Mission/History
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Our Vision is to:
From a dream came FAME
In the summer of 1987, Dorothy Kittaka, Music Specialist and Mike Schmid, Art Specialist at Haverhill Elementary School in Southwest Allen County School Corporation, were very concerned about the state of arts education with federal and state cuts in the education budget, which translated to the arts being cut or reduced in the schools. There was no public arts advocacy group to promote the value of elementary music and art in the community. Art and Music teachers did not have a network to communicate and share ideas with each other. Dorothy and Mike decided to start a countywide arts festival in Fort Wayne in a downtown venue, The Grand Wayne Convention Center. With no funds and only a dream, they opened the phone book and looked up the elementary schools in the Allen County area. After sending out 100 letters addressed to “Music and Art Specialist” in each school and they received a 65% positive response. With this first meeting was the start of FAME.
From the first festival in March of 1988, FAME has been the largest single event at the Grand Wayne Center. March was the month selected for the FAME Festival to celebrate: National Music in Our Schools Month and Youth Art Month. From this grass roots beginning, FAME has now expanded to seven annual arts programs with students in 40 counties in North and Central Indiana. Each year, a cultural focus is selected to highlight the culture and arts of a different part of the world and FAME reaches over 200,000 children, annually. FAME has reached over 3,000,000 children with: Fusion of Concert Colors; Composition Project,: 3 different FAME Festivals in Fort Wayne, Merrillville and Wabash, IN; Teacher Workshops; Culture Kits and Resource Library; Visiting Artist Program and a two week resident FAME Arts Camp for students from 8-14 years old.
Mission Statement
The mission of FAME is to foster and perpetuate creativity through multicultural arts education (k-8). We believe in the value and power of the arts to kindle the imagination, encourage creative thinking and enhance human development.Our Vision is to:
- Empower teachers to nurture artistic creativity.
- Celebrate the artist in every child and develop pathways to explore the arts.
- Understand & appreciate cultures through experiences with indigenous art forms.
- Make the arts enjoyable and a part of everyday life.
History
From a dream came FAME
In the summer of 1987, Dorothy Kittaka, Music Specialist and Mike Schmid, Art Specialist at Haverhill Elementary School in Southwest Allen County School Corporation, were very concerned about the state of arts education with federal and state cuts in the education budget, which translated to the arts being cut or reduced in the schools. There was no public arts advocacy group to promote the value of elementary music and art in the community. Art and Music teachers did not have a network to communicate and share ideas with each other. Dorothy and Mike decided to start a countywide arts festival in Fort Wayne in a downtown venue, The Grand Wayne Convention Center. With no funds and only a dream, they opened the phone book and looked up the elementary schools in the Allen County area. After sending out 100 letters addressed to “Music and Art Specialist” in each school and they received a 65% positive response. With this first meeting was the start of FAME.
From the first festival in March of 1988, FAME has been the largest single event at the Grand Wayne Center. March was the month selected for the FAME Festival to celebrate: National Music in Our Schools Month and Youth Art Month. From this grass roots beginning, FAME has now expanded to seven annual arts programs with students in 40 counties in North and Central Indiana. Each year, a cultural focus is selected to highlight the culture and arts of a different part of the world and FAME reaches over 200,000 children, annually. FAME has reached over 3,000,000 children with: Fusion of Concert Colors; Composition Project,: 3 different FAME Festivals in Fort Wayne, Merrillville and Wabash, IN; Teacher Workshops; Culture Kits and Resource Library; Visiting Artist Program and a two week resident FAME Arts Camp for students from 8-14 years old.