Arts in Education
Russell Gulley is on the Alabama State Council on
the Arts Performing Arts Tour Roster, as well as, the
Approved Artists Roster for the Arts in Education
Program. He is currently preparing residency
programs to enhance public concerts, using
materials and lesson plans studied while attending
the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts 2003.
The year 2004 found him working again with the AIEA
and also, Karen Erickson of the Kennedy Center’s
Alliance for Arts Education Network. By participating
in this AIEA professional development program, he
has been learning skills in curriculum development
that integrate the teaching of the arts with academics
in order to address national and state curriculum
standards.
As part of this project, Russell presented a 10-day
residency on Folk Music and Songwriting at the
Ruhama Middle School near his hometown of Fort
Payne. The school’s K thru 8th grade students
collaborated with him writing songs about the
students’ own interests, resulting in a student CD
project called “The Ruhama Experience.” “The
Ruhama Experience” not only gave Russell a chance
to put into practice his skills by integrating arts with
the school’s curriculum, but also left him with the
emotional experience of sharing his love of music
with young kids.
Russell has also just completed a second Intergrated
Curriculum Workshop with Erickson and the AIEA,
this summer 2005. The result of these studies will be
the development of a unit of lesson plans, some
intergrated, that will form the basis of Russell's future
Folk Music and Songwriting residencies. The next
step will be the development of a study guide to
accompany the work.
Russell plans to work school residencies whenever
possible. He continues to develop programs based
on some of his favorite topics, such as" The Blues in
Black and White", "Jimmie Rogers, The Father of
Country Music was a Blues Singer", and " The Afro-
American Symphony" by William Grant Still.
