Local News in Brief : CalArts Professor on Arts Education Panel

Robert Benedetii, a professor at the CalArts School of Theater, has been appointed to the Theater Project committee of the National Center for Arts Education Research, school officials announced Friday.

Goal of the center, created with a $2.4-million federal grant, is to improve arts education in elementary and secondary schools. Benedetii, who chaired the Theater Department at New York University before going to the Valencia campus, will be part of a team that will develop a model arts program for three schools in Scottsdale, Ariz.

After two years of testing, the program will be introduced in all Scottsdale public schools.

Joining Benedetii on the committee are Garland Writer, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; Oscar Brockeet, professor at the University of Texas; Wallace Smith, an Illinois high school teacher, and Lin Wright of the Children’s Theater Assn.