Membership
Join the largest creative community established exclusively for visual arts educators, university professors, researchers and scholars, teaching artists, administrators, and art museum educators.
Join NAEA Renew MembershipNews
MAY 2012
5-21-12
New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design
. Governors are increasingly incorporating arts and cultural exchanges into their economic development approaches. Many states have invested in the arts as a strategy to attract the "creative class" and reverse “brain drain.” Arts programs have been high-impact components of economic development programs by: Leveraging human capital and cultural resources through tourism, crafts, and cultural attractions; Serving as a centerpiece for downtown redevelopment and cultural renewal; Creating vibrant public spaces, enhancing urban quality of life, expanding the tax base, and improving regional and community image; and Contributing to a region's "innovation habitat" by making communities more attractive to highly desirable, knowledge-based employees. Governors can position their states to use the arts effectively by promoting new partnerships among state agencies, communities, and the business sector and by harnessing the power of the arts and culture as tools that unite communities, create economic opportunity, and improve the quality of life. (from the National Governors Association).
Arts Education Tapped in Turnaround Effort. Eight academically troubled public schools across the nation will get a dose of arts education support to help them turn around. (Education Week)
Doodle 4 Google winner cashes in with 'Pirate Times' drawing, finds a Chromebook in the treasure chest. Avast ye! Google has announced the national winner of its fifth annual Doodle 4 Google competition, and we'd like to congratulate second grader Dylan Hoffman of Caledonia, Wisconsin for his fine work.
District of Columbia NCLB waiver request hits roadblock. The U.S. Department of Education has expressed concerns about the request by the District of Columbia for a waiver from provisions of No Child Left Behind because of the city's poor record of handling federal grants and complying with special-education laws, Bill Turque writes in this blog post. Before approving the waiver, federal officials want to know more about how the city will deal with those issues in the future. Without an NCLB waiver, nearly all of the city's schools could be considered "failing" in two years. (The Washington Post/D.C. Schools Insider blog, 5/18)
2012 ECHO International Photojournalism Student Competition Now Open for Entries. The Echo Foundation is challenging students worldwide to show what democracy, tyranny, justice or injustice look like through the perspective of their original photography. New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks will judge the competition finals. The Grand Prize Winner will be invited to Charlotte, NC for a one-day photo shoot with renowned photojournalist Bill Eppridge at the Democratic National Convention; AND will have his or her winning photograph framed and mounted in the companion exhibition One America, One American: Robert F. Kennedy Through the Lens of Bill Eppridge, to open at The Charlotte Observer Gallery in September 2012. The competition is open to all students worldwide from ages 16 to 28. There is no cost to enter. Entries must be received online no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT Saturday June 30, 2012.
PA: Call to Artists: ‘some things looming’ Fiber Arts Gallery presents: “What’s Black, White & Red All Over?”. Is it a sunburned zebra; a newspaper; a snacking vampire? The first major show of the 2012-2013 season runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 27. Artists are being challenged to come up with their own unique, fiber-oriented answers beyond the originals—A newspaper. A zebra with a sunburn. Or a vampire having a midnight snack. It will run from Sept. 15 through Oct. 27, 2012. An opening reception will be held on Sept. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. and a closing reception on Oct. 27 from 1 to 3 p.m. The postmarked or electronic deadline to enter using an official entry form is July 21, 2012 and the entry fee is $25. Up to three original, one-of-a-kind works (40” x 40” for 2D and 18” x 18” x 18” for 3D) may be submitted, along with an artist statement and a 100-word write up for each submitted artwork. Art may be for sale. Artists will be notified about selected works beginning Aug. 11. 2012. Selected artwork may be shipped or hand-delivered during gallery hours or by appointment on Aug. 22, 25 and 16 and Sept. 1. Download the pdf entry form or send questions via e-mail to service@somethingslooming.com or call 610-373-7337.
Call for Materials: Every year the DC Books to Prisons Project receives thousands of letters from inmates nationwide asking us for free books. One of the most common requests is for books that teach drawing. It’s difficult to have enough books on hand to fill all the requests. We would like uncopyrighted how-to-draw materials that we can photocopy and send to inmates. What do inmates want to learn to draw? Everything—the human figure, trucks, seascapes, architecture, dragons, you name it.
If you have uncopyrighted how-to-draw materials that you’d be willing to share with the DC Books to Prisons Project, you can make a real difference in the lives of inmates across America. Please email us at btopdc@gmail.com or write us at: DC Area Books to Prisons, P.O. Box 34190, Washington, D.C. 20043-4190. The DC Books to Prisons Project, founded in 1999, sends more than 10,000 books each year to prisoners around the country. We also develop and support prison libraries. All our work is done by volunteers with donated time, space and resources.
CALL FOR PAPERS: DRS // CUMULUS Oslo 2013, The 2nd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, 14-17 May 2013, Oslo, Norway. Organised by-Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Technology, Art Design -DRS (Design Research Society) -CUMULUS (the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media). This international conference is a springboard for sharing ideas and concepts about contemporary design education research. Contributors are invited to submit research that deals with different facets of contemporary approaches to design education research. All papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed. This conference is open to research in any aspect and discipline of design education. Conference theme: DESIGN LEARNING FOR TOMORROW - DESIGN EDUCATION FROM KINDERGARTEN TO PhD. Designed artefacts and solutions influence our lives and values, both from a personal and societal perspective. Designers, decision makers, investors and consumers hold different positions in the design process, but they all make choices that will influence our future visual and material culture. To promote sustainability and meet global challenges for the future, professional designers are dependent on critical consumers and a design literate general public. For this purpose design education is important for all. We propose that design education in general education represents both a foundation for professional design education and a vital requirement for developing the general public competence for informed decision making.
2012 InSEA/USSEA Conference, “Education through Art: Teaching for Global Understanding & Engagement”. The academic school year is coming to a close...looking for an intellectually stimulating and invigorating summer experience? Plan to attend the 2012 InSEA/USSEA Conference, “Education through Art: Teaching for Global Understanding & Engagement”. The conference will be held June 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza Union Station Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. Nearly 80 presenters will offer over over 100 workshops, forums, paper presentations and symposia on topics related teaching art across disciplines in local and global contexts. A partial schedule of events is posted on the USSEA website. Plan to attend the entire conference for the lower pre-registration rates – which have been extended until midnight, June 11 and may be paid via Paypal. Regular registration rates and day passes, as well as tickets to special workshops and museum tours will be available at the door. For further information, contact the Conference Coordinator, Marjorie Manifold mmanifol@indiana.edu.
ED REVIEW - May 18, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
Save the dates for the AEP Fall 2012 National Forum! September 13-14, 2012, The Chattanoogan Hotel and Conference Center. Submit a Small Group Session Proposal. Calling All Student Artists! Stay tuned to www.aep-arts.org/events/forum.
NJ: Some Sour Notes as Arts Education Tries to Strike Balance in Schools. Despite spending, testing priorities, arts are offered in nearly every school, but with fewer students and staffing. A new report on the state of arts education in New Jersey reflects the quandary of how to strike a balance between the recognized needs for music and the visual arts with the financial and testing realities that public schools face. While the report paints a picture of how schools are coping with that balance, the news was not all rosy, with fewer students -- and teachers – in art classes. (Patch.com)
NY: In District 75, Using the Arts in Everyday Academics. A professional development program for New York City special education teachers is reminding them of one basic principle: students like to have fun. And when students are having fun, chances are they will be more engaged with the lesson at hand. With that in mind, the city’s Education Department and the Manhattan New Music Project, a nonprofit arts organization, are using a $4.6 million federal grant to implement EASE, Everyday Arts for Special Education. (The New York Times)
New art and education center in downtown Tulsa opens to public Tuesday. Allen is one of several University of Tulsa graduate art students who occupy a small private studio space on the third floor of the Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education in the Brady District. On Tuesday, the university will officially open the center to the public from noon to 6 p.m. for tours, which will include classrooms and a gallery exhibition of "Landscapes From the Brush of Thomas Moran." (Tulsa World)
Use your voice to restore funding for the Arts in Louisiana. If you love Music, Opera, Dance, Art, Theater, and Arts in Education, now is the time to raise your voice, and stop the Louisiana Legislature from making deep cuts to Arts funding! The world comes to New Orleans because of our arts filled culture. Music, food, history, architecture, and heritage, are our calling cards. Why would the State want to cut funding for these things that are the lifeblood of Louisiana? This is a question we all must ask. (The Examiner)
Ovation and Comcast Cable Announce Co-Sponsorship of Michigan's Arts & Culture Trek Grant Program. Ovation and Comcast Cable to Donate $50K in Cash and Media Support for Ongoing Program to Supply Transportation to Michigan K-12 Students for Arts and Culture-Related Field Trips. (MarketWatch.com)
Actor Johnathon Schaech Rallies For Arts Education In New PSA With Jane Lynch, Steven Tyler & More
5-18-12
VIDEO: April 2nd public release of “Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10” . The Office of Communications and Outreach just posted the April edition of “School Days,” a monthly retrospective on the Department’s key activities; the FRSS release begins at 5:16.
Silicon Valley needs humanities students. Quit your technology job. Get a PhD in the humanities. That’s the way to get ahead in the technology sector. That, at least, is what philosopher Damon Horowitz told a crowd of attendees at the BiblioTech Conference at Stanford University in 2011. Horowitz is also a serial entrepreneur who co-founded a company, Aardvark, which sold to Google for $50 million. He is presently the In-House Philosopher / Director of Engineering at Google. Wait, you say, that’s insane. At a time when record numbers of people, among them those with high-level degrees, are receiving public assistance, what kind of fool would get a degree in a subject with no clear job prospects beyond higher education or teaching? (Washington Post)
AYAW Times - Issue 26 from The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Featuring New York City Honors the Scholastic Awards Medalists!; Scholastic Curates: A Choice Collection; and From the Alliance’s Atelier to His First Solo Show.
Over 120 Association of Art Museum Directors member museums celebrate Art Museum Day on May 18th. Over 120 art museums across North America will offer free or reduced admission, special programs, and other initiatives as part of their celebrations of Art Museum Day on May 18, 2012. These museums are all members of the Association of Art Museum Directors—located across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Building on public response to past Art Museum Days, this year AAMD is encouraging visitors to share their experiences during Art Museum Day on a special printed form available at participating museums and via social media with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay and through special events on Facebook and Foursquare in a collective public response. (artdaily.org)
IL: ARTS for ALL Chicago Schools. Support the idea that CPS should fund two full-time state certified Fine and Performing Arts teachers at every school in Chicago. Why? With the longer school day, it would be irresponsible of us NOT to include a Fine Arts education.
i3 Grant Competition Deadlines Approaching. The application deadline for the Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) competition for validation and scale-up grants is May 30, 2012.
Calif. NCLB waiver request differs from other states'. California's No Child Left Behind waiver request fails to comply with some requirements of the U.S. Department of Education formula, most notably in the area of teacher evaluation. Officials say the state doesn't have the money to pay for a new teacher-evaluation program as required. The state also wants to stop putting aside money for school choice, tutoring and professional development. Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org) (5/16)
Missouri Alliance for Arts Education May Update. In this issue: Fine Arts Education Day, Missouri Fine Arts Assessment Pilot, and MAAE Executive Director Travels to Washington D.C. for Arts Events.
REMINDER! Saturday, 8PM...JOE THE QUILTER: UNPLUGGED (accompaniment by Maggie Hasspacher). An evening with quilt artist and musician Joe Cunningham that will be unlike anything you'll ever see. Enjoy an exhibit of Joe's quilts during the show. Free parking behind Freehand Gallery, and metered street parking. Read more about Joe and his modernist quilts. TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR THIS EVENT AT CRAFT IN AMERICA STUDY CENTER. Please RSVP to rsvp@craftinamerica.org or 323-951-0610. CRAFT IN AMERICA STUDY CENTER, 8415 W. Third St. Los Angeles, CA 90048 · (next door to Freehand Gallery). This event is free. Craft in America Study Center is a non-profit, and accepts donations of any size. Visit the new Craft in America Study Center BLOG at the link below:
For information on Craft in America, the documentary series, visit: http://www.craftinamerica.org
VA: Open House & Art Gallery - Hosted by Nikki Waddell, MD. I am excited to invite you to our Open House for my new primary care practice Kingstowne Internal Medicine. Due to my love and appreciation for the Arts we are introducing Kingstowne Internal Medicine’s Art Gallery ‘Kingstowne Canvases for a Cause.’ We are featuring dynamic artists who are auctioning their work and some of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity. We are excited for the opportunity to serve our community while providing a platform for artists to showcase and sale their work. Come meet our Staff and Artists. We encourage you to forward the evite to family and friends. ***Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be served*** Kingstowne Internal Medicine, 5901 Kingstowne Village Pkwy Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22315
5-16-12
Arts high school students walk out to protest proposed budget cuts. More than 1,000 students from the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts walked from their downtown campus to school district headquarters Tuesday afternoon to protest budget cuts that have the potential to devastate the school’s arts program. (LA Times)
You're invited to participate in Connectivity: An Arts Integration Virtual Conference on July 31st, 2012. Plan to join colleagues from all across the globe as we explore Arts Integration strategies, research, and implementation methods from nationally-renowned Arts Integration experts. Presenters include Susan Riley, author of Shake the Sketch: An Arts Integration Workbook, Rosalind Flynn, educational drama consultant with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Touring Workshops for Teachers, Ali Oliver-Krueger, Arts Education Specialist with InterAct Story Theater, Jessica Balsley, founder of TheArtofEd.com, and many more. Registration is only $75 and includes a complimentary copy of Shake the Sketch, access to all of the day's presentations online, and a members-only online community where you can download the presentations and materials, and interact with all of the presenters and conference participants before, during and after the conference. Spaces are limited for this exciting event.
Igniting 21st Century Learning Skills through Design. Art educators today are being driven to integrate 21st century learning skills into their classroom. Here’s your chance to take a proactive step forward to help your students get ahead of the curve. Art educators today are being driven to integrate 21st century learning skills into their classroom. Here’s your chance to take a proactive step forward to help your students get ahead of the curve.
NCLB Waiver Plans Push School Grading Systems. States are proposing the use of complex formulas to shed more light on individual schools and help pinpoint improvement strategies. (Education Week)
Amon Carter Museum receives $75,000 digitization grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art announces that it has received a $75,000 Access to the Artist Archives digitization grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant will allow the museum to digitize, catalog and publish online its archival collections of eight prominent American photographers of the 20th century. These collections are comprised of 22,000 photographic prints and 200,000 negatives, manuscripts, other ephemera, books and related collections. (artdaily.org)
ESCONDIDO (CA): Arts center gets $10K in grants for children's programs. The grants will help improve the center's arts education programs for children. The $7,500 Qualcomm Foundation grant will help fund "My Story: Literacy through the Arts." Serving more than 600 local students in fourth and fifth grades, "My Story" helps kids improve their artistic skills and better appreciate both visual and performing arts. (North County Times)
Art students’ Memory Project helps orphans worldwide. The Winfield Student Chapter of the National Art Honor Society’s main goal is to provide school and community service. Students who volunteer 10 hours or more each year receive an NAHS pin. The chapter has led children’s activities at Art in the Park, helped with the William Newton Hospital’s Gingerbread Festival, coat and food drives. They have helped with a number of graphic projects for the school system and painted murals in the schools and community, including the Alzheimer’s Unit at the Winfield Veterans Home. Recently, students in Lynn Felts’ Advanced Art Class, many of whom are members of NAHS, completed the Memory Project. (Winfield Courier)
5-14-12
Statewide Report on Arts Education Finds Nearly Every Child Has Access to Arts Education, With Access Increasing Over Past Five Years. Nearly every child in New Jersey has access to arts education in their school, according to a survey released today from the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project. The survey is the most comprehensive assessment of arts education in New Jersey schools ever conducted and reflects data collected from 99 percent of New Jersey's public schools. The Census Project is part of a public-private partnership that includes the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, New Jersey Department of Education, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey Arts Education Partnership, ArtPride New Jersey Foundation, and Quadrant Arts Education Research. The survey found that 97% of New Jersey students have access to arts education in their schools, with music and visual art nearly universally available. The survey also revealed that New Jersey high schools with more arts education tended to have a greater percentage of students who were highly proficient in language arts on the High School Proficiency Assessment test. High schools with more arts education saw higher rates of students planning to enroll in a four-year college. (PRNewswire, 5/10/12)
Related stories:
N.J. artists, advocates lobby for more arts 'at the public policy table'
Some Sour Notes as Arts Education Tries to Strike Balance in Schools
Report: Arts Education Leads to Higher Test Scores
Arts Education an Operatic Tragedy. Believe it or not, this Saturday the Pittsburgh Opera is planning to honor Gov. Corbett with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to... wait for it... EDUCATION! I kid you not. The Opera announced that Corbett "will be honored for his early work as a teacher as well as his long-standing protection of the public interest" and that, "as Governor, he has recognized the economic, educational, and social value of the arts." (The Huffington Post)
Getty Research Institute launches free online search gateway to the world's art libraries. Thursday, May 31, 2012 the Getty Research Institute will launch the Getty Research Portal, an unprecedented resource that will provide universal access to digitized texts in the field of art and architectural history. The Getty Research Portal is a free online search gateway that aggregates descriptive metadata of digitized art history texts, with links to fully digitized copies that are free to download. Art historians, curators, students, or anyone who is culturally curious can unearth these valuable sources of research without traveling from place to place to browse the stacks of the world’s art libraries. There will be no restrictions to use the Getty Research Portal; all anyone needs is access to the internet.(artdaily.org)
New and unique web community for artists will help reduce the ease of copyright infringement. A new art community is around the corner – and it its creators are calling upon artists and art enthusiasts to make it happen. anipan is a new and unique art community created by the team that built MangaBullet, a website for manga-inspired artists. They also consulted with pixiv, Japan’s sixth mostvisited website (Video Research Interactive Inc., April 2012) with more than 4 million users, for their international-facing site, pixiv.com. The community, which is scheduled to launch into closed alpha in June, will host a tailored feature set that distinctly separates it from any other art community. One key feature is the ability to drag-and-drop artwork onto any page of the site, simultaneously uploading it to anipan and connected social networks and other art communities. (artdaily.org)
View VSA: Art Transforming Lives e-Newsletter. Help Make VSA Accessible to All! No one better understands how to make art accessible for students of all ages regardless of abilities than VSA Indiana Teaching Artists. All of our Teaching Artists participate in ongoing professional development to learn how to make adaptations and include all students.
9th Circuit Rules on 'Highly Qualified' Teachers Under NCLB (May 10, 2012, The School Law Blog)
Wis. bid for NCLB waiver falls short, federal review finds. State education officials in Wisconsin are working to revise their bid for a waiver from some requirements of No Child Left Behind, amid a federal review that found the state's application deficient in several areas. The state's original bid lacked details about how to implement new evaluation and accountability systems, and did not have ambitious goals for improving student achievement, the federal review found. (Wisconsin State Journal - Madison, 5/14)
5-11-12
From Arts Watch - May 9, 2012 from Americans for the Arts
Texas: Austin School District Receives $1M Donation for Arts Programs
KVUE.com, 5/7/12
"The Austin Independent School District is accepting a $1 million donation that will help its arts programs. The person who donated the money wishes to remain anonymous. Who the mysterious benefactor is may never be known, but their donation will have a huge impact on thousands of Austin students...City leaders and district officials gathered at Lamar Middle School to celebrate the big announcement. 'An anonymous donor who is a leader in the creative industries has donated $1 million to support arts-rich schools in the Austin Independent School District,' said Brad Hasty, executive director of mindPOP, an Austin arts group. mindPOP says the money will go into the newly-created Austin Creative Classroom Fund. It will help teachers develop creative learning projects designed to draw in students and have them eager to learn now and better serve the community in the future."
Tennessee: State Considers Student Portfolio Evaluation Program
The Commercial Appeal, 5/3/12
"If the plan tested in Memphis City Schools this year goes as many expect, schools across the state will have the option of using student art in place of standardized tests to gauge the effectiveness of art teachers. For [art teacher Amy] McSpadden and thousands of teachers like her, there is no standardized test for her subject. 'We'll keep portfolios all year of student work,' said McSpadden...She likes the plan, she says, because no one is telling her what the portfolio must look like or include. 'I can create my own, whatever works best to show my students' growth,' she said. 'We have to be honest enough with ourselves to know that not all our kids are going to be Picassos or Monets,' McSpadden said.
North Carolina: Foundation Offers $150,000 Arts Education Challenge Grant
Charlotte Observer, 5/7/12
"In the second recent move to turn more Charlotteans into arts backers, the Leon Levine Foundation is making a $150,000 challenge grant to support arts education projects for young people. The dollar-for-dollar match could yield a total of $300,000 to help bring the arts, science, and history to children. The grant applies to dozens of projects being listed on Power2give.org, a fundraising site created by the Arts & Science Council (ASC)...The site enables cultural groups to list projects that need money. Potential donors can scan the proposals and contribute to anything that appeals to them. They also can signal their friends through Facebook. The Power2give fundraising runs alongside the ASC’s push for education money in its annual campaign. The ASC began raising money for education in its 2011 campaign, when it brought in $1 million to help restore some of the arts programs cut from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools."
Project Ideas/Inspiration for Art Teachers
5-9-12
Secretary Duncan to Hold Debrief Discussion on “ED Goes Back to School” and Speak at Teach for America 2nd Annual Gala, as Part of Teacher Appreciation Week. On Wed., May 9, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Department staff are participating in “ED Goes Back to School.” Over 45 U.S. Department of Education staff will shadow teachers in the D.C. area and across the country.
ArtsEdSearch.org: Your One-Stop-Shop for Research, Policy, and Advocacy is Now Open. Join the thousands of people already using ArtsEdSearch.org in their work in ensuring a high quality education that includes the arts for every student. ArtsEdSearch.org is providing champions of arts education with research, policy, and advocacy information in 49 countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Spain, India, China, and South Korea. Explore ArtsEdSearch.org today to learn about the educational outcomes associated with arts learning for teachers and students.
Get Ready for the AEP Fall 2012 National Forum! Save the date for September 13-14 for this fall’s National Forum where our theme will center around integrative thinking. This Forum, which occurs during National Arts in Education Week, will feature unique initiatives among education, arts, business, cultural, government, and philanthropic sectors that are thinking and working differently from their traditional roles. Arts and education leaders are looking at these sectors to reimagine a new kind of learning environment that uses arts education to shape a nation of integrative, creative thinkers. Our host city is Chattanooga, TN, a city that is recognized for its arts-centered revitalization and cross-sector partnerships that have contributed to the city winning three national awards for outstanding "livability" in the past decade.
Calling All Student Artists: the Fall 2012 Young Artist Award Competition is now 0pen! AEP is seeking student art submissions for the design of the front cover of its Fall 2012 National Forum program booklet! Submit your work for a chance to win the Young Artist Award! The theme of this National Forum is inspired in part by this quote: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Realize that everything connects to everything else.– Leonardo da Vinci. Middle and high school students ages 12-18 living in the Southeast region (this includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) are invited to send us an original work of visual art that responds to, reflects, or is inspired by this quote by Friday, June 29, 2012 at 5pm, EST. The winning artist will have his or her artwork displayed on the front cover of the AEP National Forum program booklet, and will receive a monetary prize and recognition in a special ceremony at the AEP National Forum.
Governors Emphasize the Arts in Workforce Development. The National Governors Association has released New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design. Prepared in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), this report illustrates in rich detail the many ways in which the arts, culture, and design help communities to create jobs, boost their economies, and compete successfully in an innovation-based economy. The report includes an extended discussion of workforce development and recommends that states take action to make the arts a meaningful part of K-12 education standards, cross-curricular learning, programs for at-risk youth, adult education, and workforce training. Designed for policymakers at the state level, this report is also a useful case-making tool for advocates, educators, parents, and civic leaders. More information about the report is available on the NASAA website.
Arts Schools Network Announces Fall Conference in Chicago. The Arts Schools Network's (ASN) annual conference, Urban Arts Education Landscape, will be held October 16-19 in Chicago, IL, one of the nation’s most thriving creative cities. ASN is partnering with Columbia College Chicago, the title sponsor of the conference. The ASN annual conference is a rewarding opportunity for arts schools leaders to network, share best practices, and recognize and reward talented students, exemplary schools, and arts leaders. Attendees will benefit from ASN's association with local professional arts organizations including museums, symphonies, and theatres with a particular focus on successful community partnerships. Special features will include a presentation and walking tour of the city's spectacular Millennium Park as well as visits to the Chicago Academy of the Arts, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships, ChiArts, and a special early morning tour of the Art Institute of Chicago.
VSA Accepting Entries for 2012 Visual Art Programs. VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, is accepting entries from artists ages 5-25 for the following programs: Sustaining/Creating: A National Juried Exhibition for Emerging Artists with Disabilities, ages 16-25. Sustaining/Creating asks emerging artists to showcase work that illuminates innovative viewpoints on sustainability and contemporary creativity. Fifteen artists will be selected for an exhibition at the Smithsonian and will share $60,000 in cash awards. Entry deadline is July 8. Yo Soy…Je Suis…I am…: International Art Program for Children with Disabilities, ages 5-18. Children with disabilities, ages 5-18, are encouraged to create a self-portrait that illustrates who they are and who they will be. Self-portraits allow artistic freedom for children with disabilities to celebrate the unique qualities they have to share with the world. Entry deadline is July 15.
Ovation’s Newest Arts Ed Toolkit Now Available. Ovation announces its newest free arts education resources available at www.ovationtv.com/educators. The Toolkit includes video clips of documentaries, films, and complementary curriculum units for grades 9-12. The materials are suited to arts teachers across all visual and performing arts disciplines, as well as social studies and English language arts teachers. The new lineup includes: Andrew Geller: A Spatial Encounter, exploring the works and career of this legendary architect; Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists - 1958-1968, highlighting the contributions of significant female Pop artists; and Artland: Best of Artists, highlighting visual artists and studios visited during a multi-city journey in Canada and the US. This program features paintings, photography and sculptures. Also offered is a lesson by Ovation’s featured partner, The J. Paul Getty Museum. Ovation’s Arts Ed Toolkit is a partnership with Cable in the Classroom, and was designed in collaboration with the New York City Department of Education, Office of Arts and Special Projects.
The Kennedy Center’s Arts Integration Conference. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents the second annual Arts Integration Conference: Exploring an Approach to Teaching on June 25-28, 2012. The Conference explores the “how” of arts integration, rooted in the Kennedy Center’s 30 years of experience. Come to this four-day conference where you have the opportunity to: Engage in a variety of participatory workshops focused on arts integration practices led by Kennedy Center national teaching artists; Hear from Rachel Goslins, Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, about the Reinvesting in Arts Education report; Enjoy a performance of the musical Memphis! This conference is appropriate for teachers, principals, school district administrators, and partnering arts organization staff and teaching artists. It is recommended that participants attend as a team from a school/district.
Summer Professional Development Opportunity in London. The Global Learning Studio is an international professional development opportunity for classroom teachers, museum educators, arts specialists, curriculum leaders, administrators, and teaching artists from schools and community-based arts organizations. Its summer workshop will take place at The American School in London, June 18-22, 2012. Participants will have opportunities to explore two central questions: How can we use the arts to develop thinking skills and understanding across arts and non-arts disciplines? and How can we use our surroundings to enrich curriculum and deepen student understanding? The Global Learning Studio offers creative, hands-on approaches in music, theatre, dance, and visual arts applied across the full curriculum to develop understanding in various disciplines and cross–disciplinary contexts. For additional information, please visit the American School in London site:
Calif. officials prepare NCLB waiver request. Education officials in California are preparing the state's No Child Left Behind waiver, which does not include any plans to mandate changes to teacher evaluations. Officials say the omission is due in part to budgetary constraints. "We're saying we just can't pay for it," said Michael Kirst, president of the state school board, which is expected to vote Thursday on the plan. Education Week/Politics K-12 blog (5/4)
Enter the Teen Voices May Artist of the Month Contest. Grab your paints, clay, pencils, camera—whatever medium you use—and turn up your creativity! We're looking for teen girls to publish in Teen Voices! Compete with teen artists around the world to become one of 12 Teen Voices Artist of the Month semi-finalists. Then go head-to-head for the title Teen Voices Artist of the Year! Teen Voices is teaming up with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) for our first-ever art contest. Compete for a chance to win a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) to the renowned SMFA's Pre-College Summer Art Studio—a $4,000 value! Spend three weeks living in Boston immersed in nine different artistic disciplines and begin to build a professional art portfolio. The contest began on January 1, 2012. Each month has a different theme, such as sisterhood, power, beauty, or heritage. Amplify your creative voice—you can submit up to three pieces of your work EACH month. May Theme: Sports. The 2012 Summer Olympics are just around the corner and the 40th anniversary of Title IX (which prohibits gender discrimination in sports) is this June. We're looking for art that celebrates the trials, tribulations, dedication, perseverance, and excitement of athletes. What physical activities do you enjoy? Which players or teams do you support? How has Title IX impacted and influenced sport over the past 40 years? How do you define "sport?" Is it the act of competing or just breaking a sweat? Create an entirely new piece or submit a piece from your existing portfolio!
New Jersey Fine Arts Annual: Going digital, and beyond. This year’s New Jersey Fine Arts Annual, at the Montclair Art Museum through July, is devoted to artists who somehow engage the digitization of the arts in their work. That means cell-phone camera shots and videos, of course, and other miniaturized technologies that are not necessarily perfect for museum viewing. The show is not limited to tiny glowing screens by any means, but there is hardly an object here that doesn’t contemplate what their proliferation has done to our visual universe.
VSA/Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Exhibition Program. This year's call for art asks emerging artists to showcase work that illuminates innovative viewpoints on sustainability and contemporary creativity. Beyond its scientific definition, sustainability references notions of responsibility and stewardship of our natural world in all facets of human interaction–from the environmental to the cultural. Sustainability indicates the capacity to endure.
UK: There's no business like (teaching) show business: jobs in arts education. In this Jobs top 10, we're making a song and dance about the diverse jobs in higher education for artists, performers and writers and the academics who study these disciplines. (The Guardian)
MCPS students learn how to create art on iPads. Imagine an art lesson with an iPad as the canvas. “Knowing the basics of art and other media adds to your ability to do successful digital paintings,” said Carla Getz, a visual art teacher at Missoula’s C.S. Porter Middle School. “You still need to know how different brushes work to use the tools in the program.”
Teaching Native History Through Art. John Bercier, a Chippewa Cree art teacher at Butte High School in Montana, is raising the bar on art education by combining it with Native American history. According to a recent article in The Montana Standard, Bercier is working with Montana’s Office of Public Instruction (OPI) to develop an art curriculum for OPI’s Indian Education For All (IEFA) policy. One of Bercier’s advanced art classes recently focused on ledger art. The original purpose of which, according to “Final Accounting: Traditional Ledger Art Speaks to Past and Future” by Dina Gilio-Whitaker, was tribal record keeping.
Airport arts contest for high school students 'sells' Memphis to millions of visitors. Five million people who change planes in Memphis each year may never set foot on Beale Street, but they can feel the city's vibe just the same. Images of blues, barbecue, history and attractions are beckoning in the concourse connectors, courtesy of Memphis International Airport Community Foundation's High School Visual Arts Competition.
5-7-12
Secretary Duncan and Department Staff to Engage with Teachers During Week-long Celebration of the Teaching Profession. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Department staff will celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with an array of events and outreach. “Teacher Appreciation Week is an opportunity to share the praise and appreciation that teachers deserve every day,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “But it is even more important to go one step further and use this week as a chance to learn more from teachers about how we can make teaching not only one of America’s most important professions but also one of America's most valued professions.” (ED.gov)
Teacher Appreciation Week Gets Underway
U.S. Department of Education Kicks-Off Teacher Appreciation Week with a National Dialogue on Strengthening and Elevating the Teaching Profession
Getty to trim 34 jobs in its museum division. The education department will be hit hardest, with the loss of 19 employees. The $4.3 million in expected annual savings will be redirected to art acquisitions. (The Los Angeles Times). View NAEA's Letter to the Editor | Also see Looking Outside the Frame: “Demythtifying” Museum Education Myths by Melinda Mayer from the July 2012 issue of Art Education
Why creativity, entrepreneurship should be the focal points of education. The focus of teaching and learning in schools should move away from a "stand and deliver" approach to embrace the goal of teaching students to become leaders and problem-solvers, writes former high-school math teacher Jennifer Medbery, who is now a software developer and founder and CEO of Kickboard. "Our schools should be producing kids who tinker, make, experiment, collaborate, question, and embrace failure as an opportunity to learn," Medbery writes. (FastCoExist, 5/1)
Coalition seeks more state autonomy in rewritten ESEA. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act should be rewritten in a way that gives state governments more authority over how to spend education funding, according to a coalition of state and local groups. In a letter issued Thursday to House and Senate leaders, the groups wrote, "We need federal policy that instead of focusing on process and compliance, allows for state and local innovation." (The Hill/The Floor Action blog, 5/3)
Starting From Scratch With ESEA. The fifth in a five-part series. If you had $23 billion a year dedicated to improving low-income children’s education and addressing a wide variety of other congressionally negotiated purposes, what would you do? This is the question Congress should be asking when its members finally sit down to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Instead, however, it’s more likely that Congress will simply tinker around the edges in hopes of “fixing” the ESEA—also known today as the No Child Left Behind Act—rather than transforming it.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum announces winners of the 13th Annual National Design Awards. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in design this fall with its 13th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper-Hewitt Director Bill Moggridge announced the winners of the 2012 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines. The award recipients will be honored at a gala dinner Wednesday, Oct. 17, at Pier Sixty in New York. “The National Design Awards program is Cooper-Hewitt’s largest and most widespread educational initiative and celebrates the full spectrum of American design practice,” said Moggridge. “The provocative work of this year’s winners truly shapes the way we experience the world.” First launched at the White House in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards were established to promote excellence and innovation in design. The awards are accompanied each year by a variety of public education programs, including special events, panel discussions and workshops. First Lady Michelle Obama serves as the Honorary Patron for this year’s National Design Awards.
ED REVIEW - May 4, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
UK: School rules: the 10 elements of successful arts education. As two new awards are launched, we should be thinking about what kinds of approaches make it worthwhile for pupils. Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that arts education in UK state schools is patchy, and in places confused and arbitrary – the past 15 years have seen waves of anxiety about literacy and maths with attendant concerns about science, modern languages and history. (The Gaurdian)
The Hardheaded Case For Arts Education. I think proponents of arts education sometimes undersell the value of their own case with this rhetorical register. Whether or not you think the arts are what makes "life worth living" skill in designing aesthetically pleasing objects is a very valuable skill in a modern economy.
