Inside the 2026 ArtsNOW Foundational Seminar — and what teachers are taking back to their classrooms.

Every June, something happens that shapes thousands of students' school years: educators gather, roll up their sleeves, and spend three days rethinking how they teach. That's the ArtsNOW Foundational Seminar.

The Foundational Seminar is ArtsNOW's flagship professional learning experience, designed for school teams that include administrators, arts educators, and classroom teachers. It's not a sit-and-listen workshop. It's hands-on, standards-aligned, and built around one core belief: that the arts aren't a supplement to great teaching — they're central to it. This year, ArtsNOW celebrated its milestone 20th Foundational Seminar. The Georgia edition was held at Lake Lanier Islands from June 3-5, while the South Carolina edition was held at the Columbia Museum of Art the following week from June 10-12. In total, at both seminars, 324 educators attended, 51 schools were represented, and 4 states were represented.

This year’s Georgia Foundational Seminar also welcomed WSB-TV Channel 2 Atlanta News to capture educators in action. The feature offered a meaningful glimpse into the energy of Foundational and the impact of bringing creativity, connection, and academic learning together in one space. Watch the full clip to see ArtsNOW’s work in action.

What happens at Foundational

Over three immersive days, participants move through sessions spanning various art forms— music, theatre, dance, visual arts— and leave with practical strategies they can bring directly into their content areas. Sessions are grounded in research and aligned to both content and fine arts standards, which means the learning isn't siloed: a third-grade teacher walks away knowing new strategies for teaching English Language Arts through choreography, or how a visual arts lens can deepen a history lesson.

The format matters as much as the content. Teachers learn the way they're asked to teach: actively, collaboratively, and creatively. The research-based strategies are modeled in real time, so participants experience it in real time.

Key learnings from 2026

This year's seminar reinforced several themes that teachers said shifted how they think about their practice. Among the most commonly cited takeaways:

1. Arts integration works best when it's authentic.

Teachers bring back more than just strategies from Foundational. Rather, teachers leave having discovered a new way of thinking about how the arts and academic content genuinely connect. Authentic arts integration means students aren't using movement or music as a memory trick; they're engaging with both the art form and the content on its own terms, in ways that deepen understanding of each. That distinction changes everything. When teachers learn to build those real connections — between a dance concept and a math principle, between visual composition and a literacy skill — students begin to think differently.

2.  The arts address what classrooms are struggling with most.

Engagement, literacy, social-emotional learning. These are some of the challenges teachers name year after year. Arts-integrated strategies speak directly to all three, giving educators new tools for reaching students who don't thrive in traditional instructional settings.

3.  Teachers leave with a community, not just a toolkit.

Because Foundational brings school teams together, not just individual teachers, educators return to their buildings with shared language and shared strategies. That peer network becomes a support system for implementation that lasts well beyond the seminar itself.

What comes next

The Foundational Seminar is just the beginning of these educators’ journeys. Throughout the school year, ArtsNOW continues to support partner schools through in-classroom demonstrations, coaching, collaborative planning sessions, and more.

For the educators who attended this summer, the school year ahead looks a little differently. They're walking into their classrooms with new tools, a stronger sense of what's possible, and the knowledge that they're not doing this work alone.

That's what ArtsNOW is here for.

Connect with us to learn more about the Foundational Seminar and how to make this opportunity possible for your school.

Student engagement has become one of the defining challenges in education today, and one of the clearest indicators of whether meaningful learning is actually happening.

Across the country, educators are grappling with a decline in student engagement in the classroom. According to EdWeek, 83% of students state there are not enough opportunities in the classroom for them to be curious. When engagement declines, academic achievement and long-term student success often decline alongside it.

At ArtsNOW, we work directly with schools navigating this challenge and know that when classrooms become creative and collaborative, student engagement rises—and outcomes follow.

What Is Student Engagement?

Student engagement is the degree to which students are emotionally connected, cognitively invested, and behaviorally involved in learning.

