Our History

As one of South Carolina’s first arts magnet schools, Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary in Charleston, SC has been a leader in arts education. Throughout our 40 years, we have opened our doors to regional, national and international visitors who’ve wanted to learn from and grow with us. In the spirit of creative risk taking, we continue to craft our approach to educating children within the arts and beyond through foundational community partnerships, such as with Engaging Creative Minds (ECM). As one of the first Arts in the Basic Curriculum Institute schools in SC, our longstanding artist in residency program model has been a staple of connecting our students with artists and creative thinkers for as long as our school has been in operation and has spawned ECM’s approach to reaching, teaching and inspiring students of all ages across the state. Through Charleston County School District’s effort, our school has been a model for the creation of a number of other arts magnet programs, the first of which was North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary, a place we consider our sister school. Through this generative relationship we have forged an arts magnet schools conference that has grown in both size and scope to include a burgeoning network of regional art schools. Our school’s dedication to arts education is documented in Creative Meaning through Literature and the Arts, where author and educator, Claudia Cornett, observed and described many of our teachers’ arts integrated lessons. As our school becomes more culturally diverse, we believe that the level of engagement provided through an arts integrated curriculum gives all of our students the unique opportunity to construct and internalize learning.