Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education

Each year, DIAE brings artists from around the country to perform in schools across Delaware. To prepare students, DIAE contracts local professional artists in Dance, Theatre, Music and Visual Arts to serve as Teaching Artists (TAs). With input from teachers, TAs design and lead a series of in-class workshops to provide opportunities for students to explore, create and reflect on the art form prior to attending a live performance. Teachers can use the residency to expand curriculum themes or partner with other teachers in their school to develop a cross-curriculum exploration.

We administer three educational arts programs:

The Preschool Wolf Trap program was established in 1998 and is modeled after the Wolf Trap Institute’s Early Learning program in Vienna, Virginia. Delaware Wolf Trap places performing artists, who are also trained Teaching Artists, in classroom residencies to work with children, through the disciplines of drama, music and movement. The program has two purposes: to engage preschool children with arts activities to promote learning -- especially literacy and math -- and to train early childhood educators to integrate performing arts techniques into their curriculum. Since 1998, Delaware Wolf Trap has reached over 3,800 students while working with 280 teachers and classroom aides.

K-12 program. Since 1982, DIAE has brought arts residencies in theatre, dance, music and visual art to public, charter and private schools across Delaware, reaching over 128,000 students and working with some 2,400 teachers. Our multicultural workshops and live performances introduce teachers and students to the many ways the arts can serve as an effective tool to stimulate learning as well as a means to reach out and personally engage students of all levels.

Teacher professional development. Our third program provides teachers with professional development opportunities to explore aesthetic methods of integrating arts into their classroom by offering arts workshops during our Summer Institute for Teachers held each June and year round one-day workshops.