IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for July 11, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday morning to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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HOW HAS THE IEA NEWSLETTER HELPED YOU?
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Have you received a grant, gotten a job, changed your organization, or bettered your practice as a result of something you have seen in the IEA newsletter? Email the listserv editor at font [at] umich [dot] edu to share your story in an upcoming newsletter.

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REPORTS
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COMPARATIVE DATA FROM ARTS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY
Americans for the Arts; posted to BusinessWire
“At a press conference at the Chicago Cultural Center, Americans for the Arts announced today the local and comparative results from its Arts & Economic Prosperity III, the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States. Data from 156 communities and regions, representing all 50 states, reveals that the nonprofit arts industry generates over one billion dollars of organization and audience expenditures in Chicago, the Greater Philadelphia area, San Francisco, and the Greater Washington, DC area. (The two largest U.S. cities, New York and Los Angeles, each with more than $1 billion in organizational expenditures, were excluded from this study to avoid inflating the national estimates.) Twenty-five regions participated in this study and the previous study five years ago. Comparative data from these communities show an average increase of: 58 percent in organization expenditures, 50 percent increase in audience expenditures, and 50 percent in overall economic activity. Four regions: Mesa, AZ, Miami-Dade, FL, Boise, ID, and Newark, NJ, had increases of over 100 percent in economic activity since the last study.”
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THE ARTS AS CORE CURRICULUM
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ARTS SKILLS ARE LIFE SKILLS
Jonathan Rappaport, Boston Globe Op-Ed, 6/12/07
“Recently, the Massachusetts Department of Education set about the important task of creating a recommended curriculum to increase student readiness for college work. The department should be commended for focusing on this important project, known as MassCore, but it is disturbing that the recommended core curriculum contains no arts component. There is much to like about MassCore. It adds rigor to many subjects and wisely includes foreign languages in the core curriculum. But it fails to recognize that areas such as dance, music, theater, and visual arts are far more than just add-ons to the school curriculum. The arts were part of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act's Common Core of Learning and it is well documented that they develop cognitive ability, analytical reasoning, and higher-order thinking skills, creativity, focus, and presentation skills.”
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IMPROVING LITERACY THROUGH ART
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PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS RECEIVE GRANT TO IMPROVE LITERACY WITH ART
Patricia Hawke, Literacy News , 6/10/2007
”The Philadelphia Schools and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP) established a good working history in 2006 with the successful "Artist in Residence Program." Through this initiative the Philadelphia Schools' Office of Creative and Performing Arts teamed with PAEP to place working artists in ten-day residencies in schools without art or music specialists. Artists and teachers worked together to integrate literacy and arts instruction for over 14,000 students in selected Philadelphia Schools. While the project participants claim success, a full report of the model will be available at the end of 2007. Apparently, the Department of Education has confidence in program. Philadelphia Schools will continue this successful model with a grant from the Department of Education to fund Art Bridges over the next four years. Art Bridges will provide 5 schools with onsite artists who will instruct students and collaborate with classroom teachers towards the goal of achieving state and local literacy goals.”
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LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS
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SCHOOLS TEACH THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Jerry Wofford, The Oklahoman, 6/8/07
“Susan Brewer’s third-grade class at Linwood Elementary School reads a story about a country, and then she takes her class there. ‘In my room when we read that story, we actually go visit that country in our social studies time and we learn stuff about the culture and the geography,” she said. This method of combining subjects and experiences is at the center of the Oklahoma A+ Schools program. The program, which began in Oklahoma in 2002, is adopted by schools as a ‘revolutionary’ way to teach state-required curriculum.”
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NEW BOOK
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HEALING THE INNER CITY CHILD: CREATIVE ARTS THERAPIES WITH AT-RISK YOUTH
Edited by Vanessa A. Camilleri, 320 pp, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2007, $39.95
ISBN: 9781843108245
“Healing the Inner City Child presents a diverse collection of creative arts therapies approaches to meeting the specific mental health needs of inner city children, who are disproportionately likely to experience violence, crime and family pressures and are at risk of depression and behavioral disorders as a result. The contributors draw on their professional experience in school and community settings to describe a wide variety of suitable therapeutic interventions, including music, play and art therapy as well as psychodrama and dance/movement approaches, that enable children to deal with experiences of trauma, loss, abuse, and other risk factors that may affect their ability to reach their full academic and personal potentials. The contributors examine current research and psychoeducational trends and build a compelling case for the use of creative arts therapies with inner city populations. This book offers a comprehensive overview of arts-based interventions for anyone working to improve the lives of children growing up in inner city areas.”
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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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METLIFE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXCELLENCE AWARD
Deadline: August 31, 2007
This award “celebrates and highlights the contributions of community colleges to helping underserved youth and adults succeed and advance in college and career. The award recognizes community colleges that, in different ways and in very different communities, make significant institutional commitments to helping first-time college-goers, new immigrants, working adults, welfare recipients, high school dropouts, and other populations with limited college experience and success prepare for further education or for a family-supporting career.” The maximum award is $30,000.
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HEALTHY SPROUTS AWARDS FOR GARDENING PROGRAMS
National Gardening Association (NGA) and Gardener’s Supply
Deadline: October 15, 2007
“As a way to encourage the growth of health-focused youth gardens, NGA recognizes outstanding programs via the Healthy Sprouts Awards, sponsored by Gardener’s Supply. These awards support school and youth garden programs that teach about nutrition and the issue of hunger in the United States.” Maximum award: $500 gift certificate to Gardener’s Supply.
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