ACES ECA collaboration with Chinese arts education growing in New Haven

October 26th, 2017

ACES ECA collaboration with Chinese arts education growing in New Haven

By Brian Zahn
Updated 6:56 pm, Thursday, October 26, 2017

NEW HAVEN — Human musculature and stage lighting don’t differ based on language or dialect, which is where officials at the city’s ACES Educational Center for the Arts see an opportunity for international collaboration.

This week, five officials from Shanghai’s Children’s Palace, an after-school arts education center, visited ACES ECA with an intention to develop and improve its professional development and cultural partnerships.

On Thursday, Children’s Palace Executive Deputy Director Chen Min said the two centers are similar in their mission, which presents opportunities for partnership and growth.

She said arts education is becoming more popular among “the modern thoughts of parents in Shanghai, an international and metropolitan city.”

ACES ECA Principal Jason Hiruo said he sees the same priorities in both schools, especially as both look to implement more STEM education into curriculum. Hiruo told the delegation that kinesiology is a focus in ACES ECA dance classes and that students implement science techniques in photography development.

“There’s a science to all the arts,” he said. “We want to focus on creative thinking and problem solving in the arts.”

Andrew Shi, 17, is ACES ECA’s first international student from Shanghai. His interests lie primarily in theater and stage lighting.

“I wanted to experience another teaching style,” he said. “The class size is larger in Shanghai.”

In June, ACES ECA formalized an agreement with Chinese Ministry of Education contractors to begin an exchange program. Although China has been a recurring destination for ACES ECA students on cultural immersion field trips, the agreement allowed for ACES ECA to allow between 40 to 60 Chinese students to partake in a two-week summer program and to begin the development of an international exchange program.