About Us

Mission Statement | Schedule | Faculty Biographies | Abstracts

Crossing Borders/Breaking Boundaries was developed especially for Maryland secondary school educators in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts as an integrated program supporting performance, scholarship, and education in the Fine Arts.

In the summer of 2000, over twenty secondary school arts educators from across Maryland participated in a two-week residential institute at the University of Maryland, College Park, which included workshops, lectures, performance master classes, and collaborative teaching endeavors. Institute participants worked individually and collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams of dance, music, drama, and visual arts teachers to examine the topics Africa & Its Influence, Jazz & America, and Considering the Postmodern.

Administered by distinguished faculty from all performing arts fields, the program's multidisciplinary approach aimed to cross the boundaries that too often separate our ways of thinking about, performing, and teaching the arts.

In the academic year following the institute, participants created an online "teachers' lounge" for sharing lesson plans, posting assessment and evaluation instruments, and showcasing their students' work. This website makes available to the public a teaching archive that demonstrates the collaborative potential and intellectual rigor of some of Maryland's most dedicated and creative fine arts educators.

Sponsored by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Center for Renaissance and Baroque Studies, and the Maryland State Department of Education.