Ask the Teachers. When I ask teachers why they teach, they almost always say that it is because they want to make a difference in the lives of children. They talk about the joys of teaching and the singular rewards of watching children learn. Often they mention former students who get in touch years after they graduate to thank them for their success.
Smithsonian American Art Museum will again host national art, video and writers of Presidential Scholars, June 22-July 1. The Association of Art Museum Directors Student Art Exhibit Opening and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Featuring Art by students in education programs at 15 U.S. museums; Go-go drum performance by middle school students from the Takoma Education Campus in Washington, D.C.; and A Visual Thinking Strategies Demonstration With Director of Education and Public Programs Jackie M From the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM. Location: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, Noon to 1 pm, Lyndon Baines Johnson Education Building, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC. Questions? Contact Nicole Carinci at 202-453-5585 or nicole.carinci@ed.gov.
The Saint Louis Art Museum will host the annual conference Navigating the Mainstream, a forum for discussion about the successes and challenges of the constantly evolving African and African-American arts field. This year, the conference coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Romare Bearden Graduate Minority Museum Fellowship. Established in 1992, the Fellowship aims to prepare minority graduate students for work in museums and cultural institutions. We are delighted that many of the previous fellows will participate and look forward to learning about their continued success in the arts. The program will also feature presentations by distinguished scholars, internationally renowned artists, and museum directors and educators who will examine current trends and best practices for collecting, interpreting, presenting, and preserving African and African-American cultural heritage at mainstream museums.
The MUSE Awards honor BMW Guggenheim Lab website and its Urbanology game. The BMW Guggenheim Lab website and its interactive game, Urbanology, were recently honored by the 2012 MUSE Awards, presented by the American Association of Museums (AAM) to recognize digital-media achievements and innovation by museums. Urbanology, an online game that invites the public to role-play as city planners, won the Gold MUSE Award for Games and Augmented Reality, while the Lab's website earned an honorable mention in the Online Presence category. Developed by Local Projects and ZUS, Urbanology is an interactive game in which players confront the challenges and trade-offs of managing a city. (artdaily.org)
5-4-12
STATE OF THE ART: The Joy of Drawing on Glass. Unleash your inner artist with a new category of pen display tablets, ones that won’t clean out your bank account. (The New York Times)
Crayola e-Newsletter - Crafty Mother's Day! May is the perfect time to bring art outdoors! Let your kids enjoy the warmer weather playing with friends and creating art with an array of Crayola outdoor products. It's also a time to remember Mom with a heartfelt, handmade card or gift. End the month with a Memorial Day remembrance and a kick–off to summer. Go to Crayola.com for some more arts & craft ideas–and checkout our new look too!
Create, Capture, Upload: New Site Features Kids’ Digital Projects. Refrigerators and fireplace mantles might still be covered with children’s projects, but more and more, those projects are finding a home online. That’s just one of the purposes for the launch of DIY.org, a site that allows kids to upload photos of their projects and share it with their friends, family, and the public.
Museums Want to Entertain You...New exhibitions using technology without going too far. Once, art museums were like fortresses. They were built of stone atop forbidding mountains of stairs. Today, museums might be nestled under glass pyramids, or sheathed in undulating ripples of stainless steel, or built to look like boats and the hood of a sports car. A city in China has plans for a comic book museum that's shaped like a speech bubble. (The Atlantic)
NC: CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT GANTT CENTER, Friday, May 4, 2012, 7:00 – 9:00 pm | Remarks @ 7:30 pm. Mint Museum Uptown and the Harvey B. Gantt Center will host participants in the 2012 Congressional Art Competition: An Artistic Discovery today. After a panel discussion at the Mint detailing the collaboration involved in developing Levine Center for the Arts, panelists and students will move to the Gantt Center for the 7:00 pm reception. The art professionals who judged the competition will speak briefly about the leading entries after Congressman Watt announces the winners. The competition is open annually to all high school students who reside, attend school or are enrolled in an art program in the 12th Congressional District. Prizes will be presented to the top three entries. All activities are free and open to the public
5-3-12
2012 IDSA Design Learning Challenge. January 2012 serves as the nationwide kick-off to the second IDSA Design Learning Challenge. The Design Learning Challenge is an integral part of IDSA’s efforts to promote and develop an understanding of the practice of industrial design at the K-12 level. This time around, college design students all over the United States will be challenged to co-create innovative and participatory design learning experiences with art students in grades 6-12, anchored in design thinking and learning skills. Our effort is further fueled by the 2009 Indiana State University High School Survey of Student Engagement that reports: Only two percent of students said they'd never been bored in school; just 41 percent of the students in the 2009 survey responded that they went to school because of what they learn in classes; only 23 percent said they went because of their teachers; and around a third said they went because they enjoy being in school. The primary purpose of the IDSA DesignLearning Challenge 2012 is to expose young students to design thinking and create an active awareness of the discipline of industrial design as a career option before students leave high school. Regardless of career choice, the potential life skills gained by understanding the design process alone offers value. Embracing a Learn.Think.Do approach, each Design Learning Challenge 2012 Team will focus on one of the three submission categories: Design Day Event, Targeted Design Project or Industrial Design Awareness Campaign. The 2012 Submission Guidelines provide a systematic, yet flexible, action research framework for students to follow as they conduct, analyze, represent and submit their final design learning study report. Each team will tell their contextual story, content supported by a beginning, middle and end. Mentored by a local college design educator or practicing professional, college design students are encouraged to collaborate as multi-discipline teams with complementary disciplines.
Federal Government Money Is The Best Way To Fund The Arts. Funding the arts in America should be a national priority. Bolstering national commitment to the arts will renew America's competitive edge, and have a far-reaching influence on strategic issues of domestic and international security. (Huffington Post)
Michigan arts organizations land $1.5 million in NEA grants. The National Endowment for the Arts announced 21 grants totaling $1.5 million for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Michigan on Wednesday. Today's grants represent the bulk of the agency's grants for the year and bring Michigan's total for 2012 to nearly $1.9 million. (Detroit Free Press)
Nasher Museum of Art Receives NEA Grant. The Nasher Museum of Art has received a $75,000 grant to work with local public elementary school teachers and their students on an art-infused language arts curriculum. The Art Works grant is one of 788 nationwide given to not-for-profit organizations by the National Endowment for the Arts. The grants support public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts and the strengthening of communities through the arts. (Duke Today)
iTunes Preview: Fine Arts - Impressionists. Enjoy a collection of the works of twelve prominent French Impressionist artists. Twenty-five of each of their most famous paintings can be viewed as full-screen images. Select your favorites for a personal album with music, if desired. A free promotional code is listed below which can be redeemed in the Apple iTunes store: For the iPhone - 33TL7XMPTKWH; For the iPad - MYFK6WK3NHYL; For the Macintosh - PWH9KM4T6FX4.
“Craft in America: Threads” will be airing nationwide on May 11, 2012. Season Four, Threads episode premieres May 11, 2012 and Crossroads episode in October 2012, continues the exploration, preservation and celebration of craft. Through their own words, craft artists reveal what makes their work – and the lives they lead – unique. Learn more about the artists featured in the episodes below. View the programs on the PBS iPhone/iPad app, online at video.pbs.org, or purchase DVDs of the Peabody Award-winning series for your home library.
College students move from the classroom to the Smithsonian. Imagine spending an internship engaging, designing and educating at the world’s largest museum and research complex. That’s what students from the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Maine and George Washington University did while interning at the Smithsonian—working behind-the-scenes alongside experts in art, history, culture and science. Jess Park of Chicago interned at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden where she worked as an interpretive guide. She helped visitors understand the modern and contemporary art collection. “As an interpretive guide, my main duty was to engage visitors in conversations that establish meaningful connections to modern and contemporary art, and help them arrive at a more complete reading of the Hirshhorn’s special exhibitions and permanent collection,” Park said. (artdaily.org)
Internet Explorers: Virtual Field Trips Are More Than Just Money Savers. These online adventures emphasize student participation and standards-based curriculum. Virtual field trips debuted in the early days of the Internet with an awesome promise: They'd take students to exotic places no school bus could, they'd be a boon to low-income classes without a travel budget, and nobody would get stuck in the car listening to the umpteenth verse of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." (Edutopia.org)
5-1-12
Viva la Revolution! State Teachers of the Year Advise ED about Teacher Policy. At the end of a week of activities in Washington to honor the accomplishments of the state Teachers of the Year, those teachers engaged in a conversation about how to improve the teaching profession. It began as ten small-group discussions … (ED.gov)
Less time spent on art, music courses in some Pa. schools. Some Pennsylvania districts report that increased pressure to direct more time and resources to core academic subjects could decrease time spent on music and art. The trend -- similar to a recent decline in foreign-language instruction -- is being seen in a wide range of districts. Some opponents have taken to Facebook to voice their opinion about the cuts and say they plan to lobby their respective school boards. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/30)
Arts education important for Alaska's youth. I have the privilege of serving as Chairman of the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), a state agency which fosters the development for and appreciation of the arts by all Alaskans through education, partnerships, grants, and services. There is a good reason that education is the first in this list, because it possibly the most important of all of ASCA’s forms to Alaskans. Fortunately, ASCA offers a wide a variety of programs which strive to ensure that young Alaskans have access to quality artistic experiences in the classroom at every grade level and in all communities, large or small, urban or rural. (Juneau Empire, 4/29)
School uses art to teach about nutrition, fitness. In a Mississippi school district, educators are using art to teach students about nutrition, exercise and hygiene. Supporters of the Smart program say it is especially important given the state's high rate of childhood obesity. Officials say there already has been anecdotal evidence of the program's success, including a recent observation that students at a restaurant chose to order fruit and a salad, rather than french fries. (The Hattiesburg American Miss., 4/29)
Federal Grants to Fuel Arts Education Smorgasboard. Poetry workshops. Composing and performing operas. Studying sculpture and still-life painting. Staging Shakespeare in the schools. Creating an animated film. Even getting an introduction, yes, to "theatrical circus arts." These are among the activities inside and outside schools slated to get an infusion of federal support under a new round of federal grants announced yesterday by the National Endowment for the Arts. (Education Week, 4/26)
Celebrities adopting 8 schools in effort to preserve arts education. Sarah Jessica Parker adopts Portland school. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington and Forest Whitaker are adopting some of the nation's worst-performing schools and pledged Monday to help the Obama administration turn them around by integrating arts education. The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced a new Turnaround Arts initiative as a pilot project for eight schools with officials from the White House and U.S. Department of Education. Organizers said they aim to demonstrate research that shows the arts can help reduce behavioral problems and increase student attendance, engagement and academic success. (Bend Bulletin)
Portland mayoral candidate Eileen Brady: On arts funding, advocacy and other cultural issues. Recently, The Oregonian's D.K. Row interviewed the three major candidates running for Portland mayor about arts funding, cultural advocacy and other issues related to the creative economy. The candidates were interviewed separately. Each interview was approximately one hour. Each candidate was asked the same series of more than 20 questions. One additional question, however, was specifically directed at the candidate based on his or her previous job experience.
Awards honor artists, art educators and art supporters in the state. South Carolina--The Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Awards and the Jean Laney Folk Heritage Awards are all about the arts. The distinctions were created to annually recognize artists, art educators and art supporters in the state who’ve gone above and beyond in the name of creativity and craft. At midday on Thursday, the six Verner and three Folk Heritage award recipients will be recognized at a ceremony at the State House after the adjournment of the Legislature. (The State, 4/29)
Celebrate UNESCO's 1st International Arts Education Week. Following the success of the Second World Conference on Arts Education (Seoul, 2010), the UNESCO’s General Conference at its 36th session in 2011 proclaimed the 4th week of May as the International Arts Education Week.
Obama Recruits Chuck Close and Yo-Yo Ma for Arts Education Initiative Aimed at Struggling Schools. On Monday, the Obama administration will announce plans for a new program, Turnaround Arts, in an effort to test the hypothesis that arts education can serve as a linchpin for improving the nation's most overburdened public schools. Working in New Orleans; Boston; Denver; Des Moines; Portland, Oregon; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Lame Deer, Montana; and the District of Columbia, the program will call on a range of strategies to integrate art, music, dance, theater, and other forms of creative expression into the schools' curricula. "We’re trying to show that arts education is not only a flower," Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, told the Washington Post this week. "It can also be a wrench.” (ArtInfo.com)
Sarah Jessica Parker, others join Obama arts education push. The Obama administration has enlisted a handful of prominent screen actors -- including Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker and Alfre Woodard -- to help promote Turnaround Arts, an initiative launched this week to incorporate arts education in troubled schools. (Los Angeles Times)
LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS INSTITUTIONS HOST CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION. Panelists Discuss Importance of Art to Education, Revitalization & Economic Growth. Charlotte, NC--On Friday, May 4, Mint Museum Uptown and Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture will host participants in the 2012 Congressional Art Competition: An Artistic Discovery. The competition is open annually to all high school students who reside, attend school or are enrolled in an art program in the 12th Congressional District. The evening will kick off at 5:00 pm at the Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts with a discussion focusing on the extensive collaboration involved in developing Levine Center for the Arts and will then move to the Gantt Center at 7:00 pm for a reception and Awards Ceremony to announce the winners of the art competition. All activities are free and open to the public. Entries will be on display at the Harvey B. Gantt Center through May 27, 2012. The first place winner’s work will also be displayed in the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Since the competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.
Artforum Announces New App! Artforum is pleased to introduce its new iPhone application for artguide—the international art world's most comprehensive directory, listing exhibitions, events, and art fairs in more than 500 cities. Download the artguide app here.
EducationDegree.com is the most complete directory on the web of teacher education degree and certificate programs. It includes over 20,000 teacher education degree and certificate programs, offered by over 1,700 colleges and school districts across the US, reviewed and compiled by hand from the college and district websites.
APRIL 2012
4-27-12
Federal Grants to Fuel Arts Education Smorgasboard. Poetry workshops. Composing and performing operas. Studying sculpture and still-life painting. Staging Shakespeare in the schools. Creating an animated film. Even getting an introduction, yes, to "theatrical circus arts." These are among the activities inside and outside schools slated to get an infusion of federal support under a new round of federal grants announced yesterday by the National Endowment for the Arts. (April 26, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
Compilation of Media Coverage on the Release of Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10
From Arts Watch - April 25, 2012 from Americans for the Arts
New Arts Education Initiative Targets High-Poverty Schools. "Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, and Forest Whitaker are adopting some of the nation’s worst-performing schools and pledged to help the Obama administration turn them around by integrating arts education. The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities [announced] a new Turnaround Arts initiative as a pilot project for eight schools with officials from the White House and U.S. Department of Education. Organizers said they aim to demonstrate new research that shows the arts can help reduce behavioral problems and increase student attendance, engagement, and academic success. The two-year initiative will target eight high-poverty elementary and middle schools...bringing new training for educators at the Aspen Institute, art supplies, and musical instruments totaling about $1 million per year, funded by the Ford Foundation, the Herb Alpert Foundation, and other sponsors." (Associated Press, 4/24/12)
New Jersey: Class Created for Students with Developmental Disabilities. "At [the teacher's] command, [students] start gliding, spinning, and jumping across the floor of the theater studio. Student Mary McNany, who has Down Syndrome, pushes Kate Michael’s wheelchair, helping her new friend to spin in place...The exercise forms the heart of Friday afternoon’s creative drama class at Paper Mill Playhouse...But this class is different. For the first time, Paper Mill has created a class for developmentally disabled students. Every Friday afternoon through May 25, about 10 students—along with some of their siblings and parents—and two teachers play games focused on storytelling, singing, creative movement, and theater improvisation. 'My goal, like in any acting class, is to foster cooperation, to foster communication, to improve self esteem,' said Leslie Fanelli, a teaching artist, playwright, and director who has several disabilities, including dyslexia. 'And fun. If it’s not fun, I’m not doing my job.'" (The Star-Ledger, 4/24/12)
NEA Trims Support for PBS Shows in Favor of New Media. "The National Endowment for the Arts made sweeping cuts in its support of established PBS shows in the 2012 Arts in Media grants, which were announced [April 25]. Instead, the endowment awarded large grants to an array of gaming and web-based projects...This year, applications to the grants program, previously known as the Arts on Radio and Television, were opened for the first time to any media platform, including web and mobile projects, content for theatrical release, and games. In a telephone interview, Alyce Myatt, the endowment’s media arts director, said that while public television and radio remain 'the leads, we also know we have a generation—not of kids but adults—who are consuming content online and on mobile.'" (The New York Times Media Decoder blog, 4/25/12)
District of Columbia: Advocates Head to Capitol Hill for Arts Advocacy Day. "Alec Baldwin and an ensemble of performers, artists, and business [leaders] made an impassioned plea for support for the arts in Washington, D.C. this week. 'The arts are beyond essential,' says Baldwin, who noted that funding for the arts had declined since the 1990s. 'Make no mistake, we are right now $90 to $100 million less in actual federal subsidies,' he said. President Obama has requested more than $154 million in arts and humanities endowments for his 2013 budget, $8 million more than last year...Included in the delegation were singer-songwriter Ben Folds; author and actor Hill Harper, and former dancer Nigel Lythgoe, now creator, executive producer, and judge for So You Think You Can Dance. Addressing supporters at the Arts Advocacy Day event at the Cannon House Building, Harper said the things people really cared about in society, and that had legacy, had usually been designed by artists." (The Epoch Times, 4/19/12)
California: Statewide Initiative Aims to Restore Art in Schools. "With the backing of business, state officials have formed Create CA, a statewide initiative they hope will restore art in schools, so that paintbrushes and even pirouettes are once again as important as No. 2 pencils. The idea is to bring together those who have labored independently for arts education. Participants want to pass legislation, increase funding, and raise public awareness. Those behind the effort—including artists, educators, and executives—believe California now has enough supportive policymakers and the right mix of corporate backing and political will for the idea to succeed where similar efforts have floundered. Gov. Jerry Brown wants it. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson wants it. Business leaders and politicians want it. Nonprofit groups focused on the arts want it and are lined up to help. Parents have always wanted it, but have had to depend on parent groups like the PTA to pay for most of the arts programs still in schools." (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/23/12)
Massachusetts: Mead Art Museum Receives $1 Million Challenge Grant. "The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum a $1,000,000 matching grant to endow its Coordinator of College Programs position and thereby ensure the continuation of the museum’s successful initiatives to integrate the college’s art collection meaningfully into its curriculum. As a condition of the grant, Amherst College has committed to raise a minimum of $1,000,000 within three years. The college seeks to raise an additional $500,000 to underwrite the museum-based academic programs, overseen by the coordinator, that engage 90 percent of Amherst’s student body each year. The matching grant follows a previous grant of $500,000 that the foundation awarded to the Mead in December 2008 to create a position for a Coordinator of College Programs, a museum-based scholar charged with spurring and facilitating curricular engagement with the collection." (ArtDaily.org, 4/23/12)
Creating Innovators: Why America's Education System Is Obsolete - Forbes. America's education system has become obsolete. "It needs reinventing, not reforming," says Harvard Innovation Education Fellow Tony Wagner.
One Million Bones. Students of all ages can participate in One Million Bones, a national, collaborative art installation to recognize millions who have been killed or displaced by humanitarian crises in Africa. Online you'll find teacher guides for every grade level.
Teen Voices Magazine: Only FOUR Days Left to Enter April's Contest. Teen Voices is teaming up with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) for our first-ever art contest. Compete for a chance to win a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) to the renowned SMFA's Pre-College Summer Art Studio—a $4,000 value!" Spend three weeks living in Boston immersed in nine different artistic disciplines and begin to build a professional art portfolio. The contest begins on January 1, 2012. Each month has a different theme, such as sisterhood, power, beauty, or heritage. Amplify your creative voice—you can submit up to three pieces of your work EACH month.
Young Audiences Arts for Learning Receives Digital Gaming Initiative Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded Young Audiences Arts for Learning (YA) with a $50,000 grant for a digital gaming initiative. In partnership with the Laguna College of Art and Design, middle and high school students will learn how to build a game from start to finish, working collaboratively with guidance from their classroom teachers and multidisciplinary artists. The YA digital gaming grant was announced by the NEA along with awards for other exemplary projects in arts education on April, 25, 2012. The NEA awarded 928 grants totaling $77.17 million to not-for-profit organizations nationwide. The YA grant was part of the Art Works category that supports lifelong learning in the arts and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The NEA received more than 1,600 applications in the Art Works category.
InSEA/USSEA Conference, "Education through Art: Teaching for Global Understanding & Engagement" to be held in Indianapolis Indiana, June 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Information about registering, travel to the conference & hotel accommodations are available at the USSEA Website. A preliminary schedule is posted on the USSEA Facebook page. In addition to InSEA/USSEA (affiliated with NAEA), who are the organizers of the conference, the event is being supported by Art Education Association of Indiana (AEAI), the Center for the Study of Global Change, and the Indiana University School of Education. Just this week we received word that the Office of the Vice Provost of Research (OVPR) at indiana University also has awarded a generous grant to support forums and presentations at and/or in conjunction with the conference. (The preliminary schedule does not yet reflect those additional events resulting from the OVPR initiative). Besides the research forums yet to be announced, the conference will feature over 70 presentations, roundtables, forum sessions and workshops for educators. Special attention has been given to selecting presentations of practical benefit to k-12 art teachers, as well as teachers in community settings. Keynote speakers will include Enid Zimmerman, speaking about issues of creativity in global contexts; Ruth Blalocke Jones (Shawnee-Delaware-Peoria), speaking about issues of contemporary art and Native Peoples; Alexandra McNichols, whose presentation will address her accompanying exhibition of photographs of people of endangered cultural groups, and Juan Carlos Castro, who will address issues of technology and global education. (Exact titles TBA). There also will be three on-site art exhibitions. The conference will be held across the street from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art & is scheduled for the weekend of the Eiteljorg sponsored Indian Market - a two day celebration of Native American Life & Culture. There will be conference events associated with the celebration. Post-conference workshops and museum tours (the Children's Museum of Indianapolis & the Indianapolis Museum of Art) will also be available.
Arts to sprout in London this Olympic summer. LONDON (AP).- A festival of fire at Stonehenge. Acrobatic displays in cathedral naves. String quartets in helicopters. London Olympic organizers outlined an extravaganza of arts events Thursday to coincide with the 2012 Summer Games, offering a blockbuster program to cheer the nation and celebrate all things arty. "There will be arts events taking place in unusual places all over the U.K. that will showcase the best in international culture when the eyes of the world are on us this summer," said festival director Ruth Mackenzie. (artdaily.org)
4-25-12
White House Committee Launches Arts Initiative to Help Turn Around Low-performing Schools
AEP Partners with the President’s Committee on Turnaround Arts Initiative. On April 23, presidentially appointed artist Sarah Jessica Parker of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities appeared on Good Morning America (GMA) to launch a new arts education initiative designed help turn around eight of the nation’s lowest performing elementary and middle schools. Developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Turnaround Arts Initiative will support these schools over two years with intensive, high-quality arts education resources and expertise, with the goal of improving student learning outcomes as well as school culture. The Arts Education Partnership is pleased to join a legion of national partners in this effort and will serve as a lead organization in administering and managing the Turnaround Arts Initiative while providing high quality arts education research and advising the project team on an evaluation tool to measure the program’s success.
Noel arts school in Denver gets $20,000 grant for reform efforts
IA: Findley Elementary selected for new national arts education program. Findley Elementary School in Des Moines has been selected to participate in a new national arts education initiative designed to boost academic performance in struggling schools, members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced this morning.
D.C.’s Savoy Elementary School Chosen for White House Arts Initiative. A Washington, D.C. elementary school beat out a crowded field nationwide to become one of eight schools that will participate in a new White House initiative created with an eye toward improving low-performing schools via the arts.
The Design Learning Challenge. The Design Learning Challenge is an integral part of IDSA’s efforts to promote and develop an understanding of the practice of industrial design at the K-12 level. College art and design students all over the United States are being challenged to co-create innovative and participatory design learning experiences with K-12 art educators and their students, anchored in design thinking and learning skills. For information, contact DLC Facilitator, Doris Wells-Papanek at: doris@designlearning.us
AEP Launches ArtsEdSearch.org. A growing body of knowledge documents that in addition to academic outcomes, an education in the arts contributes directly to the development of: cognitive outcomes such as critical and creative thinking; personal outcomes such as persistence and self-confidence; and social and civic outcomes such as cross cultural understanding and collaboration. Until now, if you wanted to gather the research comprising that body of knowledge, you would have to look far and wide to find it. And once you found it, you then might find yourself trying to make sense of it. AEP designed ArtsEdSearch.org as a digital clearinghouse—a kind of online one-stop shop for research and policy information about the educational outcomes of arts learning, both in and out of school. At ArtsEdSearch.org, high quality research is available in one place, readily accessible, and easily understandable. To date, ArtsEdSearch.org contains 200 summaries of research studies that include all arts forms and all levels of education, and this content will increase each year. AEP invites you to visit and explore ArtsEdSearch.org; there’s nothing else like it in the field!
Initiative aimed at improving schools through arts education. A new public-private partnership is aimed at increasing arts education as a strategy for turning around eight struggling public schools. The two-year Turnaround Arts Initiative, announced Monday by a White House panel, will enlist celebrities, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, in efforts to improve school culture and academic achievement across the curriculum through high-quality, integrated arts instruction. (Education Week/Curriculum Matters blog, 4/23)
Arts America (ArtsAmerica.org) - a new online Theater, Music, Dance, Visual Arts Guide for Travel and Events throughout the United States. Arts America is a new website that provides news, information and links for 2,000+ museums and performing arts organizations in 95 United States cities. The respective areas of coverage include: Art Museums; Classical Music; Dance; Film; Jazz; Opera and Theater. Arts enthusiasts can search for information various ways by viewing: Genres; US Cities; Arts News; Blogs; and an informative value-added section called More Art, Less $$$. There is also a category at the top of the page for the major 2012 Summer Arts Festivals throughout the country.
Gulf Coast ARt Directory is a locally run art service directory established 2008. Their site is dedicated to promoting and inspiring local art & artists. In addition to their directory, they offer a resource section for artists to search “art calls”, contests & classes & more. They encourage you to take advantage of this FREE local art resource. Their site is home of “The Gulf Coast Art Scene” newsletter reaching residents & artists from Florida to Louisiana.
ASCD Seeks Outstanding Young Educators for Recognition and $10,000 Award. Nominations Close on August 1, 2012! OYEA Award. Nominate an Outstanding Educator Today! For the past decade, ASCD's Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) Program has recognized creative and committed teachers and administrators under the age of 40 who demonstrate excellence in educating the whole child. OYEA winners will receive: A $10,000 award; Recognition at the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois, March 16-18, 2013, with all expenses paid for the winner and a companion; and The opportunity to participate in a year-long program of professional development and networking. Does that sound like someone you know? Anyone can nominate a colleague or you can nominate yourself. Go to www.ascd.org/oyea and complete an online application today! Nominations for 2013 close on August 1, 2012.
Two New Resources from the NEA: Earlier this month, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released a new research report entitled The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies. For this study, the NEA commissioned UCLA researcher James Catterall and his colleagues to analyze the potential long term academic, career, and civic benefits associated with arts involvement for at-risk youth. The study uses four separate longitudinal studies to track children, teenagers, and young adults who had high or low levels of arts engagement in or out of school. Those activities included coursework in music, dance, theater, or the visual arts; out-of-school arts lessons; or membership, participation, and leadership in arts organizations and activities, such as band or theater. The study focuses on the potential effects of arts engagement on youth from the lowest quarter of socioeconomic status. While there is ample qualitative and anecdotal data on how people and communities are transformed by the arts, there is little research that quantifies the emotional impact of the arts. On this matter, the NEA has announced a new literature review: Audience Impact Study Literature Review, that looks at dozens of existing studies that attempt to measure the emotional impact of the arts. Ultimately, this review will help inform the design of a survey that will capture reliable data on this seemingly indefinable subject. The NEA is partnering with researchers from WolfBrown to develop and pilot survey instruments and protocols for a pilot study of audiences at NEA-funded events. As part of this study, WolfBrown developed this literature review of relevant research. The Audience Impact Study Literature Review is available at arts.gov.
Wolf Trap Foundation Offers New 12-Month Fellowship Program. A new 12-month, full-time paid fellowship within the Wolf Trap Foundation is available beginning September 2012. Intended for a young professional of color who has recently earned a Master’s degree in the arts or a related discipline, the Fellowship will provide substantive arts management experience in a variety of areas within the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. The Fellow will rotate through four departments within the Foundation over the course of the 12-month tenure. Each rotation will be three months in length. The Fellow will select positions from three major areas: Wolf Trap’s Executive Office, Wolf Trap’s External Affairs, and Wolf Trap’s Performing Arts and Education. For more information, call (703) 937-6304. Applications are due Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
Call for Submissions for Special Edition of Harvard Educational Review. The Harvard Educational Review (HER) is now accepting stories from children, youth, and adult arts learners for its upcoming special issue “Expanding Our Vision for the Arts in Education." This special issue intends to push beyond traditional understandings of arts teaching and learning to consider how education in and through the arts best suits today’s sophisticated learners. It will bring together the voices of practitioners, researchers, and youth who engage in innovative arts learning, to provide a launch-pad for ideas that will push the boundaries of what arts education looks like (or may look like) in our current educational system. As part of this project, we are looking for stories from children, youth, and adult arts learners that address the question: How have the arts “expanded your vision?” More information about this special issue, including the types of submissions sought, can be found here on the HER website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 1.
International Teaching Artist Conference, August 29-31, 2012. The Seanse Art Center in Oslow, Norway, is proud to present the world’s first international conference focusing on teaching artistry. Artists, arts educators, administrators, and interested professionals from all over the world are invited to attend an unprecedented three days of inquiry into teaching artistry, a worldwide phenomenon, rich opportunity, and growing trend. Presenters include: Brad Haseman (Australia); Juan Felipe Molano (Columbia); Johannes Joner, Marit Moltu, and Marit Ulvund (Norway); Grace Gachacho (Tanzania); Anne Bamford and Anna Cutler (United Kingdom); and Gigi Antoni, Eric Booth, and Hilary Easton (USA). Attendance is limited to 100 participants, and a selection process is in place to allow for a diverse group of participants (diverse by nation, art form, professional role, and age). Visit the conference website for more information.
Initiative Taps Arts, Celebrities to Help Turn Around Schools. A set of eight academically troubled public schools spanning the nation will get a big dose of arts education support to help them turn around—not to mention access to a little star power from the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Sarah Jessica Parker—under a new public-private partnership announced today by a White House advisory panel.
Actors, artists aim to turn around failing schools (Austin360.com)
Actors, musicians aim to turn around 8 failing schools (Detroit Free Press)
Actors, musicians aim to turn around 8 failing schools (Boston Globe)
Schools to get star turn for arts education D.C.’s Savoy on actors’ list for visit (The Washington Times)
Art21 teaches Hillsboro High students that art is as much process as product
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman Announces 928 Grants and $77.17 Million in Funding. Grants provide support in 14 disciplines and to state arts agencies and regional arts organizations
Civil War in Art. A new web-based teaching resource has launched. Follow them on Facebook for updates!
Art Authority adds an iBook. Ashland, Oregon - The creators of the award-winning "Art Authority" app line announced today that they are shipping their first iBook through Apple's iBookStore. "Exploring Art with Art Authority" is a free companion to the popular line of classic art apps, intended to supplement and add context to what's been hailed as "an experience unlike any other."
4-23-12
PCAH Launches the Turnaround: Arts Initiative to Help Improve Low-Performing Schools. The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) announced the launch of a new arts education initiative to help turn around low-performing schools. Developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Turnaround Arts initiative is a new public-private partnership designed to narrow the achievement gap and increase student engagement through the arts. Working in some of the nation’s lowest-performing elementary and middle schools, this program will test the hypothesis that high-quality and integrated arts education boosts academic achievement, motivates student learning and improves school culture in the context of overall school reform, announced the committee’s co-chairs, George Stevens Jr. and Margo Lion.
AYAW Times - Issue 25 from The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
Art Authority offers app internship opportunities to art majors. Ashland, OR - The creators of the award-winning "Art Authority" app line announced today that they are looking for up to 100 summer interns to help improve the app's art collection. Presently including information and access to over 50,000 high-quality works, the goal for the summer program is to increase the collection to 75,000 works, along with upgrading its current images and associated data. Another goal of the project is to provide art students with experience working on a cutting-edge app within their field of study. The internship program builds on a prototype implemented last summer, which added and improved about 500 works. College students majoring in any art discipline simply need a computer, iPad or iPhone and an Internet connection to apply for, and, if accepted, participate in the program. Participants will work out of their houses or dorm rooms, saving significantly on expenses. The positions are unpaid, but credit may well be available through their school. Perhaps even more important, students will gain valuable real-world experience as the art field follows music, movies, books and photography into the online, digital realm. Students can apply at http://interns.artauthority.net. "This summer we hope to upgrade most of the collection while providing invaluable experience to art students around the world. Art Authority is quite literally the intersection of technology and art, and we think it's a great alternative to a traditional art internship." Contact: Alan Oppenheimer at alan@opendoor.com.
Windows Project. South Carolina: Winthrop University’s Department of Fine Arts places a high value on students learning to work creatively and collaboratively within their communities. The department recognizes the need to understand an ever-changing global environment within the context of an individual’s immediate surroundings. Fine arts programs help prepare students for these new challenges through real-world engagement technically, aesthetically and intellectually. The “Windows Project” consists of eight vertical sculptures designed and fabricated by Winthrop fine arts students for the 10th anniversary of the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club. Commissioned by Wells Fargo Bank, the sculptures take the form of large white window frames, creating a visual connection to the architecture of the Quail Hollow Clubhouse and to the idea of looking at the past, present and future. The sculptural windows, mounted on poles sequentially along the tournament’s entry path, create an elevated and engaging visual journey exploring eight themes.
The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant ProgramGrants for Arts Writers. Online application form opens: Monday, April 23, 2012. Application deadline: Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program supports writers whose work addresses contemporary visual art through project-based grants, ranging from 3,000 to 50,000 USD, issued directly to individual authors. The first program of its type, it was founded in recognition of both the financially precarious situation of arts writers and their indispensable contribution to a vital artistic culture. The Arts Writers Grant Program aims to support the broad spectrum of writing on contemporary visual art, from general-audience criticism to academic scholarship. Writers who meet the program's eligibility requirements are invited to apply in the following categories: Articles, Blogs, Books, New and Alternative Media, and Short-Form Writing
Anacostia school is among those in pilot program stressing the arts. Washington, DC. In its effort to transform the nation’s worst-performing schools, the Obama administration is launching an unusual experiment to pump up arts education in eight struggling schools, including one in the District.
