2017 Delaware Arts Summit:
Arts for All: Transforming Individuals & Communities

WHAT: The Arts Summit brings together Delaware’s arts community to connect, learn, and get inspired. The speakers and sessions will illuminate ways to create value and increase the impact of the arts to purposefully enhance well-being, understanding, learning, and creativity for all. Sessions include:

• Activism and Advocacy
• Intentional Practice
• Breaking Stereotypes
• Effective Marketing
• Sensitivity and Accessibility
• The Power of Volunteers

WHEN: Monday, October 30 2017 from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Full Summit schedule available online.

WHERE: Dover Downs Hotel & Casino: Click here for directions.

WHO: Featured speakers and workshop leaders will be:

• Speakers:
  • First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney, State of Delaware
  • The Honorable Bethany Hall-Long, Lt. Governor
  • The Honorable Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secretary of State
  • Paul Weagraff, Director, Delaware Division of the Arts
  • J. Mack Wathen, Chair, Delaware State Arts Council
  • Dan Cruce, Board President, Delaware Arts Alliance
• Keynote Speaker:
  • Liz Lerman, Choreographer, Performer, Writer, Educator, Speaker
• Workshop Leaders:
  • Carol Barnett, Planner, DE Division of Services for the Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities, New Castle, DE
  • Kelly Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Washington, D.C.
  • Randi Korn, Founding Director, Randi Korn & Associates, Inc., Alexandria, VA
  • Chris McLeod, Principal, CLM Marketing, Washington, D.C.
  • Jennie Smith-Peers, Executive Director, National Center for Creative Aging, Washington, D.C.
  • Sheri Wilensky Burke, Sheri Wilensky Burke Consulting LLC, Philadelphia, PA
• Artist Performers:
  • Fearless Improv, City Theater Company, featuring cast members Jana Savini, Mary Catherine Kelley, Dave Duszak, and George Tietze, uses listening, support, and yes-anding to create a show, on the spot, that magnifies the absurdity of the human experience.
  • Outreach Ensemble, Delaware Choral Society: Formed in 2014, the Delaware Choral Society (DCS) Outreach Ensemble is a subset of DCS. The group, directed by James Byrne and accompanied by Bryan Roscoe, performs for business and civic events as well as in hospital and residential facilities.

OTHER: Tickets are still available: $55 walk-in registration – check or exact cash only at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. For more information on Summit speakers, artists, events and location, please visit: arts.delaware.gov/summit/.

We will be live tweeting throughout the day using #DEArtsSummit. Tag us on Twitter and Facebook at: @ArtsDelaware.

The lunchtime performance and keynote presentation starting at 11:45 will be livestreamed on Facebook. Check our page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/ArtsDelaware

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Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing
302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov

The Delaware Division of the Arts Announces the 2017 Delaware Arts Summit

Dover, Del. (October 17, 2017) – The biennial Arts Summit will be held on Monday, October 30, 2017 from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, Dover. This year’s theme is “Arts for All: Transforming Individuals & Communities.”

The Arts Summit brings together Delaware’s arts community to connect, learn, and get inspired. The speakers and sessions will illuminate ways to create value and increase the impact of the arts to purposefully enhance well-being, understanding, learning, and creativity for all. Sessions include:

• Activism and Advocacy
• Intentional Practice
• Breaking Stereotypes
• Effective Marketing
• Sensitivity and Accessibility
• The Power of Volunteers

The keynote address will be presented by Liz Lerman, an internationally recognized choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker, who has been the recipient of such honors as a 2002 MacArthur Fellowship and a 2017 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award for her visionary work. Her artistry crosses all divides with results that are participatory and universally relevant.

Featured speakers will also include First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney; The Honorable Bethany Hall-Long, Lt. Governor; The Honorable Jeffrey W. Bullock, secretary of state; Paul Weagraff, director, Delaware Division of the Arts; J. Mack Wathen, chair, Delaware State Arts Council; and Dan Cruce, board president, Delaware Arts Alliance.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit: https://arts.delaware.gov/summit/.

Registration is $55 (includes breakfast, lunch and refreshments) and will be accepted online through October 24. If space is available, registration will also be accepted on site. Use hashtags: #DEArtSummit17 and #artsde; Tag us at: @ArtsDelaware

Featured speakers and workshop leaders will be:

• Speakers:
  • First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney, State of Delaware
  • The Honorable Bethany Hall-Long, Lt. Governor
  • The Honorable Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secretary of State
  • Paul Weagraff, Director, Delaware Division of the Arts
  • J. Mack Wathen, Chair, Delaware State Arts Council
  • Dan Cruce, Board President, Delaware Arts Alliance
• Keynote Speaker:
  • Liz Lerman, Choreographer, Performer, Writer, Educator, Speaker
• Workshop Leaders:
  • Carol Barnett, Planner, DE Division of Services for the Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities, New Castle, DE
  • Kelly Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Washington, D.C.
  • Randi Korn, Founding Director, Randi Korn & Associates, Inc., Alexandria, VA
  • Chris McLeod, Principal, CLM Marketing, Washington, D.C.
  • Jennie Smith-Peers, Executive Director, National Center for Creative Aging, Washington, D.C.
  • Sheri Wilensky Burke, Sheri Wilensky Burke Consulting LLC, Philadelphia, PA
• Artist Performers:
  • Fearless Improv, City Theater Company, featuring cast members Jana Savini, Mary Catherine Kelley, Dave Duszak, and George Tietze, uses listening, support, and yes-anding to create a show, on the spot, that magnifies the absurdity of the human experience.
  • Outreach Ensemble, Delaware Choral Society: Formed in 2014, the Delaware Choral Society (DCS) Outreach Ensemble is a subset of DCS. The group, directed by James Byrne and accompanied by Bryan Roscoe, performs for business and civic events as well as in hospital and residential facilities.

