Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Wade.
Hi Kathy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
After many years of performing professionally as a Jazz singer and presenting lecture-performances on the historical journey of Jazz, my late husband, Dan Jenkins, and I co-founded Learning Through Art, Inc. (LTA) in 1992, a 501(c)(3) non-profit performing arts educational organization, to augment what we observed as the dwindling arts in classrooms and build community through art, which became the presenting organization for our educational programs. Learning Through Art, Inc. is now celebrating 32 years of building resilient communities through art.
Learning Through Art’s driving mission is to provide quality performing arts programs in support of arts-integrated education, literacy, community development, and engagement- encouraging multicultural awareness & understanding.
My team and I have committed to creating LTA programs based on social-emotional learning that build bridges, break down barriers, and bring neighbors and neighborhoods together in celebration of the mosaic beauty of our global multicultural region and world. Since 1992, Learning Through Art has raised 6 million in funding to support children and served over 1.1 million community participants of all ages, instilling a sense of art appreciation, cultural understanding, and connectedness.
Learning Through Art entered the world of integrated arts education with a commitment to preparing students with 21st-century skills to succeed in school and life. My love of reading spurred the creation Books Alive! For Kids®, a performing arts literacy program based on the emergent literacy model that enhances creative thinking, writing, reading, art, and music education. The thirteen-time EMMY nominated, national award-winning Books Alive! For Kids® program provides a family-centered approach to building literacy through social-emotional learning.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have guided Books Alive! For Kids® into eighteen states and Jamaica to become the national literacy partner with The Links, Incorporated signature program, Links To Success: Children Achieving Excellence; literacy program for Cincinnati-Hamilton County Home School Head Start, Long Island Head Start Center, two Native American Head Starts; Strive Partnership Be The Change reading volunteers and the Central Area of The Links, Incorporated Closing the Achievement Gap.
I created and developed Books Alive! For Kids® Family Literacy Nights, Family Adventures, and now, the Books Alive!® App and updated web-based curriculum at BooksAliveForKids.com – but all of this was after facing much adversity (as much of the world did – when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
Our in-person performances and literacy engagements were abruptly put on hold as the nation and the world adapted to best keep one another safe. Using the resources we had available to create our Family Adventures, we quickly shifted to exploring how we could record our productions while making engaging and educational content for early readers, their families, and the classrooms that were adjusting quickly to support remote learning. Our Books Alive! For Kids® Virtual Adventures were born, and a small team of Cincinnati film professionals joined me and the LTA staff – while undertaking CoVid-safe protocils – to produce episodes based around the Books Alive! For Kids® library of diverse and Social-Emotional Learning based books.
Our little experiment worked beautifully, allowing us to expand and reach our audience wherever they were and to win three Ohio Valley Emmy awards for best Children/Youth/Teen long-form content over the course of two years – 2020 and 2021.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My journey in the arts began over 40 years ago through competition and solo recital performances. Raised on Jazz by my aficionado parents, art, performance, and community intersected in my life at an early stage. A class leader, after graduation from Withrow High School, I completed her Bachelor of Arts on a full four-year scholarship from Xavier University (Edgecliff College) with a degree in Sociology.
I produced my first professional concert featuring international poetess Nikki Giovanni and the Hanarobi Contemporary Gospel Ensemble at the University of Cincinnati. The overwhelming success of the production led to an introduction to the University’s arts administration program. While continuing my performance career, I completed my Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
Completing the program ensured my understanding of navigating the rapidly changing methods for building and managing a music career in Jazz. Part of that management was the critical understanding that the most important task was building an audience to support and appreciate America’s classical music, Jazz. While recording, performing, and acting, I created, wrote, and produced A
Black Anthology of Music about the history of Jazz and teaching audiences to ‘finish what you start.’ When I was presented the opportunity to debut the edutainment presentation at schools, I began to understand how to prepare tomorrow’s arts audiences today.
I opened for the legendary Eartha Kitt, Dionne Warwick, Anita Baker, Kenny G, and Whitney Houston, among others. I was a guest performer with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra with former conductor Keith Lockhart, the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and a Taft Museum of Art Duncanson Artist-in-Residence. It was during this performance phase of my career that I met my soon-to-be partner in business and life, the late Dan Jenkins, who shared the same commitment to shaping our community through art.
The journey came even more full circle for me last year when I was awarded the 2023 Governor’s Award for the Arts in Arts Administration by the Ohio Arts Council.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The need for quality, engaging educational resources to support literacy has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, with higher levels of learning loss being experienced by children who were in critical, early phases of their reading journeys when schools and communities locked down.
As children now also experience higher levels of screen time and exposure to “smart” devices than any other generation, it is imperative that educators AND families take on the responsibility to curate the materials that students are exposed to and to participate WITH them as they learn how to navigate technology. This is why LTA is committed to Books Alive! For Kids® programming is at the forefront of all we do, aiming to wrap entire families in literacy so that parents, guardians, and educators are alongside children as they navigate new books, engage with social-emotional learning concepts, create crafts that build their fine motor skills and engage their creativity, and put together and participate in performances that spark their imaginations. This applies also to the Books Alive! App – which includes prompts for children to discuss new concepts with a trusted adult in their life, from the vocabulary to the content in the stories.
We understand that technology is now a part of our way of life – in homes and in classrooms – but as research continues to show, there is still a need for adults to help young people navigate that technology in ways that benefit them and build upon the rich world of learning all around them, while not removing them from key real-world experiences like cooperative play, respectful discussion, and using their voices and hands to create music, art, and more.
Pricing:
- With the relaunch of BooksAliveForKids.com in April 2024, our library of books and the accompanying performing arts and literacy curriculum are FREE to experience and download to all site visitors.
- The BooksAlive!®App is also FREE for all users – and new books will be added later in 2024!
- We do offer Book Packs that include everything you need to fully immerse yourself in our library – including a full-size book, craft supplies, vocabulary word cards and O-ring, and an immersive study guide. Individual Book Packs are $35, with cost savings for educators as well as for those who sign up for a subscription.
- LTA also offers a selection of ukuleles and a package that includes the children’s book with music, “The Magic Ukulele,” which can be purchased for between $30 and $60, depending on the ukulele you choose.
- Books Alive! For Kids® Craft Packs are also available individually for $19.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.learningthroughart.com and www.BooksAliveForKids.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningthroughartinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learningthroughartinc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/learning-through-art-inc
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/divakwade
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lartinc
Image Credits
Learning Through Art, Inc.
