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Music Department Selected for Comprehensive Arts Planning Program

Big Lake Schools was selected as one of eight Minnesota school districts to join the 2025-2027 cohort for the statewide Comprehensive Arts Planning Program (CAPP), paving the way for growth and new opportunities for the district’s music program.

“Big Lake Schools is honored and excited to be selected for CAPP," said Minda Anderson, Assistant Superintendent for Big Lake Schools and CAPP District Administrator. “We value the opportunity to collaborate with the Perpich Center for Arts Education to create music-related opportunities to support the success of our students.” 

Through this legislatively-funded program, Big Lake’s CAPP committee will have the chance to work with arts education experts from the Petrich Center to form a three-year strategic plan for the music department. Year one will focus on identifying needs and plan development, while plan implementation will begin in year two. Throughout the process, CAPP provides financial and technical assistance to guide the strategic planning process through workshops, site visits, leadership development, and resource materials.

While each district’s approach is shaped by its unique needs, Big Lake leaders hope to address areas like strengthening music curriculum alignment, expanding music opportunities outside of the school day, and increasing community involvement in the music program. Previous participating districts have used CAPP to implement things like creating after school clubs, building community arts partnerships, and establishing a more robust events calendar.

“It’s exciting to consider what this could mean for our music department," said music teacher Becky Hoover, who will serve as CAPP co-chair alongside fellow music teacher Hanna Hermanson. “I’m looking forward to seeing what growth will come out of this and how it will impact our community.”

As a department of mostly early-career teachers, leaders also see this program as a valuable professional development opportunity and a chance to more effectively collaborate as a team across all four schools.

“We’ll have experts in the buildings that will be able to guide us and help us grow," Hermanson said. “Our program is already awesome, but CAPP is going to make it even better and help us reach those who might not have access to it or don't know all the cool things that are going on.”

Efforts will be spearheaded by the district’s CAPP committee which will be led by the two co-chairs and the district administrator. All eight of Big Lake music teachers have expressed interest in joining the committee, and the team also wants to involve other school staff, students, and community members representing varying music interests. The process will officially begin when the co-chairs attend a CAPP Kickoff at the Perpich Center in August, and the team can’t wait to get started.

“The possibilities are almost endless because we get to come up with it,” said Hermanson. “I am excited to dream big.”