For the first time, the Tennessee Department of Education began to play an active role in promoting the importance of the arts as integral parts of the education of all students. When a panel of prominent arts educators was convened to establish priorities, they included the importance of creating ways to train teachers in the effective use of new state curriculum frameworks in the arts.
Two initiatives resulted from this determined need. One was a series of state workshops taken to school systems throughout the state during the academic year and during the summer. The other continues today as the Tennessee Arts Academy.
With the release of "A Nation at Risk" in April of 1983, Americans faced a decade of increasing interest in education reform. In Tennessee, that emphasis took the form of the Better Schools Program through which new tax dollars and expanded state programs were instituted.
In the summers of 1985 and 1986, pilot programs were introduced in East, Middle and West Tennessee. Teachers flocked to the free weeklong events in which nationally known arts educators came to Tennessee and, using the new arts frameworks as a guide, provided stimulating and intensive training for teachers of art and music. The 1986 version "Come Home to the Arts"; was the predecessor to the Tennessee Arts Academy and served as the model moving forward. The event was held on the campus of Belmont University. After two years of remarkable success, and in order to maximize the use of funding, it was decided to institutionalize the summer program at one site. Belmont University was chosen because of its central statewide location, its aesthetic beauty, and its personnel, who were interested in working with the state to develop the new entity. The Tennessee Arts Academy was born.
From the beginning, a conscious decision was made that the Tennessee Arts Academy should be the top-of-the-line program in professional development for teachers of the arts. The faculty, performances and speakers have been chosen applying stringent standards of personal and professional excellence so that Tennessee's teachers would not only acquire knowledge, but would be inspired and renewed in the mission of educating the complete child.
After many years and much scrutiny and refining, the Tennessee Arts Academy continues as the longest-running and premier summer program for arts-based professional development teacher training in arts leadership, music, theatre and dance, and visual art in America.
The 2025 TAA Summer Institute will be held on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN.