(I)ndependent People Reykjavík Arts Festival, 18 May–3 June 2012 - www.independentpeople.is Reykjavík Arts Festival 2012 announces (I)ndependent People, a large-scale collaborative international visual arts project that will involve many of Reykjavík's exhibition spaces, museums, galleries, and public spaces during the festival season and throughout the summer. Focusing on contemporary visual art from the Nordic and Baltic region, (I)ndependent People asks if and how collaboration can operate in a continual negotiation between contesting ideas and desires, yet allowing unplanned and transformative action. All participating artists are engaged in established or temporary joint ventures, that serve as a dynamic investigation of artistic subjectivity and authorship.
New: 10 of the best Apple apps for education in 2012. Last year we presented “10 of the best apps for education,” which highlighted some of the best apps for iPhones and iPods. However, with new upgrades in touch technology, HD and 3D features, and the
New celebrity faces come to Capitol Hill to lobby for arts funding. Alec Baldwin, Omar Benson Miller, Melina Kanakaredes, and Tiffani Thiessen at Americans for the Arts's “Arts Advocacy Day” on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (Paul Morigi/Ovation) It was a brand new crop of celebvocates making their ... (Washington Post blog)
Baldwin, Folds and friends lobby Congress for the arts. Ben Folds and Alec Baldwin visited Capitol Hill Tuesday for Arts Advocacy Day (Getty Images). By The Numbers: John Edwards gets a Supercut Actor Alec Baldwin played the role of the old pro Tuesday, visiting Capitol Hill as part of Arts Advocacy Day. (Washington Examiner)
Arts 'Beyond Essential' to Culture, Says Alec Baldwin. Actor Alec Baldwin speaks during an Arts Advocacy Day presentation at the Cannon Caucus House on Capitol Hill, April 16. (Shar Adams/The Epoch Times) Alec Baldwin and an ensemble of performers, artists, and arts business founders made an ... (The Epoch Times)
Ben Folds: Reducing federal funds for arts is like 'cutting off food' [VIDEO]. Musician and “Sing Off” judge Ben Folds told The Daily Caller that Congress reducing the amount of taxpayer dollars allocated for arts programs would be like “cutting off food.” TheDC asked Folds, who is in Washington to advocate ... (The Daily Caller)
Letter: Art Education Teaches Life Lessons. According to Education Week, a weekly publication by Editorial Projects in Education located in Bethesda, Maryland, recent reports on the state of Arts Education offer a complex but revealing picture of the arts in America's public schools. (Patch.com)
Importance of arts education in Chicago. For many years now in both Illinois and nationwide curricula, the value and purpose of teaching the fine arts to students has been closely examined. Particularly in local Chicago, the Department of Education is now taking a look at new ways in which ... (Examiner.com)
The art of teaching art to teachers. Hattiesburg American file photo Althea Jerome is a 2012 recipient of the Governors Award for Excellence in the Arts for her work in arts education. A native of Denton, Texas, she is a graduate of the University of North Texas, and received a masters ... (Hattiesburg American)
Effort afoot to restore art in California schools. As it turns out, business leaders hiring the workforce of tomorrow don't want applicants who are really good at filling in bubbles on standardized tests. Creativity is key, more than 1,500 executives said in a 2010 survey. Yet California, like many states, long ago deemed creative arts a luxury, one that few schools could afford. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Arts Education: Good News and Bad News. A recently published federal report from the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) on arts education has some good news: Even in a decade in which many school districts have faced significant budget cuts, the availability of music and visual arts education has remained little changed.
'Secret Meeting' in South Carolina Held to Quash ESEA Waiver (April 20, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Hawaii Ed. Board OKs Evaluation Plan, What's Next for Race to Top? (April 19, 2012, State EdWatch Blog)
ED REVIEW - April 20, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
4-20-12
Call for Editorial Board Members: Arts Education Policy Review. Arts Education Policy Review, a peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis, is accepting applications for three-year term editorial board positions - one in music, one in theatre, and one in visual art. Arts Education Policy Review presents discussion of major policy issues in arts education in the United States and throughout the world. Addressing education in music, visual arts, theatre, and dance, the journal presents a variety of views and emphasizes critical analysis. Its goal is to produce the most comprehensive and rigorous exchange of ideas available on arts education policy. Policy examinations from multiple viewpoints are a valuable resource not only for arts educators, but also for administrators, policy analysts, advocacy groups, parents, and audiences - all those involved in the arts and concerned about their role in education. APPLICATION INFORMATION: Interested applicants should send a letter of interest and CV to Editor-in-Chief, Colleen Conway at conwaycm@umich.edu by October 1, 2012. Applications will be reviewed by the Executive Editors and applicants will be notified of the status of the application by November 15th. The terms begin in January 2013.
SAVE THE DATE** U.S. Dept. of Ed. Student Art Exhbit Opening May 15. The U.S. Department of Education Student Art Exhibit Program Presents The Association of Art Museum Directors Student Art Exhibit Opening and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Featuring Art by students in education programs at 15 U.S. museums at the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, Noon to 1 p.m., Lyndon Baines Johnson Education Building, 400 Maryland Ave. S.W., Washington, DC. Questions? Contact Nicole Carinci at 202-453-5585 or at nicole.carinci@ed.gov.
Sluggish Pace for Race to Top Spending. States have been slow to spend their prize money, reflecting challenges in delivering on ambitious plans. (Education Week)
Race to the Runner-Up. Five states that lost out in the original grant competition to help reform their early childhood education programs will get a second chance to win a grant. The five runners-up to the Early Learning Challenge Fund—Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin—will be eligible for a remaining slice of $133 million. Nine states won the first round of funding to increase the quality of and access to their early education services for children ages 0–5. The particulars of this new, limited competition will be released later this year with the grants to be awarded before September 30. (ED.gov)
NJ: South Brunswick's Super Bowl for Artists. Annual student art gallery showcases work by talented students and the teachers who inspired them. Student athletes have their moments to shine during sporting events and pep rallies, while musicians get the spotlight during numerous concerts held throughout the year. But for talented student artists, getting recognition for their work can be harder to come by. (patch.com)
SC: Teacher: Cuts to arts education are a 'great tragedy'. At Peary Middle School in Gardena, visual arts teacher Valerie Davidson teaches drawing and painting to about 175 students. She is the only arts teacher in a school of nearly 2,000 students. "Less than 30 percent of the kids in school have access to the arts," Davidson said Monday at the RIF notice hearings at California Market Center in downtown Los Angeles. She said such scenarios have become more common as the district has cut arts over the last five years. (89.3KPCC)
NC: Partnership lets teachers integrate art into curriculum. Teachers at four local schools will be integrating art into their curriculum this fall thanks to a partnership with the North Carolina Museum of Art. Kannapolis Intermediate, Kannapolis Middle, Knox Middle and Southeast Middle will be participating in the museum’s Art of Collaboration program at the start of next academic year. The program provides teachers with training to incorporate art into their instruction of math, science, English, social studies and visual arts.
NC: Area students to be featured at ‘Arts Alive!’ During the Arts Alive! showcase, and for the first time this year, three original student compositions will be featured on the main stage. Also for the first time, Arts Alive! will feature a Science in the Arts competition which is meant to encourage high school students to consider, research and present information about two seemingly contrasting subjects.
IA: Iowa View: Our budgets must remember arts, arts education. As we have transitioned to a knowledge-based economy, the terms “creative economy,” and “21st-century skills” are frequently touted. Based upon two recent studies, however, one has to wonder whether our elected leaders are willing to pass budgets that actually support and advance the arts and art education. The studies conclude that as a nation, we have a long way to go in terms of arts accessibility and education.
Alec Baldwin Campaigns For More Arts Funding. The actor Alec Baldwin is in Washington, speaking in favor of the National Endowment for the Arts. The government-funded arts organization long ago supported the Sundance Film Festival and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In more recent years, the NEA has supported writers, arts education for kids, and everything from jazz musicians to urban design. It has also faced political controversy; most notably in the 1990s, when its funding was slashed
Ovation Partners With Americans for the Arts to Launch innOVATION a New National Grant Program. Ovation, the only network dedicated to art, artists and all forms of artistic storytelling, is putting its money where its passion is once again, this time funding a national arts grant program called The innOVATION Grant Program. Inspired by the remarkable community revitalization effort documented in the network's upcoming original series Motor City Rising, and eager to support similar stories of artist-led neighborhood renewal across the nation, Ovation is contributing $110,000 for the initial year's grants. The program will be managed by Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education.
FL: Grants available for NE Fla. artists, arts groups. The Community Foundation in Jacksonville, which has supported area artists and arts organizations for more than 20 years, is seeking grant applications from area artists and arts organizations. The grants are designed to expand artists' endeavors, build the capacity of small arts organizations and promote the visual arts, according to a news release.
GA: Norcross High Art Students Win Competitions. The Blue Devils' Art Department has been busy this spring preparing for the Student Art Show and working hard on a community service project.
Who are your heroes? Submit a Nomination for the Presidential Citizens Medal. For more than 40 years, presidents have presented the Citizens Medal to Americans who have performed extraordinary acts of service for their country or their fellow citizens. Now they're looking to honor a new group of heroes, and they need your help. Take a moment to nominate Americans who have performed exemplary deeds of service outside of their regular jobs and who have provided inspiration for others to serve. One of last years Citizens Medal recipients was Margaret Martin who founded the Harmony Project to make quality arts education available to those in some of the most underserved parts of Los Angeles, California. Nominations must be received by Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
NYC: High Line Art. High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, is pleased to announce the 2012 Spring Art Program. The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. As High Line Art enters its third year, the program has added a series of new installations, commissions, and performances, including High Line Art's first-ever group exhibition. HIGH LINE COMMISSIONS is a series of innovative and temporary site-specific installations, on view until Spring 2013. Opening on April 19 is the High Line's first ever group exhibition, entitled Lilliput. Inspired by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the exhibit brings together sculptures of diminutive scale, scattered in unexpected places along the High Line. HIGH LINE BILLBOARD is a series of art installations presented on a 25-by-75 foot billboard next to the High Line on 10th Avenue at West 18th Street. HIGH LINE CHANNEL is an outdoor video program that screens art films and videos, historic works, new productions, and curated series, daily from dusk to 10:00 PM in a small open-air cinema.
4-18-12
Massachusetts Institute of Technology establishes a Center for Art, Science & Technology. MIT has received $1.5 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a new Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). The Center will advance MIT’s leadership in integrating the arts into the curriculum and research of institutions of higher learning. (artdaily.org)
A 3D online application for visitors of the Gallery Weekend Berlin announced. From the 27th of April to 2nd of May the participating galleries for this years Gallery Weekend can be visited virtually. The Virtual Gallery Weekend Berlin beta is not a simple visualization of an art event, but a shared experience with the aim to interact, exchange thoughts on artworks and pass on Information within a virtual 3D environment. In addition, the objective is to explore interfaces between the real and the virtual world of the Gallery Weekend. It is accessible to anyone without an invitation or fees. (artdaily.org)
NJ: Rowan University art education students reach out to the community with Empty Bowls. Rowan University art education students sponsored the international grassroots effort known as Empty Bowls. Throughout the semester, they met with students from Clearview Regional Middle and High School and Delsea Regional High School to create the ... (Gloucester County Times)
CT: New Haven Schools Find Time For Art Amid Test Prep, Education Reform. A national study released this week yielded mixed results for art in school: It found there has not been an overall decline in arts education with the onset of No Child Left Behind, the federal law that kicked off a nationwide frenzy over standardized ... (Huffington Post)
FL: Manatee County school board's valuable commitment to arts education. Manatee County's public schools are among the best in the country for arts education, a remarkable distinction given the severe budget cuts over the past few years. Thanks to the school board's unwavering commitment on the arts, students enjoy music ... (Bradenton Herald)
Jorea Maple: Come see why arts education matters. Yet both of these million-dollar megastars had a little help nurturing that talent — exposure to the arts at a young age while growing up in West Virginia. Years of research show that an education that includes the arts is closely linked to almost ... (Daily Mail - Charleston)
Local art teachers ponder the shape of the future. Changes in education and school budget cuts are affecting art education. Art teachers listen as Lisa Conger gives a presentation Saturday at a SUNY New Paltz symposium. (Times Herald-Record)
The Power of Debate—Building the Five "C's" for the 21st Century. I am delighted to be here tonight because the value of debate teams is both so great and yet so under-recognized.
First & only museum of gay & lesbian art launches. Even well after the cultural wars of the mid 1980’s, the representation of sexual difference in art has been aggressively policed. And America's museums, with few notable exceptions, have been silent in the face of what is now the most vocal contemporary civil rights frontier. But there has never been a shortage of gay and lesbian art on display in America's museums; what has been lacking is the courage to articulate that fact and to illustrate how the artist’s sexuality influenced his/her art. Now, for the first time, a new museum in New York will finally show what has been hiding in plain sight. With the recent accreditation by the State of New York as an official Museum, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (MoGLA) has become the first and only museum of gay and lesbian art in the world. (artdaily.org)
VA: Arlington Arts Center (ACC) Hosts Earth Day Celebration for Families. Arlington Arts Center (AAC) will host its biennial Earth Day celebration at the art center and surrounding Maury Park. AAC will mark the occasion with a kick off of a public art project and program series that will highlight Arlington County's Urban Agriculture Initiative and introduce the fascinating green works of artist Doug Retzler. Over the next two years, Retzler will invite the community to help design, create and sustain a live interactive sculpture on the grounds of AAC. Earth Day attendees will participate in three free art making projects based on Retzler's live sculptures. The activities will incorporate drawing and constructing and will involve visioning a structural design for the final architectural-scale sculpture, making topiary models, and creating an art and planting project that guests can take home. The workshops will be held from 1 - 4 p.m. at the Arlington Arts Center. Honest Tea will generously provide beverages for participants.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ARTS COLLABORATORY (Ghana). International Media Arts Collaboratory is a two-week group residency. We view the collaboratory as a relational platform in which media arts specialists from around the world come together to collaborate among themselves and/or with the local community in the creation and appreciation of media arts for knowledge sharing and cross-fertilization of skills.
The Muse Café Newsletter is now available. Check out "The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth report".
4-16-12
NAEA Co-Sponsors National Arts Advocacy Day, April 16 and 17, 2012
Briefing Papers Issued Regarding NEA Funding, USDOE Arts in Education Grant Program, and ESEA Reauthorization
4-13-12
APRIL IS AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH: Save on NAEA resources! http://tinyurl.com/ct59ck3
Art21 New Season Premieres Tonight on PBS. Season 6 of the Peabody Award-winning series, Art in the Twenty-First Century, premieres nationally tonight, April 13, at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check your local listings). The first episode of the season, Change, features artists Catherine Opie, El Anatsui, and Ai Weiwei.
Executive Function, Arts Integration and Joyful Learning (Part 6 of 7). This post is part of a series on executive function. Here I will cover the arts and the neuroscience of joyful learning. Promising Starts. Children's brains need to acquire memory associations that link pleasure with learning. The creative arts can provide this link through associations with the pleasures of creative experiences enjoyed during early childhood. When students know they will have opportunities to use artistic, kinesthetic or manipulative experiences in the course of learning and as part of their learning assessments, their optimism is renewed. Knowing from the start that they will create representations of their learning through visual, musical or movement expressions (ideally with a medium of their choice) is an inoculation against boredom and low effort. (edutopia.org)
From Americans for the Arts - Arts Watch - April 11, 2012
Massachusetts: Artsbridge Program Aims to Foster Mideast Peace
The Marblehead Reporter, 4/10/12
"Take a bunch of teens from Palestine and Israel, bring them to the United States and arrange for them to collaboratively create meaningful pieces of art while cohabitating amicably for three weeks. What you’ll get is a group of 30 teens who will enjoy life in a neutral territory and leave with a better understanding of how the 'other side' feels about the political, religious, and social differences between the two countries. Debbie Nathan calls this Artsbridge, a nonprofit organization she founded five years ago. Based in Swampscott, MA, Nathan had a vision to use the arts and civic dialogue to work with teens in Israel and Palestine to promote peace between Arab and Israeli youth. Once each year, she heads to the Mideast to interview young people who are interested in enrolling in the program, which cultivates respectful listening, voice, and dialogue to facilitate peace in their respective communities."
New Jersey: Conference Discusses Arts for Community Engagement
The Star-Ledger, 4/5/12
"Urban planners, commercial real estate developers, elected and appointed officials, and academics sat down with artists and arts administrators in Newark to learn how to use the arts to energize their communities. Rutgers University officials gathered members from these diverse circles...at 'Create a Place: Arts Build Communities.' The goal of the day-long conference at Rutgers-Newark wasn’t just to celebrate the power of art, but to learn how to get use art to build and energize communities. Newark Mayor Cory Booker set the agenda with a moving speech to 150 people at the Paul Robeson Campus Center. 'I am a mayor, and I am a pragmatist. I know the arts are one of the biggest economic development drivers in a community. I see the arts drive development. I see the arts drive jobs,' Booker said. 'But that’s not why I am excited to be here today. Art isn’t about pragmatism. It is about the divine.'"
Encouraging Arts Integration in Higher Education Curriculum
dbusiness, 4/4/12
"Confronting the challenge of how to encourage and cultivate innovative thinking in higher education, administrators from some of the most prestigious U.S. research universities have published a report aiming to provoke a national discussion about the ways 'arts practice' can be a catalyst for creative thinking in all academic disciplines. 'Art-Making and the Arts at Research Universities,' a three-year plan, is the result of nearly a year of discussions and research with the goal of further integrating the arts into higher education curriculum and campus life...According to the report's executive summary: 'Integrating art-making and the arts enables the university to fulfill its responsibility to society by producing new generations of leaders who are adept in the use of all of their creative cognitive faculties, and by producing an incubator for original creative work in the arts that is not constrained by market economies. Only the university can fulfill this vital social role.'"
Report Paints Puzzling Picture of Arts Education in America
ARTSblog, 4/2/12
"Despite being designated a 'core academic subject' in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 and being included in mandated elementary school curriculum in 44 states, this survey demonstrates that access to arts education remains elusive to a tremendous number of students across the nation. This may not be surprising to many following the state of our education system as recent surveys from Common Core and the National Arts Education Foundation have provided fresh evidence of the arts being a victim of the narrowing of the curriculum. Furthermore, this report mostly found schools with the highest percentage of free or reduced-price lunch-eligible populations significantly less likely to provide students with access to arts education at both the elementary and secondary levels. This means that the nation’s poorest students, the ones who could benefit the most from arts education, are receiving it the least."
Google partners with SCAD Museum of Art and Gibbes Museum of Art on innovative Google Art Project. CHICAGO, IL.- Google announced its partnership with the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, and the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, bringing a number of the museums’ top works online with the innovative Google Art Project. The museums are the only two in the Southeastern United States to participate in the project. The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration between Google and the world’s most respected and acclaimed museums, enabling visitors to virtually explore museums, discover and view hundreds of artworks online at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share their own collection of masterpieces with a few clicks of a mouse.
Target's Arts, Culture + Design in Schools Grants. Deadline is April 30, 2012. Target awards grants of $2,000 to help bring more arts into the lives of children. Schools, libraries, public agencies, and nonprofits are eligible to apply.
THE ART & ART EDUCATION PROGRAM AT TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY INVITES YOU TO AN OPEN HOUSE ON SATURDAY, APRIL 21st, 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. FOR OUR INTENSIVE SUMMER MA DEGREE PROGRAM (INSTEP). APPLICATIONS STILL ACCEPTED – SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE! Teachers College Art Education INSTEP program provides in-service art teachers (certified teachers) the opportunity to earn their NYS professional certification while studying at one of the most prestigious graduate schools of education. With New York City as the backdrop, this program takes advantage of many of the city's cultural institutions and art events. Come and join a community of faculty and students who address critical issues of our time. We are artists, teachers, researchers, museum educators…thinkers, makers and movers…just like you! Acquire the creative and critical insights along with professional expertise that you will need to become a twenty-first century leader in art and art education. The day will include: Meet the faculty; application and scholarship process; lunch with current students; tour the studio and gallery; and hands-on artmaking workshop. This 34-credit Master of Arts degree is specially designed for teachers, artists and arts professionals to gain additional experience in art and art education, or for teachers seeking advanced level certification in their state. It offers candidates the opportunity to explore intersections between practice and theory, art making and personal inquiry, and classroom experience and research practice. Coursework allows students to engage in conversations with fellow arts and education professionals, and represents a return to a supportive environment where ideas and issues about the art and craft of teaching can be explored freely and openly. Particular efforts are taken to integrate theoretical inquiries with studio explorations in response to educational inquiries. Our Program combines work in studio-media arts and art education theory and seeks to integrate both opening new possibilities in thinking about art education, pedagogy and research. For questions regarding the program, please contact Amanda Newman-Godfrey and Iris Bildstein at instep_art@tc.edu for more information and application materials for this exciting degree program. The deadline for application is May 30, 2012.
EdCamp Arts Integration, April 14, 2012, Baltimore, MD.
Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) is a 501c3 non-profit organization that runs summer professional development travel programs designed for teachers. GEEO is offering 13 different travel programs for the summer of 2012: India/Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand/Laos/Cambodia, China, Russia/Mongolia/China, Turkey 15 day, South Africa/Mozambique/Zimbabwe/Botswana, Morocco, Peru, Ecuador, The Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. The registration deadline is June 1st and space is limited! Educators have the option to earn graduate school credit and professional development credit while seeing the world. The trips are 8 to 24 days in length and are designed and discounted to be interesting and affordable for teachers. GEEO provides teachers educational materials and the structure to help them bring their experiences into the classroom. The trips are open to all nationalities of K-12 and university educators and administrators, as well as retired educators. Detailed information about each trip, including itineraries, costs, travel dates, and more can be found on their website. GEEO can be reached 7 days a week, toll free at 1-877-600-0105 between 9AM-9PM EST.
The State of States Preschool—and Round Two of the RTT-Early Learning Challenge. Thank you, Steve [Barnett], for that kind introduction—and for the important work of the National Institute for Early Education Research over the last decade. (ED.gov)
Discover the American Civil War Like Never Before. Civilwarinart.org makes nearly 130 works of art from seven Chicago cultural organizations accessible to teachers, parents, and students around the world. Developed by a team of museum and library professionals, historians, and teachers, this unique website connects elementary and high school students to the issues, events, and people of the era through: A high-resolution, zoomable gallery of objects; Illustrated essays examining the causes and impact of the war and role that art played; An extensive glossary of close to 200 art and historical terms and biographies; and Lesson plans developed by teachers for teachers.
4-11-12
Capitol Connection - Apr 10, 2012. In This Issue: Arts Instruction Remains Prevalent—For Some; Get to the Core: Register for ASCD's Free Webinar on the New Math Standards; Attention Teachers: Secretary Duncan Wants to Hear from You; and Nine States Win New SIG Funding, First-Year Results Released.
Study: No Obituary Needed for Arts Education. Two new federal reports present a complex picture of the arts' presence in schools and the benefits derived from students' exposure. (Education Week, 4/11/12)
The Arts Gap in America (April 10, 2012, John Wilson Unleashed Blog)
Announcing & Inviting Applications for the 2012 Scholastic/Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Fellows Program. The Scholastic/Alliance Fellows program introduces college students to publishing and media careers through an intensive internship that takes place at the Alliance and Scholastic headquarters in New York City. The program is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to promote diversity in the publishing industry. Open to current college students and graduating college seniors who were past Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winners*, the Fellows program provides students with hands-on experience in various aspects of the publishing business and nonprofit arts management, including editorial, design, marketing, promotion and outreach. In addition to the work experience, Fellows are immersed in a rigorous pre-professional curriculum specifically designed to hone leadership skills. Fellows are assigned a mentor for work management and professional coaching. Program Dates: The Fellowship program is a component of Scholastic’s corporate internship program and it will run from Monday, June 18th through Friday, August 10th, 2012. Program Specifics: Fellowships are available in New York City at Scholastic’s corporate headquarters. Fellows are paid $12 per hour and work a 35-hour week. How to Apply: They are currently accepting online applications for the Fellows Program through April 13, 2012. Finalists will be interviewed by telephone. References may be requested. Students accepted as Fellows will be notified by April. 30, 2012.
Spring 2012 CSUB Children's Art Institute newsletter
Beastie Boys' Mike D Curates Art and Music Festival in Los Angeles. As a member of the Beastie Boys, Mike Diamond has been an honorary member of the visual arts community for years. "As somebody who's been making music most of their life, I've always been interested and I've had the good fortune of meeting a fair number of visual artists," Diamond tells Rolling Stone. "And if you look at what my band has done, visuals have always been almost an equally important presentation for us as music was." Now, Diamond can add 'curator' to his list of artistic roles: he's assembled a group of artists – including Tom Sachs, Mike Mills and Benjamin Jones – for the Transmission L.A.: AV Club show at Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art, which runs from April 20th to May 6th. (RollingStone.com)
New $133 Million Available for Race to Top Early Learning Grants (April 9, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
The 2012 Race to the Top Fund Continues Investments in Statewide Systems of High Quality Early Education Programs
Fla. arts school enjoys academic success. The Osceola County School for the Arts in Florida offers students a unique learning environment, where they can hone their artistic and musical skills even during lunch periods. The school, which serves grades six to 12 and opened in 2003 amid some skepticism, had 19 students earn all-state honors in music last year and is among the top-achieving schools academically in the state. (Orlando Sentinel, 4/7)
Rereleased ArtAround App Maps D.C.’s Public Art. Check out (and add to) ArtAround, a recently relaunched interactive map of all sorts of art in the District. The project is essentially a wiki for everything from museums to artistic graffiti throughout the city. Neat stuff. (City Paper, 4/10)
SLC Arts Council offers free art$TART – Arts in Education grant workshops. The St. Lawrence County Arts Council will be offering grant workshops that could provide up to $2500 to inspire creative teaching partnerships between local schools in the tri-county area. Art$TART grants will be offered for the 2011/2012 school year ... (MyABC50.com)
NEA Is Said to Cut Aid to Arts Programs on PBS. Art21, producer of “Art in the Twenty-First Century,” is expecting $200000, down from the $290000 in was awarded in 2011 (including money from a separate pool for education grants). KQED in San Francisco, which received $200000 in 2011 for its PBS ... (New York Times)
FSU students study effects of arts education. Fitchburg State University professors and former student interns involved with the Regional Economic Development Institute shared the findings of their arts-related research at a ... (Sentinel and Enterprise)
News: Ball's Bluff Russell Re-Elected Virginia Art Education Association President. Currently the VAEA is one of the largest state art organizations in the nation. Its mission is to promote, support and advance visual arts education through professional development, leadership, research and service. Russell also has been selected to ... (Viva Loudoun blog)
Louvre Museum & Nintendo join forces to release the audio guide Louvre-Nintendo 3DS. LONDON.- As part of an ongoing partnership between Nintendo Co., Ltd and the Louvre Museum in Paris, the most visited art museum in the world, Nintendo will be providing the Louvre with Nintendo 3DS(TM) systems that will house an exclusive audio guide. The Audio guide Louvre - Nintendo 3DS will become available in the Louvre for visitors to enjoy from 11th April 2012 onwards. With this partnership, Nintendo & the Louvre hope that visitors to the museum will be aided with a tool to deepen their knowledge of art culture in a fun and interactive way. (artdaily.org)
4-9-12
ED REVIEW - April 6, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
ARTS EDUCATION: On April 2, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the Department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), issued findings from the first nationwide arts survey in a decade, documenting the state of arts education in U.S. public schools. “I start from a simple presumption that I think most parents and teachers share: all students should have access to arts instruction,” Secretary Duncan said at the release. “For a host of reasons, high-quality arts education is critical to providing all students with a world-class education. So, when I look at the big picture of the 2009-10 arts survey, I see a good news-bad news story.” On the one hand, there have not been significant declines in the availability of music and visual arts instruction in elementary and secondary schools. On the other hand, the percentage of elementary schools providing dance and drama instruction decreased from 20% in 1999-2000 to 3% and 4%, respectively, in 2009-10, and, at more than 40% of high schools, coursework in the arts was not required for graduation in 2009-10. “And, unfortunately, the ‘arts opportunity gap’ is the widest for children in high-poverty,” the Secretary noted. Indeed, just a third of high-poverty secondary schools have five or more courses in music, compared to 60% of low-poverty secondary schools, and just a fourth of high-poverty secondary schools have five or more courses in visual arts, compared to half of low-poverty secondary schools. (Note: The Secretary’s full remarks are available here.) Meanwhile, according to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), at-risk students who have access to the arts in- or out-of-school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement.
Educator blends academic subjects into art curriculum. Eric Azcuy, who teaches art at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in New York City, frequently integrates academic subjects into art lessons for students in grades 6 to 12. The approach helps students see that art is "in everything," while allowing students who are less proficient in art to excel on the academic aspects of their assignments, Azcuy said. (The New York Times, 4/6)
Report: Arts classes at elementary schools reduced. Those are two of the bleaker pictures that emerged Monday from a report by the US Department of Education on the state of arts education. Fewer public elementary schools are offering visual arts, dance and drama classes than a decade ago, ... (Huffington Post)
FL: Manatee stands out in arts education. The Manatee school district has done better than the rest of the country in retaining arts education, according to a study released Monday by the National Center for Education Statistics. (Bradenton Herald)
Tackling Feminism, Education, and the Arts. This issue, Indy columnist Will Simmons '14 had the opportunity to engage in a conversation with visual artist Judy Chicago about her own work, arts education, and the relationship between feminism and women in the arts. (Harvard Independent)
MA: Mayor: Fitchburg schools dedicated to arts education. According to results of a survey recently released by Fitchburg State University's Regional Economic Development Institute, 70 percent of North Central Massachusetts schools have cut funding for arts education during the past three ... (Sentinel and Enterprise)
Arts Education Falls Victim to Budget Cuts. When budgets are broken, arts programs and art departments are often the first victims. A recent Department of Education report confirms that this is happening across the US. The report found that the number of public elementary schools offering dance, ... (Teacher Certification Degrees)
School Districts Sound Sour Note to Cut Costs. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan decried the situation saying, "It is deeply troubling that all students do not have access to arts education today." He noted that children who come from disadvantaged families are most impacted by these cuts because ... (Huffington Post)
VIDEO: Google art project expands. At a time when schools are culting back on funding for arts education , there's some good news. google is stepping into the breach with a project that is part google earth and part museum of art. but it's meant to bring art to us. (msnbc.com)
Arts Instruction Still Widely Available, but Disparities Persist (April 2, 2012, Curriculum Matters)
art21 Ask the Artists. To celebrate this week's premiere of Art21's sixth season, artists Catherine Opie and El Anatsui are taking your questions. The artists will respond to select questions, which will be posted online in the coming weeks. The new season premieres on PBS this Friday, but viewers can watch the full first episode online right now. Change--featuring artists Ai Weiwei, Catherine Opie, and El Anatsui--is presented in its entirety exclusively on PBS.org. Explore materials from the entire season on Art21.org. Watch preview videos from each artist's segment and browse through image slideshows of production stills and artwork surveys. Season 6 premieres nationally on Friday, April 13, at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check your local listings). Screenings are taking place in communities worldwide as part of Access '12. Find a screening in your community.
Register Now for SCEA Arts & Education Forum. Walking the Talk: Pathways to Quality Integration, the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts fifth national Arts & Education Forum takes place at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on May 18-19, 2012. They will explore pathways to quality arts integration, the way in which various arts integration programs have followed these paths, and the impact on programs when these paths are taken. Guiding “walking the talk” will be Dr. Bennett Lentczner, president of RealVisions, and Drs. Linda Whitesitt and Elda Franklin, authors of The ARTS Book: Designing Quality Arts Integration with Alignment, Rigor, Teamwork and Sustainability. The $195 registration fee includes two breakfasts, two luncheons, and a copy of The ARTS Book. The deadline for a special hotel rate of $94 is May 3. For more information contact Kim Wheetley at 423-425-5205 or kim-wheetley@utc.edu.
NCLB Waivers for Districts No Easy Sell With States. Even as school districts across the country clamor for flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, state education chiefs have a clear message for U.S. Secretary of Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Any decision to seek a federal waiver should rest with them, not individual districts. (Education Week, 4/2/12)
4-5-12
IMAGINE: How Creativity Works
ED Releases New Report on Arts Education in U.S. Public Schools. On Monday, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the U.S. Department of Education, released the findings of the first nationwide arts survey in a decade that comprehensively documents the state of arts education in U.S. public schools. At the announcement, Secretary Arne Duncan pointed to the importance of the report because it allows us to compare changes in arts education over time, and it’s the first survey that enables us to get a clear sense of how the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law has affected arts education. (ED.gov, 4/3/12)
Can Arts Education Help Close the Achievement Gap? A recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) suggests that arts education can help narrow the achievement gap that exists between low-income students and their more advantaged peers. But new data from the federal government suggests that low-income students are less likely to have access to arts education than their higher-income peers. Certainly arts education is important for its own sake. But in a time of tough budget choices, arts education advocates must speak to its tangible benefits, which the NEA report clearly does. By nearly every indicator studied, a student from a low-socioeconomic (SES) background with a high-arts educational experience significantly outperformed peers from a low-arts, low-SES background, closing (and in some cases eliminating) the gap that often appears between low-SES students and their more advantaged peers. And not just the standardized test score gap. (Learning First Alliance, 4/3/12)
NCLB Waivers for Districts No Easy Sell With States. Many state education chiefs think the decision to seek federal flexibility should rest with them, not the districts.
