Ravenswood Elementary, a Fine & Performing Arts Magnet Cluster School, is a diverse, academically rigorous learning community educating the whole child through, with and about the arts.

If you look around the school, you will see signs of art integration throughout.  This means the arts - visual, music, dance, drama - are built into regular classroom instruction and connected to one or more subjects in a meaningful and balanced manner.  Through the arts, children are able to deeply understand concepts, retain ideas, and have an overall learning experience which meets their intellectual, physical and social-emotional needs.

This integration thereby allows for the greatest educational and cultural impact by merging areas of  geometry (including vocabulary and problem-solving skills), science (including analysis, evaluation units and measurements), reading, social studies, foreign language, geography, literature, health, business, and technology with the fine and performing arts.  This is done by incorporating multi-media arts, painting, drawing, drumming, ceramics, musical improv, sculpture, mosaics, singing, mural and scene building, photography, film making, art-related geometric vocabulary, music-related foreign language vocabulary, musical theater, dance, poetry, music writing, computer animation, clay animation, reading and playing melodies and rhythms, and book-making into the every day classroom curriculum.  

We have outstanding educators for both visual arts and music.  Both our Music Teacher, Mrs. Barbara Joseph, and our Art Teacher, Ms. Catherine "Kitty" Conde, have brought rich fine arts instruction to our students.  Barbara Joseph is a Golden Apple Award Winner and Kitty Conde has been named Illinois Art Educator of the Year and is Nationally Board Certified.  They are recognized experts in their professions.

As a Magnet Cluster School, we are provided with additional support for arts instruction, professional development and curriculum enhancement.  We are in collaboration with The Building Curriculum, Community and Leadership through the Arts (BCCLA) project.  This is a 3-year project between Fine and Performing Arts Magnet Cluster Schools of CPS and the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education.  This program provides us with provocative, engaging curriculum, a dynamic and inclusive community within our school and authentic teacher leadership and gives our teachers an opportunity to work with fine and performing arts specialists to create rigorous academic curricula. 

As well as our integrated programming, our in-house fine and performing arts workshops include the Old Town School of Folk Music's 'Global & World Music Program', the the Lyric Opera of Chicago's 'Opera in the Classroom', and River North Chicago's Dance Education Program 'The Beat Goes On'.  We are also in collaboration with the Lakeview Arts Partnership to further integrate theater, dance and visual arts throughout our entire school curriculum. 

There are additional fine arts classes, activities and workshops in our Before and After School (BASA) programming as well, including Emerald City Theatre Company, Pulse Beat Music, Multi/Mixed Media Art, Cultural Expressions in Art, Dance (including Hip Hop, Jazz, Ballet, Modern, and Gesture), and Choir.

Ravenswood School has also received an Every Art, Every Child (EAEC)  Grant.  EAEC is a four-year project that develops a comprehensive and sequential arts curriculum for all grades in music, dance, theater and visual art.

Our students' art, music, drama  and performance skills are showcased throughout the year both around the community and within our school.  These opportunities include the Annual Ravenswood Community's Ravenswood Art Walk (RAW), the Ravenswood School Talent Show, the Ravenswood School Winter and Spring Assemblies, the Ravenswood School World's Fair, and judged competitions such as the Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) Poetry Slam productions and Young Authors' book-making displays.  For more information, please see our News & Events page.  In addition, we are honored to be home to the Ravenswood School Bucket Drummers who offer live performances both in school and throughout the Ravenswood community.

Ravenswood's fine and performing arts curriculum is enriched throughout the school by field trips.  Ravenswood students thrive in a child-centered climate in which they have an opportunity to discover the world around them.  Field trips have included the Museum of Contemporary Art, Old Town School of Folk Music, Harris Theater for Music & Dance in Millennium Park, Creative Reuse and Recycling Center, Steppenwolf Theatre, plus so much more.

All of this combines to offer our students a heightened awareness of themselves, the environment in which they live and the ever-changing world around them.  We couldn't be more proud of our Fine and Performing Arts Magnet Cluster status and the opportunities it has given us to expand our students' horizons.

For more information on our fine arts news, events and happenings, please see our News and Events page for the F.A.M.E. Newsletter.