IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for June 20, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday morning to the IEA listserv and is archived here on the IEA blog.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
REPORTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WORTH THEIR WEIGHT:
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EVOLVING FIELD OF LIBRARY VALUATION
Americans for Libraries Council, 5/5/07
“ALC is proud to present several new materials to help library advocates capture the value of their library in terms that will make sense to elected officials, business leaders, voters, and others with power over library budgets. All are part of our “Building Knowledge for Library Advocacy” project, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…. ALC's newest report offers researchers and advocates an overview of the cutting-edge field of library valuation, or models for expressing a library's multiple contributions to its community in dollars and cents. Read more about our assessment of this cutting-edge field, and see whether library valuation makes sense in your community.
Read more and learn about the 6/25 library valuation conversation at ALA’s Annual Conference: http://www.actforlibraries.org/alcreports.php

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AN ARTISTIC VISION OF INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ART WORK FOR SALE
National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt)
”Our National Art Contest received so many wonderful works that we’ve decided to share them with you. Now you can purchase posters, note cards, and calendars that show the vision of these artists. Proceeds from these purchases will be used to fund students participation in future events … The purpose of the contest was to capture the vision of artists about what schools would look like when they value and respond to the backgrounds, experiences, and heritage of ALL students and invest in educating students for critical citizenship and engagement with democracy’s practices.”
Learn more or download an order form: http://www.nccrest.org/publications/art_products.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT THROUGH THE ARTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A STRUGGLING SCHOOL FINDS ROOM FOR HOPE
Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, Christian Science Monitor, 5/31/07
“Paul Sproll tells future art teachers that "learning is often about the quality of the invitation." And if any place needed to give students a more enticing invitation, it was Hope High School. It's just a 10-minute walk from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where Professor Sproll heads the Art and Design Education department. The towering brick high school is still trying to shake the moniker "Hopeless" after years of poor performance. Now it's in the early stages of what observers say is a dramatic turnaround, and its college neighbors are key partners. The relationship between RISD and the Hope Arts Community (one of three smaller schools formed inside Hope under a state mandate in 2003) is one example of the commitment it takes for "community partnership" to mean more than just decorative trim. … Little by little, Hope students are partaking of the feast of opportunity now before them. School attendance, test scores, and participation in after-school programs are going up. Art students are winning competitions and college scholarships … ‘We actually aligned our schoolwide expectations and goals to a vision of a high-performing arts school,’ says Hope High School Arts Community Principal Scott Sutherland. He came on board in 2005, when three new principals were assigned to Hope because the state hadn't seen sufficient progress. He was only too happy to agree when Sproll offered to use his sabbatical year to help at the school. Devoting about 20 hours a week, Sproll met with teachers to design a visual arts curriculum aligned with national standards. This year it's being implemented, with each teacher creating unique lessons around common, quarterly themes – ranging from ‘growth’ and ‘identity’ in ninth grade to ‘power’ and ‘spirituality’ in 12th.”
Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p13s01-legn.htm

STUDENTS TOUR CHINA FROM WILLARDS:
FOR ITS LESSONS IN ARTS AND CULTURE, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECEIVES RECOGNITION
By Tracy Sahler, Special to the Daily Times, Salisbury, MD, 6/12/07
“Students in grades prekindergarten through second grade at Willards Elementary School used their creativity and imagination to travel all the way from Willards to China during the 2006-07 school year … Despite the fact that Willards, a Title I school, has limited resources, it invests heavily in the arts. The Willards Integration Network provides teachers with ongoing support to use the arts in the classroom. Willards' approach has resulted in significant improvements in student reading, writing and mathematics skills. During the past few months, students listened to Chinese storyteller Linda Fang as an artist-in-residence, participated in a Chinese tea ceremony, created Chinese paper lanterns, developed a dance to Chinese music, practiced the correct form of martial arts, learned about making stage masks, watched a Chinese opera performance and participated in building a giant kite arch. Students explored calligraphy, paper cutting and folding, and telling stories of their own.”
Read more: http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706120349

