Unlocking the Light (UTL) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education though the Office of Innovation and Improvement.
UTL Is a partnership between the Hampshire Educational Collaborative (HEC) and the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS). UTL is a complex project that involves in-depth training and job embedded professional development utilizing a range of art forms to focus students’ attention on academic subjects. The program provides for artists’ residencies to demonstrate creative approaches to curriculum. The goal is to change the nature of instruction and improve the achievement of students who have chronically failed in schools.
UTL Mission
Engaging and inspiring juvenile justice educators through the arts — Unlocking the Light provides job-embedded professional development using arts integration residencies to demonstrate how arts techniques motivate and engage students.
UTL History
Unlocking the Light was created by Program Director Derek Fenner and the Coalition for Arts for Court Involved Youth, a partnership with juvenile justice, arts and education leaders in Massachusetts. It is guide by the vision to provide the full and enthusiastic integration of the arts into the lives of court-involved youth to effectively offer our communities most troubled members creative opportunities to redirect their lives.