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Sarasota News Leader November 8, 2013 Page 78 OAK PARK TEACHER HONORED FOR LEADERSHIP IN ARTS EDUCATION An art teacher and fine arts specialist at Oak Park School has received the 2013 Cindy Balistreri Distinguished Arts Educator Award for Leadership in Arts Education from the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts (C/SPA), the school district has announced. The annual award, which honors "outstanding teacher/leaders" and is named for the Sarasota County School District's former fine arts curriculum specialist, was presented to Patrice Kennedy. Along with the honor, Kennedy received a $1,000 grant for a personal educational experience or classroom resources, a news release says. Oak Park, located on Proctor Road in Patrice Kennedy/Contributed photo Sarasota, is a Sarasota County public school for K-12 students with special needs, the conducts painting studios and art exhibits with older developmentally challenged sturelease explains. dents and senior residents of assisted living In addition to her work as an art educator, facilities." Kennedy is a professional writer and book illustrator. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Kennedy has collaborated on several projects and a certificate in Art and Healing from with students from Ringling College through Ringling College of Art and Design, where Youth Experiencing Art (YEA Arts) and has she has served on the faculty of Continuing mentored a number of student interns from Studies and Special Programs, the release Riverview High School, the release continues. notes. She taught in Booker High School's Most recently, the release adds, Kennedy Visual and Performing Arts program before and her students at Oak Park School worked moving to Oak Park School in 2004. with art teachers and students from Lakeview "In collaboration with her fellow teachers, Kennedy has been a principal project coordinator for numerous grant programs, including a four-year Weller Grant award from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to create the Garden of Art in the central courtyard at Oak Park," the release points out. "For Angels Dream in Color, a community art outreach program she established, Kennedy Elementary School in Sarasota to decorate a bridge between Oak Park's students with special needs and Lakeview's mainstream students. The initiative was made possible by a grant from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the VSA and MetLife Foundation Arts Connect All Project. The grant was facilitated by the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center.