Think NCLB Waivers Mean an End to SES? Think Again (March 30, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Three Key Players for 21st Century Skills (April 2, 2012, John Wilson Unleashed Blog)
ED Releases New Report on Arts Education in U.S. Public Schools. On Monday, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the U.S. Department of Education, released the findings of the first nationwide arts survey in a decade that comprehensively documents the state of arts education in U.S. public schools. (ED.gov)
Report: Number of elementary arts classes declined nationwide (Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., 4/2)
Report: Arts classes at elementary schools reduced (BusinessWeek)
Report: Fewer elementary schools offering visual arts, drama, dance; poor ... (Washington Post)
Arts Instruction Still Widely Available, But Disparities Persist (April 2, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
Report: Arts Engagement Linked to Academic, Civic Benefits (April 3, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
Google Art Project expands, with 32,000 works of art now online. Imagine pulling up a stool next to the lonely diners of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” or dipping your fingers in the basin of “The Child’s Bath” by Mary Cassatt. These familiar images, along with the sunbathers of George Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” and the somber figures of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” are among the 32,000 works of art that Google released in digital format April 3. (eSchoolNews)
Israel Museum, one of 151 museums in 40 countries, showcased in Google Art Project . Until Tuesday, if history buffs wanted a glimpse of the Israel Museum's vast collection — including a 9,000-year-old carved human face found in the Judean Desert — they would have to travel to Jerusalem to see it. Now, through a joint venture with Google Inc., people from around the world can examine the ancient Neolithic artifact, which the museum says is the oldest in the world, in greater detail than ever before with a simple click of a mouse from the comfort of their own home. The mask is just one of 520 objects made available as part of the museum's partnership with the Google Art Project, an online compilation of high-resolution images of artwork from galleries worldwide, as well as a virtual tour of the museums using the high-tech giant's Google Street technology. (artdaily.org)
Let's Talk About Art: Surrealism in the Internet age. This is a biweekly series about art and artists in the region. Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts serves the community through arts education, exhibitions and artist resources. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
Education for the age of innovation. But we now know a lot more about learning and about how “arts integration” works. The California Alliance for Arts Education and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities have said as much after years of research and study. (U-T San Diego)
Art exhibition illuminates youthful creativity. The workshops function in tandem with the Curriculum Development of Elementary and Secondary Art Education class (ART 364) curriculum, which focuses on hands-on teaching with lesson plans. Senior art education major Claire Tracey, of Bethalto, ... (The Alestle)
NJ: The 42nd Monmouth Festival of the Arts Takes Place on May 5 through May 9. MFA also offers a day-long Symposium for Art Educators which provides teachers with lesson plans and techniques for use in the classroom, as well as providing the opportunity to earn required continuing education credits. (Atlantic Highlands Herald)
OK: Shawnee transplant helps art thrive. LeAnne Henry Wright has been trying to bring a positive change to the community through her artwork and the art education she provides. By Kory B. Oswald There is a proverb that says something like “be the tea, not the egg, or the noodle. (Shawnee News Star)
CA: Community Arts Enrichment Grant Program Kickoff. The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission kicks off its new Community Arts Enrichment (CAE) Grant Program. Community Arts Enrichment (CAE) grants are intended to support artists, arts and cultural organizations by funding projects and a variety of ... (Santa Barbara Independent)
Central Minn. program turns artists into teachers. A grant from the McKnight Foundation helped fund the program. The Perpich Center for Arts Education and the Paramount Visual Arts Center provided help with training and the development of the program. The group has spent 2011 and 2012 developing ... (Green Bay Press Gazette)
GA: Lack of funding forces arts community to change strategies. It's something that anyone involved in the arts has come to expect when funding is tight, and it has resulted in an increasing reliance on creative fundraising, private donations and alternative grant opportunities to provide for arts in the state. (Times-Georgian)
Google Art Project launches Tuesday at Art Institute of Chicago. These familiar images, along with the sunbathers of George Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" and the somber figures of Grant Wood's "American Gothic," are among the 32000 works of art that Google is releasing in digital format today. (Chicago Tribune)
Enhancing childhood education by training in drawing and fine art. Participants can test their creative art-making endurance. With every hour spent making art, participants will raise funds to support ArtSeed's educational programs, including scholarships for Bayview Hunters Point youth and other disadvantaged ... (Western Edition)
Capitol Connection eNewsletter, April 3, 2012. In This Issue: Policy Highlights from ASCD’s 2012 Annual Conference: Congratulations to ASCD’s 2012 Outstanding Young Educators!; Congress Agrees on Something: ESEA Reauthorization Is Not Happening Anytime Soon; i3 Round Three Scale-Up and Validation Grants Now Open; Report Roundup: Graduation Rates Improve, Task Force Concludes Education Failings Threaten National Security.
The art of teaching art. The list has been passed around by serious art teachers for decades. It is now reprinted in a mischievous and nourishing new book called Draw It With Your Eyes Closed: The Art Of The Art Assignment, compiled by the editors of the art magazine Paper ... (TODAYonline)
Art Show promotes recycling, litter prevention. Several art teachers and students from the Twin Counties area have been recognized for their creativity in turning recyclables into works of art. Keep America Beautiful of Nash & Edgecombe Counties recently announced the winners of the 2012 Litter Art ... (Rocky Mount Telegram)
CA: SAN BERNARDINO: Celebrating the talents of Inland arts educators. The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire joins The Art Institutes system of schools across the nation in celebrating the talents of local high school arts and media educators with an April gallery show, “What Those Who Teach Can Do. (Press-Enterprise)
Calling All Artists. A new book, “Draw It With Your Eyes Closed: The Art of the Art Assignment,” published by Paper Monument, is a collection of art teacher folk wisdom — the best classroom assignments that the contributors, most of them artists or art ... (New York Times blog)
4-3-12
What are YOU going to do with it? View the latest interactive Prezi from Deborah B. Reeve, EdD
The U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics released its study entitled “Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools 1999-2000 and 2009-10” at an event with Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, convened on April 2, 2012, at Miner Elementary School in Washington, DC. Representatives of the arts education community were invited to the event where Deborah B. Reeve, NAEA Executive Director, represented the NAEA along with Kathi R. Levin, NAEA Legislative Liaison who is representing NAEA on a committee of arts education leaders creating a toolkit to correspond with the launch. The report, along with the corresponding data files, is available online at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/. This is the direct link to the report. As the toolkit and supporting resources become available over the coming weeks, NAEA will post the materials and alert members.
Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10
This report presents selected findings from a congressionally mandated study on arts education in public K–12 schools. The data were collected through seven Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) surveys during the 2009-10 school year. This report provides national data about arts education for public elementary and secondary schools, elementary classroom teachers, and elementary and secondary music and visual arts specialists. Comparisons with data from the 1999–2000 FRSS arts education study are included where applicable.
These tables supplement the publication Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary schools: 1999–2000 and 2009–10 (NCES 2012-014). The data are from a total of seven surveys that were administered during the 2009–10 school year. At the elementary school level, the study includes a survey of school principals and three teacher-level surveys, one each for self-contained classroom teachers, music specialists, and visual arts specialists. At the secondary school level, the study includes a survey of school principals and two teacher-level surveys, one each for music specialists and visual arts specialists. Where applicable, the tables present comparisons with data that were collected in the 1999–2000 school year.
⇒Download, view and print the report (9023KB)
⇒Browse the supplemental tables of this report
⇒View list of tables
⇒Download, view and print the supplemental tables (800KB)
⇒Download, view and print the Arts Flyer (381KB)
⇒Additional Supplemental Table (39KB): Number and percent of students in public elementary and secondary schools without instruction designated specifically for music, visual arts, dance or drama/theatre, by school poverty level: school years 2008-09 and 2009-10
Prepared Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on the Report, "Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 2009-10". Note: Speaker deviated from prepared remarks. I'm delighted to be back in a school, and have the chance to talk to students, teachers, and parents. I loved hearing the Miner Glee Club. What a great, arts-infused school!
4-2-12
PREOCCUPATIONS: Art Makes a Statement for Business, Too. Corporate buyers of art may view it as a way to project an image, and sometimes as an extension of the company’s work life. (The New York Times)
National Gallery of Art Announces New Image Resource. The NGA has launched a new resource that revolutionizes the way the public interacts with its world-class collection. Users may now search, browse, share, and download free of charge more than 20,000 digital images believed to be in the public domain. This repository and the open access policy underscore the Gallery's mission and national role in making its collection available to scholars, educators, and the public.
New NEA research report shows potential benefits of arts education for at-risk youth. At-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement, according to a new NEA report, The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies. The study reports these and other positive outcomes associated with high levels of arts exposure for youth of low socioeconomic status. The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth study uses four separate longitudinal studies (three from the U.S. Department of Education) to track children, teenagers, and young adults who had high or low levels of arts engagement in or out of school.
Can arts education help narrow the achievement gap? Involvement in arts education can be linked to improved academic achievement among low-income or disadvantaged students, according to a new National Endowment for the Arts research report. Researchers found that disadvantaged students who participated in arts-rich experiences in high school earned higher grades and enrolled in competitive colleges at a higher rate than those who did not participate in arts instruction. "These findings suggest that in-school or extracurricular programs offering deep arts involvement may help to narrow the gap in achievement levels among youth," the report states. (Miller-McCune.com, 3/29)
Blog: NEA study finds arts engagement helps low-income youth (The Washington Post Style Blog)
Arts advocates make case for federal funding. A year ago, the threat of a government shutdown was raising the prospect of a major slash in government arts funding. This year, as arts advocates lobby for another round of funding, they face a different hurdle: the upcoming election.
(Variety)
Essex County to host workshop for artists and arts organizations. Essex County artists and arts organizations are invited to participate in "Art Matters: New Jersey's Arts Advocacy Workshop" on Wednesday, March 28, at 7 pm, at South Orange Performing Arts Center, One SOPAC Way, South Orange. Admission is free. (NorthJersey.com)
Dr. Anne J. Matlack of Madison is Host Conversationalist for Arts Council of .... Its mission is to bring the arts to the center of community life through programming in the areas of arts education, arts in community, arts advocacy and services that support our community of artists and arts organizations. (NJ.com)
Seattle Schools' goal: to create arts education for everyone. Seattle school officials are using a $1 million grant to try to craft a comprehensive, K-12 arts curriculum — something that the district hasn't had in decades, if ever. (The Seattle Times)
April Creativity! from Crayola
3-30-12
Obituary: Albert Hurwitz. Al Hurwitz, age 91, died late in the afternoon of March 24 in Los Angeles, Calif. He was a man of boundless enthusiasm and wit who will be deeply missed by all who knew him. (mvtimes.com)
April is Autism Awareness Month - Take Advantage of Special Prices on NAEA Resources! FOR A LIMITED TIME, get both Reaching and Teaching Students with Special Needs through Art and Understanding Students with Autism through Art for $45 (NAEA Member Price) / $55 (non-member). A savings of $10! OR order Understanding Students with Autism through Art for $25 (NAEA Member Price) /$29 (non-member). Available in the online store or by calling 800-299-8321. Offer good through May 4, 2012.
New Estimates Find 1 in 88 U.S. Children Has Autism. New estimates show that 1 in 88 American children has been identified as having autism spectrum disorder, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today, marking an increase of more than 20 percent since the last time such data were collected.
John Easton's Keynote Address from the NAEA 2012 National Conference Now Available Online. John Easton, the Director of the Institute of Education Scienes at the U.S. Department of Education, delivered a keynote address at the National Art Education Association (NAEA) 2012 National Convention in New York City where he shared his thoughts on the arts role in education and a research agenda to aid education leaders in decision making. Click here to read the full speech on March 3.
Arts Schools Network releases Season Two of Life in the Arts Video Series. The Arts Schools Network (ASN) proudly announces the second season of Life in the Arts, a video series produced by students from network member schools. The season premiered on March 21, 2012. Life in the Arts exposes arts students to real-life arts careers, and offers a great production experience for their portfolios. Each 30-minute episode presents a compelling feature, ranging from master classes and interviews with ASN successful alumni to tours of facilities and professional arts venues. This season, the series will include its first "foreign film" from an arts school in Milan, Italy.
Nominations Being Accepted for 2012 National Medal of Arts. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) encourages the American public to nominate artists and arts patrons for the 2012 National Medal of Arts. The National Medal of Arts is presented by the President and is the highest award given to artists, arts organizations, and arts patrons in the United States in honor of their creativity, inspiration, and hard work. These exceptional individuals have significantly enriched the cultural life of our nation. Past awardees have included Ralph Ellison, Georgia O’Keeffe, Al Pacino, Jessye Norman, Suzanne Farrell, as well as architects, designers, arts educators, directors, and composers. Arts organizations as well as arts patrons have also received recognition. Visit the NEA website and the Lifetime Honors tab to submit a nomination for a 2012 National Medal of Arts. The deadline is March 31, 2012.
The Kennedy Center’s Arts Integration Conference. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents its second annual Arts Integration Conference: Exploring an Approach to Teaching on June 25-28, 2012. The Conference explores the “how” of arts integration, rooted in the Kennedy Center’s 30 years of experience in professional learning for teachers, and provides many strategies that can make arts integration a part of every teacher’s approach to teaching. You will have the opportunity to: Examine the Kennedy Center’s definition of arts integration; Engage in a variety of participatory workshops focused on arts integration practices led by Kennedy Center national teaching artists; Hear the results of research studies that have evaluated the impact of arts integration on teachers’ instructional practice, student learning, and school culture; Hear from Rachel Goslins, Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, about the Reinvesting in Arts Education report.
Southeast Center for Education in the Arts Annual Arts & Education Forum. The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts fifth national Arts & Education Forum, Walking the Talk: Pathways to Quality Integration, will take place at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on May 18-19, 2012. This meeting will explore pathways to quality arts integration, the way in which various arts integration programs have followed these paths, and the impact of quality arts integration on their programs. Featured speakers will include Dr. Bennett Lentczner, president of RealVisions, and Drs. Linda Whitesitt and Elda Franklin, authors of The ARTS Book: Designing Quality Arts Integration with Alignment, Rigor, Teamwork and Sustainability. Registration is $195 which includes two breakfasts, two luncheons, and a copy of The ARTS Book. The deadline to take advantage of a special conference rate of $94 at the Sheraton Read House Hotel is May 3. For more information contact Kim Wheetley at 423-425-5205 or kim-wheetley@utc.edu.
Call for Papers: Special Issue of Arts Education Policy Review. The Arts Education Policy Review is accepting manuscripts for a special issue addressing teacher evaluation and arts education. Articles should address or relate to any of the following topics: State-level teacher evaluation policies and their effects on P-16 arts education; Local and district-level teacher evaluation policies and their effects on P-12 arts education; Teacher evaluation policies in higher education and their effects on pre-service arts teacher education; Descriptions of innovative approaches to P-16 teacher evaluation in the arts; Reports of initiatives taken by P-16 schools and/or arts organizations to advocate for arts-specific teacher evaluation processes. The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2012. Submissions and questions can be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Colleen M. Conway, at: conwaycm@umich.edu.
Arts Education Edition of the CQ Researcher. The March 16 issue of the CQ Researcher explores the ability of arts education to improve students’ social and academic skills. It acknowledges the growing body of research that suggests that the arts offer students a unique, valuable way to grow intellectually and emotionally, and that the arts can reduce tardiness and truancy and also help improve test scores. The publication takes a look at the following issues: Does arts education improve academic performance? Does the No Child Left Behind Act harm arts education? Should the arts be integrated into science and math education? You can download the full report here on the CQ Researcher website. (Please note that you must purchase the report to download it.)
Summer Professional Development at the Aesthetic Education Institute of Colorado. Register today for the Aesthetic Education Institute of Colorado (AEIC), an intensive summer professional development training in arts integration presented by Think 360 Arts and Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. AEIC is designed for school administrators and K-12 teachers in all content areas to discover teaching techniques that equip students with 21st century skills. AEIC will be held at Denver School of the Arts on June 25-29. For teachers: “Arts Integrated Approaches to Education”. For administrators: “Leadership for the 21st Century: Using Creativity to Build Effective Schools”
New Online Conversation Space for Arts in Education. A new online community discussion site, Continuing the Conversation (CtC), provides opportunity and inspiration for substantive dialogue on the issues facing the arts in education community. An initiative with roots in the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, CtC brings together professionals and supporters of the field from all over the world. The mission of Continuing the Conversation is to promote and advance dialogue in order to identify and work on urgent issues in the Arts in Education sector and to inspire those involved to lead and create change in this sector and beyond through expanding the place of the arts in education and in society. Follow the link above to join or start a conversation.
View Capitol Connection e-Newsletter, March 28, 2012, from ASCD
Hundreds visit State Capitol to celebrate Youth Art Month, March 29, 2012, Jefferson City, MO. Over 850 students, teachers and family gathered at the State Capitol on Thursday, March 29, 2012 to celebrate and recognize student achievement in the visual arts. Mrs. Georgeanne Nixon, the First Lady of Missouri, was on hand to support this annual event that emphasizes the value of art education for all children and encourages support for quality school art programs. The annual Youth Art Month Capitol Exhibit is sponsored by the Missouri Art Education Association. The mission of the Missouri Art Education Association is to advocate quality visual arts education by supporting creative teaching, providing opportunities for professional development and encouraging the study and implementation of best practices in the visual arts.
3-28-12
2012 Funds Now Available for Third Round of Investing in Innovation (i3) Scale-up and Validation Grants. The U.S. Department of Education released today the 2012 notice inviting applications for new “Scale-up” and “Validation” grants available through the Investing in Innovation (i3) fund. (ED.gov)
Are latest NCLB waiver applicants taking lessons from earlier round? States that applied in the second round of bidding for waivers from some requirements of No Child Left Behind did better than many first-round applicants of explaining their plans to meet the needs of English-language learners and students in special education, this analysis shows. However, of 26 states that applied in the second round, just nine met requirements for implementing new teacher-evaluation systems and fewer than 50% are incorporating subjects other than reading and math as part of their school-accountability systems, analysts found. (Education Week, 3/28)
Artists connect with students in the classroom. Kindergarten teacher Vicki Peterson is the champion of grant-writing for the school, constantly seeking out grants for this purpose, because she believes in art education and how it “transcends language,” she said. “Research has shown students with art ... (Quad City Times)
Research universities build argument for greater role for arts, creative thinking. "Art-Making and the Arts at Research Universities," a three-year plan, is the result of nearly a year of discussions and research with the goal of further integrating the arts into higher education curriculum and campus life. (U of M News Service press release)
U of M leads effort to integrate "arts practices" at research universitiesThe University of Michigan is leading an effort to get the arts to play a bigger role at research universities. Reading, writing, and "making" are the skills Theresa Reid wants to see emphasized in higher education. (Michigan Radio)
Disability explored via art. UNM students in the Department of Educational Specialties, which houses the special education and art education programs, learn to educate children about social justice issues and artistic expression, said department Chair Ruth Luckasson. (UNM Daily Lobo)
Making Room for History, Science, Art in the Common-Core Era. Several education experts recently made the case for the importance of ensuring topics such as history, science, and the arts get adequate classroom time and attention as states and districts begin to implement ... (Education Week News blog)
Lincoln Foundation Awards Art Grants. Fort Wayne-based Lincoln Financial Foundation has awarded more than $400000 in grants to area nonprofits. The most recent round of funding focuses on art education. Fort Wayne, Ind. -- Lincoln Financial Foundation is strengthening art education ... (Inside INdiana Business press release)
Fine Arts Commission Accepting Grant Applications. This grant program supports the mission of the Fine Arts Commission, which is to provide leadership in the arts through advocacy, education, and celebration. The grants are offered to encourage new works of art, educational programs, exhibits, ... (Patch.com)
NEF Awards $46K in Spring Grants. Mitchell Mosaic Mural Mania (Mitchell, $5000)—The funding is for an artist-in-residence to work with the students to design and create a mosaic mural that will be mounted at the school as a public art piece. The mural will be mounted on moveable ... (Patch.com)
Parents Donate $4.4 Million to Palo Alto Schools. PiE foundation's annual education grants to PAUSD fund both programs and dozens of teach and staff positions. The 2012 grant will pay for classroom support and science and art specialists in elementary schools; student counseling, teacher coaches and ... (Patch.com)
Newton School Committee Approves $178.8M Budget; Some Art Time Added Back. With savings found in the budget, the School Department will be able to add back some elementary art time and the district's One to One program. By Melanie Graham Newton elementary school art teachers brought posters to the fiscal 2013 budget public ... (Patch.com)
DFAL to Award 3 Arts Scholarships. The Duluth Fine Arts League is increasing the chances for talented high school art students to further their education. This year DFAL is providing three art scholarships -- two for $1500 each and one for $1000 -- to seniors who attend Duluth High ... (Patch.com)
District 181 Artists Featured at New York City Convention. The artwork of Monroe School third-grader Rei Hemmer is displayed during the National Association of Art Educators national convention earlier this month. Courtesy of District 181 Two District 181 students were recently featured artists on the Artsonia ... (Patch.com)
3-26-12
The 2013 NAEA National Convention Call for Presentations is Now Open! The deadline is 12 AM Midnight MAY 15, 2012. Submit your proposal today!
View photos from the 2013 NAEA National Convention. Use code: NAEA
Public education historian Diane Ravitch discusses the inequity in access to arts education among American school children in a series of interviews and a speech posted on www.ArtsEdge.org. Diane Ravitch is a Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education. In addition, she is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She shares a blog called Bridging Differences with Deborah Meier, hosted by Education Week. She also blogs for Politico.com/arena and The Huffington Post. Diane often speaks on inequality in American education and the negative impact of federal legislation on students, teachers, and schools—a common theme for many arts education advocates. In her speech, she addresses these issues as well as the fundamental importance of the arts to children and to society.
Exclusive! Maria Shriver's $40M Mission to Save Arts Education. "Extra" caught up with Maria Shriver, who attended the launch of the California Arts Council Create a State Campaign, a cause which aims to save arts education in California through the sale of specialized arts license plates. (Extra TV)
Artist/Teacher Institute Announces New Site For South Jersey Summer Arts Program. The Artist/Teacher Institute (aTi), 37-year old professional development program for educators and artists in the performing, visual, literary and technology arts, is moving its southern New Jersey site to The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in ... (TopWireNews press release)
NAEA Student Chapter at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA will be hosting a technology workshop on Saturday April 14, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. They will demonstrate some features on the computers and then attendees will have time to explore those features themselves. There are Mac labs in the building, but students will also have access to PC computers for working. Some proposed topics include: Photoshop, Effectively photographing student work, Power point, Designing your own website, & Online resources. Those who RSVP will receive parking passes for the event. Contact: Carla Jaranson, Northern Virginia Art Education Assn., President, Home - 703-451-4847, Burke, Virginia, carlajean8@gmail.com.
POLICY
Latest NCLB Waiver Hopefuls Learned From First Round. In the latest round of applications for waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act, states seem to have learned lessons from their predecessors and dodged pitfalls that triggered some big revisions from first-round states.
Education Department Senior Official to Discuss Early Progress of Race to the Top Program. U.S. Department of Education Chief of Staff Joanne Weiss will join other education and state leaders to discuss the achievements and challenges of the Department’s Race to the Top competitive grant program during a panel discussion on Monday, March 26, at 10 a.m.
Ed. Dept. to Split Race to Top Money Between Districts, Early Ed. (March 26, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Florida and Hawaii Get Dinged Again for Race to Top Woes (March 26, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
ED REVIEW - March 23, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
3-21-12
Who's taking on their school board this Thursday? American's for the Art's next webinar is: UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL BOARDS' ROLE IN ARTS EDUCATION ?Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDT / 12:00 PST. Register Now!
The Flaming Trees of Bryant Street. One Neighbor's Act of Creativity Serves As Inspiration For Us All. Most of us can agree that art education is not just desirable, but essential. In their 2010 report, the National Arts Policy Roundtable argued, “The opportunity for students to engage in the arts—through bands and choruses, dance and theater productions, exhibitions of their original art, and publications of original literary and visual work—can play a key role in tackling the graduation crisis.”
UC Berkeley's Summer Institute in Environmental Design: Now Accepting Applications. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 13, 2012 FOR SUMMER [IN]STITUTE 2012. The College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, is offering three summer programs that introduce the study of architecture – [IN]ARCH, landscape architecture – [IN]LAND, and sustainable city planning – [IN]CITY. The Summer [IN]STITUTE gives students the opportunity to explore the methods and theories of the fields, experience the culture of the design and planning studios, connect to top faculty and professionals, and build a portfolio for graduate school application. These are six-week summer programs that run Monday, July 2 through Friday, August 10, 2012. The program fee is $3,400. Each program consists of a lecture series, a design or planning studio, and either a seminar or media course. Faculty from the Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, and City and Regional Planning serve as the lead instructors. Applications are due on or before April 13, 2012. Application review began February 15, 2012. Open to post-baccalaureate students and exceptional students who have just finished their junior year of college and who have majors in other fields but are interested in testing their enthusiasm for the material and culture of environmental design. EMAIL: summer-institutes@berkeley.edu
Area Students Come Together for OMHS Youth Art Exhibit. Owings Mills High School's Youth Art Exhibit, which takes place Wednesday evening, will showcase art from students of all ages in a variety of mediums.
The Gift of Art Education in Woodbury. The annual District 833 Elementary Art Show open house is tonight, March 20, at the District Service Center.
Artist/Teacher Institute Announces New Site For South Jersey Summer Arts Program. The Artist/Teacher Institute (aTi), 37-year old professional development program for educators and artists in the performing, visual, literary and technology arts, is moving its southern New Jersey site to The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey ... The move represents both a new beginning, as well as a homecoming — the venerable summer arts program that has reached more than 50,000 teachers, began in 1975 and was at Stockton State College as a residential program in the 1990s. Today, aTi continues to enable New Jersey teachers to take a variety of hands-on arts workshops and then apply their newfound knowledge and enthusiasm back in their own classrooms to impact students. (WiredPRNews.com press release)
Celebrating Professional Learning. Last weekend I had pleasure of attending the Celebration of Teaching and Learning in New York City. As always, it was an inspiring event. In reflecting on the overall themes of the weekend, one emerged very clearly: Children and schools are hurting because of the current economic climate. The economy worked its way into just about every plenary, breakout and lunchtime conversation that I was a part of. Three other themes were nearly as ubiquitous. All three were also related to the context in which the Celebration found itself.
SOCIETY FOR EDUCATING WOMEN: Fifth International Conference 2012. (Re)Voicing the Lexicon of Educating Women: On Contemporary Feminist Pedagogy Conference Dates & Location, September 25 & 26, 2012, Drury Plaza Hotel at the Arch 2 South 4th Str eet ST. LOUIS, MO 63102, (314) 231-3003. The Society for Educating Women invites you to propose an individual paper presentation, symposium, roundtable discussion, performance, or work-in-progress on the education of girls and women in national or international contexts. SEW aims to provide new opportunities for collaboration and dialogue among and about educating women across various sorts of social, cultural, political, and academic boundaries that isolate us from one another.
POLICY
Districts could be eligible for NCLB waivers. The Department of Education could offer No Child Left Behind waivers to school districts in states that did not apply. Officials say the district-level waivers could be offered following a third round of judging for state waivers in September. So far, it appears Texas and California will not seek waivers, which have been awarded to 11 states. Education Week/Politics K-12 blog (3/19)
Education Secretary Duncan to Visit Delaware to Discuss Race to the Top Progress. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will travel to Delaware on Friday, March 23, to hold a roundtable conversation with state leaders and others involved with the state’s Race to the Top plan. They will have an open and candid discussion about progress in achieving the goals of the grant and anticipated challenges.
3-19-12
Today Is DC Arts Advocacy Day. DC Arts Advocacy Day is today, March 14th, and Rob Bettman, Executive Director for the DC Advocates for the Arts, has organized quite a movement; bringing artists, arts organizations and groups, and patrons of the arts together to directly lobby DC's ... (Huffington Post)
2012 NAEA National Convention Exhibits Student Art as Part of Dream Rocket Project at the Hilton New York. Student artworks from The Dream Rocket Project, an international public art project, were on display from March 1 – 4 at the Hilton New York Hotel, NYC. In 2009, the International Fiber Collaborative launched The Dream Rocket Project, a growing collection of art pieces made of fabric and textiles submitted from the United States and various regions of the world, approximately 8000 artworks are needed. The artwork that was displayed at NAEA was submitted from youngsters representing schools in states such as KS, KY, AL, MS, CA, NJ, NY, OK, PA, ME, OH, CT, TX, TN, NH, and MA, including international submissions from England, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Canada, Kenya, and Australia. In total this exhibit represents submissions from 31 elementary schools, 42 middle schools, 6 high Schools, and 14 universities. In 2014, this artwork will be joined with the other pieces to wrap around a 365-foot Saturn V Moon Rocket replica at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. prior to the wrapping of the Saturn V (fifty feet taller then the Statue of Liberty); all submissions are being displayed in venues such as libraries, schools and museums. Since May 2010, the Dream Rocket team has completed 44 exhibits and has scheduled a total of 81, including this show at the Hilton New York. The designated theme of the panels, “Dare to Dream,” challenges individuals to expand beyond the present state of the world and imagine the future. Perhaps most importantly, individuals are challenged to imagine their contribution to that future. These individual dreams & aspirations will combine to create a monumental 32,000 square feet work art, providing a tangible demonstration of the beauty of individuals collaborating to meet universal challenges. The creation of the panels has been a catalyst for creativity in health care facilities, libraries, schools, museums, and for individuals. While the Dream Rocket team works on collecting submitted artworks for this giant wrap, they are placing submitted artworks on display in national & international venues up until the time that the Saturn V is wrapped.
AYAW Times - Issue 24: Announcing the 2012 National Winners!
Kids sell fruit snacks to save their arts program! (video). A group of kids in Maine, created a campaign selling fruit snacks to save their arts program. They made this video to explain the importance of their efforts. (They even got a local advertiser.) Share this video with five friends and invite them to join, today! It's important. (Americans for the Arts)
Hoping That Art Helps With Healing. CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL BOSTON, inside this city’s warren of top-notch hospitals, is a temple of pediatrics, drawing patients and families for some of the country’s best medical care. But it is probably not where they come expecting to find technical art instruction. (The New York Times, 3/14/12)
NYC project helps students see books as an art form. Some New York City students are creating original illuminated manuscripts through the Morgan Book Project, a program developed by the Morgan Library and Museum and the city's Education Department for students in grades 3 through 7. The students view manuscripts in the museum's collection and then use authentic materials to create their own in a process aimed at helping them appreciate physical books and comparing the art form to that of the modern Web page. (The New York Times, 3/14)
Education-Colleges.com Art Page is a career exploration tool providing information to empower educators to reach their full potential and accomplish professional opportunities in the most clear and concise manner. Areas covered are duties, wages, education/certification requirements, exams, etc. This material is for early childhood, k-12, secondary, special education, ESL/TESOL, administration and beyond.
Teen Voices Magazine Announces Artist of the Month Contest. Want a chance to win a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to a three-week summer art program in Boston? Want to collaborate with other teen artists at a professional art school? Grab your paints, clay, pencils, camera—whatever medium you use—and turn up your creativity! We’re looking for teen girls to publish in Teen Voices! Compete with teen artists around the world to become one of 12 Teen Voices Artist of the Month semi-finalists. Then go head-to-head for the title Teen Voices Artist of the Year! Teen Voices is teaming up with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) for our first-ever art contest. Compete for a chance to win a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) to the renowned SMFA’s Pre-College Summer Art Studio—a $4,000 value! Spend three weeks living in Boston immersed in nine different artistic disciplines and begin to build a professional art portfolio. The contest begins on January 1, 2012. Each month has a different theme, such as sisterhood, power, beauty, or heritage. Amplify your creative voice—you can submit up to three pieces of your work EACH month.
Smithsonian American Art Museum presents new exhibition "The Art of Video Games". “The Art of Video Games” is one of the first major exhibitions to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking graphics, creative storytelling and player interactivity. The exhibition features some of the most influential artists and designers across five eras of game development, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. Video games use player participation to tell stories and engage audiences. In the same way as film, animation and performance, video games are a compelling and influential form of narrative art.
TEESNet which is Teacher Education for Equity and Sustainability – . The 5th annual conference of the UK ITE Network for Education Sustainable Development/ Global Citizenship to be held July 12, 2012, will feature a keynote address from Michaela Crimmin on the role of the arts in issues of equity and sustainability.
Art, education empower women. The US Geological Survey's National Wetlands Research Center hosted an art exhibit in honor of Women's History Month showcasing the works of Acadiana's women artists in Lafayette in 2009. This year's Empowering Women Through Art and Wetland Education ...
Teacher Survey Highlights Cuts to the Arts, Foreign Languages (March 9, 2012, Curriculum Matters)
Arts education needs to be protected. Today, Boston is renewing this promise by reestablishing high quality arts education for all students as a core part of excellent schools. At a time of great stress on Boston's school budget, private philanthropists and charitable foundations launched ... (Boston.com blog)
Cuts to Arts Education Would Shortchange Our Children. Budget pressures are forcing school boards across the country to slash spending and cut programs central to a child's education. Later today, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) -- the second largest school system in the nation -- is set to revisit a plan that includes devastating cuts to elementary arts education programs. For the district's 275,000 elementary students, this could mean an education devoid of the arts curriculum that has long been a core part of a well-rounded, complete public education. (The Huffington Post)
Interested in getting published in SchoolArts? Here are the themes for 2012-2013 volume year. SchoolArts works 4 months in advance, so you might start thinking of articles you would like to submit early. They always need articles for Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School, and High School. View the writer's guidelines online. THEMES: Aug/Sept: Inception (beginnings) - Oct: Transfiguration (change) - Nov: Motivation (influence) - Dec: Advocacy - Jan: Presenting the Self - Feb: Consideration (compassion, empathy) - Mar: Creativity Now (contemporary, world wide) - Apr: Ecology - May/June: Connectivity
3-14-12
MetLife Survey shows Arts Cuts. An Education Week blog summarizes from the newly released MetLife survey of teachers. The survey reports on the impact of budget cuts, teacher layoffs, curriculum, and parent involvement. When 1001 teachers were asked about the reducation or elimination of arts or music programs: 23% reported programs were reduced. Of that 23%, 23% taught elementary; 33% taught grades 6 - 8; and 32% taught high school. So it seems the cuts were pretty evenly spread across grade levels. Teachers also reported cuts to foreign languages and physical education programs. More than one third (36%) of teachers report that during the past 12 months there have been reductions or eliminations of arts or music (23%), foreign language (17%) or physical education (12%) programs. Overall, these reductions or eliminations are more likely to be reported among teachers in urban areas than in suburban or rural areas (46% vs. 32% vs. 32%)... Teachers in schools with more than two-thirds minority students are more likely than other teachers to report that there have been reductions or eliminations of arts or music programs at their school (30% vs. 19%). Teachers were not asked specifically about the budget impact in any other content area. The data come from the 28th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher.
Media Arts Added to National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) has added national, voluntary media arts standards to the Next Generation Arts -Standards Project. Recognizing the growing interest and diversity of media arts as a new mode of expression within public education, NCCAS has formed a team of media arts writers and leadership to lead the work. NCCAS is committed to creating re-envisioned voluntary, arts standards that will build on the 1994 National Arts Standards (and the 2005 Standards for Learning and Teaching Dance in the Arts), that have helped guide curriculum designers, pre-professional training programs, funders, and federal and state policy makers in their PreK-12 decision making. The media arts team will create a set of standards that will be equal in rigor, breadth, and depth as those of those of dance, music, theatre and visual arts, while simultaneously recognizing that media arts will be embedded within each of the traditional forms as a pathway for knowing and understanding.
NEW in the NAEA Store! ART MATTERS Advocacy Gear. View and purchase it online today!
