Merryl Goldberg is music teacher that also oversees the Center ARTES, an organization that focuses on arts education and integrating the arts into primary and secondary schools. It was founded in 2003 to help bridge the power of the arts with research in education.
Overy the years, the organization have partnered with the San Diego County Offic of Education to help facilitate programs with arts non-profits. It has helped provide professional development with classroom teachers through every school district they have reached.
Goldberg, 58, lives in Carlsbad and has been a music professor and executive director of Center ARTES at California State University, San Marcos for 24 years. With her leadership, she and her team have partnered with schools to write grants and conduct research. She also wrote a book called "Arts Integration: Teaching Subject Matter Through the Arts in Multicultural Settings."
Her book talks about the research behind integrating arts with traditional education. It also provides background about her organization's literacy initiative.
When asked about why she founded Center ARTES, Goldberg said that the arts motivate students in the most wonderful ways and opened a world of possibility for them. The arts is similar to any language that provide bridges to the world and experiences, and a mirror to reflect on oneself.
When arts were integrated into classrooms, teachers often get surprised that a shy child could do so well and come out of their shells. Goldberg said she wrote the book to show students the opportunities that come with art education. For example, CEOs at companies such as Boeing and ViaSat specifically look for individuals with art backgrounds.
Individuals who work in high-tech industries are required to be engaged creative thinkers who can think outside the box and work in cooperative teams. She said that twentieth century career rely on skills of cooperation, empathy and flexibility, wherein arts teach all those things. For example, how to use a painting to study math, how writing a song can teach you about history, or how drawing from nature can be an effective science lesson according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.