News

Yesterday, the House Rules Committee green-lighted an amendment sponsored by Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI). His amendment would cut funding to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by $23 million each – a 15% cut to each agency. Take two minutes to take action now to call on your Member of Congress to reject this amendment. They need to hear from you about why the arts are vital to your community and our country!

Building on the first release of “What School Leaders Can Do to Increase Arts Education” in 2011, this updated guide offers three concrete actions school leaders can take to increase the arts in education in their schools.

NAEA member Daniel Bonnell publishes his interview with Milton Glaser. More than an artist and design, Milton Glaser has shown the world that he appears to also be a prophet of America’s politics, values and ethics.

Art21 has launched open registration for Screening Society, an international screening initiative that invites organizations to host free screenings of films from the upcoming season of thier award-winning series, “Art in the Twenty-First Century.” Screening Society was created to increase knowledge on contemporary art, spark dialogue, and inspire creative thinking for a global audience.

With declining U.S. student math scores, our schools would be wise to adopt a new formula that is sure to paint a prettier picture for the country’s STEM rankings. Combining math and art classes may in fact draw better math performance for American youth, starting as early as elementary school. Here are eight reasons why schools would benefit from merging math and art classes.

The U.S. Department of Education is pleased to announce the launch of the Comprehensive Center Network (CC Network) website. The CC Network website brings together a compilation of more than 700 resources developed by 23 Comprehensive Centers and over 200 projects currently underway in states across the country and makes searching by state or topic.

Vans, the original action sports brand and icon of creative expression, named Hixson High School from Hixson, Tennessee as the grand prize winner of the ninth annual Vans Custom Culture art competition. Vans and its program partners, including Journeys, Yoobi, Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD) and Americans for the Arts, awarded $75,000 towards the school’s arts education program. The remaining finalists – Fontainebleau High School, Larned High School, Middle Township High School, and Moanalua High School – will each receive $10,000 toward their arts program and a limited-edition Vans gift. 

High-school students have contributed artwork to an exhibition at the US Department of Education on the theme of “Total Tolerance.” The display includes 20 works that explore themes related to racism, gender identity and immigration.

The arts and education sectors must collaborate more deeply to ensure parents value arts subjects and encourage their children to take them, or take up will continue to decline, Global Teacher of the Year Andria Zafirakou has warned. She urged the creative industries to come into schools to discuss their work and called for society to develop strong answers to the question: ‘What is art gonna get you’?