ED and Its Art. As I transitioned to the Department of Education from my prior life as a college president, I experienced a concern I had every time I changed positions: I worried that I would lose some of the most important aspects of … (ED.gov)
Education Department, College Board to Host College Board AP Studio Art Exhibit Opening, Ribbon Cutting. U.S. Assistant Secretary Eduardo Ochoa, senior officials from the College Board, and AP studio art students and teachers will give remarks at the opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the AP Studio Art Exhibit at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, March 14 in the Education Department’s auditorium, 400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
School Days February 2012. In the February edition of "School Days," the US Department of Education's monthly video journal, President Obama names the first states to receive flexibility from the requirements of No Child Left Behind, Secretary Arne Duncan visits the Green Schools National Conference, and Duncan unveils the RESPECT project aimed at transforming the teaching profession.
Secretary Duncan Acknowledges March Arts Learning Celebrations. In a recent blog post entitled “It’s March. Do You Know How Strong Your Schools’ Arts Programs Are?” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recognizes the celebration of Dance in the Schools Month, Music in Our Schools Month, Theatre in Our Schools Month, and Youth Art Month. Duncan states that all of the arts “are essential to preparing our nation’s young people for a global economy fueled by innovation and creativity and for a social discourse that demands communication in images and sound as well as in text."
It’s March. Do You know How Strong Your Schools’ Arts Programs Are? Posted on March 2, 2012 by Arne Duncan
Congress Designates March 12-16 National Young Audiences Week. Earlier this month, Young Audiences announced that the United States Senate and House of Representatives issued resolutions designating March 12-16, 2012 as National Young Audiences Week. The week recognizes the contributions Young Audiences has made through its PreK-12th grade arts-in-education programs. The Senate resolution states that “arts education, including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.” The resolution also emphasizes that the arts not only foster academic success, but also support personal growth by developing 21st Century skills, including: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, discipline, and cross-cultural understanding. You can read the full Senate resolution here (page S1418). On a national level, Young Audiences, Inc. brings 5,000 professional artists to over 6,000 schools and community centers annually with performances, artist residencies and workshops. National Young Audiences Week will be observed around the country by Young Audiences, Inc. affiliates in 20 states to promote awareness for its arts-in-education programs.
Nominations Being Accepted for for 2012 National Medal of Arts.The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) encourages the American public to nominate artists and arts patrons for the 2012 National Medal of Arts. The National Medal of Arts is presented by the President and is the highest award given to artists, arts organizations, and arts patrons in the United States in honor of their creativity, inspiration, and hard work. These exceptional individuals have significantly enriched the cultural life of our nation. Past awardees have included Ralph Ellison, Georgia O’Keeffe, Al Pacino, Jessye Norman, Suzanne Farrell, as well as architects, designers, arts educators, directors, and composers. Arts organizations as well as arts patrons have also received recognition. Visit the NEA website and the Lifetime Honors tab to submit a nomination for a 2012 National Medal of Arts. The deadline is March 31, 2012. The nomination process is managed by the NEA.
Community Arts Education Leadership Institute July 17-21. Apply today for the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s 2012 Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) sponsored by the American Express Foundation. CAELI provides a transformative experience for current and aspiring leaders to advance their skills by engaging with top leadership trainers and nationally-renowned community arts education practitioners. Designed and facilitated by Partners in Performance, the eight-month program begins in May 2012 with a 360-degree feedback process and advance assignments, at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, PA (July 17-21), and follow-up coaching sessions from August through December. The Institute is ideally suited for those in executive positions or preparing to move into such positions. The application deadline is Friday, March 30, 2012. Application instructions, registration fees, and program details are available online. There is a $50 non-refundable application fee.
VSA and CVS Present “All Kids Can CREATE” 2012. VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, and CVS Caremark All Kids Can are inviting all children ages 5-15 to submit original artwork on the theme "What Inspires Me" to the 2012 All Kids Can CREATE program. This year's call for art, which launched on the birthday of the inspiring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., invites students to reflect on what inspires them and share those inspirations through art! Submissions will be featured in an online gallery and considered for display in the “What Inspires Me” exhibition debuting at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. in August 2012. The deadline for submitting artwork is April 8, 2012. More information can be found at .
John Deasy On LAUSD Budget Cuts: 'I like Art Too, But I Like Art Teachers ..."I like art too, but I like art teachers better, and a fraction of the money [spent] on moving the rock could have saved elementary art for many, many years." KTLA reporter Eric Spillman's segment asserted that the district "always or usually" manages ... (Huffington Post)
Live From SXSW: Best Practices for Game-Design Curriculum. Eeducational gaming is emerging as the most-discussed innovation in education. Whether using games to help students learn, or using game-design curriculum to teach science, technology, engineering, and math, educators seemed to have reached a consensus that games are an effective way to engage students in a topic they aren't immediately interested in.
Duncan Talks Tech at SXSWedu “The future of American education undoubtedly includes a laptop on every desk and universal internet access in every home,” Secretary Duncan said earlier today at SXSWedu (South by Southwest Education), in Austin, TX.
JOHN DIVOLA SELECTED FOR 2012 GETTY ARTISTS PROGRAM. Internationally renowned photographer will create a “Digital Scavenger Hunt” for elementary school and community college students. Each year, the Getty Museum’s Education department invites one established, mid-career artist to take part in the program, creating and implementing a project of his or her choosing. The artist is given the freedom to select an audience, and develop the focus and format of their project. For the scavenger hunt, students are given a list of subjects or prompts related to objects in the Museum’s collection or aspects of the Getty Center site. As the students photograph each subject, they engage with the art, the site, and the practice of photography in a new way, and are given the freedom to be creative in their approach. Once the hunt is complete, the students’ digital files will be collected, placed into very large grids of images by subject, and then output as large prints. The printed grids will be displayed at the Getty at a closing event in May. The end result is several works of art that demonstrate the varying interpretations of the challenge by each student, with the goal of engaging students in the process of photography without the weight of individual artistic expectations.
Teacher Survey Highlights Cuts to the Arts, Foreign Languages (March 9, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
March is YOUTH ART MONTH! Youth Art Month is an annual celebration promoting Art and Art Education in the United States. Observed in March, YAM includes thousands of American schools participating, often with the involvement of local Art Museums and civic organizations. Council for Art Education, Inc. | National Art Education Association | Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc. | General Federation of Women's Club | Craft & Hobby Association
Arts Education Blog Salon March 12–16. March is Arts Education Month! At Americans for the Arts, we are celebrating by hosting a blog salon on about a hot topic in arts education—quality. We’ll be looking at what "quality" means in terms of student engagement and organizational capacity. Fifteen leaders from across the country will post their thoughts on this topic each day from March 12–16 on ARTSblog.
IL: Arts education adds value in many ways. A Register Star editorial in February made a fair and articulate case for the arts and their place in our public schools and in our community. The editorial was a welcomed boost for supporting a stronger presence for the arts in Rockford schools.
MN: Businesses host student work for Youth Art Month. Twenty-one pieces by 19 students in Ann Wistrcill's art classes are on display through the end of the month in the education room at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, as part of the National Art Education Association's Youth Art Month. (Winona Daily News)
Huntsville Museum of Art's Youth Art Month Exhibit now open. Youth Art Month is observed nationally each March. The program is endorsed by the National Art Education Association, Alabama Art Education Association, Alabama State Department of Education, Alabama Alliance for Arts Education and locally by the ...
Student art show highlights creative opportunities. The exhibit, an annual March event, is held as part of National Youth Art Month, a program created more than 50 years ago by the Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc., in cooperation with the National Art Education Association. (Reminder Newspapers)
Parker students shine at Youth Art Month. Parker School student artists celebrated several wins for their works in advance of Youth Art Month, recognized through the month of March every year. According to the National Art Education Association's website, YAM is designed “to emphasize the ... (Hawaii 24/7 press release)
WA: Have a say about arts education in Seattle Public Schools. On Tuesday, March 13, Ballard High School will host one of five community meetings around Seattle to discuss the future of art education in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Families, students, teachers, artists, ... (Queen Anne View)
GA: CCEI Promotes Early Art Education for "Youth Art Month". ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI), an IACET approved, nationally accredited, distance training institution dedicated exclusively to the child care and education workforce, offers new users the trial course CCEI690: Rainbows and Rembrandts: Enhancing Art in the Preschool Classroom at no cost in March in recognition of Youth Art Month. Read more here.
From LA City Councilmember Alarcon - SFHS Art Showcase and Talent Show in March. With the proposed elimination of funding for Art in LAUSD Elementary schools, it is vital to support and encourage student art and young artist. Artist have various backgrounds. No matter the background of an artist or the style, we share a bond because through Art we have found ourselves, our identity, our self expression, power, freedom, escape, release, safety and / or a voice. March is National Youth Arts Month. As you are apart of the development of students who are studying Art, you understand the influence education, mentorship and criticism, both negative and construction can have on a young artist. Your presence can send a powerfully positive message to students that the community believes in its young artist. Please Support these students if possible. I understand if you might not be unable to attend either event, but if possible at the very least, please share flyers with colleagues, students, family and friends and post in public spaces so they may be visible to all individuals. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this message and looking at the flyers. --Jaime Rodriguez, Education Liaison, Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Richard Alarcon, Pacoima District Office, (818)-485-0600, jaime.p.rodriguez@lacity.org.
What Happened in February at ED? In the February edition of “School Days,” the U.S. Department of Education’s monthly video journal, President Obama names the first states to receive flexibility from the requirements of No Child Left Behind, Secretary Arne Duncan visits the Green Schools National …
The never-ending story of ESEA reauthorization. ASCD's quarterly Policy Priorities newsletter is back with an issue that explores "The Never-Ending Story of ESEA Reauthorization." In the headlining article, freelance education writer Barbara Michelman provides historical background on U.S. education law and explains what could happen if "ESEA is not reauthorized and NCLB continues to operate on autopilot." Michelman dissects the current state of affairs, examines waivers and the Common Core State Standards, and shares rationale for ESEA reauthorization.
Weekly Update: A Wake-up Call to Education from ED.gov
VIDEO: Race to the Top - Voices from the Third round
View Capitol Connection e-Newsletter, March 6, 2012, from ASCD. In this issue: House Education Committee Approves NCLB Overhaul; Illinois ASCD Promotes Whole Child Education; Twenty-Six States and DC Apply for NCLB Waivers.
View Capitol Connection e-Newsletter, February 27, 2012, from ASCD. In this issue: Duncan Gets Grilled on The Daily Show; Voucher Allowances, Funding Caps Are Trouble Spots in House ESEA Bills; Six Quick Advocacy Tips from a Fellow Educator Advocate; Get Your Students to Tackle Education Challenges.
Deputy Secretary to Visit Mississippi, Join U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson to Tour Schools and Discuss Obama Administration’s New Initiative to Enhance the Teaching Profession
ESEA Outlook Murky, Despite House Panel's Vote. Two bills approved by the House Education committee would give states more running room on K-12 policy, but face a cloudy future. (Education Week, 3/7/12)
March Is National Craft Month from Crayola. Crayons, colored pencils, paints, modeling material, you name it—Crayola has the products you need to make all your arts and crafts projects for National Craft Month. Bring winter to a close by creating some fresh and new crafts for Spring. Go to Crayola.com for information about Inside the Crayon Box, a live video chat session on Facebook with Lisa Loeb about raising creatively alive kids. Also, the 2011-12 Creativity Connects Us™ Art Exhibition is underway. The Grand Prize winner's family and the submitter's family will win Royal Caribbean International® cruises!
From Americans for the Arts, Arts Watch, March 7, 2012
Virginia: Magnet School Focuses on Educating Whole Child
The Washington Post, 2/29/12
"Music technology teacher Tara Hofmann’s lab buzzes with the sounds of young composers. Third-graders in the class perch in front of computer screens, plugging in music notes onto digital staves and playing back their work on recorders, a woodwind instrument all students at Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences learn to play. 'This is college-level stuff,' Hofmann said of the composition, adding that although students are working on music, the applications of composition reach into their other classes, such as reading and writing. 'Right now, what they are doing is the same process they would learn in [writing] classes. It’s about coming up with an idea, writing it, revising it, editing, and then publishing it. It’s the same process.' Hofmann’s lab is a good example of the collaboration the school’s arts- and science-enhanced curriculum offers students as a means to teach the Standards of Learning required by Virginia, Assistant Principal Rachel Charlton said."
Illinois: Study Shows Arts Programs Help Students in All Areas
Chicago Tribune, 2/28/12
"Arts programming was a factor leading to improved standardized test scores at three schools in Chicago over three years, according to a report released by the educational arts nonprofit Changing Worlds and Loyola University. The study is just the latest calling for more arts education in Chicago Public Schools. With the district moving to a longer school day next year, the Chicago Teachers Union and parent groups like Raise Your Hand have called for more time devoted to enrichment classes like music and art and less time devoted to test preparation...The study found that fourth graders who started with the program in 2009 saw an 11.5 percentage point gain in composite test scores meeting or exceeding state standards by the time they finished the arts program in sixth grade in 2011. They also scored on average more than 11 percentage points higher than fourth through sixth graders at the same school who did not take part in the program, according to the study."
London: Exhibition at The Zabludowicz Collection investigates the ways in which artists use language. The Zabludowicz Collection presents Weighted Words, an exhibition bringing together works which harness the powers of language in order to produce an impact on the viewer. By investigating the ways in which artists use language, the exhibition offers visitors new and striking ways of considering weighty topics. Schoolchildren should study the arts until age 16, says report. Government-commissioned report by Classic FM boss Darren Henley warns of fears that coalition is ignoring cultural education (or http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9109603/Art-or-dance-should-be-compulsory-to-16-review-says.html
2012 AMC Montessori Hands on Springtime Newsletter. Please also see http://montessori21stcentury.wordpress.com/. This issue is filled with art lessons, craft presentations and hand made craft gift ideas. Then, download the new AMC Montessori Hands-On Creative Lesson Planning Newsletter. You can also access this newsletter by visiting http://www.amonco.org and clicking on the new eBook Library. All of the lessons contained in the newsletter are free of charge. Visit http://www.amonco.org/montessori_spring_handson.html to download the newsletter in .pdf. Don't forget to enter the monthly AMC drawing
Feature: What Role Can Online COPs – Communities of Practice – Play in Achieving Teacher Excellence? As 2012 unfolds, the Department of Education continues to pursue an important question for closing the achievement gap: How can online communities of practice (COPs) best address some of the most pressing challenges in P-12 education? For the past year, a multi-pronged effort by the Department’s Offices of Innovation and Improvement (OII) and Educational Technology (OET) has pursued several critical issues associated with that question.Following the 2010 release of the National Education Technology Plan, “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology,” the OET outlined best practices for managing online communities of practice in a report entitled “Connect and Inspire.” The report employed both research literature and observations of mature communities of practice to describe ways that online COPs can help educators access, share, and create knowledge, as well as build a professional identity that goes beyond what is possible face-to-face.
Ben Folds to Perform During Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy on April 16 in Washington, D.C. "I am honored to join grassroots advocates from around the country on Arts Advocacy Day and to perform at the Nancy Hanks Lecture. I am proud to shine a spotlight on the necessity of public funding for arts education," said Folds. (Bradenton Herald)
MD:North County student claims national art honor. Ashely Lim is only one in country to receive the NAEA 2012 Rising Stars Secondary Recognition Award, which Lim recently received at the organization's national convention in New York City. The Rising Stars Secondary Recognition Program promotes art education by recognizing members of the National Art Honor Society, which the NAEA began in 1978 for high school students who show interest in art.
NJ: RBR Students Place at Monmouth Festival of Arts Student Competition. Long Branch, Wall and Freehold students receive honorable mentions at the annual art competition at the Reformed Temple of Tinton Falls.
READING-BERKS GUILD 10th ANNUAL JURIED SPRING CRAFT SHOW SET FOR KUTZTOWN MARCH 24 AND 25. Features museum quality art by 80 craftsmen, antique appraisals, live music, student gallery, food, door prizes, etc.
NC: North Carolina Museum of Art receives $2 million for K-12 Educational Program. The GlaxoSmithKline Foundation announced that it will supply the North Carolina Museum of Art with a $2 million grant over the next four years. The nonprofit fundraising grant will benefit an arts education program at the museum called the Big Picture ...
WVa: Jackson County school project hopes art leads to smarts. Does art equal smarts? That's the intended result of an innovative project connecting West Virginia artisans with Jackson County Schools.There's more to the project, however, than just motivational artwork. There's a practical, educational aspect to the program, according to Jackson County Superintendent of Schools Blaine Hess. He said studies have shown that hands-on art applications such as these make learning more enjoyable and memorable and result in greater retention and problem solving skills for students.
The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning Summer Institute. The Silk Road Project and the Harvard Graduate School of Education are collaborating to present their first summer institute for artists and educators: The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning. This weekend institute will be held at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA on July 27-29, 2012. Join educators and artists from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to deepen your understanding of how learning takes place in and through the arts. Who should attend: artists (all disciplines) and educators (all subjects, special emphasis on middle grades), including school and arts organization administrators. Who Should Attend: Artists (all disciplines) and Educators (all subjects, special emphasis on middle grades), including school and arts organization adminstrators. Tuition: $875 (travel/accommodation to be arranged by participant)
Space is limited. Limited financial assistance for tuition and travel stipends is made available by the Silk Road Project, with preference given to teaching artists and teachers from low-resourced schools on a first-come, first-served basis. Requests for financial aid are included in the registration process. To register for The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning, please visit Harvard's Programs in Professional Education.
Investing In Innovation Grants. The U.S. Department of Education has opened the third year of the Investing in Innovation grant competition for districts, groups of schools, and non-profit organizations to improve student results through innovative practices. The deadline for a recommended Intent to Apply is March 15, 2012. This competition invites entities interested in grants of up to $3 million — termed “development grants” — to submit a simplified pre-application through an April 9th deadline. View additional grants at ED related to ED-GRS here.
CO: Denver's First Lady launches drive to help fund school arts programs. Hardest hit, for example, is the middle school level, said one official. The district is examining going back to the voters in November for a tax increase that could be directed at arts funding. Denver Superintendent Tom Boasberg welcomes Lee's help ... (Denver Post)
Academy of Art University and NASA Announce Design Partnership. Academy of Art University Industrial Design Students to Design a Robot User Interface for NASA That Will Allow Future Astronauts in Space to Remotely Operate a Robot on Earth San Francisco, California (PRWEB) March 12, 2012 This semester, ... (San Francisco Chronicle press release)
DC: Options Include Standalone School, Two New Programs at Existing Schools. In an arts integration programs, teachers weave the arts into lesson plans; schools host at least two guest artists or performances a year; students present what they learn in at least two public showcases; and half of the teachers participate in ... (Washington Informer)
Arts Express Summer Conference, June 13-14. Register Now for the Arts Express Summer Conference for Elementary Educators June 13-14, 2012 at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi, Utah. This year’s theme: Spice It Up with "C"easoning: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration and Communication, honors the integration of the P21 skills. This conference features two days of workshops for elementary (K-6) teachers, administrators, and parents in dance, drama, music, and visual art. Integration across the curriculum is emphasized. Specific sessions in science, literature, social and emotional health and more are included. Keynote Speaker and Presenter: Claudia Cornett, author of Creating Meaning through Literature and the Arts. Featured presenters include: Lucinda Presley, Director of 21st Century Learning at the Leonardo, an Arts/Science/Technology Museum in Utah; Marilyn Berret, Brigham Young University Dance Department Chair; George Nelson, author of Breaking the Learning Barrier for Under Achieving Students.
The Global Learning Studio Summer Workshop in London. The Global Learning Studio is an international professional development opportunity for classroom teachers, museum educators, arts specialists, curriculum leaders, administrators and teaching artists from schools and community-based arts organizations. The workshop will take place at The American School in London, June 18 - June 22, 2012. Participants will explore two central questions: How can we use the arts to develop thinking skills and understanding across arts and non-arts disciplines? How can we use our surroundings to enrich curriculum and deepen student understanding? The Global Learning Studio offers creative, hands- on approaches in music, theatre, dance and visual arts to apply across the full curriculum to develop understanding in various disciplines and cross–disciplinary contexts.
3-1-4-12
FEBRUARY 2012
2-27-12
It’s Not All About Test Scores. Yesterday I wrote about the DREAM Program in San Diego’s North County, where third-graders whose teachers had training and ongoing support in incorporating the arts – puppetry, miming, acting, dancing and more – into the curriculum showed incredible improvement on standardized reading tests compared to students whose teachers did not get such training or support. (Learning First Alliance)
Doodle 4 Google 2012: If I could travel in time, I'd visit...Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a contest where we invite students in the United States to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google’s homepage logo for millions to see. This year, we ask students to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "If I could travel in time, I'd visit…" One lucky student artist will see their artwork appear on the Google homepage and take home some cool prizes--and as a special bonus, the winning artwork will appear on a limited edition of Crayola's iconic 64 box!
MAM opens Kohl's Art Education centers. The small corridor that previously housed the Milwaukee Art Museum's youth education center is currently showcasing the 2012 Scholastic Art Award winners, featuring 325 art works created by local students in grades 7-12. (ThirdCoast Digest)
Art Education Degrees Allow Artists to Turn their Passion Into Their Career. Obtaining an art education degree is the first step in turning this dream into a reality. Aspiring art teachers and prospective art students can learn about the requirements, specializations, benefits and career paths associated with an art education ... (SBWire press release)
NC: Museum gets arts education grant. The GlaxoSmithKline Foundation on Tuesday gave $2 million to the North Carolina Museum of Art to help teachers integrate arts education into other courses in elementary, middle and high schools statewide. The Big Picture project will ... (WRAL.com)
CA: SFMOMA transforms into an interactive gameboard. From the museum that brought visitors the very first interactive multimedia gallery tour back in 2001 comes a new way to explore modern and contemporary art. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presents ArtGameLab, an ongoing exhibition in the museum's Koret Visitor Education Center that presents a selection of prototype crowdsourced games designed by SFMOMA's community, for SFMOMA's community. Last summer SFMOMA issued an open call for simple games devised to be played inside the museum for audiences of all ages. Visitors can now view the results and pick up instructions for playing five of the 50 game proposals that artists and game designers submitted, along with a series of digital games designed by the museum's education departmen
Educationcloset.com is proud to announce two new Arts Education books available through Amazon.com. One is dedicated to information on Arts Integration and one is dedicated to Arts Advocacy.
Shake the Sketch: An Arts Integration Workbook, Written by: Susan Riley, Paperback: $21.99 | Kindle Edition: $8.99. This workbook is designed for classroom teachers, administrators, arts educators, and community members who are looking for ways to support 21st century learning skills that engage and empower our students. Throughout this book, you'll discover what Arts Integration is, how it's revolutionizing education, and how to successfully implement it in your classroom, school or district.
A Vocal Advocate: An Arts Advocacy Workbook, Written by: Susan Riley, Paperback: $19.95 | Kindle Edition: $4.99. This workbook is designed for arts teachers looking for ways to support and advocate for their programs at a time when school budget cuts for the arts are at an alarmingly high rate. This workbook will walk you through an easy-to-follow process that engages you with your community, students, fellow artists and teachers, and administrators to showcase what your program offers to the heart of education.
A Conversation with Martin Scorsese: The Importance of Visual Literacy. The filmmaker touches on topics ranging from the importance of teaching visual literacy to violence in films to the preservation of classic movies.
From Americans for the Arts - Arts Watch - February 22, 2012
Collaborative Startup Helps Ford Encourage Employee Creativity, CBS Moneywatch, 2/13/12
"Ford Motor Company is full of smart, experienced engineers. But like every other company in the world, they want their workforce to be more creative. New ideas, better designs, smarter features: All this drives sales and customer satisfaction. But every company in the world struggles with it. So when Ford was able to increase its new inventions by 17 percent in under one year, attention had to be paid. The experiment was the brainchild of Bill Coughlin, CEO of Ford Global Technology. He'd been inspired by Tech Shop, a new business headed by Mark Hatch. Recognizing that the cost of prototyping machinery has plummeted, and that the software has made it easy to use, TechShop was created as a place where anyone with an idea can figure out how to turn it into reality. It isn't just the equipment that works the magic. As a welcoming, open environment, it is full of people with experience, enthusiasm, and encouragement who can both instruct would-be inventors and bring a lot of insight and guidance to their ideas."
California: Arts Integration Demonstrates Test Score Improvement, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/10/12
"North County third graders who had the arts integrated into their regular curriculum showed remarkable improvement on standardized test scores, researchers announced [February 9]. The Developing Reading Education with Arts Methods, or DREAM, program is in its third year of operation in 10 school districts. It is funded by a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education and led by California State University San Marcos and the San Diego County Office of Education. It trains third- and fourth-grade teachers to integrate the arts into their lessons and sends artists into the classroom to provide weekly coaching...Officials announced their findings, including what they described as an 'astonishing' 87-point average gain on the state standardized reading test for third graders in 2010–11."
POLICY
Odd Pairings on Teacher Evaluation in ESEA Fight. The usual partisan lines blur as members of Congress grapple with the federal role in shaping how to judge teacher quality. (Education Week, 2/27/12)
Three more states propose alternatives to NCLB. In Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., applications for waivers from No Child Left Behind include plans to replace the federal education law's 100% proficiency mandate with what officials say are more realistic goals. Virginia's proposal calls for 75% of students to be proficient in reading, and 70% in math. However, some say the state's proposal could lead low-income and minority students to be overlooked. Waiver applications are due Tuesday. (The Washington Post, 2/25)
Advocates Have Long Wish List for House Panel on ESEA Bills (February 24, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Santorum Would 'Eliminate' No Child Left Behind Act (February 22, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Critics: NCLB waivers are not as flexible as promised. At least 20 states are expected to apply for No Child Left Behind waivers by the Feb. 28 deadline. However, some critics say the Department of Education has not honored its pledge to offer states needed flexibility from the federal education law because of the requirements imposed by the waivers. The department has said some states' waiver applications offer vague plans for teacher evaluations, do not do enough to engage with stakeholders and include complex grading systems. (Education Week, 2/22)
Ed. Dept. to Closely Monitor Subgroups in NCLB Waiver States (February 23, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Department Launches Pre-Application for 2012 Investing in Innovation Development Applications. The U.S. Department of Education announced the third year of the Investing in Innovation (i3) grant competition for local educational agencies, groups of schools and non-profit organizations to improve student results through innovative practices.
The winner of the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography will be announced on March 8 beginning at 9am Central European Time (CET). Between 2 and 3pm CET the same day the winner will be available for questions and comments on a live chat at the same web address. Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography is granted for exceptional photographic achievement and amounts to SEK 1,000,000 (approximately EUR 105,000). On October 26, 2012 an exhibition of the award winner's work will open at the Foundations' exhibition hall Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg Museum of Art. In connection therewith one or more seminars will be arranged with the award winner.
NY: Cooper-Hewitt releases dataset to broaden access to online collection. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum today announced the release of its collection dataset, which will broaden access and allow for increased analysis of the museum’s object holdings. Basic museum data for more than 60 percent of the collection (more than 120,000 records) is now available as a single downloadable file at cooperhewitt.org/data. This open data release is the first of its kind for the Smithsonian Institution.
Art auction raises funds for grad participation at Arts Advocacy Day. In addition to spotlighting the AAGA, the auction raised funds to send graduate students to Arts Advocacy Day in Washington,DC, where students will personally appeal to senators to maintain funding for the arts...
TN: Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination at thr Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination, an exhibition of photographs, paintings, videos, sculptures and installations by contemporary artists who invent human-like, animal or hybrid creatures to symbolize life’s mysteries, desires and fears, opens Feb. 24 and remains on view in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ Upper-Level Galleries through May 28, 2012.
2-22-12
Samuel H. Kress Conservation Fellowship Applications Due March 10. The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works is pleased to be administering the Kress Conservation Fellowship program. The Fellowships are designed to provide 9 to 12 month mentored professional development opportunities in a variety of settings for recent graduates of conservation programs. It is expected that nine Fellowships of $32,000 (minimum of $27,000 for Fellowship, up to $5,000 for institutional costs) will be awarded each year. Applications must be made by the host institution, which may propose a specific candidate or seek applicants after application. The deadline for receipt of applications by FAIC is March 10.
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS - SAVE THESE DATES! Third Annual EXPRESSIVE THERAPIES SUMMIT. Art - Drama - Music - Poetry - Psychodrama - Dance - Sandplay. MEET - CREATE - LEARN, Thursday through Sunday, NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2012, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 7 Creative Arts • 100 Faculty • 4 Days. Proposals accepted online through March 25. Add your name to our mailing list. Program and registration available in June.
New degree for all teachers who believe kids deserve an education that puts creativity in the foreground.
Catlin Art Prize 2012; Shortlist announced for exhibition of the most promising graduate talent in the UK. The Catlin Art Prize 2012, now in its 6th year, is an annual exhibition featuring the most promising art graduates in the UK one year on from their degree shows. This year’s exhibition will be held at the Londonewcastle Project Space, London, 3rd – 25th May 2012, and includes new work by artists who demonstrate real potential to make a significant mark in the art world during the next decade. The prize is unique in providing artists with the time and opportunity to develop their practice.
Our View: Arts education should be available for all students. Data from the College Board shows that students who take four years of high school arts and music classes score 98 points higher on their SATs than students who took only one-half year or less. A report by the Arts Education Partnership found that ... (Rockford Register Star)
Arts Education Still waiting for Axe to Fall. They have requested alternatives and additional options regarding funding for arts education, adult education and early childhood education, all slated for elimination in one of the scenarios originally proposed. School Board Member Steve Zimmer ... (noho arts district)
Sorenson gives $3M to Westminster to expand arts education. On Monday, Westminster College announced a $3 million gift from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation for a new position of endowed chair in arts education. In addition to the chair position, which will preside over the Beverley Taylor Sorenson ... (Salt Lake Tribune)
Matt Sorum of Guns 'n' Roses Stands Up for Arts Education, Woos LAUSD ...Of all the crucial LAUSD programs on the chopping block at today's board meeting -- like the entire adult-education department and after-school tutoring -- perhaps the most heart-wrenching was art education for elementary schoolers. (LA Weekly blog)
United Action for Youth School of the Arts begins Thursday; program pair UI ...Arnone is instructing Methods of Art Education in Secondary Schools at the UI, preparing the university students to instruct middle and high school scholars. “This is a great opportunity for us, as teachers, to work with a small group of students who ... (Eastern Iowa Life)
TN: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN) is taking registrations for the 2012 workshop season. Weekend, one-week and two-week workshops are available in wood, metals, enamels, jewelry, fiber, textiles, baskets, paper, books, glass, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, clay, stone, mixed media and special topics beginning March 22. Most workshops are designed for all ability levels. Educational assistance and scholarships are available. Studio assistant and work-study application deadline is March 1. Select scholarship application deadline is March 1 (some scholarships are on an open cycle).
MD: Announcing EdCampAI. Anne Arundel County Public Schools is proud to present the first EdCampAI, which is being held at Brooklyn Park Middle School on April 14th, 2012 in Baltimore, MD. This is a professional development opportunity for educators, administrators and artists from all over the country and is free to attend, though they will need to limit registration to the first 400 people. This interactive experience is completely guided by the participants who build the schedule for the day and choose which sessions they would like to attend or present. They're planning a few surprises for the day, with industry leaders, artists, teachers and administrators. To help organize the day and prepare for attendees, they have set up an EdCampAI wiki site where you can register, sign up to present a session if you’d like, or just collaborate with what will be going on that day. They also have an EdCampAI Facebook Page to share ideas and stimulate discussion and a Twitter hashtag (#EdCampAI) which will share the conversation on our feed that appears on the Wiki. For more information, please contact Susan Riley, Arts Integration Teacher Specialist at sriley1@aacps.org or at 410-222-5449.
27th Chelsea International Fine Art Competition-Call for Entries. There are only 20 days left! Don't miss out on this opportunity to take part in a competition with prizes designed to help you promote your work, advance your career and increase your exposure to collectors in NYC and around the world. The competition is open to artists 18 years of age or older from around the world. Selected entries from past years have included photography, prints, sculpture, digital art, mixed media, drawing and painting. The deadline for entries is Tuesday March 13, 2012.
Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards. Adobe Youth Voices invites you to participate in the Aspire Awards, giving young creatives the opportunity to have their work showcased publicly. This media festival seeks to recognize outstanding creative projects that demonstrate imagination and expression along with an evident motivation for social change. Sign up with Adobe Youth Voices Essentials and receive free creative curriculum covering subjects from printed posters to animated video. Choose your format: The Aspire Awards will accept entries in the following categories (choose the format that best fits your students and their creative goals): Animation, Documentary, Audio, Music Video, Graphic Design, Narrative, Digital Photography, and Poetry/Experimental. Submit: Media must be submitted by April 20, 2012, on behalf of a youth artist by an educator participating in Adobe Youth Voices. Prizes will be given to the top honorees, and their work will be showcased online, at partner film festivals, and other exhibitions. Need help finding project ideas? Check out the free creative curriculum offered by Adobe Youth Voices Essentials.
NC: GSK gift boosts arts education... to fulfill its mission of advancing art education in North Carolina's schools; the state has not kicked in any money for three years due to budget cuts. For the past 10 years, the museum has offered a few online lesson plans on the ArtNC website, ... (News & Observer)
MN: Ten BC youth awarded $3000 Arts Scholarship Grants. March 1, 2012, is the next deadline for up to $1500 grants for Small Arts Projects by community groups and Arts-In-Education school residencies. Grant program information and applications are available at www.plrac.org or contact Brenda Byron, ... (Sleepy Eye Herald Dispatch)
MI: Field Trip Grants Let Students Experience Art, Music, History, Stage Shows. "All students deserve access to a quality education that includes hands-on experiences," says a statement from Kim Dabbs, director of Michigan Youth Arts. "We are proud to be able to help schools cultivate creativity and innovation." Grants come from ... (Patch.com)
GA: North Gwinnett High's West named nation's top “Art Honor Society Sponsor”. Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) teacher Debi West has been invited to attend the 2012 National Art Education Association (NAEA) National Convention in early March where she will be presented with a national ... (Duluth Weekly)
KY: Clark Elementary Art Piece Debuts At New York's Big Screen Plaza. Artsonia, the largest online kids' art museum, has teamed up with the National Art Education Association to present student artwork from across the country. In conjunction with the NAEA National Convention, this video showcases artwork from schools ... (SurfKY News)
IL: North Shore student's art hits one very big New York screen. His art will be part of a moving collage of student work, which will show March 1-4 during the National Art Education Association annual convention in New York. According to Paige Lunde, his art teacher at WJHS, Dolan's piece, “From Above” will ... (Glencoe News)
KY: Local student's art to appear in Times Square. The effort coincides with the National Art Education Association's annual convention, and since Mindy VanZuiden, an arts and humanities teacher at Union County Middle, is an active member of the NAEA, she along with the school's administration were ... (Evansville Courier & Press)
KY: Third grader's painting selected for NYC conference. “As a member of the National Art Education Association and Artsonia, the online student art museum, I was allowed to submit only one entry from White's Tower Elementary- it was tough choosing just one because we have so many young, talented artists ... (FOX19)
POLICY
Federal K-12 Footprint at Core of ESEA Hearing. A House panel looks at bills to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with competing vision on display.
