With imaginative learning, a single work of art becomes an inexhaustible resource for discovery and growth.

Each individual—child or adult—possesses an innate ability to respond to works of art in ways that can heighten perception, ignite the imagination, and challenge preconceived notions. Imaginative learning is designed to foster and support such responses by using extended, in-depth engagements with works of art. Through these engagements, students develop an inside understanding of the artistic choices that contribute to the creation of a work of art, and their own imaginations are activated.

Teaching artists (working artists specially trained by Lincoln Center Institute) and classroom teachers lead activities that consist of

• Art Making
• Questioning
• Reflection
• Research (multimedia and multidisciplinary)

As the framework for its practice, LCI has created the Capacities for Imaginative Learning, which are applicable to all curricular subjects and positively influence student learning. The Capacities are core skills—observing, synthesizing, assessing—and operate as both strategies for, and outcomes of, study according to LCI’s practice. They also serve as the discrete elements through which students can achieve the Common Core Standards. 

Access a PDF of Entering the World of the Work of Art, a document designed as a guide to LCI's instructional approach that puts a work of art at its center.

Entering the World of the Work of Art 2011

Watch a video of LCI's executive director, Scott Noppe-Brandon, speak about the Institute's view on imagination as an essential educational tool.