says. “(It is) a moment to highlight and lift up the ways we continue to persist (and) why art-making for young people is so central to their flourishing as citizens and human beings in the world — but also in Wisconsin in particular.”
On WORT 89.9 FM’s “A Public Affair,” Halverson discusses Whoopensocker, an in-school artist residency program that teaches self-expression to elementary-age students through writing, improvisation, and performance. She emphasizes how the program offers a pathway into learning for students “who may otherwise feel like school is not for them.”
Using a student-centered approach, Whoopensocker teaching artists begin by “focusing on what (students) have to contribute — and giving them a range of tools for doing that,” Halverson says. Often, she adds, “that means kids who don’t have a way into expression through the traditional means, all of a sudden they have the world opened up to them.”
Broadening its reach, the School of Education has recently partnered with PBS Wisconsin Education to develop a multimedia version of the Whoopensocker program, making its approach more accessible to educators across the state.