More states to apply for NCLB waivers. About two dozen states are expected to apply for a No Child Left Behind waiver from the federal education law as the second-round deadline approaches on Feb. 28. In Connecticut, where state lawmakers are reviewing its proposal, about half of the schools did not meet benchmarks last year for student achievement. (Connecticut Post (Fairfield County-Bridgeport)/The Associated Press, 2/21)
ESEA Hearing Highlights Congressional Partisanship. House Education Committee held a hearing on February 16 to solicit input on new Republican legislation that would make sweeping changes to the accountability and teacher requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).The House Education Committee held a hearing on February 16 to solicit input on new Republican legislation that would make sweeping changes to the accountability and teacher requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
2-17-12
Arts program helps raise student test scores, researchers find. A program that integrates the arts across the curriculum has led to higher standardized test scores, new research shows. The Developing Reading Education with Arts Methods, or DREAM, is in place in 10 school districts, where educators are trained to integrate arts into lessons and professional artists provide weekly coaching in the classroom. "I would say we knew that arts make a difference in student achievement," said Brenda Hall, a co-director of the project, "but it's rewarding and validating to see it show up in the test scores in such a significant way." (San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/10)
Why arts education is important for schools. Transformational leadership coach and former teacher Elena Aguilar in this blog advocates the inclusion of arts instruction in schools. The arts have offered individuals important forms of expression for tens of thousands of years, Aguilar argues, and should not be neglected for today's students, despite tight school budgets. Arts education unifies communities, contributes to students' success in other academic areas and offers many other benefits, Aguilar writes. (Edutopia.org/Elena Aguilar's blog, 2/15)
Arts Educators Float an Alternative Evaluation Plan. Education officials in Tennessee seem to be making good on their promise to find alternate student-achievement measures to be incorporated into teacher evaluations for teachers in nontested subjects—though it's teachers who are doing much of the heavy lifting in getting the idea moving. (Education Week)
Art21 eNews: A Tribute to Mike Kelley, New Videos Featuring Yinka Shonibare MBE and LaToya Ruby Frazier, and More, February 16, 2012
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers invites you to Now on Paper, March 7th, NYC
Making a Difference
What does teaching creatively look like?
ART.WRITE.NOW TOUR 11/12 exposes audiences nationwide to the most stunning examples of work from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. These incredible emerging artists, writers and filmmakers were selected as the "best in the country" by top professionals in the visual and literary arts. PHILADELPHIA - Feb 16 - March 14, 2012, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street, Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA 19106: Opening Reception: February 23, 2012, 6 - 8 pm. RSVP
Visual Thinking Strategies’ 2012 Practicum Workshops. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is an educational curriculum and teaching method which enables students to develop aesthetic and language literacy and critical thinking skills, while giving teachers a powerful new technique they can utilize throughout their career. VTS is offering several practicums this year. These will be two-day workshops focused on developing VTS facilitation skills. The workshops are beginning-level training for people who have had little or no experience with VTS. While some time is allotted to examining theoretical underpinnings of VTS, the focus is helping participants learn to use VTS well.
MO: Museum launches new online learning interactive to bring Monet into the classroom. The Saint Louis Art Museum is excited to launch its newest teaching and learning resource that takes an in-depth look at Claude Monet's Water Lilies. Explore this well-known painting through several cultural themes as well as an interactive timeline and map detailing the evolution of Water Lilies. In addition, the site provides a growing range of resources such as a downloadable teaching poster, looking guide, and interdisciplinary lesson plans-all developed in collaboration with members of the Museum's Teacher Advisory Group and designed to support innovative classroom learning and enhance the student experience here at the Museum. Read more about the site's forward-thinking design, which was developed by local St. Louis design firm Brand Almanac: "Bringing Monet's Water Lilies into the Classroom". Get connected and stay informed with Teacher Resources at the Saint Louis Art Museum
The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts fifth national Arts & Education Forum Walking the Talk: Pathways to Quality Integration will take place on the campus of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on May 18-19, 2012. We will explore pathways to quality arts integration, the way in which various arts integration programs have followed these paths, and the impact on programs when these paths are taken. Guiding us in “walking the talk” of quality arts integration will be Dr. Bennett Lentczner, president of RealVisions, and Drs. Linda Whitesitt and Elda Franklin, authors of a new book on arts integration – The ARTS Book: Designing Quality Arts Integration with Alignment, Rigor, Teamwork and Sustainability. To apply to participate as a panelist, download the Call for Panel Proposals. Return your completed Call for Proposals form via email to kim-wheetley@utc.edu by February 25, 2012.
Deadline Approaching for NEA’s 2012 Our Town Grants. The application deadline for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 2012 Our Town grants is Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 11:59PM EST. Our Town supports creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities with the arts at their core. Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to: Improve their quality of life; Encourage creative activity; Create community identity and a sense of place; and Revitalize local economies. Grants may range from $25,000 to $150,000. Projects may include planning, design, and arts engagement activities that reflect a systemic approach to civic development and a persuasive vision for enhanced community vibrancy. Follow the link above for complete guidelines.
New Folk Arts in Education Resources from Local Learning. A roster of summer institutes and other training opportunities for educators in folk arts, folklife, and oral history can be found online at . Many institutes are open to educators nationwide, yet others are open to local participants only. Visit Local Learning and register soon! Through the Schoolhouse Door: Folklore, Community, Curriculum—a collection of folk arts learning experiences from exemplary school programs—is now available in digital format (Paddy Bowman and Lynne Hamers, eds., Utah State University Press, 2011). Masters of Traditional Arts Education Guide, by Paddy Bowman, B. Carter, et. al; Documentary Arts, 2011) models how educators can develop interdisciplinary lessons and incorporate regional master folk artists into their steaching. It also includes multimedia resources from 26 NEA National Heritage Fellows.
CA: Academy of Art University Awards Over $100000 in Scholarships to California ...The Academy of Art University, the largest private school of art and design in the United States, announced today that it has awarded scholarships totaling over $100000. (San Francisco Chronicle press release)
CA: Art Project Puts the World In Perspective for Middle Schoolers. Pine Valley Middle School art teacher Tricia Grame uses art project to bring perspective to her students and smiles to Vietnamese orphans.
WI: Art graduate connects campus, schools with outreach endowment. Workshops supported by art graduate Helen Burish have strengthened the connection between area high school teachers and artists in the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
POLICY
Federal Role in K-12 at Heart of ESEA Hearing (February 16, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Lessons From NCLB (February 13, 2012, Learning Forward's PD Watch Blog)
Maine, New Hampshire Won't Apply for NCLB Waiver Just Yet (February 13, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
New Mexico Granted NCLB Waiver, Federal Officials Say (February 15, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
New Mexico is 11th state to receive NCLB waiver. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Wednesday said New Mexico is the 11th state granted a waiver from some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind. "Today, New Mexico joins the ranks of states leading the charge on education reform by protecting children, raising standards and holding themselves accountable," Duncan said. (United Press International, 2/15)
States are offered temporary relief from NCLB. States that have not yet qualified for a waiver from No Child Left Behind can apply now to keep their annual achievement targets the same for one year. States that apply for the temporary relief must pledge to seek a waiver from the federal education law by Feb. 28 or Sept. 6, adopt college-and-career-readiness standards and agree to other terms. (Education Week/Politics K-12 blog, 2/15)
Teachers Get R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Today, we are formally launching Project RESPECT. RESPECT is an acronym that stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching. I've always believed that in education, we simply don't have enough acronyms yet—we needed one more! All kidding aside, let me break down what RESPECT is all about... (ED.gov)
Capitol Connection e-Newsletter, February 15, 2012. In This Issue: Ten States Escape Key NCLB Provisions; House Education Chairman Introduces ESEA Reform Bills; Slams Waivers as Quick Fix; President Showcases Education in FY13 Budget; and Tell Washington to Take the Long View
NCLB Waiver Cheat Sheet: How to Win in the Second Round (February 15, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Bleak budget request threatens well-rounded education. In an Inservice blog post, ASCD Public Policy Director David Griffith refers to the Fiscal Year 2013 budget request as "bleak." "K-12 educators will have to fight hard this year just to preserve the existing funding they are getting via Title I, IDEA, and the well-rounded subjects." Griffith writes that we shouldn't allow ourselves to be sidetracked by school modernization and teacher stabilization sums in the FY13 request and points to the budget numbers that he says we should really be devoting attention to. (ASCD
Department of Education Approves New Mexico's Request for Flexibility from No Child Left Behind. New Mexico’s commitment to adopt bold reforms around standards, accountability and teacher effectiveness has qualified the state to receive flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the current federal education law, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today.
CONTESTS
2nd Annual NAESP National Children’s Book of the Year Award. The contest discovers, publishes and launches two aspiring writer’s careers. NAESP’s endorsement to its 30,000 national membership (plus hundreds of thousands of teachers and students) with Charlesbridge’s (a top national publisher from Boston) publishing of the winners, is an incredible opportunity for children’s authors. The two winners will be one children’s picture book and one children’s chapter book. The contest deadline is March 1st, 2012.
SCHOLARSHIPS
IUGTE & ArtUniverse scholarships for international programme: Introductory Course for performing arts managers & arts administrators, March 23, 24, 25 - 2012, Vienna, Austria. The introductory course is part of the International Postgraduate Practical Course 2012 with the opportunity to take part in a performance project in a Russian repertory theatre, together with Russian actors and performers from different countries. The course programme includes long-distance training, practical residential sessions, and secondment in the Russian repertory theatre, where the international performance will take place. The scholarship amount is 300 EUR and covers part of the participation fee. Gallery of the past events
CA: Art scholarships to enrich the lives of underprivileged youth. Kaleidoscope's theme represents Red Brick Gallery's newest project to give back to the community with youth art scholarships for underprivileged youth. A portion of the proceeds from our artist reception, March 10th-6-9pm will go to providing supplies ... (Ventura County Star)
2-14-12
WEBCAST: IMPROVING ARTS LEARNING THROUGH STANDARDS & ASSESSMENT: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE. On February 14, 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts will host a day-long series of panels and presentations to examine the latest trends, current practices, and future directions for arts learning standards and assessment methods. In addition to moderated panels of experts, the roundtable features a presentation of the NEA's latest research report, Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts: State of the Field and Recommendations. The entire event will be webcast live.
Agenda | Participants | WestEd Report
View AYAW Times - Issue 23 from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
MA: Foundation Grants $4M to Boston Schools."The Boston public schools have received a $4 million grant to maintain and expand arts education for students across the city. Superintendent Carol R. Johnson said the grant, from the Wallace Foundation...will greatly enhance an initiative launched three years ago by the school district, the city, and outside partners to provide more instruction in the visual and performing arts...The grant is being awarded as the school district says it has made progress in bolstering instruction, curriculum, professional development, and family engagement in the arts. A study in 2009 said that the availability of arts instruction varied greatly from school to school, with opportunities dwindling as students moved to higher grades. Since the district launched the initiative, the number of students receiving arts education has risen by 14,000." (The Boston Globe, 2/8/12)
FL: Bill Gives School Grading System Bonus Points for Fine Arts. "The Florida Senate Pre-K-12 Education Committee has unanimously passed a bill that would give schools bonus points in the state's grading system if they increase participation in the fine arts...Sen. Nancy Detert (R-Sarasota), the bill's sponsor, urged approval of the measure, saying that studies have shown across the board that students' achievement in math and science improves if they take music, art, dance, or theater courses. 'When times get tough, the things that are cut are arts and music...Perhaps giving schools extra points for participation will get them to maintain arts programs,' she suggested." (Tampa Bay Times, 2/6/12)
CT: Arts Agency Utilizes Kickstarter to Help Local Artists. "A new partnership between the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and online fundraising platform Kickstarter aims to broaden support for New Haven artists beyond those who know them personally. Last week, the arts council launched its curator page on Kickstarter, expanding visibility of New Haven artists in need of funding...Executive Director Cynthia Clair said that while she had known about Kickstarter for years, the arts council decided to launch the partnership after discovering last month that the city of Portland, OR, uses the site to promote local artists...Clair said that a partnership with Kickstarter appealed to the arts council because it is a tried-and-true platform. Rather than reinventing the wheel for artistic promotion, she said, the arts council chose to use a known brand to support New Haven’s creative community." (Yale Daily News, 2/8/12)
MN: Renewed Support for Arts Midwest's ArtsLab Program. "The Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation, in partnership with the F.R. Bigelow, Mardag, Saint Paul, and Bush foundations, has announced $1.9 million in renewed support for Arts Midwest's ArtsLab program. The program, which works to strengthen the leadership and strategy development efforts of small Minnesota arts organizations through training, consultations, and other types of support, will use the funds to launch a two-year peer-learning community to promote shared learning and bolster the infrastructure of sixteen organizations. The funds also will be used to launch an 'idea exchange' that gathers and shares the best leadership and management development ideas from mentors, educators, and arts organization leaders in the Minneapolis area." (Philanthropy News Digest, 2/1/12)
Xiphactinus comes to Life. The Hastings Museum, in Hastings Nebraska recently commissioned a life-size model of Xiphactinus as the second phase of a Cretaceous Seaway Exhibition.
IN: Hanover College will offer its Summer High School Academy June 10-15, 2012. This is a great opportunity for current high school students to experience the life of a college student for a week by staying in dormitories, eating in the campus cafeteria and attending classes taught by Hanover College professors who are experts in the various fields. The High School Academy also offers hands-on experience that will help engage and expand scholars’ interests as well as deepen their knowledge of a topic. This year’s program will offer thirteen different academic disciplines: Acting Institute: Intensive Workshop, Ceramics Institute, Cinema Institute: Movies We Love, Civil War Institute, Education Institute, Environmental Science Institute, Forensic Science Institute, Nature Drawing and Painting Institute, Pre-Law Institute, Psychology of Media Institute, Video Production Institute and Web Design Institute.
KY: Extend arts education to all Fayette students. Across the nation in recent years, school systems have had to relegate the arts to the back burner while emphasizing subjects whose mastery can be measured quantitatively. This is collateral damage triggered by the No Child Left Behind Act with its overemphasis on standardized testing.
Turn your smart phone into an art phone: Download the Art + Soul of the South free iPhone app. The Morris Museum of Art, the first museum dedicated to the art and artists of the American South, announces the release of its first iPhone app, available immediately for download for FREE in the Apple App Store here. The app enables users to listen to audio about and view images of selected works from the permanent collection that are currently on display; view images and information on archived, current, and upcoming exhibitions; view the museum’s quarterly calendar of events and save them into their iPhone iCal; donate to the museum, join, or complete a volunteer application; find general museum information such as admission, hours, and a map of the galleries; and share Morris app information via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
CA: Arts education program boosts reading scores. Thousands of North County schoolchildren showed an "astonishing" jump in test scores after their teachers used the arts in reading lessons, officials announced Thursday.
NC: DREAMS Center for Arts Education moves, expands. DREAMS Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit organization that provides art classes for underprivileged children, opened its new location Jan. 28. The building at 901 Fanning St. is bigger and more accommodating than the nonprofit's previous location, allowing it to expand and offer more classes to more children.
NV: Local teaching artists boost arts education. "Most of the artists I know don't teach," says Susanne Forestieri, an oil/acrylic/watercolor painter who doubles as an adjunct professor, teaching drawing to college students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and to children at her home. "A lot of them came here during the boom years and they are all hanging on by a thread because they didn't go that route."
TN: BEP, Nissan to Present 'Arts for Education: An Elegant Evening'. “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” is the celebration theme for the upcoming Arts for Education: An Elegant Evening event from The Business Education Partnership Foundation and presenting sponsor Nissan North America. An Elegant Evening is set for 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce, 3050 Medical Center Parkway, according to a news release from BEP.
VT: Annual Arts Advocacy Day at the State House Feb. 24. On Friday, February 24th the Vermont Arts Council will convene Vermont's creative community in a day-long event at the State House and Pavilion in Montpelier. Arts Advocacy Day provides professional ...
CA: LAUSD Considering Total Elimination of Arts Funding. Facing a $600 million budget deficit, the Los Angeles Unified School District is considering the total elimination of elementary school arts education funding, according to Arts for LA, and county-wide arts advocacy group. (Patch.com)
PA: 44th Annual Pennsylvania Traditional Crafts & Folk Art Sale. Sat., Oct. 20, 2012. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free admission. Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1327 Allegheny Road, Mohnton, PA 19540. (Intersection of Rtes. 625 and 568, Knauers.) This is a new, larger indoor location close to the Adamstown antiques area and will include about 20 craftspeople. Crafts—Tole painting, redware, schneerinschnitte, Windsor chairs, fraktur, baskets, penny rugs, framed quilts, paper mache, Shaker boxes, primitive carvings, log homes, tinsmithing, wheat weaving, furniture, theorems, folk art, chalkware, etc. For more information: fiantmom@ptd.net or 610-856-5013.
POLICY
Assistant Deputy Education Secretary Jim Shelton to Discuss Improving Arts Learning at National Endowment for the Arts Roundtable and Webcast. U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton will give opening remarks at Improving Arts Learning through Standards & Assessment: A National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Research Roundtable, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at the Old Post Office Pavillion in Washington, D.C. (ED.gov)
School Days January 2012. The January 2012 edition of "School Days," the monthly video journal of the US Department of Education, features President Obama's plans for education in his State of the Union address, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's challenge college sports programs to strike a better balance between athletics and academics, a convening of State education leaders to talk about their Race to the Top plans, and a new performance piece called "Teachers' Lounge."
2013 Education Budget: What it Means For You. Continuing its commitment to education and an America built to last, the Obama Administration released its 2013 budget proposal to Congress today. It includes new education investments that will give U.S. students and workers the education and training they need … (ED.gov)
ED REVIEW - February 10, 2012...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
How will NCLB waivers affect disadvantaged students? States that were granted waivers on Thursday from some requirements of No Child Left Behind will have new flexibility in assessing the performance of students and subgroups under federal law. While some say the changes could make it easier for states to overlook poor performance among subgroups, such as minority students and students with disabilities, Obama administration officials said the new accountability systems will be more inclusive of those students. (Education Week, 2/9)
States and Education Community Weigh In on First Round of NCLB Flexibility. President Obama announced yesterday that ten states have agreed to implement bold education reforms and will receive flexibility from No Child Left Behind. These ten states will now have the flexibility needed to raise student achievement standards, improve school accountability, and increase teacher … (ED.gov)
Lawmaker proposes "Student Success Act" to replace NCLB. U.S. Rep. John Kline, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, says he believes Congress can act this year on legislation to reform No Child Left Behind. The Minnesota Republican on Thursday released the final parts of his "Student Success Act," which would replace NCLB -- eliminating its "adequate yearly progress" measures. Instead, states would be required to design and implement their own school-accountability systems. (The Washington Times, 2/9)
A Stop on the Road to ESEA Reauthorization. Yesterday President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 10 states have been awarded waivers that provide flexibility from some of the main provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), including the 2014 deadline for 100% of students to reach proficiency in reading and math and the requirement that 20% of Title I funds be set aside for public school choice and supplemental educational services. To receive a wavier, states had to agree to implement college and career-ready standards and to reform teacher and principal development, evaluation and support systems. They had to set new performance targets for improving student achievement and develop accountability systems that recognize and reward high-performing schools, provide “rigorous and comprehensive” interventions in the lowest-performing schools, and improve educational outcomes for underperforming subgroups of students.
Broad Changes Ahead as NCLB Waivers Roll Out. The Obama administration grants 10 states leeway on No Child Left Behind, but insists the law's rigor remains; some advocates are wary.
Obama to Highlight Education in Budget Rollout (February 13, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
NCLB Waivers: Implications for Testing, Standards Implementation (February 10, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
States Promise Evaluations for ESEA Waivers (February 10, 2012, Teacher Beat Blog)
CONTESTS
St. Louis Fed Invites Entries for Spring 2012 National Economic Education YouTube Video Contest. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is sponsoring its fourth national economic education YouTube video contest. The Bank is seeking creative videos that will help it teach an important personal finance lesson to high school audiences. The theme for the contest is managing student loans. The contest runs until April 13, 2012. To compete, entrants must be 13 years of age or older, a U. S. resident, and eligible to receive a U.S. Savings Bond. Submissions can be from an individual or a team. Prizes will be awarded to the top four videos: a $1,000 U.S. I-Series Savings Bond for first place, a $750 U.S. I-Series Savings Bond for second-place, a $500 U.S. I-Series Savings Bond for third place, and a $250 I-Series Savings Bond for the "peoples’ choice" award
Great American Teach-Off to recognize an amazing US Educator who is making the greatest difference with a $10,000 Grant. GOOD and University of Phoenix to Honor Middle and High School Teachers. Round two of The Great American Teach-Off was announced today, a contest to recognize the exceptional work of classroom teachers in America. The online community GOOD and University of Phoenix have teamed up to sponsor the contest, which will award $10,000 to one talented middle or high school teacher. GOOD and University of Phoenix are committed to the highest quality of education and are proud to sponsor this event because it showcases innovation and exceptional teaching. Starting today, anyone can nominate a middle school or high school (grades 7-12) teacher who is "making a difference" by submitting a 200 word or less essay at www.GOOD.is/gato . The top ten submissions will be chosen by an independent panel assembled by the sponsors and the public will then have five weeks starting on March 5th to vote for a winner, who will receive a $10,000 classroom grant.
NPG Teen Portrait Competition. Teen Portrait Competition! Call for entries -- artists 13 -17 yrs may submit to our juried competition in the medium of photography, through April 1.
Houston Area’s Asian American Students “Go Green” in Art Contest. The Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association (APAHA), with support from Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), recently announced the “Go Green” Art Contest, aimed at engaging Asian/Pacific American high school students to express environmental issues – such as sustainability, clean air, water quality, renewable energy and recycling – through art. The contest will accept participants from three Houston-area school districts and scholarships will be awarded in the categories of drawing, 2D and 3D designs. The judging panel will include government officials, experts and advocates in the fields of arts and environment and program sponsors. Wells Fargo is the “Legacy Sponsor” of the contest. Other sponsors include: Houston Community College, City of Houston – Waste Management, DN Commercial Realty and the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce.
2-9-12
In Boston: Arne Says We Must Invest in Education. “Education is an investment,” Secretary Duncan told a town hall audience earlier this week at Emerson College in Boston. Duncan explained that other countries aren’t cutting their investment in education, and for America to compete in the global economy, investing... (ED.gov)
NY: The 2012 Chelsea International Fine Art Competition. Now Accepting Entries. Entry Deadline: March 13, 2012. Awards include participation in a juried exhibition in New York City, online and print promotion for your art and cash prizes.
NY: New Arts Program To Debut at Two Local Schools. Parents As Arts Partners will bring teaching artists, families and students together in creative efforts. This week the Center for Arts Education announced that it will be participating with 10 Brooklyn public schools selected for the ... (Patch.com)
MN: How have Legacy funds helped arts education in Minnesota schools? In recent years, the state arts board has changed the way it's conducted arts education funding, according Gens. In the past, the only people who could apply for state arts education grants were schools, and the grants only covered residencies, ... (Twin Cities Planet)
Elmer's®, Kids In Need Foundation Announce Teacher Grant Program. The Kids In Need Foundation, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free school supplies to economically disadvantaged school children and under-funded teachers, announces the second year of a teacher grants program sponsored by Elmer's® Products, Inc., an industry leader in adhesives, arts and crafts, office and educational products. As a result of this educational partnership, teachers nationwide can visit the Kids In Need Foundation website beginning February 14 to apply for an Elmer's Teacher Tool Kit grant that can range from $100 to $500. (MarketWatch PR)
AL: Grant helps Geneva County Elementary start art program. For the first time, the school is offering art classes to all five grades thanks to a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Art classes are a rare luxury for rural county schools, which often struggle to get by with the basics. (Dothan Eagle)
Tennessee Schools to Enhance STEM Programs with $50000 in Funding from the ... Lake City Middle School Funding will support Lake City Middle School's initiative to use Thinkfinity.org to train faculty in the Related Arts disciplines--including physical education, teen living, music, art, reading concentration, ... (MarketWatch PR)
POLICY
Our Children Can't Wait for Congress to Fix No Child Left Behind, Announces Flexibility in Exchange for Reform for Ten States. President Barack Obama will announce today that ten states that have agreed to implement bold reforms around standards and accountability will receive flexibility from the burdensome mandates of the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
10 States Get NCLB Waivers (February 9, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
ED: States applying for NCLB waivers should do more to reach students. In its initial review of No Child Left Behind waiver requests, the U.S. Education Department (ED) highlighted a similar weakness in nearly every application: States did not do enough to ensure schools would be held accountable for the performance of all students. (eSchool News)
Principals, Superintendents, School Boards Critique Kline ESEA Draft (February 6, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
SCHOLARSHIPS
CA: Lodi Art Center to offer scholarships. The Lodi Community Art Center will award scholarships of $1,000 and $500 to two 2012 graduating high school seniors. Submission of applications are due to LCAC between March 1 and 31.
MO: Applications Being Accepted For Local Merit Art Scholarships. $1,500 scholarships are available through the Greater St. Louis Art Association in conjunction with the Art Fair at Queeny Park
MA: Marblehead Festival of Arts offers Bloom Scholarship. Since 2008, the Marblehead Festival of Arts has offered $500 scholarships to deserving students in grades 7 – 11 through the Milton Bloom Student Art Scholarship Program, in memory of Milton Bloom. These generous awards are intended to provide financial support to students interested in developing their artistic talents.
Military Families United Partners with The Art Institutes to Provide Scholarships to Spouses of All Armed Forces Members. The Art Institutes will offer four scholarships at $25,000 each (equaling $100,000 total) per year to spouses of Armed Forces members, including active duty, active National Guard and Reserve, and surviving spouses of those killed in the line of duty post 9/11.
CONTESTS
KORONISFEST: For the Public's Health. Spread your message across the country! KoronisFest is an annual public service announcement (PSA) and poster competition at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. This is a chance for you to win money and have your entry screened at KoronisFest during National Public Health Week at UAB. Categories include: PSA Live Action (60-second or less); PSA Animation Category (60-second or less); and Poster Category (11” x 17”). Winners are recognized and awarded their prizes at KoronisFest. There is also a special category for entrants aged 18 years and under. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: March 9th, 2012
2012 Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Art Contest. “Sense of Wonder” contest. There are four categories: photography, essay, poetry and dance. This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the contest will focus on a “Sense of Water.” Contest submissions are encouraged to focus on the various properties of water – how it tastes, what it sounds like, how it feels – and what water means to the entrants. "Water means different things to different people, and this contest is a great opportunity for people of all ages to creatively express how water touches their life," said Nancy Stoner, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water. The deadline for entries is June 1, 2012, and winners will be announced in September 2012. A panel of judges will select finalists in each category, and the winners will be determined by a public online vote that will begin in August 2012.
2-7-12
News from the 2012 NAEA National Convention: Earlybird registration is now closed. ONSITE REGISTRATION BEGINS FEBRUARY 29 at the HILTON NEW YORK.
2-6-12
VA: You're Invited...Set aside some time just for you to look with new eyes at Artist Trading Cards, Saturday, February 18th from 9am to 12pm, NEW LOCATION: Artist Trading Card workshop, Congressional Schools of Virginia, 3229 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church VA 22042. Deb Fitzgerald teaches ATC to her classes and has some inspiring ideas. Come to relax, refresh and share. RSVP to Cheryl Miehl via e-mail if you are able to attend cmiehl@csov.org. View Flyer
NGA Ed. Committee Favors State Leeway in a Renewed ESEA (February 3, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
N.H. considers withdrawing from No Child Left Behind. In New Hampshire, lawmakers are considering opting out of No Child Left Behind -- a decision that could cost the state $61.6 million in federal funds. If approved, New Hampshire would be the first state to withdraw from the federal education law. Supporters say NCLB has been unsuccessful and led to an increased focus on testing. Critics, however, say the loss of funding tied to the law would harm the state's schools. (SeacoastOnline, Portsmouth, N.H., 2/6)
CA: Art museum offers class for autistic children. The Riverside Art Museum is reaching out to a special population of children — those with autism. In the only class of its kind in Riverside, Art Education Director Beth Yeager has put together a curriculum where children 6 to 17, who have mild to moderate autism, are expressing themselves through art.
WITH VIDEO: UCS art teachers create mural for Children's Hospital. Art theorist and psychologist Rudolph Arnheim once said, "Art serves as a helper in times of trouble." If that's true, then a group of Utica Community Schools art teachers are using creativity to calm the fears of Children's Hospital of Michigan patients and their families.
Creative Convergence Highlights Benefits of Arts Education. Los Angeles took a cue from the success of Art Miami and scheduled six art shows in the space of one week last month. These six shows featured the most popular collecting categories–fine art, photography, prints and posters, modern art, contemporary art, and “affordable art.”
NJ: Teacher fosters love of art in Kearny kids. A Kearny High School art teacher first sparked Desiree Mills’ love of art. Now, the local resident is doing the same for a new generation of budding artists through a series of workshops at the Kearny Public Library and Hartung Recreation Center.
ME: Social media photography project on view at the Portland Museum of Art. Social media has become a fundamental part of society. Its convenience allows instantaneous communication and a level of familiarity with those we know well and many we don’t know at all. Tanja Alexia Hollander: Are You Really My Friend?, on view February 4 through June 17, 2012, at the Portland Museum of Art, includes photographic portraits that explore friendships in the context of social media.
CA: LAUSD Elementary Schools Could Soon Offer 100% Less Arts Education. For many children, a chance to do some artwork, make some music, or get up on a stage is the highlight of their school day, and a opportunity to learn lessons in a creative way. But the Los Angeles Unified School District is looking to take that away from their elementary school students, with a proposal of "total elimination of its elementary school arts education program," according to Arts for LA, an L.A. County arts advocacy group.
OK: POMP and CIRCLE DANCE, September 1st, 2012, 6 pm, Marland Mansion. Black Tie event. You are invited to an art affair to remember including the unveiling of a large, new and unique art collection, beauty and dancing, fine art auction to benefit charities and more! Ages 16 and over only. More Info: Busy Brush Art Studio (580) 352-4727 or Elizabeth Threlkeld (580) 304-9871. Flyer | Seeking Artists Help Letter
2-3-12
Arts Education Standards & Assessment Focus of NEA Roundtable and Webcast, February 14, 2012 from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM EST at www.arts.gov. NEA releases report Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts – State of the Field and Recommendations in advance of webcast. No pre-registration is necessary; to watch the webcast, log on to the NEA’s website at the scheduled date and time. Also, the webcast will be recorded and archived. It will be available for viewing beginning February 21, 2012 on the Research/Convenings page. As the field of educational assessment advances, and as alternatives to standardized tests emerge, the tools used to evaluate student learning, such as portfolio reviews, are beginning to gain greater currency. Given this development, it is even more important to examine arts educational standards and assessment tools to ensure that arts learning can become a vital force for enhancing 21st -century skills. This is the first time that the NEA will take a comprehensive look at this issue via the roundtable, webcast, and new research report, Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts: State of the Field and Recommendations. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and the U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement James H. Shelton III will open the roundtable. Following the welcome, a series of panels and presentations will examine the latest trends, current practices, and future directions for arts learning standards and assessment methods. An invited audience seated with the panelists will have the opportunity to ask questions. For those watching online who would like to submit questions, you can do so via Twitter with the hashtag #NEAartsed. Panelists will respond to key questions from online viewers on the NEA’s Facebook page following the webcast. Visit the NEA’s Facebook page beginning February 8, 2012 for “Meet the Moderators” posts in which the four moderators will respond to the question of why standards and assessment are important for a high-quality arts education. Additional arts education resources available through the NEA, including Re-Investing in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future, are accessible in the publications section of arts.gov.
States Mulling Creativity Indexes for Schools. At a time when U.S. political and business leaders are raising concerns about the need to better nurture creativity and innovative thinking among young people, several states are exploring the development of an index that would gauge the extent to which schools provide opportunities to foster those qualities. California, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma are working on ways to promote, and measure, creativity and innovation in their schools. (Education Week, 2/2/12)
UK: Exhibition Review: Art Teachers. I will always hold the memories of my secondary school art teacher. Eccentric, insensitive and quite frankly a bit barmy, she thrived on telling the class that our artwork was poor, that we would all fail if we continued the way we did, and that our sketchbooks lacked life and feeling, before shutting herself in her cupboard because our lack of talent was just too much for her to bear. (Oxford Student)
Masters In Education Guides' Explains Art Education Degrees. To understand the requirements, specializations, benefits and career paths associated with an art education degree, aspiring art teachers can visit MastersInEducationGuides.org. Featuring a wealth of in-depth information for Education Masters programs, ... (MENAfm.com)
Boost for global arts education. The future for global arts education looks significantly brighter following the adoption and support of The Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education by UNESCO. The Seoul Agenda sets out a series of goals and strategies for the ... (Voxy)
A Case for Preserving Arts Education. This has forced advocates to grasp on to any information and research tying arts to academic achievement. Here is the thing, they shouldn't have to. One of the problems in attempting to tie arts education to reading and math scores is the intangible ... (360 Education Solutions News)
CA: Art through the eyes of students. There was a time when Athena Golder, a teacher for 29 years, had to sneak art lessons into her classroom. "It was difficult to do. I felt like I was going to get in trouble if anyone caught me," Golder said. (Stockton Record)
OH: SRC recognized for students getting degrees, certificates. Topics of discussion included MAP funding advocacy and the goal of establishing a Leadership scholarship. --The artwork of three students who received an Art Grant from the SRC Foundation was on display in the Highlight Room in January, ... (Canton Daily Ledger)
FL: Arts Notes: News from the First Coast arts community. The grant will enable the Cultural Council to make grants to public school teachers through the Arts Education Enrichment Grant Program; promote the newly developed Art in Public Places curriculum for grades 6-12; and offer theater workshops and ... (Florida Times-Union)
WA: Arts of Kenmore grants benefit schools. Arts of Kenmore member Roland Lindstrom looked at the organization's budget and said, "We'll go for it." And they went big, recently handing off $3200 worth of grants to five area schools to enhance arts education. (Bothell/Kenmore Reporter)
OR: Grants boost local youth art programs. Astoria Visual Arts is the recipient of two generous private contributions in support of youth arts education. "We are delighted at this opportunity to strengthen our youth arts program," said AVA president Larry Taylor. (Coast Weekend)
NY: Advocates worried about competitive school grants. "Our children are in need of nourishment in the name of art, music, college prep courses, after school programs and technology. Who is going to choose which of them gets fed?" The Board of Regents had suggested 76 percent of formula-based aid be ... (Legislative Gazette)
OH: Granville art show to showcase students' talents. It also raises money for the foundation. Proceeds from the show are shared 50-50 by the artist and the foundation. The foundation uses its share to help fund grants to Granville school district teachers and staff for innovative projects. (The Newark Advocate)
VSA Indiana E-News, February 2012. Submit Art Now or Join a New Writing Group!