For more information on Summit speakers, artists, events and location, please visit: https://arts.delaware.gov/summit/.

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Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing
302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov

Delaware’s First Lady is leading effort to ensure children have regular access to healthy meals

WILMINGTON, Del. – First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney and the Delaware Department of Education are asking for your help in letting Delaware residents know of the availability of free meals this summer for children in need.

The Summer Food Service Program targets children in low-income areas to ensure they have nutritious meals during the summer. Children and teens 18 years old or younger are eligible to receive a meal at the open sites. It is a federally funded program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and managed locally by the Delaware Department of Education.

Delawareans can call “211” or text “food” or “comida” to 877-877 to find meal sites in Delaware.

“We’re asking all Delawareans to join in the fight against childhood hunger by spreading the word about the Summer Food Service Program,” said First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney. “Ensuring that every child has access to nutritious meals is a moral obligation that also supports the most urgent, practical goals we have for our state – for student engagement and achievement, for public health, and for a vibrant economy driven by a strong workforce.”

Meal site sponsors, including school districts, are using creative ways to reach children in their communities, including trucks that bring meals to neighborhoods, partnerships with libraries and bookmobiles and meal sites at community functions such as the Loockerman Way Farmers’ Market in Dover and the Delaware State Fair.

“Many children depend on the nutrition they receive at school during the academic year. When school is out, their needs remain,” said Susan Bunting, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Education. “The Summer Food Service Program provides meals to children in their own communities so that they don’t go hungry during summer break.”

First Lady Carney is leading a Delaware team studying how to leverage public-private partnerships to ensure school-age children have regular access to healthy meals. In addition to providing more education and outreach to increase awareness, the team will identify new and innovative ways to increase access to child nutrition programs, specifically for families in rural areas when school is not in session.

Use the hashtag #summermealsDE to spread the word on social media.

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Related news:
First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney Attends Learning Lab on Strategies to Reduce Childhood Hunger

Delaware one of ten states and territories selected to participate in learning lab

DOVER, Del. – First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney is leading a Delaware team studying how Virginia has leveraged public-private partnerships to ensure school-age children have regular access to healthy meals.

Delaware was one of 10 states and territories selected by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices to participate in a learning lab on state strategies to reduce childhood hunger. Gathered in Richmond Monday and Tuesday, the participating states are learning more about communicating and collaborating to reduce hunger, expanding access to school breakfast, supporting innovation in summer meal programs, and streamlining eligibility determination for free meals.

“[Virginia First Lady] Dorothy McAuliffe has provided inspirational leadership on the issue of childhood hunger, and Share Our Strength and the National Governors Association (NGA) have been tremendous partners in that effort,” said First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney. “I’m privileged to be part of the Delaware delegation to this week’s learning lab, along with Aimee Beam from the Department of Education; Ray Fitzgerald, Director of the Division of Social Services; Charlotte McGarry, Programs Director for the Food Bank of Delaware; and Jon Sheehan, Education Policy Advisor.

“We’ve been encouraged by the many ways that efforts already underway in our State align with national best practices, and I’m so proud to learn from those who have been leading such good work in Delaware. We’ve also picked up a few ideas from other states, especially our friends in Virginia, and it’s exciting to think about how we can, very realistically, build alliances and make progress toward meeting the most basic need of the next generation of Delaware’s workforce and leadership. The quality of our schools and the growth of our economy, as well as public health, depend on our success in that effort.”

“Neither teachers nor students can be successful when hunger permeates our classrooms and homes,” said Governor Carney. “Reducing childhood hunger is a moral, educational, and economic imperative.”

The Governor has tasked the Delaware team – which includes representatives from the Governor’s Office, Delaware Department of Education, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and Food Bank of Delaware – to develop a comprehensive plan to establish partnerships between districts and charter schools and public-private organizations that will support existing and new initiatives for reducing childhood hunger.

In addition to providing more education and outreach to increase awareness, the team will identify new and innovative ways to increase access to child nutrition programs, specifically for families in rural areas when school is not in session.

Delaware has made progress in recent years. For example, the Community Eligibility Provision – which allows all children in a school to eat for free if at least 40 percent of its population qualifies – has helped more students across Delaware have the opportunity to eat breakfast and lunch at school at no cost. This school year, 115 schools participated in the program, an increase from 96 schools when launched in 2014-15. Delaware is ranked in the top five states for the largest increase in this area.

With the school year ending, the state now is trying to get out the word about the Summer Food Service Program, which aims to provide low-income children nutritious meals when school is not in session. Free meals, which meet federal nutrition guidelines, are provided to all children 18 years old and younger at approved SFSP sites in areas with significant concentrations of low-income children. Last summer, more than 720,000 meals (breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper) were served at more than 350 statewide locations.

“Children who depend on school meals for nutrition during the academic year still have needs when school is out,” said Secretary of Education Susan Bunting. “We must continue to provide nutritious food to children in their own communities so they don’t go hungry during the summer months.”

“Ensuring that Delaware children have access to nutritious food has always been a priority at the Food Bank of Delaware,” said Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO Patricia Beebe. “We have advocated for alternative models of school breakfast in all Delaware schools, improvements to the summer and after-school meal programs, and to ensure that both at-risk children and their families have access to healthy foods. We know that good nutrition is needed in order for kids to learn, play and grow. 17.3 percent of Delaware children are considered food insecure so there is still much we can do as a state. We are thrilled that Delaware has this opportunity to learn best practices from other states so that we can best serve our most vulnerable children.”

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