Miches, Dominican Republic, April 19, 2010 – During the last week of March, the educational initiative Piensa en arte/ThinkArt of the Fundación Cisneros returned to Miches to support some of the 12-04 school district teachers who were trained last October and on other past occasions. This visit was attended by 25 teachers from El Cedro, Hicaco Blanco, La Gina, La Javilla, La Mina, Los Mameyes and Lucas Guibbes schools.
Piensa en arte/ThinkArt is a platform for education through art by the Fundación Cisneros. Based on the premise that the inherent dialogue between a work of art and the viewer provides a model for democratic and interactive learning, uses art as a means to develop key skills in problem solving and other higher order cognitive abilities. Piensa en arte/ThinkArt is currently active in Argentina, Costa Rica, United States, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
Piensa en arte/ThinkArt has offered training workshops and supportive visits in Miches since 2008. Seventy-eight teachers from the Miches region have been trained and carry out the initiative in their schools, benefiting more than 2,000 students.
Piensa en arte/ThinkArt also operates in Santiago de los Caballeros and Santo Domingo through a partnership with the Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes, a communications and meeting place, which promotes research, imagination and exploration, as well as presenting a positive image of the values of the Dominican culture. In collaboration with the faculty of the Centro León, induction workshops have been offered to thousands of Dominican teachers. As a result, Piensa en arte/ThinkArt takes place in the Comunidad Educativa Lux Mundi, the Instituto Politécnico Femenino Nuestra Sra. de las Mercedes and the Escuela Básica Inocencia Mercedes Cabrera.
Sofia Quirós, Educational Assistant of Piensa en arte/ThinkArt, referred to the receptiveness expressed by the schools in Miches to the initiative and how it has helped improve the overall performance of students. She added that the supportive visits are an important stage in the development of Piensa en arte/ThinkArt, as it not only provides new teaching strategies to teachers who currently carry them out, but are fundamental to the information process that can help improve the initiative in Latin America.
About Fundación Cisneros
The Fundación Cisneros is a private, nonprofit organization, founded by Patricia and Gustavo Cisneros, and is currently chaired by Adriana Cisneros de Griffin, whose mission is to improve education in Latin America and promote global awareness about the contributions of the region to world culture. In the long run, its innovative programs strengthen the social fabric, promoting freedom of expression and democratic thinking, boost economic progress and reinforce understanding among Latin American nations. The main educational programs of the Fundación Cisneros are the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Piensa en arte and the Actualización de Maestros en Educación (AME) program. These programs are implemented through strategic local partnerships are part of the Corporate Social Responsibility vision of the Cisneros Group, which is aimed at promoting sustainable development and creating social capital in the region.