For Release: 04-26-2006

Philanthropist Beverley Taylor Sorenson’s $1.5 Million BYU Gift Will Fund Initiative Promoting Elementary School Arts Education

PROVO, UTAH (April 26, 2006) – Today it was announced that philanthropist and arts education advocate Beverley Taylor Sorenson has donated $1.5 million to Brigham Young University (BYU) to establish an endowment fund that will support and promote arts education--including music, dance, theater and visual arts--in Utah’s elementary schools.

“It is my sincere belief that every elementary school child in the state has a right to quality arts education opportunities,” said Sorenson, founder of the independent, non-profit Art Works for Kids. “Not only do the arts help individual students achieve their potential, but the benefits extend to their families and communities. However, no one organization—or person—can accomplish this vision alone. I have long admired BYU’s accomplishments in this area, and am pleased to join with the university to support partnerships and teacher training programs that will extend arts education opportunities to more students across Utah.”

The arts-in-elementary-schools initiative Sorenson is funding is a collaboration between the David O. McKay School of Education, the College of Health and Human Performance, and the College of Fine Arts and Communications, and is designed to increase the quality and quantity of arts education within the BYU-Public School Partnership (BYU-PSP) group of elementary schools. One-third of elementary schools in Utah are served by the BYU-PSP.

“Beverley’s vision and passion about bringing arts experiences into the lives of elementary school children has never been needed more,” said Stephen Jones, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. “Her gift will help our faculty and students work more closely with public school teachers to ensure children in our partnership districts are blessed with training and opportunity to express themselves creatively. That opportunity will give them great joy and help them develop skills and abilities that increase their success in all areas of their schooling and their lives.”

“This initiative will assist in preparing pre-service and in-service teachers to deliver appropriate, and hopefully magical, engagement in the arts,” added Sara Lee Gibb, dean of the College of Health and Human Performance. “Education without arts is an incomplete education. This initiative will assist educators in giving children a complete education as defined by core curriculums at the state and national levels. We are most grateful for Beverly’s foresight and enthusiasm to enable increased support for well prepared teachers who facilitate children’s learning in and through the arts.”

Sorenson’s endowment will expand BYU’s elementary school teacher-education initiative in several ways. First, it will assist the university in pre-service training of arts specialists and classroom teachers who teach the arts to elementary school students. Second, the fund will sponsor in-service training workshops for elementary classroom teachers currently teaching art in BYU-PSP districts, including Jordan, Alpine, Provo, Nebo and Wasatch. Third, the fund will foster collaboration between BYU and other Utah universities, colleges, state educational institutions, arts organizations and interested citizens in sharing best practices and promoting sequential teaching of the arts in Utah’s elementary schools. Finally, the fund will support a variety of other meaningful programs that have as their principal purpose promotion of sequential teaching of the arts to elementary students in Utah.

An executive board, comprised of the deans of the McKay School of Education, the College of Fine Arts and Communication, and the College of Human Health and Performance and the BYU-PSP executive director, will administrate the activities of the arts-in-elementary schools initiative. An arts education committee, advisory committee and a development committee will be appointed to assist the executive board.

Sorenson, a Salt Lake native, has for decades been a tireless advocate of arts education for Utah children, dedicating countless hours and substantial resources to this cause. In 1995, she founded the independent, non-profit foundation Art Works for Kids, which began as a pilot program to promote music, dance, theater and visual arts in six Utah elementary schools. Today, Art Works for Kids serves thousands of school children and teachers by supporting innovative, sequential arts education programs in schools and communities through grants, support services and advocacy work.

Including this gift of $1.5 million to BYU, Beverley Taylor Sorenson and the Sorenson Legacy Foundation have donated a total of $5.75 million since Dec. of 2005 to the cause of promoting arts education for children. These gifts include $1.25 million to the University of Utah’s College of Fine Arts to endow a permanent chair in its school of music, and $3 million to Southern Utah University, $1 million of which endowed a permanent chair in the university’s newly renamed Beverley Taylor Sorenson College of Education.