Fort Worth, TX, October 24, 2005—On October 26, the Amon Carter Museum’s annual Corporate Leaders Society Dinner will feature a presentation by the museum’s 2005 Innovative Teaching Fellow, Wendy Coleman. Coleman is an instructional specialist at Leonard Middle School where she works with individual teachers and sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students helping develop the curriculum and teaching strategies.

Coleman was awarded the fellowship last spring and for four weeks this summer worked with Stacy Fuller, the Carter’s instructional services manager, to develop a teacher workshop that will be presented on October 27. Entitled Documenting Your World, the workshop explores how artists recorded their surroundings in paintings, sculpture, maps, and photographs and then makes connections to students’ abilities to document their own world. More than 30 teachers from schools in area districts including Fort Worth, Keller, Mansfield, Weatherford, and Aledo are expected to attend.

“We were very pleased to present this award fellowship to Ms. Coleman,” said Amon Carter Museum Director Rick Stewart. “It has provided not only a unique continuing-education experience for Coleman but also an invaluable resource for the benefit of teachers and their students. The fellowship is part of the museum’s continued commitment to promote the understanding of America’s heritage to students through works of art and to share the best teaching practices with educators.”

Coleman added, “Working at the Amon Carter Museum was an incredible experience for me. While becoming more familiar with the collection, I was impressed to learn what an extensive set of primary resources exist in the research library. I was able to make connections with every subject area and develop lesson plans that challenge students as well as teachers. The whole education department at the Carter is invaluable, and I am grateful to Fidelity Investments for making this fellowship possible.”

The Corporate Leaders Society is a crucial sector of the Carter’s membership program. Comprising 55 corporations and businesses in North Texas, the society’s membership contributions are investments in the Carter’s ability to enrich the community through free admissions, exhibitions and especially its educational outreach programs.

The impact of these programs in the surrounding communities continues to grow. During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, the Carter toured more than 20,000 students through its galleries; the tours were led by the museum’s Gallery Teachers—six degreed professionals all with extensive arts and education experience—as part of formalized programs with area school districts that are designed to directly link to state standards in social studies, history, and language arts.

The Carter education department also continues to reach thousands of area teachers through the Teaching Resource Center, teacher workshops, educator evenings, in-service trainings, and the Fort Worth Independent School District’s American EAGLE project, a training program for American history teachers in the fifth, eighth and eleventh grades. Last year, Fuller spearheaded a new Future Teacher Program, which helps pre-service teachers from Metroplex colleges and universities incorporate the Carter’s collection into their curricula and introduces them to the museum’s resources and staff. The Carter also organized two workshops for homeschool parents and their children last year, and four are planned for this year.

The Innovative Teaching Fellowship and the annual Corporate Leaders Society Dinner are generously sponsored by Fidelity Investments.

“As business leaders, it is imperative that we lead the way,” said Douglass Reed, senior vice president at Fidelity. “From small businesses to large corporations, we can each contribute in some way to making the arts an integral part of our long-term strategic plan for cultural and economic growth.”

The Star-Telegram is the official print sponsor of the Amon Carter Museum.