MIAMI BEACH, FL (May 10, 2006)-Join The Wolfsonian–FIU on May 19 and 20 as it hosts “The Literacy Question: New Theories and Practices in Arts-Integrated Learning,” an educational symposium that will examine new definitions of literacy in relation to arts-integrated teaching and learning practices. This innovative symposium, part of a larger series of institutional educational programs is an outgrowth of the Artful Citizenship program, an arts-integrated social studies and language arts curriculum developed by The Wolfsonian that provides students with the tools they need to become informed and engaged citizens as they explore the role that art and design play in shaping the world. The three-year Artful Citizenship program was sponsored by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The symposium will investigate new theoretical models in the field of literacy, including “new literacies,” multiliteracies, and multimodal discourse—conceptualizations that seek to understand the evolving nature of literacy and communication in the new millennium. Structured as an interactive workshop with scholarly presentations and small group discussions, each day of the educational symposium will shift from theory to practice, exploring models of classroom and museum teaching and learning methods. Some of the institutions participating in the symposium are the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, among others.

“Today’s learners, whether young or old, are immersed in a world filled with visual material that combines both words and images,” explains Kate Rawlinson, assistant director of education and public programs at The Wolfsonian. “’The Literacy Question’ symposium has been designed to explore the intimate connections between the traditional literacies of written and spoken language and what are being called the ‘new literacies,’ such as visual literacy and media literacy. Museum collections can play a pivotal role as laboratories for teachers, students, and educational theorists to learn how to use these natural connections to stimulate and enhance learning and critical thinking.”

Rawlinson adds, “Our work in the Artful Citizenship program has shown how different literacies have a huge impact on how today’s young people acquire knowledge.” The Artful Citizenship program used the social sciences as context for teaching visual literacy and empowering students to become good citizens while increasing achievement in a variety of other disciplines, she notes.

The Artful Citizenship teaching and learning model builds on the museum’s experience in teaching visual literacy skills in past art education programs, notably the award-winning Artful Truth-Healthy Propaganda Arts Project, created in 1998, as well as the Page at a Time program. Both of these Wolfsonian educational programs provide interdisciplinary learning experiences and have been successfully implemented in Florida’s public schools.

For further information on the symposium or the Artful Citizenship program, please visit the website at www.artfulcitizenship.org or contact Claudia Sullivan at education@thewolf.fiu.edu

About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University

The Wolfsonian is a museum, library, and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design, to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, historical, and technological changes that have transformed our world. It encourages people to see the world in new ways and learn how objects from the past shape the present and influence the future. The collections comprise approximately 120,000 objects from the period of 1885 to 1945—the height of the Industrial Revolution to the end of the Second World War—in a variety of media including furniture; industrial-design objects; works in glass, ceramics, and metal; rare books; periodicals; ephemera; works on paper; paintings; textiles; and medals.

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Fla. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children six-12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Thursday and Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org.

The Wolfsonian receives ongoing support from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Continental Airlines, the preferred airline of The Wolfsonian; the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation; and Karla Conceptual Event Experiences.

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