ISTE 2012 Conference Ning: Anita McAnear has invited you to the event 'Birds of a Feather Planning'. The ISTE 2012 Ning group is active for planning and organizing birds-of-a-feather sessions for ISTE 2012 in San Diego, California. (http://iste2012.org/group/birds-of-a-feather-plannin). Time: February 2, 2012 to March 2, 2012. The group for planning birds has started with a deadline of March 2, 2012.
23rd International Sculpture Conference: Process, Patron, Public. The International Sculpture Center (ISC) is seeking papers for the Conference in Chicago, IL, October 4-6, 2012. This two-track conference will feature 3 keynote speakers and 14 panels. Panel topics will include: How Architects and Sculptors can work together and The Transformative Nature of Sculpture on an Urban Community. The abstract submission deadline is February 6, 2012. All accepted submissions will be notified by March 12, 2012.
The Committee on Multiethnic Concerns (COMC) has invited you to the event 'Threads of Time' on Committee on Multiethnic Concerns! Here's a great event planned in Baltimore for this weekend. Time: February 4, 2012 from 12pm to 3pm. Location: Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
POLICY
Race to the Top: Voices From the States. Last month, state and local leaders from the 11 states and the District of Columbia receiving funds from Phases 1 and 2 of the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top program met in Washington, D.C. Participants explored teacher … (ED.gov, 2/01/2012 03:26 PM EST) VIDEO: Race to the Top: Voices from the States
Conn. leaders promote reform agenda ahead of NCLB waiver bid. State leaders in Connecticut are promoting reforms such as stricter teacher evaluations and new plans to turn around struggling schools ahead of the state's plans to apply for a waiver to some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind. "The waiver certainly adds urgency to the crafting of those measures," Stefan Pryor, state education commissioner, said. Connecticut is among 39 states that have applied or plan to apply for the waivers, which would relieve them of sanctions if students do not meet academic benchmarks under NCLB. (The Wall Street Journal, 2/1)
The Case for Partisanship in Rewriting ESEA. Partisanship has a place in the No Child Left Behind reauthorization debate, says Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower.
U.S. Department of Education Weekly Update: Education to help build an America to last (2/01/2012 01:56 PM EST)
Lawmakers concerned about accountability drop under NCLB waivers. Some states' requests for waivers from No Child Left Behind could reduce school accountability under the federal education law, according to two Democrats in the U.S. Congress. "We urge you to require from all applicants robust and meaningful accountability measures when approving requests for flexibility" under the NCLB law, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and U.S. Rep. George Miller, wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. (Education Week, 2/1)
SCHOLARSHIPS
CA: Scholarships offered to artists. Focus on the Masters and the Ventura County Arts Council are providing scholarship funds and exhibition opportunities to high school seniors who plan to pursue art studies in college. The Tamima Al-Awar Memorial Scholarship program provides more than ... (Agoura Hills Acorn)
CA: Art association offers more than $3500 in scholarships. The Buenaventura Art Association announces is fifth annual scholarship competition titled The Buenaventura Art Association Emerging Artist Cup. The competition is open to students attending college or university in Ventura County. (Camarillo Acorn)
VA: Prince William Art Society Offers Scholarships. The society will award two $1000 scholarships in 2012 to high school seniors planning to pursue Fine Arts or Arts Education in their bachelor's degree. "The Prince William Art Society will be awarding two $1000.00 scholarships this academic year to ... (Patch.com)
VA: Scholarship open for art-degree students. Smith Mountain Arts Council (SMAC) is accepting applications for two $2000 two-year scholarships for seniors attending Franklin County High School, Gretna High School or Staunton River High School, or home-schooled seniors in those high schools' ... (smithmountainlake.com)
NC: Surry Arts Council is accepting applications for the 2012-'13 Scholarship Program. Scholarships are available for college bound students, current college students, and artists who are pursuing a degree or continuing education in music, drama, dance, television/film/communications, visual arts, commercial art, arts administration or ... (Yadkin Ripple)
NJ: Scholarships available for fine art workshops. His three-day “Art Adventures” workshops are designed for all artists, no matter their skill level, and scholarships are available for local college art students. Two workshops – Feb. 26-28 and March 1-3 – will be held indoors. (Shore News Today)
CONTESTS
2012 SunWise with SHADE Poster Contest for K-8 Students; Due Date April 1, 2012. The contest is organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SunWise program and the SHADE Foundation of America. The annual contest teaches children ways to be safe in the sun and has great prizes at the state and national level. The national winner will receive a family trip to Disney World and a Shade ‘N Net shade structure for their school. Contest entries are due April 1, and the national winner will be chosen through an online vote open to the public. Winning posters will be displayed by the National Children’s Museum in Washington, DC during summer 2012.
MA: Teen Voices Launches Artist of the Month Contest. Want a chance to win a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to a three-week summer art program in Boston? Want to collaborate with other teen artists at a professional art school? Grab your paints, clay, pencils, camera—whatever medium you use—and turn up your creativity! We’re looking for teen girls to publish in Teen Voices! Compete with teen artists around the world to become one of 12 Teen Voices Artist of the Month semi-finalists. Then go head-to-head for the title Teen Voices Artist of the Year! Teen Voices is teaming up with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) for our first-ever art contest. Compete for a chance to win a full scholarship (tuition, room, and board) to the renowned SMFA’s Pre-College Summer Art Studio—a $4,000 value! Spend three weeks living in Boston immersed in nine different artistic disciplines and begin to build a professional art portfolio. The contest begins on January 1, 2012. Each month has a different theme, such as sisterhood, power, beauty, or heritage. Amplify your creative voice—you can submit up to three pieces of your work EACH month.
Art for Peace 2012. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the Harmony for Peace
Foundation have jointly launched the 2012 Art for Peace Contest. We are calling on all young artists to use their creative talents to imagine a “World Free of Nuclear Weapons.” Whether you paint or draw, use watercolors or acrylics, pencils or crayons, the Art for Peace Contest wants you to use your imagination to express your vision for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons. This contest is open to children and teens, ages 5 – 17, across the globe. Wherever you live, you are eligible to enter this contest. The Contest starts on 1 February 1 and ends 30 April, 2012.
2-1-12
Champion Creatively Alive Children™ Grant Program - Now Accepting Applications. Spark Creativity with Ideas from NAESP and Crayola. Crayola and NAESP are proud to help you Champion Creatively Alive Children and support arts-infused education. Arts-infused education teaches children the four C’s—communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity—skills they need to understand our increasinly interconnected world and thrive as 21st century citizens. Dive into the resources below to explore innovative ideas and best practices for of instilling art into the classroom. NAESP and Crayola award 20 schools annually with grants valued at $3,000 to implement arts programming. Apply for a grant to create an innovative art-infused education program. Download your application now or go to www.naesp.org/crayola. Applications should be sent to creativelyalive@crayola.com or fax to 610-515-8781, ATTN: Anita DeChellis. Applications will be accepted until 12:00 Midnight EST, Friday, June 15, 2012! Grant awards will be announced by October 15, 2012.
Arts Advocacy Day, April 16 - 17, 2012 - Register Now! The 25th annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. -LEARN new ways to make the best case for the arts to decision-makers. -NETWORK with other attendees from your state and across the country. -BE HEARD by your members of Congress when you visit them to make the case for the arts and arts education. Help spread the word about Arts Advocacy Day!
Americans for the Arts invites you to the 25th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy presented in partnership with Ovation-An Evening with Alec Baldwin, acclaimed actor and arts advocate, Monday, April 16, 2012, 6:30 p.m. Concert Hall, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC. Reserve Your Free Tickets Now. Seating is limited and the deadline for ticket requests is April 9, 2012. Tickets will be distributed at the Will Call desk in front of the Concert Hall on the night of the event. The Nancy Hanks Lecture is presented in conjunction with National Arts Advocacy Day 2012.
New Issue Now Available: Museums & Social Issues Rethinking Incarceration, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring 2011), Edited by Kris Morrissey and Marjorie Schwarzer. Left Coast Press, Inc. is pleased to offer free access to single articles from selected journals. Check out The Prisoners Center for Reentry and Reconciliation, by Alan Mobley, from Rethinking Incarceration, the current issue of Museums & Social Issues. Like it? Order the full issue or subscribe to the journal. Click here to read a sample article for free! Click here to see the full Table of Contents for this issue.
Project Yellow Light Hunter Garner Scholarship Opportunity: Make a Video. Win a Scholarship. Save a Life Create a video encouraging your friends not to text and drive. Applicants must be high school seniors who will complete graduation requirements by or before July 31, 2012. Submit your video along with your contact information on or before March 31, 2012. Videos must be submitted through the Project Yellow Light website. Videos must be 60 seconds or less in length. Finalists will be notified by April 16, 2012; winners will be announced in May of 2012. First place winner will receive a scholarship in the amount of $2,000; 2nd place runner up will receive $500; 3rd place $200. In addition to a scholarship, the winning video will be turned into an Ad Council PSA and will be distributed nationally to 1,600 TV stations.
States not setting bar high enough in NCLB waivers, officials say. Most states that have applied for waivers from No Child Left Behind have insufficient plans for holding schools accountable for the achievement of all students, according to an initial review of waivers by the Department of Education. Officials say nearly all states failed to set the bar for achievement high enough in their applications and lack plans for closing the achievement gap. Similar concerns were shared in December with 11 states that have applied for waivers. (The Washington Post, 1/30/12)
Does President Obama Know What Race to the Top Is? (January 31, 2012, Bridging Differences Blog)
The KAEA (Kansas Art Education Association) Winter 2012 Newsletter (Theme: Ceramics) is now online!
Columbia University's, Asia for Educators Program will be hosting its next on-line (free) simulcast: "DRAMA in East Asia: Noh, Kabuki, Chinese Opera" (with experienced director Farley Richond), Monday night/February 6th, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. EST
New Lesson Plans from the Incredible @rt Department. Five new elementary art lessons were added to IAD.
1-30-12
TASK Call for Volunteers. Oliver Herring, SchoolArts, Art21, and NAEA are planning an exciting collaborative art event called TASK during this year’s NAEA National Convention They're presenting the first ever conference-wide TASK event on Saturday, March 3rd from 11am–4pm. For those who have not been part of a TASK event—it is not to be missed! Learn more about the conference and TASK event here: http://taskparty.org/
TASK on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/mVZm3W | Twitter: @DavisDigital & @DavisPub
They’re looking for volunteer teachers and students to help them throughout the day. In particular, they need the following kinds of support: Materials (collecting, organizing & monitoring), Set-up and clean up, Door monitors, Waiver collection (for photography and filming purposes), Signage, Documentation (video & photography), and perhaps most importantly, they’re looking for a great student DJ to set the musical tone! If you and/or any of your students are interested in getting involved, please email rsandagata@davisart.com and they’ll put you on the list! This is a great opportunity to be part of an incredible collaborative event! If you can’t volunteer, we hope you’ll spread the word and encourage others to come and participate or volunteer!
Art21 Education News: Art21 Educators Year 4, NAEA in NYC, and More - January 27, 2012. In this issue: Janine Antoni and Oliver Herring will join us for the National Art Education Association annual convention in New York City on March 2-4; On April 13th, we kick off Season 6 of Art in the Twenty-First Century on PBS. Catch a preview screening at the NAEA conference or host your own; Fast-forward to July when we launch year four of Art21 Educators. Find out more below and apply online; See highlights from Joe Fusaro's Art21 Blog column Teaching with Contemporary Art; and Finally, check out some great new short-format online video from the New York Close Up and Exclusive series.
Crafty Valentine's Day! from Crayola. It's a leap year, so you have 29 days in February to spend time with the kids creating crafts for Black History Month, Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and President's Day. Crayola.com offers lots of information for parents on how to bring creativity into your home. Your child can explore Crayola Story Studio®, where they can create their own coloring stories starring themselves; Lights, Camera, and Color!®; and lots of coloring activities.
“Art Exhibition: Art Educators as Artists”. United States Society for Education through Arts (USSEA) is organizing an art exhibition that will be on display during the NAEA National Convention in New York, March 1-4. This art exhibition aims to raise funds for USSEA while promoting art educators as artists. You can send the jpeg images of your artworks via email to Dr. Fatih Benzer at fbenzer@d.umn.edu. You can submit up to three artworks. The digital images for each artwork need to be 300 dpi. The selected artworks will also be exhibited on an online art gallery that is dedicated to this exhibition. Please submit a brief biography (300 words) and an artist statement (300 words) along with your images to be included both online and onsite exhibition. The artworks should not be bigger than 9”x12” due to logistics. The artworks need to be matted and covered with plastic film. Please use plexiglass instead of glass if you plan on framing. Include the following information about the work: Artist’s name, title of work, medium, year, and price. Deadline to submit artwork is February 20, 2012.
NY: Art Museum Partnership announces a Partner Pledge to support Museum Advocacy Day. The Art Museum Partnership recently announced a Partner Pledge to support Museum Advocacy Day on February 28, 2012. In addition to financial support, representatives from The Art Museum Partnership will be in Washington DC to speak to Congressional leaders about the important role of museums as educational institutions. The event is organized by the American Association of Museums. Museum Advocacy Day brings together over 300 museum leaders from across the country to take part in a day of advocacy training on urgent issues, followed by a day of visits with our Congressional delegation and their staffs. A compelling case will be made for federal support of America’s museums, based on solid research chronicling museums’ contributions to our communities and their role as economic engines and integral elements in our educational infrastructure. (artdaily.org)
NJ: NJPAC Brings Arts Education to Life With 'Dragon'. But did you know it boasts the nation's fourth largest arts education program for school-age children? NJPAC's comprehensive Arts Education Department consists of several divisions providing programs for children ages 3-18, their families and schools. (Patch.com)
FL: Arts education strikes a chord with students at local schools. Friesen's visit to Ocean Palms and other area schools was funded and arranged by the Ponte Vedra Public Education Foundation as part of its mission to enhance public education by promoting the arts through professional programs. (Florida Times-Union)
TAF director reporting to Indiana Capitol for Arts Advocacy Day. As executive director of Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Tetia Lee will be among the many arts leaders from all over the state making their presence felt at the Indiana Capitol today. Arts Advocacy Day showcases the importance and impact the arts have on ... (Journal and Courier)
MN: Central Minnesota Arts Board to participate in Minnesota Arts Advocacy Day. The Central Minnesota Arts Board is participating in Minnesota Arts Advocacy Day at the Capitol on Feb. 29. The group will charter a bus to transport people to St. Paul. Pick-up spots are the east St. Cloud Cash Wise at 6:30 am and the Cub ... (St. Cloud Times)
MI: Arts sector called growing part of Michigan's economy. This is a sector that is growing," said Jennifer Goulet, CEO and president of ArtServe Michigan, an arts advocacy organization that compiled the report. • The number of arts-related businesses in Michigan jumped 43% from 2006 to 2010, rising to 24306 ... (Detroit Free Press)
LA: Art East: Slidell cultural group to explore potential for arts education ... The coalition's mission focuses on facilitation of growth, development and increased awareness of art in the cultural economy and its impact on public policy, business support, and outreach in arts education. The ESTCEC is comprised of an independent ... (NOLA.com)
'Masters in Education Guides' Explains How Art Education Degrees Paint a ... The same goes for educators in the art field, which is why more people are choosing to get an art education degree. Earning this degree not only allows people to further learn about the inner workings of some of the most well known artists in history, ... (SBWire press release)
East of Main to nourish arts education program. The restaurant that will feed Project Limelight - both literally by providing children with meals and figuratively by providing cash flow for the free arts education program - is poised to become an "under the radar" community hub, says Alex Fraser. (Vancouver Sun)
NEA Foundation Launches Gaming Challenge on ED’s Open Innovation Portal. How can interactive technology and game-based learning help engage students to learn? The next great teaching frontier is light years away from chalk and erasers. Outside the classroom, students are fascinated and engaged in interactive technology and game-based activities.
UK: Skills Studio: Residencies, Tuesday, 20 March 2012, 13.30 - 18.30, Hochauser Auditorium, V&A Museum, London, £9, Concessions £6, Includes one glass of wine. SPECIAL EVENT: Are you a professional artist, designer or creative practitioner who wishes to develop your skills in applying for residency programmes? This session aims to give attendees a broader understanding of residency programmes and will give guidance on the skills needed to draft applications to residency programmes and responding to briefs given as part of Open Call opportunities. Speakers include past V&A Residents, Curators and experienced Residency Co-ordinators. Booking is essential.
i3 Grant Puts “I” in Team. As a 9th grade counselor at St. Louis Park Senior High School in suburban Minneapolis, Angie Jebarek was jarred by the 45 percent failure rate posted by the school’s freshmen in 1998. She responded to the challenge by developing a … (ED.gov)
1-27-12
Teachers Want to Lead the Transformation of their Profession. “Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity …
The Clarice Smith National Teacher Institutes - Smithsonian American Art Museum, July 9–July 13, 2012 OR July 30–August 3, 2012. Be inspired this summer at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as you join colleagues from across the country for an exciting exploration of the connections among American art, technology, and your curricula. Attend one of our week-long institutes in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Stay connected with your newfound colleagues and Museum staff throughout the year. Core subject teachers for grades 6-12 may apply as individuals or as part of a team. Priority will be given to social studies and English/language arts teachers. Applications are due Monday, April 2, 2012. Registration Fee: $200 per participant. Graduate credits, scholarships, and low-cost housing accommodations are available. For more information, please contact us at AmericanArtClariceSmithInitiative@si.edu.
Average Is Over. In the 21st-century economy, everyone is going to have to find a little something extra to stand out in their field of employment. (The New York Times)
The Education Community Responds to the State of the Union. On Tuesday night in the State of the Union, President Obama made several references to education. One major area of focus: College affordability. The President called on Congress to stop student loan interest rates from doubling in July, extend the tuition tax credit and double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years. He also called for colleges and universities to hold down costs, and he suggested withholding federal funding from those institutions that do not. (Learning First Alliance)
Business, Civil Rights Groups Blast NCLB Proposal (January 25, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Obama Proposes New Race to Top Aimed at Higher Ed (January 27, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Duncan Meets With Fla. Officials Over Race to Top Concerns (January 26, 2012, Associated Press)
John Kline's No Child Left Behind bills strike at values of Brown v. Board, coalition writes (Huffington Post, 1/25/12)
The Art Museum Partnership Supports Museum Advocacy Day. The Art Museum Partnership recently announced a Partner Pledge to support Museum Advocacy Day on February 28, 2012. In addition to financial support, representatives from The Art Museum Partnership will be in Washington DC to speak to Congressional leaders about the important role of museums as educational institutions. The event is organized by the American Association of Museums.
ASCD CALLS FOR WHOLE CHILD-BASED EDUCATION REFORMS. This week, ASCD released its 2012 Legislative Agenda, which guides the association's public policy initiatives and provides a framework for improving education in America. The agenda outlines 10 recommendations for Congress, including requiring states to align accountability, professional evaluation, and reporting systems to include all of the core academic subjects and requiring multiple measures of evaluation to determine student proficiency, teacher effectiveness, and school performance. In a response to President Obama's 2012 State of the Union address, ASCD's director of public policy David Griffith calls on the president to work with Congress and other stakeholders to create an education system that meets the needs of the whole child, ensuring students receive a well-rounded education, are assessed in a comprehensive manner, and are prepared to be successful lifelong learners.
1-25-12
Improving Arts Learning through Standards & Assessment: A National Endowment for the Arts Research Roundtable. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) invites you to attend a live webcast on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM EST at arts.gov. More than a dozen experts in the fields of education and arts learning will examine standards and assessment in K-12 education from a variety of perspectives. Also, the session will highlight findings from a national study commissioned by the NEA and conducted by evaluation firm WestEd: Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts. The report is the first nationwide effort to examine current practices in the assessment of K-12 student learning in the arts both in and out of the classroom. Webinar participants include: Sandra Ruppert, Arts Education Partnership; Rocco Landesman, Sunil Iyengar, and Daniel Beattie, National Endowment for the Arts; Gene Wilhoit, Council of Chief State School Officers; and James H. Shelton III, U.S Department of Education. More information on the webinar is coming soon. Contact Victoria Hutter at hutterv@arts.gov or 202-682-5692 with any questions.
Is there an Inspired Teacher in you? Earn your teaching license while making a difference in the classroom. Center for Inspired Teaching is accepting applications for a 24-month state accredited teacher certification program that recruits, selects, prepares and supports exceptional individuals who wish to serve the children of the District of Columbia as teachers. Inspired Teaching Fellows learn the skills and dispositions of Inspired Teachers who recognize each child's innate desire to learn and build on individual strengths to maximize academic, social and emotional achievement. Inspired Teaching Fellows begin their teaching career with a 12-month Residency year, working under the guidance of a Lead Teacher, allowing them to gain the knowledge and experience to enable a smooth transition into the teaching career. Fellows then continue attending coursework and receiving increased mentoring during the Fellowship year of the program, as a teacher of record. Inspired Teachers are certified in Early Childhood (PreK-3) or Elementary Education (1-6). Priority Deadline January 25th! For more details and to apply online, click here.
Win a Trip to NY! Do you have photographs of 2D artwork created in your classroom? If yes, here is an opportunity for You and one student to win a trip to New York to visit Art Museums! A parent of the student is also included in order for the Art Teacher to enjoy the trip and not be responsible for the student! The 2011 Sargent Art Brighter World Online Art Contest is conducted on the website - www.sargentart.com - where art teachers from K thru 12 are invited to electronically submit photographs of artwork created in the classrooms. No matting or no mailing - only click on the computer and send! Any 2D artwork created in the classroom is eligible. Deadline is May 31st.
National Gallery of Art Teacher Institute 2012: French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism -- Session I: July 16–21, 2012 | Session II: July 30–August 4, 2012. The National Gallery of Art invites teachers of kindergarten though grade twelve to apply for a six-day seminar that explores impressionist and post-impressionist French art. Individual sessions will integrate art, social history, language arts, and teaching strategies through examination of the collections of the National Gallery. Applications are due March 15, 2012.
2012 All Kids Can CREATE. In partnership with VSA and CVS Caremark, Artsonia invites you to submit your student artwork to the "2012 All Kids Can CREATE" call for children's art. This opportunity is part of a comprehensive national campaign to encourage inclusive arts education and provide increased public awareness of the arts in the lives and learning of young people with disabilities.
Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is pleased to announce the launching of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award to help cultivate the next generation of great artists and writers. The new award, worth up to $50,000 per year, will recognize and reward the most promising up-and-coming artists and writers from lower-income backgrounds. The Graduate Arts Award will enable up to 15 students with artistic and creative merit and outstanding academic achievement to pursue a graduate degree in the fine arts, performing arts, or creative writing. The award will provide funding for tuition, room and board, required fees, and books, and is renewable for up to three years. Students eligible for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Arts Award must be nominated by their undergraduate institution by February 9, 2012.
Vans Custom Culture. Vans presents each year to promote creative self expression among art students and draw attention to lack of funding for art programs across the country. In it's third year, Custom Culture is a national design competition in which high school art programs are given four pairs of Vans shoes for students to customize in nearly any way they see fit. The national field of entries are narrowed down to a group of 50 by Vans' staff, then images of these top 50 schools' shoes are uploaded to our website and open to online voting. The top five art programs as determined by this voting will win a trip to LA where their shoes will be displayed in a museum for an evening while a panel of surprise celebrity judges choose the winning school, which will receive a $50,000 prize for their art program. Registration begins on February 1st, 2012.
2012 Our Town Grant Guidelines Now Available. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has posted the guidelines for 2012 Our Town grants. Our Town supports creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities with the arts at their core. Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to: Improve their quality of life; Encourage creative activity; Create community identity and a sense of place; and Revitalize local economies. Grants may range from $25,000 to $150,000. Projects may include planning, design, and arts engagement activities that reflect a systemic approach to civic development and a persuasive vision for enhanced community vibrancy. The application deadline is Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 11:59PM EST. The NEA will conduct an informational Our Town webinar on Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
Southeast Center for Education in the Arts Annual Arts & Education Forum. The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts fifth national Arts & Education Forum, Walking the Talk: Pathways to Quality Integration, will take place at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on May 18-19, 2012. This meeting will explore pathways to quality arts integration, the way in which various arts integration programs have followed these paths, and the impact of quality arts integration on their programs. Featured speakers will include Dr. Bennett Lentczner, president of RealVisions, and Drs. Linda Whitesitt and Elda Franklin, authors of The ARTS Book: Designing Quality Arts Integration with Alignment, Rigor, Teamwork and Sustainability. Registration is $195 which includes two breakfasts, two luncheons, and a copy of The ARTS Book. The deadline to take advantage of a special conference rate of $94 at the Sheraton Read House Hotel is May 3. For more information contact Kim Wheetley at 423-425-5205 or kim-wheetley@utc.edu.
MA: Marblehead Festival of Arts announces art scholarship. The Scholarship Committee is now accepting applications for the Art Scholarship Award. This $3000 prize is presented to a deserving high school senior pursuing higher education in visual or performing arts, crafts or music. The objective in awarding ... (Boston.com)
OR: Tri-State Community School for the Arts awards scholarships. It is the mission of the Tri-State Community School for the Arts to provide arts education to all who wish to study regardless of age, race, gender or socio-economic status. To this end, it offers a variety of classes and private lessons for all ages ... (Daily American Online)
WI: Arts scholarship deadline April 1. The Les and Dar Stumpf Youth Arts Scholarship program, established to provide financial assistance to local students interested in an art discipline, is accepting applications. The scholarship is offered to children in kindergarten through high school ... (Appleton Post Crescent)
1-23-12
New Publications from NAEA:
Matter Matters
Paul E. Bolin and Doug Blandy, Editors
Why Our High Schools Need the Arts
Jessica Hoffman Davis
Visit the online store to learn more!
Local Arts Classroom. Americans for the Arts has officially opened registration for the Local Arts Classroom. This four-month virtual leadership development series will allow local arts leaders to master foundational concepts and build skills in the core areas of local arts development. The program is designed for arts professionals with less than 10 years of experience in the field, including current undergraduate or graduate students and those who are transitioning into the field from another sector. The Local Arts Classroom begins in early March 2012 and continues through the end of June 2012. Application Deadline is February 24, 2012.
Arts & Crafts Safety for Schools from the Connecticut Department of Health. Art and shop classes may expose students to potentially hazardous chemicals and dust found in some of the materials they use. Get general safety tips, learn what materials to avoid, and find recommended substitutes.
art21 news - January 20, 2012. In this issue: New Season of Art in the Twenty-First Century Coming in April; Access '12: Screen the New Season in Your Community; Programming for Educators; New Videos: Season 6 Trailer, Laurie Simmons, and Mariah Robertson; Highlights from the Art21 Blog; Support Art21: Win Season Six Swag; Art21 at VIP Art Fair 2.0, February 3-8; and Shop Art21.
LEONARDO LIVE. On Thursday, February 16, art lovers around the world will be able to experience LEONARDO LIVE, a high-definition presentation in movie theaters across the country of the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”, captured at the U.K. National Gallery in November, on the eve of the exhibit’s grand opening. NCM Fathom, BY Experience and PhilGrabskyFilms.com are thrilled to bring LEONARDO LIVE to movie theaters nationwide on Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 PM local time. Tickets are on-sale now. For art and history fans nationwide, this first-of-its-kind program offers an unprecedented chance to see rare Leonardo da Vinci works -- the most-ever assembled in one exhibition -- on the big screen. Cinemas will be transformed to “virtual galleries” as highly respected art historian Tim Marlow and presenter Mariella Frostrup take viewers on a virtual walk-through the National Gallery exhibition, with exclusive commentary from curators and scholars.
Art and Film at Sundance Film Festival 2012. Art, film, and technology converge at the Sundance Film Festival with world premieres of feature films and New Frontier, a dynamic presentation of cinematic media installations, multimedia performances, and transmedia experiences.
Welcome to the Winter 2012 issues of CultureWork: A Periodic Broadside for Arts and Culture Workers! Today's cultural leaders seek to more readily engage audiences and funders through a variety of mediated forums, outlets, and devices, i.e., transmediated stories and platforms. The articles in this issue of CultureWork bring forward the voices of two young professionals exploring specific applications of transmedia. Alyssa Fisher examines transmedia trends in music festivals across the United States while Daniel Linver probes the role of crowdsourcing as a way to develop relationships between artists, audience members, and funders through online productions that reach and push out around the globe.
The Museum of Contemporary Art announced that it will launch MOCA TV, a new global video channel for original contemporary art and culture programming, in July 2012. MOCA TV will be part of YouTube’s new original channels initiative, announced in October 2011, to bring around one hundred new original channels, created specifically for today’s connected viewers, to its worldwide platform. MOCA is the first contemporary art museum to associate with a major media company in an online video-programming venture of this scale, and MOCA TV is the first contemporary art and culture channel to be included in YouTube’s new initiative.
Teachers take to Twitter to improve craft and commiserate. In the vast social network on the Web, she discovered a community of mentors offering inspiration, commiseration and classroom-tested lesson plans. (The Washington Post, 1/19/12)
Canada: Starving arts education is a mistake. All except for one: a dreadful neo-Soviet monstrosity that seemed to be crumbling as I approached - the Arts Faculty. It led me to wonder why a prestigious European university would neglect such an area, particularly in a country that is a polyglot of ... (Edmonton Journal)
Canada: Public board seeking arts education suggestions. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is inviting the public to join an online conversation about improving arts education at the elementary and secondary school levels. The board hopes to hear from students, parents, staff and the community ... (Ottawa Citizen)
1-20-12
View the Convention guide for Students at the 2012 NAEA National Convention created by the NAEA Student Chapter.
Artsonia is excited to announce a fantastic opportunity exclusively for NAEA Members, but the deadline is soon, so act quickly! For the 2nd year in a row, Artsonia is working with a company called Big Screen Plaza, an initiative promoting art, culture and entertainment in a public venue. They have been invited to create a slideshow exclusively featuring outstanding student artwork submitted by NAEA Members. The slideshow will be displayed on a 30'x 16' LED screen located on New York City's 6th Ave between 29th & 30th Streets. This is just a few blocks from this year's NAEA National Convention location! Approximately 900 pieces of artwork will be used to create this new slideshow, which will run between 5-8pm March 2nd and 3rd. If you are attending the NAEA National Convention, they'll make sure you know when to look for your student's artwork on the big screen! Each piece of artwork selected will appear individually, along with the artist's first name, city, state, and artist statement. Artwork will be selected in the order in which it is submitted and is limited to one submission per teacher. Artsonia is pleased to present this opportunity exclusively for active NAEA Members in the U.S. IMPORTANT SUBMISSION DETAILS: Deadline for submission is midnight (EST) on Friday, February 3. One (1) piece of artwork is allowed per NAEA Member. Permission form must be downloaded and signed by the parent and faxed to Artsonia. How to Submit Your Entry: Browse your student artwork and select 1 piece to submit. Have the selected artist's parent sign and return the attached permission form. FAX the signed permission form to Artsonia @ 847-574-0781. Visit artsonia.com/bsp to submit your artwork and provide artist information.
Harvard Educational Review: Call for Proposals for Special Issue on Arts in Education. Deadline: February 3, 2012. The Harvard Educational Review (HER) will be publishing a Special Issue focusing on the arts in education. This Special Issue, currently entitled Expanding Our Vision for the Arts in Education and scheduled to appear in print during the Spring of 2013, intends to push beyond traditional understandings of arts teaching and learning to consider how education in and through the arts best suits the sophisticated demands of today's students within the complex social and political landscapes that they inhabit. In order to develop content for this Special Issue, HER is currently seeking proposals for a variety of manuscript types.
2nd Annual NAESP National Children’s Book Award Contest. The contest discovers, publishes and launches two aspiring writer’s careers. NAESP’s endorsement to its 30,000 national membership (plus hundreds of thousands of teachers and students) with Charlesbridge’s (a top national publisher from Boston) publishing of the winners, is an incredible opportunity for children’s authors. The two winners will be one children’s picture book and one children’s chapter book. The contest deadline is March 1st, 2012.
National PTA and Arne Open Student Art Exhibit at ED. “A well-rounded curriculum that embraces the arts and humanities is not a luxury but a necessity in the information age,” Secretary Duncan recently wrote. At the Department of Education we know the importance of drama, dance, music, the visual arts, …
How NCLB rewrite would perpetuate problems for struggling schools. Current plans to reauthorize No Child Left Behind would serve to perpetuate the struggles of schools in high-poverty areas, writes Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond. Federal policies should be designed to ensure that fewer students are subject to poverty, provide equal funding to schools and equal opportunities for learning outside of school, and provide better training and support for the nation's teachers, she argues. (The Washington Post/The Answer Sheet blog, 1/17)
NCLB Waivers: The Details in the Devil's Bargain. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) wants to insure that every teacher in the U.S. is evaluated on the basis on student progress on high-stakes achievement tests. To achieve this, the DOE will issues waivers on some aspects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in exchange for a state-wide system to evaluate teachers using tests.
In this post I provide details and opinions on this development.
MI: World's largest ArtPrize announces 2012 artist/venue registration dates. ArtPrize, the radically open, international art competition and social experiment, today announced its registration timeline for 2012. Officials have also announced special dates for submitting art to be installed in the Grand River. ArtPrize 2012 will run from Sept. 19 through Oct. 7. ArtPrize is organized very differently from other competitive art events: ArtPrize organizers do not choose artists, venues choose artists Any space in downtown Grand Rapids can register to be a venue Artists must connect with a venue to participate in the event “The ArtPrize platform creates a system that values creativity, experimentation and above all, collaboration,” said Catherine Creamer, executive director of ArtPrize.
New Zealand: Blogging Art Teacher puts Maternity Leave to good use. Experienced Art teacher Amiria Gale never expected her break from teaching to turn out quite like this. Each night, while her baby sleeps, she logs onto amiria [blog] from her Auckland living room and helps dedicated art students from all around the ... (Scoop.co.nz press release)
IA: Local art scene gets a little brighter. Artists don't normally have a sunny disposition. This one does. Sitting in an overstuffed chair last Saturday, Le Mars elementary art teacher Kim Strohbeen is delighted to be amid her abstract artwork hanging at the Prairie Fire Gallery and Studio. The pixie blonde, who calls Sioux City home, can't stop talking about her opening reception that happened the previous evening.