• Cognitive engagement: students think deeply and pursue understanding, not just task completion.
• Behavioral engagement: students actively participate, collaborate, and persist in learning.
• Emotional engagement: students feel connected to their learning, peers, and teachers.

When all three are present, classrooms shift from passive instruction to active learning environments with students genuinely invested in their work.

Why Student Engagement Matters

Engagement is a critical driver of learning. Students who are engaged are more likely to retain information, think critically, participate confidently, and persist through challenges.

Low engagement is closely tied to many of the challenges schools are currently facing:

• Chronic absenteeism
• Declining literacy rates
• Behavioral challenges
• Teacher burnout
• Lower academic achievement

Approximately 28% of U.S. students were chronically absent during the 2022–23 school year, with disengagement widely recognized as a major contributing factor.

In Georgia and South Carolina, large percentages of third graders are not reading proficiently—a critical benchmark because third grade marks the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Students who fall behind at this stage face significantly greater risks of future academic struggles and dropout.

Teachers are feeling the impact as well. Between 40-50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, often citing burnout, challenging classroom environments, and lack of support.

The causes of student disengagement are complex, but several themes consistently emerge across schools nationwide. According to educators, some of the biggest contributors include:

• Limited opportunities for creativity and active participation
• Heavy reliance on lecture-based instruction
• Weak connections between classroom content and students’ real lives
• Gaps in belonging and social-emotional connection
• Increased distractions from screen use
• Lingering impacts of disrupted learning environments

Students are far more likely to invest in learning when they can actively experience it, connect it to the world around them, and see themselves reflected in the process.

What’s Working in Classrooms Today

One of the most effective strategies emerging in schools today is arts integration.

Arts integration combines academic instruction with visual arts, music, theatre, and dance to create hands-on, inquiry-driven learning experiences. Rather than treating the arts as separate from academics, arts integration uses creativity as a pathway into rigorous learning.

This approach is highly effective at increasing student engagement. A 2025 ArtsNOW Partner School Study conducted by the University of South Carolina’s Research, Evaluation, and Measurement (REM) Center found that  95% of educators reported higher student engagement in classrooms supported by ArtsNOW.

Engagement and Academic Achievement Go Hand in Hand

Schools partnering with ArtsNOW have reported measurable academic gains, including:

• Powder Springs Elementary posted a 15% increase in third-grade ELA performance, nearly double the gains seen in a matched comparison school.
• At Angel Oak Elementary, the percentage of students reading at grade level climbed from 60% to 74% over five years.
• In Cobb County, 97% of English Learners in ArtsNOW partner schools improved language proficiency in a single year, significantly outperforming similar schools at 74%.
• At J.C. Lynch Elementary, third-grade ELA scores surged 36% in a single year, outpacing the state average by 15 percentage points.
• Forest Hills and Cottageville Elementary advanced from “Below Average” to “Average” on their state report cards, while teacher confidence jumped 24%.

These outcomes reinforce that students learn more deeply when they are engaged meaningfully in the learning process.

These results deliver a clear message that achievement, especially in literacy, rises when schools integrate the arts with intention and fidelity.

The Path Forward

In ArtsNOW partner schools, students are:

• Building robots to demonstrate energy transfer in science
• Using tableau theatre techniques to model math concepts and equations
• Creating human soundscapes to explore migration and environmental change in social studies
• Choreographing movement to represent scientific and mathematical concepts
• Using visual arts to deepen literary analysis and comprehension

Improving student engagement is not about making learning easier. It is about making learning more meaningful.

At ArtsNOW, we know engaged students become stronger learners, confident communicators, and creative problem-solvers. When classrooms come alive, learning outcomes can change. If you're ready to explore how arts-integrated learning can strengthen student engagement at your school, we’d love to connect.

And if you believe in building more engaging, effective classrooms through proven solutions, consider supporting this work with a donation to ArtsNOW.

