IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, May 28, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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THE RENAISSANCE GENERATION
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HOW TO REACH AND ENGAGE THE RENAISSANCE GENERATION
Shannon Buggs, Houston Chronicle, 5/9/08
Patricia Martin, “a cultural marketing consultant based in Chicago, is documenting a ‘cultural metamorphosis’ that is part of ‘the disruption that occurs when the dominant civilization loses its relevance and another rises to replace it.’ And what comes next is the renaissance generation, RenGen for short, an era dominated by people who are "smart, self-expressive, idealistic and cynical all at once," she predicts. Martin writes about the phenomenon in her book RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business.
Read more>>


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EDUCATION FOR NATIVE AMERICANS
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GUITAR HEROES
Associated Press in Teacher Magazine, 5/21/08
” More than two dozen educators are learning to play acoustic guitar as part of a unique program to bring music into the classrooms. Sally Greywolf, whose husband teaches in the area [of Crownpoint, New Mexico], was wondering how to get more music in school when she came across a magazine article about the Guitars in the Classroom program. She contacted the organization on the slim chance that such a program could be started in Crownpoint on the Navajo Nation. To her surprise, she spoke to the director, who had spent time in the reservation town of Chinle, Ariz., and was willing to work with Greywolf. Greywolf found an instructor and a place to meet, while the program supplied the guitars and provided a small stipend to pay the instructor.”
Read more (requires free registration)>>

ON THE RESERVATION AND OFF, SCHOOLS SEE A CHANGING TIDE
Kirk Johnson, New York Times, 5/25/08
”Many [Crow] families … are deciding that off-reservation public schools … are a better choice than schools on the reservation. Hardin High School, 55 percent white in 2000, is now 70 percent American Indian. On the reservation, at Lodge Grass High School, more than a third of the student enrollment in 2000 has melted away. The stigma that was once attached to sending a child off the reservation — the legacy of forced boarding-school programs in the early 1900s that tried to strip Indians of their culture and language in the name of assimilation — has faded as elders who remember the old days die off … Home games for the Hardin Bulldogs football team — majority Indian this season for the first time — now begin with traditional Indian drumming, and the Crow language is studied alongside French and Spanish … Indian pottery-making is so well established in the art department that schools from other parts of the state now come to learn.”
Read more>>


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CREATIVE WORK CONFERENCE RECAP
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CREATIVE LEARNING, CREATIVE WORK:
PREPARING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR NYC’S CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
”In 2007 CAE hosted Creative Learning, Creative Work: Preparing Young People for NYC’s Creative Industries at the Hearst Corporation. The conference, which brought together business leaders with New York City public school educators, focused on the role of arts education in connecting the worlds of learning and work in NYC.”
Read the summary or download podcasts>>


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HEALING POWER OF MUSIC
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A MUSICIAN WHO PERFORMS WITH A SCALPEL
David Dobbs, New York Times, 5/20/08
”For Claudius Conrad, a 30-year-old surgeon who has played the piano seriously since he was 5, music and medicine are entwined — from the academic realm down to the level of the fine-fingered dexterity required at the piano bench and the operating table … Dr. Conrad, a third-year surgical resident at Harvard Medical School who also holds doctorates in stem cell biology and music philosophy, recently published a provocative paper suggesting that music may exert healing and sedative effects partly through a paradoxical stimulation of a growth hormone generally associated with stress rather than healing. This jump in growth hormone, said Dr. John Morley, an endocrinologist at St. Louis University Medical Center who was not involved with the study, ‘is not what you’d expect, and it’s not precisely clear what it means.’ But he said it raised ‘some wonderful new possibilities about the physiology of healing,’ and added: ‘And of course it has a nice sort of metaphorical ring. We used to talk about the neuroendocrine system being a sort of neuronal orchestra conductor directing the immune system. Here we have music stimulating this conductor to get the healing process started.’”
Read more>>


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DEVELOPING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OLDER ADULTS TO CONTRIBUTE
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12 CHICAGO-AREA CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AWARDED GRANTS TO ‘JUMPSTART THE CONVERSATION’
PR Newswire, 5/6/08
”Twelve organizations in the Chicago metro area have been awarded ‘JumpStart the Conversation’ grants for projects designed to provide opportunities for older adults to contribute to the cultural life of their communities. The grants were introduced after a recent workshop at the Chicago Cultural Center, Engaging Older Adults Through Arts and Culture: Developing a Livable Chicago for All Ages. The workshop was the fifth of six regional workshops focused on creating livable communities for all ages. The workshops and grants are part of a national Aging in Place Initiative undertaken by Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), with funding provided by MetLife Foundation. The workshop was hosted by the City of Chicago, Chicago Department of Senior Services, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Arts and Business Council, Chicago Life Opportunities Initiative, and The Center for Creative Aging at Harold Washington College.”
Learn more>>


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NEW BOOK
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ARTS, INC: HOW GREED AND NEGLECT HAVE DESTROYED OUR CULTURAL RIGHTS
Bill Ivey, University of California Press, 2008
“In this impassioned and persuasive book, Bill Ivey, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, assesses the current state of the arts in America and finds cause for alarm. Even as he celebrates our ever-emerging culture and the way it enriches our lives here at home while spreading the dream of democracy around the world, he points to a looming crisis. The expanding footprint of copyright, an unconstrained arts industry marketplace, and a government unwilling to engage culture as a serious arena for public policy have come together to undermine art, artistry, and cultural heritage—the expressive life of America. In eight succinct chapters, Ivey blends personal and professional memoir, policy analysis, and deeply held convictions to explore and define a coordinated vision for art, culture, and expression in American life.”
Learn more>>>


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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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GRANTS FOR EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND MEDICINE/HEALTH
RGK Foundation
Maximum Awards: usually under $25,000
Deadline for Letter of Inquiry: N/A
”RGK Foundation awards grants in the broad areas of Education, Community, and Medicine/Health. The Foundation's primary interests within Education include programs that focus on formal K-12 education (particularly mathematics, science and reading), teacher development, literacy, and higher education.”
Learn more>>

GRANTS FOR INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation
Maximum Award: See Web site for past grant awards
Deadline for concept papers: 6/1/08 **Coming Soon ***
”Through its National Grant program, MEAF provides funding to nonprofit organizations that are working toward the full inclusion of young people with disabilities in society. Proposed projects should be national in scope and impact or model projects that can be replicated at multiple sites.”
Learn more>>

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