VT: A new joint Flynn-BCA exhibition shows the creative side of local movers and ... The prints are being auctioned off to benefit youth scholarships to both organizations' art education programs. ... (BurlingtonFreePress.com)
MO: Lindenwood, Art on the Square to offer scholarships. "This is one way that we can show our commitment to the development of the arts right here in Belleville and inspire our young aspiring artists to pursue their education at a quality university close to home," Lindenwood Vice President Jerry Bladdick ... (Belleville News Democrat)
Using QR codes for school communications. Quick Response (QR) codes—those black-and-white squares that look like a cross between supermarket bar codes and postage stamps—have real potential for school communications.
Ask the White House to create a President's Council on the Whole Child. ASCD urges educators nationwide to sign a petition today asking President Obama to create a President's Council on the Whole Child. The petition was launched today through the White House's We the People petition tool. A President's Council comprising national leaders, state officials, educators, community members and other experts would facilitate greater collaboration among the education, social, health and safety agencies that support children and the coordination of programs at all levels to benefit families. Sign the petition today.
Politics K-12 Blog: Duncan: It's Time to Create Race to Top for Districts
Reports Detail Challenges for Race to Top Winners. States have similar challenges in executing dramatic change and transforming teacher-evaluation systems.
Advocates, Policymakers Split on House ESEA Draft. The House GOP's bare-bones approach to federal K-12 policy draws polarized reviews in the NCLB renewal debate
View Capitol Connection from ASCD, Janary 18, 2012 for the latest legislative news.
In Big Setback for Race to Top, Hawaii Teachers Reject Contract (January 20, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
The People's Library: Did You Know? The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library. Materials are added at the rate of 10,000 per day and the Copyright Office has a card catalogue with more than45 million card entries. It contains 838 miles of bookshelves and holds a collection of more than 147 million items. The Library is open to the public and its resources are available on-site in Washington D.C to anyone older than 16 with government issued identification. The American Memory Project – an effort to digitalize a large portion of the Library’s collection – has more than 9 million items available electronically, for free, to anyone with access to the internet.
1-17-12
Elliot Eisner's "ten lessons the arts teach" is a new article in the San Francisco Examiner (SF Examiner)
OPINION: The Rise of the New Groupthink. Collaboration is in. But it may not be conducive to creativity. (The New York Times, 1/15/12)
ED Review (01/13/12)...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
VSA and CVS Caremark All Kids Can Invite Children Nationwide to Share their Inspiration through Artwork. VSA, the international organization on arts and disability and an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts along with CVS Caremark All Kids Can are inviting children with and without disabilities, ages 5-15, to participate in the 2012 All Kids Can CREATE “Call for Art” and showcase the positive impact the arts can have on each and every child. This year’s theme, “What Inspires Me,” encourages young people to reflect on what inspires them and express those inspirations through original art. The 2012 All Kids Can CREATE program will officially launch on the birthday of inspirational civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Artwork submitted before April 8, 2012 at http://www.artsonia.com/allkidscan will be featured in an online gallery and considered for display in the “What Inspires Me” exhibition debuting at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. in August 2012. One hundred and two pieces of art?two from each state and the District of Columbia?will be part of the exhibition.
Summer Seminar for High School Juniors. The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Summer Seminar is a scholarship program available nationally to artistically gifted high school juniors (2011-2012) in public and private schools. The Summer Seminar—held at The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO—is designed as an art institute offering an intensive visual art studio program for the students, with artists-in-residence serving as the primary instructors. Three 2-week seminars will be held this year. For more information or to download an application, visit: www.sharpeartfdn.org. Application deadline is April 4, 2012.
Sundance Seeks Education Outreach Consultant in Los Angeles, CA. Sundance Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences is currently soliciting qualified individuals and organizations “Consultant(s)” to conduct R&D and create a blueprint for a proposed Sundance Institute educational outreach afterschool program for youth in the greater Los Angeles area. The program will include innovative educational curriculum using fiction and non-fiction film as well as experimental media-based arts (work from the Institute’s New Frontier program –which highlights experimentation, non - traditional storytelling, new media technologies and areas of intersection between filmmaking and the visual and performing arts). The blueprint will provide recommendations for partnerships, schools, locations and educational components of the program
Call for Student Artwork to Display at the 2012 NAEA National Convention, NYC. Conference/Display: March 1- 4, 2012. Location: Downtown New York City. Artwork Due: February 10, 2011. Sign up at: www.thedreamrocket.com. To Request flyer to be snail mailed to you, please email Jennifer Marsh (NAEA Member) at Jennifer@thedreamrocket.com or Jennifer.marsh@washburn.edu
Artwork already submitted and will be included in this exhibit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedreamrocket/sets/72157626275992263/
Family Arts: Arts education endeavors in Utah schools. Deseret News Editor's note: This article is second in a three-part series examining the issue of exposing children to the arts and what's being done to provide both arts education in schools and opportunity for arts experiences for ... (Deseret News)
CA: City Calls for Art to Sell from Vending Machine. Each art piece will be sold for $10, with $5 going directly to the artist and the other half being donated to the City of Santa Clarita's Arts Education Programs. Artists interested in being a part of this program are asked to submit four photos of ... (SCVNEWS.com)
Canada: Claremont Secondary Launches Fine Arts School. If your kids are showing an aptitude for the arts, a Saanich high school is inviting them to its new school within a school. The soon to be launched Claremont School of Fine Arts ... (YouTube)
CA: A New Marketing Campaign - With Art Philadelphia™ - to Promote the Visual Arts Announced. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter today announced the city's first-ever coordinated and sustained visual arts marketing campaign called With Art Philadelphia™. The $2 million, two-year campaign aims to: position Philadelphia, ... (Sacramento Bee)
Know Your Arts Advocates: Americans For The Arts' Robert Lynch. This weekend, a handful of those arts advocates convened in New York City as part of the annual conference for Association of Performing Arts Presenters. We spoke with representatives from the Future of Music Coalition the League of American Orchestras ... (NPR blog)
Wendy Rosen: From Businesswoman and Arts Advocate to Politician. That's the pitch from Wendy Rosen: successful businesswoman, arts advocate, small business advocate, and now a candidate for Congress. Rosen, 57, is running as a Democrat for the US House seat in Maryland's First Congressional District. ... (Forbes)
Learning to lobby: arts advocates seek to save state funding. Arts advocates from across the state were scheduled to meet today at the Alabama Shakespeare Fesitval in Montgomery to discuss ways to lobby the state legislature to preserve arts funding. To help prevent further precipitous drops in state arts funding ... (Weld for Birmingham)
PA: International Interdependence Hexagon Project and Hexagon Project on FB. They are asking children ages 10 - 18 to reflect on how they can conceive of and understand ways they are connected as a global civil society. They create inside a down-loadable hexagonal template. They have a physical exhibit every year, in September [ Interdependence Day is the day after 9/11] here in Scranton, PA and have the work on our website and FB. The vision is to see all the ideas interconnected as one giant tessellation. Their deadline is June 2012 for this year. They also need to raise funds for the $80.00 for the entry, as they are all volunteer/art teachers. If you are interested in sponsoring this project, please contact Beth Burkhauser, Chair, International Interdependence Hexagon Project at bburkhauser@msn.com, 570 342-1228, or 570 877-1653.
1-13-12
New from NAEA! Matter Matters: Art Education and Material Culture Studies
Paul E. Bolin and Doug Blandy, Editors | ORDER HERE
OP-ED COLUMNIST: The Value of Teachers. A new study suggests a great teacher is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased earning power to students. It’s time to overhaul our education policy. (The New York Times)
Media Advisories from the U.S. Department of Education (1/12/12).
Some States Skeptical of NCLB Waivers. The offer of federal flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act comes with considerable strings attached.
NCLB and the Issue of Accountability (January 12, 2012, Top Performers Blog)
Race to Top States Dinged, But Not on Common Core (January 10, 2012, Curriculum Matters Blog)
Advocates, Policymakers Give Mixed Reviews to ESEA Draft (January 10, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
Legislatures Back, With 2011's Battles Still in Mind. State lawmakers and governors may push ambitious initiatives in their 2012 sessions, though warily in an election year. (Education Week, January 11, 2012)
‘Let’s Not Weaken It’: An Exclusive Interview with George W. Bush on NCLB. On the 10th anniversary of No Child Left Behind, the former President spoke with TIME's education columnist about the law's successes and why it's a "convenient punching bag"
THE NEED TO UNPLUG: The average person consumes over 100,000 words a day from multiple sources, but only retain 10% of the information. Despite the ability to do many tasks at once, only 2% of the population can successfully multitask. This is one of many digital projects that will be shown at The Museum at FIT upcoming student exhibition, "Death to Pie Charts"...
Arts Education Webinar Series & Toolkit. This year, Americans for the Arts is proud to announce a seven-part webinar series on arts education. The series is based on a new Americans for the Arts’ toolkit, The Arts Education Field Guide, which will be released during the first webinar on January 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET. During this opening session, attendees will hear from veteran arts advocates who will illuminate the federal constituents involved in arts education. The remaining webinars, like the Field Guide, will illuminate ways to navigate the complex web of citizens, policymakers, government entities, and organizations that influence arts education from the school house to the White House and from the living room to the board room. Webinars are free to Americans for the Arts members or they can be purchased by non-members for $35 per session.
New Local Arts Leadership Development Program. Americans for the Arts has opened registration for its new Local Arts Classroom program, a four-month virtual leadership development series that provides an opportunity for local arts leaders to master foundational concepts and build skills through exposure to current practice in the core areas of local arts development. This program is designed to serve arts professionals with less than 10 years of experience in the arts field, including current undergraduate or graduate students, and those who are transitioning into the field from another sector. Participants will attend six 90-minute webinars and five 60-minute post-webinar discussion calls and will receive a one-year, complimentary individual membership with Americans for the Arts as part of the registration. Americans for the Arts will select a maximum of 40 participants and application materials and eligibility criteria can be found online. For more information, contact Leadership Development Program Manager Stephanie Evans Hanson at sevanshanson@artsusa.org.
Unemployment soars for architects, arts majors. If you want the best odds of getting a job after graduation, don't major in architecture. Among recent college grads, architecture majors by far have the highest unemployment rate at 13.9%. That's according to a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.
1-12-12
National Coalition for Core Arts Standards will hold open broadcast session on the Standards Framework, January 24, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET. The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) will be meeting in Reston, Virginia on Monday January 23rd and Tuesday January 24th at the headquarters of the College Board, to continue the work of framing the next generation of arts standards. On Tuesday, January 24th from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET, the NCCAS Leadership Team will be broadcasting an update on the work to the field with streaming video from our wikispace website.
We welcome the public to an open question and answer session on the 24th at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard time, using Web 2.0 tools. You will be able to view a video of the meeting and comment or ask questions through live chat in a blog. Links to the interactive session will be posted the day of the event on the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards website. Note: If you are not available at this time, please check back at the wikispace website to view the archive of this event.
1-11-12
Whose children have been left behind? Framing the 2012 ed debate. The battles over education policy that marked 2011 will continue, ever more heated, in the new year. As a starting point, and in honor of this Sunday’s 10th anniversary of the day when president George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law, here is a speech written by education historian Diane Ravitch that addresses what is really at stake in the fight over how to fix troubled public schools. (Washington Post, 1/2/12)
Atelier: Inside the Artist's Studio. Past Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winners are creating new works of art as part of our first ever artists-in-residency program. Watch them at work at One New York Plaza or check back here to see their progress. Open Studio 12-6 PM, Oct. 21, Nov. 11, and Dec. 9.
NY: Star-Studded School Curriculum. Popular musicians help teach the arts in NYC public schools. (The Wall Street Journal, 1/6/12)
Culture isn't just the arts. My guess is that we are discussing an arts policy, but that we are afraid to name it lest the philistines descend on us. Will naming it The National Arts Policy give it the kiss of death? Surely our (wider) culture is mature enough in this century to ... (On Line opinion)
House ESEA Draft Would Rein in Federal Accountability Rules. A House proposal on how to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act mirrors elements of a Senate plan, but goes further in some areas. (Education Week, 1/6/12)
Analysis: NCLB has not lived up to expectations of 2002. Ten years after President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, secured the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, many questions remain about the lasting effects of the policy. Upon its creation, the original law received bipartisan support, but a backlash against standardized testing soon followed, along with reduced morale among educators, many of whom began to believe they were being judged unfairly on conditions out of their control. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/The Associated Press)
DC: Upcoming School and Teacher Programs from the National Gallery of Art Educators
Canada: Claremont to offer school of fine arts free to students. Claremont Secondary plans to open a school of fine arts next fall, positioning itself as a destination of choice for students interested in music, dance, drama and visual arts. Billed as a "school within a school," the program will offer students a chance to graduate with two diplomas - one for completing their regular high school requirements and a second for earning 40 credits from the Claremont School of Fine Arts. (Times Colonist, 1/10/12)
U.S. Department Of Education Calls For Action To Develop 21St Century Citizens, Strengthen Democracy
3 states are cited for lack of progress on Race to the Top plans. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday issued a warning to New York over its lack of progress on implementing Race to the Top goals, including student-data collection across districts and a new system for evaluating educators. The state joins Hawaii and Florida in being cited over Race to the Top progress. In December, federal officials warned Hawaii the state could lose its grant funding. (The New York Times, 1/10/12)
Big Race to Top Problems in Hawaii, Florida, N.Y., Says Ed. Dept.
Department Releases State Reports Profiling First-Year Progress Under Race to the Top. The U.S. Department of Education released today state-specific reports profiling first-year progress on comprehensive education reform under Race to the Top. (ED.gov)
NCLB: The Death Star of American Education (January 10, 2012, Bridging Differences Blog)
ASCD Capitol Connection - December 13, 2011. In This Issue: Well-Rounded Education Gets a Day in the Sun; Free LILA Webinar This Week; FY12 Spending Deadline Looms; and News You Can Use.
Join AEP for the Spring 2012 National Forum! Fasten your seat belts and hit the road to Washington, DC for the AEP Spring 2012 National Forum: Are We There Yet? Arts Evidence and the Road to Student Success, April 12-13 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Dupont Circle Hotel. This theme reflects the acknowledgment of a growing body of research evidence which makes the case that learning in and through the arts contributes to educational excellence. We will explore the implications and impact of research on education policy and practice, and will identify future directions for research.
2012 Our Town Grant Guidelines Now Available. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has posted the guidelines for 2012 Our Town grants. Our Town supports creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities with the arts at their core. Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to: Improve their quality of life; Encourage creative activity; Create community identity and a sense of place; and Revitalize local economies. Grants may range from $25,000 to $150,000. Projects may include planning, design, and arts engagement activities that reflect a systemic approach to civic development and a persuasive vision for enhanced community vibrancy. The application deadline is Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 11:59PM EST. The NEA will conduct informational Our Town webinars on Wednesday, January 11 and Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
Applications Being Accepted for 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards. The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is now accepting applications for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards. Twelve programs this year will receive $10,000 and an invitation to accept their award from the PCAH Honorary Chairman, First Lady Michelle Obama, at a White House ceremony. After-school and out-of-school time arts and humanities programs sponsored by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, educational institutions arts centers, community service organizations, businesses, and eligible government entities are encouraged to apply. Completed applications will only be accepted via the online process. The deadline for application submissions is Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 5:00 p.m. EST. Questions? Contact the program at info@nahyp.org or at 202-682-5571.
Lincoln Center Institute International Educator Workshop: World-Class Professional Development. Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) offers high-quality instruction in the development of skills of imagination, creativity, and innovation. This 5-day professional development workshop is an introductory-level immersion in LCI’s experiential, inquiry-based approach to imaginative learning through aesthetic education. Any pre-K through grade 12 teacher, school and/or arts administrator, teaching artist, curriculum developer, or college/university professor may attend. Workshops will take place July 9-13 and July 16-20, 2012 in NYC and on other dates at host sites around the country. Visit the website and click the “Workshops & Courses” tab for more information and a complete listing of host sites and dates.
Call for Proposals for Harvard Educational Review. The Harvard Educational Review (HER) is planning an upcoming Special Issue themed Expanding our Vision for the Arts in Education. This issue intends to push beyond traditional understandings of arts teaching and learning to consider how education in and through the arts best suits the sophisticated demands of today’s students within the complex social and political landscapes that they inhabit. HER seeks submissions focusing on the arts in education through a variety of lenses, including, traditional and emerging arts mediums/disciplines, mind-brain education, globalization, and community empowerment and cultural organizing. HER encourages submissions of scholarly articles, cross-generational dialogues, reflective essays and narratives, and digital media. Proposal Deadline (Maximum 500 Words): February 3, 2012. Target Response Date: March 1, 2012. Final Deadline for Invited Digital Media: August 1, 2012. Target Media Launch Date: Spring 2013.
WebWise Conference 2012: “Tradition and Innovation”. Registration is now open for the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) WebWise Conference 2012, which will take place February 29th-March 2nd at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace in Baltimore, MD. Actor and literacy champion LeVar Burton has been chosen as one of the keynote speakers. Burton will speak on the morning of March 1. The conference theme is "Tradition and Innovation," and will investigate how libraries and museums have used digital technologies to help scholars, students, educators, and the general public understand history and the humanities. WebWise 2012 will take special note of the unique contributions that historical societies, public libraries, and other small and local organizations make to humanities scholarship and education. There is no charge for conference attendance.
TX: New program aids arts education. Ellis is recognized as a historical artist by the Amistad Research Center in 2005 and an Art Ambassador for New Orleans African Museum in 2010. Ellis' pictorial documentation of the history and culture of African-Americans continues to rival the ... (Daily News - Galveston County)
FL: Actor James Woods stopped at Ringling College of Art and Design to work with students and be shown how Sarasota could be a good place to do business in the future.
Stephen Hutchison's Postcard Project: Artist Mails Free Postcards To Anyone Who Asks. "I've been making artwork for a very long time," Hutchison told The Huffington Post. "And I've struggled to find a venue or an audience for many reasons, but it wasn't until I required participation from people that I got such a level of interest." (Huffington Post)
Americans for the Arts is proud to announce the launch of a new campaign, the pARTnership Movement, designed to reach business leaders with the message that partnering with the arts will advance their bottom-line goals and build their competitive advantage.
Arts Education Webinar Series 2012. Take part in the Americans for the Arts 2012 series of webinars for arts education. This seven part series is based on Americans for the Arts’ new toolkit, The Arts Education Field Guide, which will be released during the first webinar. The Field Guide will illuminate ways to navigate the complex web of citizens, policymakers, government entities, and organizations that influence arts education from the school house to the White House and from the living room to the board room. Each webinar in this series is free to members of Americans for the Arts, or it is available for $35.00 per webinar for non-members. All webinars are one hour in length, starting at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (2:00 PM CST, 1:00 PM MST, 12:00 PM PST). Topics: Understanding Federal Constituents in Arts Education, January 26, 2012 at 3:00 PM EST; Understanding State Level Constituents in Arts Education, February 23, 2012 at 3:00 PM EST; Understanding School Boards' Role in Arts Education, March 22, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDT; Understanding Superintendents' Role in Arts Education, May 24, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDT; Understanding Business Partnerships for Arts Education, July 26, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDT; Understanding Principals' Role in Arts Education, September 27, 2012 at 3:00 PM EDT; Understanding Parents' Role in Arts Education, November 15, 2012 at 3:00 PM EST. For more information, contact Kristen Engebretsen, Arts Education Program Coordinator: kengebretsen@artsusa.org
1-9-12
View the AYAW Times - Issue 22 from The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
After 10 Years, It’s Time for a New NCLB. The following op-ed appeared in the January 8, 2012 edition of the Washington Post. Ten years ago today, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. The law has improved American education in some ways, but it also still … (ED.gov)
NCLB: Perspectives on the Law. In recognition of the 10th anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Week Commentary asked leaders in the K-12 community to consider the law's impact. Seventeen writers contributed brief essays. (Education Week, 1/5/12)
CCSSO to Congress, Obama: Write a Bipartisan NCLB Bill (January 5, 2012, Politics K-12 Blog)
FL: GOP candidates ignore role of arts in education. The GOP presidential hopefuls' views on education expressed in Monday's FLORIDA TODAY article were disappointing because there was no mention of the importance of the arts. Today, when programs get cut, we must maintain the arts as core if we want to ... (Florida Today)
PSA: "Art is Safer": A 30 second Public Service Announcement for Art Education and why it's a good thing. This short was created by five guys in five days for an animation challe...
View the 2012 CSUB Children's Art Institute's newsletter "For the Paint at Heart"
NY: Arts+Education: A Lesson For Us All. Last evening The Buffalo Architecture Foundation held an opening of their Arts and Education exhibit at the CEPA gallery. The opening reception took place at the Market Arcade Building (617 Main Street). After checking out another show by photographer ... (Buffalo Rising)
How Art History Majors Power the US Economy: Virginia Postrel. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, humanities majors account for about 12 percent of recent graduates, and art history majors are so rare they're lost in the noise. They account for less than 0.2 percent of working adults with ... (BusinessWeek)
New study shows architecture, arts degrees yield highest unemployment. Over a lifetime, the earnings of workers who have majored in engineering, computer science or business were as much as 50 percent higher than the earnings of those who majored in the humanities, the arts, education and psychology. ... (Washington Post)
1-6-12
Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain. Effects on students’ lives beyond academics, in areas as varied as teenage-pregnancy and adult earnings, are cited. (The New York Times)
Studies Explore How to Nurture Students' Creativity. Policymakers and educators are touting U.S. students' creativity as a world model, though researchers just now are trying to figure out how to foster that trait. (Education Week, 12/14/11)
art21 Announces Season Six of the Award-winning series,"Art in the Twenty-First Century". The Peabody Award-winning biennial television series returns to PBS in April for a sixth season, premiering nationally on PBS on Friday, April 13 at 9:00 pm (ET). The new season features artists Marina Abramovi?, Ai Weiwei, David Altmejd, El Anatsui, assume vivid astro focus, Lynda Benglis, Rackstraw Downes, Glenn Ligon, Robert Mangold, Catherine Opie, Mary Reid Kelley, Sarah Sze, and Tabaimo across four episodes. Season Six marks the tenth anniversary of "Art in the Twenty-First Century" on PBS, with 100 artists profiled to date. Visit the Art21 website to learn more about the season, episodes, and featured artists. Additional previews and resources will be added weekly leading into the broadcast premiere. TV schedules will be available on the PBS website closer to the broadcast premiere. WATCH: Full trailer for Season 6.
art21: Year-End Lists. Features: The Art21 Blog's Most-Viewed Posts of 2011; The Top 10 New Media Moments of 2011; Top 5 of 2011: Entertainers Who Moonlight as Artists; Top 10 Memes of Occupy Wall Street; Teaching with Contemporary Art | Under the Radar: Best of 2011 - Part 1, Part 2; Inspired Reading | 2011 List; Gastro-Vision | It Was a Sweet Year; and The Top Ten U.S. Online Contemporary Conservation Projects from 2011.
CA: First in a series of remarkable time painting apps for iPad released by Red Hill Studios. Red Hill Studios announces the release of the Painting with Time iPad app – the first in a series of remarkable time painting apps – that lets you explore how the world around you changes over time. "The Painting with Time app makes it fun to manipulate time," says Red Hill Studios Creative Director Bob Hone. "Your fingers literally paint with time – transforming everyday scenes into amazing time composites." Brought to you by the creators of the Exploring Time international documentary series, and the Playing with Time traveling museum exhibition, this free educational app lets you make leaves magically appear on trees and then paint on the incredible colors of Fall.
NY: Changing the world through art, a gala and art auction honoring two artists. Haunch of Venison and HiArt! presents the Third Annual Changing the World through Art, a Gala and Art auction honoring two extraordinary artists - Ahmed Alsoudani and Leonardo Drew - and involving some of the world's leading artists. Works to be auctioned include paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints by Sarah Sze, Takashi Murakami, Nick Cave, Zefrey Throwell, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Mel Kendrick, David Humphrey, Rachel Howard, Sebastiaan Bremer, Rosy Keyser, Ellen Berkenblit, Spencer Tunick, Jon Kessler, Raphael Vargas-Suarez, among a long list of others who have very generously donated to this cause. Time In is the most radical, interdisciplinary arts program for at-risk children in the world. An introduction to high art aesthetics combining opera through hands-on art with museum visits and gallery hops specializing in 20th & 21st century art, Time in brings entire classes ...
NY: Guggenheim Museum relaunches Learning Through Art website. Explore the newly relaunched website of Learning Through Art, the Guggenheim’s artist residency program that sends working artists into public classrooms throughout New York City. A rich resource for scholars, artists, and educators interested in integrating art into the classroom, the redesigned and expanded site promotes content discovery and exploration by making it easier to find teaching techniques, lesson plans, research studies, videos, and other educational tools. Visit the For Educators section to learn about LTA and the resources it offers, including teaching strategies and best practices for using art to inspire discussion and collaboration in the classroom. The section features classroom videos and Find Lessons, a searchable database of lesson plans, as well as a list of recommended books and websites.
NY: Pratt Institute Art and Design Education is hosting a ticketed event Shifts in Art Education and Urban Communities: Re/Search + Re/Connect as part of the 2012 NAEA National Convention on Thursday March 1st, 11 am - 2 pm.
IL: Dryden art teacher unites art, technology. Dryden Elementary students' artwork front-and-center on the Web. The halls of Dryden Elementary are like the walls of a mini art museum, filled with Lima bean monsters, spoofs of Rene Magritte's "The Son of Man" and a massive tile mosaic of student artwork. See also
Happy New Year 2012 from Crayola. Start the New Year off right with some creative fun for your children. Crayola.com has imaginative project ideas for New Year's, Three Kings Day, Penguin Awareness Day and Chinese New Year. Spend Martin Luther King, Jr. Day creating a meaningful art project to honor this great civil rights leader. Crayola.com is the perfect place to visit on a cold winter day. Your child can explore Crayola Story Studio®, where they can create their own storybook starring themselves or try Lights, Camera, Color!™, and more creative online play.
Art.Write.Now. Tour comes to Portland. ART.WRITE.NOW TOUR 11/12 exposes audiences nationwide to the most stunning examples of work from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. These incredible emerging artists, writers and filmmakers were selected as the "best in the country" by top professionals in the visual and literary arts. TOUR SCHEDULE: CHICAGO - November 18 - December 16, 2011;
PORTLAND - January 4 - January 27, 2012, Pacific Northwest College of Art, 1241 NW Johnson St., Portland, OR 97209; NEW ORLEANS, March 29 - April 27, 2012, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, 2800 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70117; and PHILADELPHIA, May 15 - June 23, 2012, Location TBD.
Help VSAI Teaching Artists make a difference in 2012! In 2011 VSAI gave 5,000 individuals with disabilities the chance to express themselves through art. Through inclusive experiences the participants gain a sense of pride, learn to express themselves, and work in a group. Learn more...
Best of 2011: Our Favorite Education Resources from Edutopia. Many great educators, community leaders, parents, and storytellers contributed wonderful ideas to our website this year and we wanted to highlight 11 of the most memorable moments. Happy New Year -- we'll see you in 2012!
2012 Grant Materials Now Available for The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant. Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is proud to announce the 2012 round of The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant, a source of funding for mature American painters. Grants are offered to American painters aged 45 or older who demonstrate financial need. The primary emphasis is to promote public awareness and a commitment to American art, as well as encouraging interest in artists who lack adequate recognition. Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000. This gift has positioned PAAM to, for the first time, be a grantee - an opportunity to financially assist artists on a national level. Applications are available online at www.paam.org or by calling 508.487.1750.
Challenges Await RTT Early-Learning Winners. The nine states splitting Race to the Top early-learning grants must now deliver on a slate of ambitious promises to improve the quality of early-childhood education for low-income children. (Education Week, 1/3/12)
View Electronic Issue of Art + Aesthetics 6250 A.U. Art Magazine. The Arts and Aesthetics Collective is a collaboration of creative people networking their various talents to showcase the most dynamic and innovative expressions of contemporary art and fashion. They are a husband and wife team who love finding artists and designers with a unique vision. They publish Aesthetics 6250 A.U., an art & culture magazine available online and in print. Learn more about the magazine here. View Advertisers & Sponsors Guide here.
Montessori Lessons to Jumpstart 2012. Find links to jump start your Montessori lesson planning for the new year. Many of these lessons are free! Visit http://www.amonco.org throughout 2012 to discover new Montessori lesson planning.
CA: City Seeks Artists and Art Educators, Historians. Commission oversees gallery, Arts in Public Places programs, develops network for visual, literary, performing artists. The El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission is seeking two participants, people with a commitment to the arts -- visual, performing, literary – or to art history or arts education.
WI: Student arts center proposed in closed school. When budget cuts in Milwaukee Public Schools last year eliminated the art teacher position at Fernwood Montessori School, some of the school's artistic parents took matters into their own hands. ... (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
HI: Teacher's goal is to offer arts education to all. She has taught in local classrooms, gives piano lessons and runs the HEARTS program, a Kailua-based nonprofit arts education organization that provides dance, choral and musical theater opportunities for children in grades 2 to 12. ... (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
CA: Arts education: preparing today’s students for creative thinking and evolving career opportunities. In his best-selling work entitled A Whole New Mind, writer Dan Pink explains that today's educators must change their approach to arts in education in order to effectively prepare students for life in the ... (Pomerado Newspaper Group)
VA: Art to Heart aims for $1M mark. "Proceeds from Art to Heart enable us to offer these educational programs for free. With the deep cuts in education, the museum supplements arts education, which is vital in developing critical thinking skills for students. We are deeply grateful to ... (Palladium-Item)
FL: Top stories of 2011: School arts survive cutbacks. Passion for the fine arts spurred hundreds of students, parents and teachers to rise in defense of their programs last spring, when talk of cuts swirled through Pasco County and fears rose that such electives might bear the brunt of the slashing.
MA: William Tell All: Where to go from here? Harvard 375 and arts education (10/13). Why is it, then, that our University is known primarily for its contributions to the sciences, and not the arts? I would argue that it is symptomatic of a larger problem that infects American education — a disregard for arts education.
TN: Arts infused curriculum showing results in Knox County Schools. In 2006, Mooreland Heights was one of six schools statewide that received a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission to begin the initiative. Then in 2010, the commission was awarded $1 million from the US Department of Education to expand the ... (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Careers service and literacy hit by schools funding cuts. The National Society for Education in Art & Design, which represents art teachers in the UK, said the subject was "staring into the abyss". Langdon Park school in Tower Hamlets, east London, a specialist sports college, had its sports grant cut by 80% ... (The Guardian)
NV: New performance program showcasing emerging artists at work. Patron Spirits invited a new kind of window shopping for this holiday season, which started on Nov. 15 and continuing through Dec. 31, 2011, the Patron "Simply Perfect" Art Project showcases live, working art studios and galleries that offer emerging artists the opportunity to create one-of-a-kind works of art for auction in support of four local organizations.
Bikini Lines Needs Your Help Crowdsourcing the World’s Largest Painting. BIKINI LINES is a proposed massive, mixed media installation inspired by a lack of standardized nuclear disaster reporting, in particular the panic that set in over Tokyo following the March 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and subsequent meltdown. With special permission from the Marshallese Government, our main focus is on painting the Cactus Dome. In doing so we will create the World’s Largest Painting on the historically significant & sublimely remote Runit Island (no, seriously!) while documenting the process in film, photography and writing (for the history books!). Interested in joining? Just check out our Kickstarter campaign or continue searching through this site to find out more. In the meantime, here's a simplified project walkthrough.
Art Education in Europe. In Barcelona, Davinci Escola D'Art, founded in 1974, is particularly active in the cultural life of the city. The majority of students prefer to attend high ranked universities for art education and for this matter, Facultad de Bellas Artes of Seville ... (AMA)
Submit Your Best Designs to A' Design Award & Get International Recognition. A' Design Award and Competition is looking for the best designs, design ideas, prototypes and finished products by talented designers, artists and architects to award them with the A' Design Award.
VA: OPENING RECEPTION: SHE GOT GAME, Friday, January 13, from 6 - 9 pm at the AAC : Arlington Arts Center. Next Friday, AAC kicks off SHE GOT GAME, an exhibition that features strong images of strong women created by male, female, and transgendered artists from around the region and across the country. The show opens just a few months shy of the 40th anniversary for Title IX, the historic legislation that leveled the playing field for women athletes-increasing their participation in college athletics some 450% over four decades.
Congratulations to Karen Keifer-Boyd! Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women's studies, has received her second Fulbright Faculty Scholar grant and will spend a portion of spring 2012 teaching and conducting research on Social Justice Activism through Arts-based Research as Fulbright Visiting Professor in Gender Studies in the Zentrum für Frauen-und Geschlechterstudien (ZFG) Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria. She received her first Fulbright grant in 2006. Read more...
Upcoming Events
2013 NAEA National Convention
State & Regional Conferences
2C Worth
Americans for the Arts Blog
Art Avocado: Art Advocacy for Educators
ArtEdOnline.com
Art Education 2.0
Art Ed + Web 2.0 + Technology Blog
art education's Journal
Art Room 161
art teacher's guide to the internet
ASCD Blog
association for advice and support in art and design
Brooklyn College Art Education Blog
Carrot Revolution
dan's art education blog
Dawn's Brain
incredible art department
infinite thinking machine
Links to School Bloggers
SFMOMMA ArtThink
Support Blogging
Teaching for Artistic Behavior®
The 30 Best iPhone Apps for Art Teachers - from The Teaching Palette. Since the launch of the iTunes App Store in July 2008, over 1 billion apps have been downloaded for use on the iTouch and iPhone. Currently, the App Store has 63,000 apps to choose from and it is no surprise that many of the iPhone/iTouch applications have educational value. Check out who made the cut for The Teaching Palette’s Best Apps for Art Teachers, along with some tips and suggested uses. Enjoy!
Got a Research Question? Ask A Fellow. Ask A Fellow is a project of the NAEA Distinguished Fellows intended to bring together researchers who have questions with Distinguished Fellows who have answers and can offer sound advice on research topics and projects. Art educators may submit questions about research or professional topics to the Distinguished Fellows. The question will be distributed to Distinguished Fellows for response. We expect one or two Fellows will find each question within their purview of interests, experience, and expertise. The questions should be clear and direct so they can be answered in a timely fashion. These collaborations are intended to be focused, functional, and temporary. A Distinguished Fellow will address the specific question and then exit from the discussion. "Ask A Fellow" is not intended for extended tenures, such as thesis or dissertation advisors or project collaborations.