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THEATRE IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

CANCELED SCHOOL PLAY ABOUT IRAQ BRINGS OUT REAL DRAMA:
CONNECTICUT STUDENTS FIND THEMSELVES IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT WHEN THEIR PRINCIPAL SHUTS DOWN THEIR PLAY
Harry Bruinius, Christian Science Monitor, 6/12/07
”Stone-faced and grim, six boys from Wilton High School are marching in formation, stomping out the ominous rhythm of foot soldiers, and saluting from their chests … It's a defiant rap, first written by U.S. Marines in Kuwait to taunt those who protested the first Gulf War, and now incorporated into a spring play, ‘Voices in Conflict,’ a dramatic series of monologues taken from interviews and letters from real soldiers in combat … But the rap scene has a deeper meaning for the Connecticut students, eight boys and eight girls, members of an advanced drama class who have found themselves in a bewildering maelstrom of wartime controversy. What should have been a simple hour-long spring play … has become a media-driven touchstone, not only of the rife divisions in the country but of the free-speech rights – and intellectual abilities – of high school students as they explore the complexities and horrors of war. In March, the principal of Wilton High, Timothy Canty, canceled the production of the play after one student – the student who contributed the antiprotest rap, in fact – and her mother complained that the script was unbalanced and disrespectful to those in Iraq … The cancellation, however, only served to draw the attention of national media, prominent playwrights, and a host of others concerned that a student play would be censored for critiquing the war in Iraq. The controversy has assured it a larger, broader audience than the school stage would have: A number of professional theater companies are hosting the student production, including The Public Theater in Manhattan (June 15), one of the more renowned venues in New York.”
Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0612/p20s01-woam.html?page=1

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MUSEUM CONSERVATION
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES (IMLS) AWARDS ALMOST $5 MILLION FOR CRITICAL CONSERVATION AT NATION’S MUSEUMS
Washington, DC, 4/30/07
“Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Ph.D., Director of the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), announced the 65 museum recipients of the 2007 Conservation Project Support (CPS) grants totaling $4.9 million. The grant program, which began in 1984, helps museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of its collections. Today, Heritage Preservation also announced participants of their IMLS-supported Conservation Assessment Program (http://www.heritagepreservation.org/CAP). ‘The Conservation Project Support awards help museums develop comprehensive strategies for the care of their collections, safeguarding pieces of our nation’s story, now and for future generations,’ Radice said. A 2005 report conducted by IMLS and Heritage Preservation found that immediate action is needed to prevent the loss of millions of irreplaceable artifacts held by archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and scientific organizations.”
Learn more: http://www.imls.gov/news/2007/043007b.shtm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
JAZZ EDUCATION ONLINE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NEA JAZZ IN THE SCHOOLS WEB SITE
National Endowment for the Arts / Jazz at Lincoln Center
“NEA Jazz in the Schools” is a Web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit that explores jazz as an indigenous art form and as a means to understand American history.” Resources include listening samples, an interactive timeline, lessons, and biographies of major jazz artists.
Learn more: http://www.neajazzintheschools.org/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE BIG READ
Institute of Museum and Library Services and
National Endowment for the Arts
Deadline: 5/31/07
"The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), announces the third deadline for the Big Read program. The purpose of the Big Read is to revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture. Grants ranging from $5,000 - $20,000 are available to encourage local communities to inspire literary reading through the Big Read program. Organizations selected to participate in the Big Read will receive a grant, financial support to attend a national orientation meeting, educational and promotional materials for broad distribution, an organizer’s guide for developing and managing Big Read activities, inclusion of the organization and its activities on the Big Read Web site, and the prestige of participating in a highly visible national initiative. Approximately 120 organizations of varying sizes across the country will be selected in this cycle.”
Learn more: http://www.imls.gov/news/2007/043007b.shtm

- ### -