This is a summary of a story written by Miriam Sauls on Duke Arts.

Two years ago, John Brown, a music professor and Duke University’s former provost for the arts, invited several university students to envision an arts program that would connect art students at Duke with Durham Public Schools (DPS).

Doctoral student Devon Carter was with one of the first student teams tasked with turning Brown’s vision into a reality.

“One of the ideas that came up again and again was centered around a final showcase or performance that would bring the DPS students to campus and feature their work,” said Carter, who earned a Ph.D. last year in musicology and is now teaching at Shaw University.

Later that year, the Mary Duke Biddle Duke Arts Fellows was born. Collaboration is at the heart of the arts program that brings a Duke student and arts faculty member into the classroom of a DPS arts educator.