Museums are usually stoic places, silent and revered for the works they hold within their galleries and showcases.
The Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington was filled with life, light, music and conversation Sunday, for the Partnership Gala, celebrating six years of collaboration between the gallery and Langley High School.
“This is one of the most rewarding things a museum educator can do,” said Susan Badder, senior curator of education at the museum, in her opening comments to an auditorium of students and families.
About seven years ago, she was on an advisory committee with Margaret Sharkoffmadrid, an art teacher at Langley, discussing how museums and schools could work together for the benefit of the students.
“Now we’re in our sixth year, and it’s been a fabulous experience,” she said. “It’s the greatest high to see all of you in the museum, to see the Madrigals in costume, to see the dramatic performances, to hear the musicians play.”
When she first began to work at the Corcoran, she said the museum was “supposed to be a quiet place. It shouldn’t be like that, people should be able to react to a piece of art and discuss it.
“Margaret has been the driving force in Langley behind this partnership,” she said of her partner in this endeavor. “It’s so much fun to keep finding different ways to work in conjunction with the school and in different departments.”
SHE SAID SHE WAS encouraged to know that the project was spreading beyond Langley High School into Parklawn Elementary School, whose students are being mentored by Langley students in interdepartmental art projects.
“This is an ideal combination of resources,” Badder said.
Principal William Clendaniel also spoke of the program in high regard, calling the gala celebration “the icing on the cake.”
“All the talent you see here is barely scratching the surface of what we have at Langley,” he said. “The Corcoran brings out all the things you see here, the Madrigals, the drama, the musicians.”
Keynote speaker for the afternoon was Doug Herbert, special assistant on teacher quality and arts education to the U.S. secretary of education.
“This partnership is doing wonderful and exciting things, like providing students with in-depth engagements with works of art and artists,” he said. “It’s bringing together students and teachers to explore interdepartmental collaborations and making connections with other important subjects that may not always be associated with art.”
The partnership also provides students with an opportunity to “respond to works of art, to explore and create on their own. Art is a core education area, stressed as a necessary component of academics in the No Child Left Behind Act,” he said.
Herbert also spoke of the possibility and hopes for this partnership to become “a pilot program for other high schools in Fairfax County and beyond.”
“This program is unique in that it’s available for all the high-school students at Langley. Usually it’s limited to only the art students,” he said. “Even if a student’s electives aren’t in the art department, they can still find a connection, which helps to show students that there are connections amongst other subjects” and answers the age-old question of how certain subjects are used post high school, he said.
“What’s nice about this collaboration is that it involves so many different areas of the arts,” Herbert said. “This is the kind of learning high-school students need and want.”
The celebration featured student performances of many genres: A string ensemble featuring soloist Yoon Joo Ro performing Vivaldi’s “Winter”; the Madrigals, dressed in medieval costumes, performed “Sing We and Chant it” by Morley; and drama students Maddie Wise and Dylan Fawcett performed a selection from the recent production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”