Dear Parents and Students,

I hope you are all safe and healthy. COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge, and unfortunately has affected classrooms and families as well. Nonetheless, there are good things still happening in our community worth appreciating, which is why I'm writing to you today to inform you your school has been selected to participate in the 2020 - 2021 STEAM Plus program, starting this November.

This initiative began in January 2019, with the notion that our City had to take more responsibility for elevating our public schools. So we set about the task of integrating our local world-class cultural institutions into our daily school curriculum. The City of Miami Beach coordinated with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools System (M-DCPS) to partner with local cultural institutions to bring arts and culture to the core curriculum of our local public-school system with the launch of the STEAM Plus pilot program. Our original partnership with six local world-class cultural organizations has since more than doubled. Since January 2019 STEAM Plus has been an expansion of the STEM initiative with an emphasis on connecting the arts to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Taught by some of the world’s greatest talent from museum curators to music prodigies, the STEAM Plus program animates children’s imaginations through art, music, drama, and more.

I am proud to report all seven schools that participated during last year’s program have received a STEAM designation by M-DCPS, most of which earned a Gold Designation - the highest honor for M-DCPS. As a result of the funding received from The City of Miami Beach, the STEAM Plus program was able to reach 2,915 students, spanning all grade levels. Students were exposed to over 600 hours of instruction from cultural professionals, significantly increasing access to arts-based learning experiences by providing professional teaching artists for 451 visits to the school.

In response to COVID-19 some schools were able to interact with their partners virtually, creating online resources and quickly pivoting back in March to help ensure students were still being exposed to the arts. This year STEAM Plus will be accessible to all students attending school virtually and in-person through Zoom interactions. Partnerships that require materials will be pre-packaged and delivered to your child's school for distribution prior to the start of interactions. This program has always been accessible to all of our students, and we pride ourselves in continuing to do so.

Our schools must be special. Not testing factories, but places that inspire our kids to achieve and reach their potential. By engaging students around the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, the STEAM Plus program aims to spark an interest and life-long appreciation of the arts and sciences in children from an early age. Developing a relationship

with the arts helps learners to develop creative problem-solving skills, present difficult concepts visually and help children with the development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness.

It is with great excitement that we kick off the 2020 - 2021 STEAM Plus program this November. The City originally invested $181,000 in the pilot, and this year the City has committed $372,000 towards STEAM Plus funding. Cultural anchors for the program include: Bass Museum of Art, Hack Shack, Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU, Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, Miami City Ballet, Miami New Drama, New World Symphony, Wolfsonian - FIU, and Young Musicians Unite.

We are introducing unconventional and effective learning — making our schools more competitive - and continue to invest in our children’s future. Thank you for being a part of the STEAM Plus program - and please reach out any time if you have thoughts or feedback by email at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Dan Gelber