WINONA, Minn. — Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts and Riverway Learning Community are excited to announce they have formed a new partnership designed to help students regularly engage with the arts.
Starting this fall, Riverway Learning Community students in Children’s House, Elementary I, and Elementary II (pre-K through sixth grade) will have the opportunity explore music and reap the benefits during weekly visits to Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts (MCA) home inside the Valéncia Arts Center, 1164 W Howard St.
Research shows that students who participate in the arts on a regular basis not only find enjoyment in them and improve their skills in the subject studied but also show signs of improved language abilities, emotional resilience, empathy, attention span, and self-confidence.
Students at Riverway, a unique pre-K through 12th grade Minnesota Charter Public School that offers small class sizes and an environment that nurtures the growth of mind, body, and spirit of students as individuals and as members of the larger community, also have the opportunity to see many live performances and participate in workshops through the Page Series at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a partnership with Midwest Music Fest.
MCA is a non-profit organization and affiliate program of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a mission of making the arts accessible to all residents of southeastern Minnesota regardless of ability, age, race, or economic background.
Riverway and MCA are hopeful that this partnership is only the beginning of a long collaboration that will ideally expand in the future to include instruction for students in seventh through 12th grade. Any community members interested in providing financial support to help provide musical opportunities to enrich the lives of Riverway students are invited to contact either Oscar Uribe, director of Riverway, at ouribe@riverwaylearningcommunity.org or Jamie Schwaba, managing director of MCA, at jschwaba@smumn.edu.
About Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts
The Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts, an affiliate program of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, is a nonprofit organization offering programming in dance, music, visual art, and theater. Classes, lessons, workshops, and camps are offered for students of all ages from birth through older adults at the Valéncia Arts Center. For more information, go to mca.smumn.edu, email mca@smumn.edu, or call 507-453-5500.
About Riverway Learning Community
Riverway Learning Community is a pre-K through 12th grade public charter school sponsored by the Audubon Center of the North Woods that offers individualized learning in a Montessori and project-based setting. For more information, go to riverwaylearningcommunity.org, email riverway@riverwaylearningcommunity.org, or call 507-450-4607.