This summer, ArtsNOW offers one clear recommendation to families and students: stay creatively engaged.

Research from the National Summer Learning Association shows that students can lose up to 2 months of academic progress over the summer, underscoring the importance of sustained learning beyond the classroom.

Arts integration provides a practical, research-based solution. Connecting academic content with visual art, music, movement, and theatre deepens engagement while making learning both relevant and enjoyable.

Summer should absolutely remain a time for rest and renewal for students, families, and educators. At the same time, maintaining light-touch learning experiences is critical to preventing learning loss and preserving academic momentum.

With that balance in mind, ArtsNOW is pleased to share a curated collection of eight at-home lessons based on wherever this summer is taking you and your family! They are accessible, engaging, and easy to implement, empowering families to reinforce key academic concepts while fostering creativity and joy.

Click here to download a print version of our Summer 2026 Creativity Calendar, and continue reading to explore each lesson in-depth. For additional support, families are encouraged to explore the rest of ArtsNOW’s at-home resources.

1. On A Day Outside, Explore Nature with Leaf Print Art

Your backyard, neighborhood park, or hiking trail is the perfect starting point for this visual arts activity. Head outside and collect leaves with interesting shapes, textures, and sizes, then watch this video to learn how to transform your nature finds into beautiful leaf prints. This activity connects observation skills with artistic expression, encouraging children to look closely at the world around them.

Supplies needed: Leaves in a variety of shapes and sizes, any type of paper, crayons (with paper removed) and/or chalk

2. On A Morning Stroll, Take an Emotion Walk and Talk

This activity turns a leisurely summer walk into a meaningful exploration of social-emotional learning. Use Emotion Walk and Talks as a vehicle for discussing feelings, building vocabulary, and deepening family connections. Watch this video to learn theatre-based exercises for making these conversations engaging, age-appropriate, and fun for the whole family.

3. On A Rainy Day Inside, Make Music with Wacky Water Xylophone

When summer showers put outdoor plans on hold, head to the kitchen for this science-meets-music experiment. Using everyday household items, children can construct their own water xylophone, explore sound and pitch, and even begin notating their own melodies. Watch this video for step-by-step guidance.

Supplies needed: Paper, identical cups or containers filled with varying levels of water, kitchen utensils (metal spoon, wooden spoon, rubber spatula)

4. Jam with Hand Jives on a Long Car Ride

Long stretches in the car don't have to mean restless kids and screen fatigue. Hand jives—rhythmic, partner-based clapping and movement patterns—are a way for students to learn how to create steady beats and build rhythm skills. Watch this video and learn how to create a hand jive routine with your child that will make the miles fly by.

5. On a Quiet Day, Use Steady Beat to Boost Reading Comprehension

Summer is a wonderful opportunity to keep reading skills sharp, and adding a rhythmic, musical element can make that practice feel less like a chore and more like play. Steady beat has been shown to support language processing and reading fluency. Watch this video to learn how to incorporate beats into at-home reading, turning it into an active, brain-building experience.

6. While Playing Outside, Discover Geometry Through Movement

Summer's wide-open spaces are the perfect setting for this kinesthetic geometry lesson. Using their bodies and a single piece of string, students can physically create and explore geometric shapes, bringing abstract math concepts to life through movement. Watch this video and experience this lesson that is as active as it is academic.

Supplies needed: One long piece of string

7. Bring Family Photos to Life with Tableau

This theatre activity is a perfect complement to family gatherings this summer. Using the theatrical technique of tableau (frozen, silent scenes created with the body), children and adults can bring family photos to life, stepping into the roles of the people and stories captured in those images. Follow along with this video and learn how to tell stories through tableaus!

8. On A Pool Day, Dive Deeper with Pool Talk

A splashy summer day by the pool is the perfect backdrop for this conversation-based theatre activity. Watch this video for creative conversation prompts and facilitation strategies that help children and parents get to know each other in richer, more meaningful ways—right from the pool deck.