IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, May 7, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.


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ARTS IN N.Y.C.
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ASK ABOUT THE HEALTH OF THE ARTS
New York Times, 5/5/08
“This week, through Friday, Randall Bourscheidt, the president of a nonprofit arts organization in New York that conducts research and also runs a cultural guide and calendar, will be answering readers’ questions about the economic health of the arts in the city, and what the city is doing to strengthen its commitment to the vitality of the arts.”
Submit a question>>


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COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
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PROGRAM SHINES A LIGHT OF GUIDANCE
Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/27/08
”Richardo Grimsley, a sophomore at Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School in Homewood, said he sometimes thought about writing poetry but didn't put pen to paper until a new after-school program debuted in October. So far, he has written 20 poems, including ‘Fantasy,’ about his childhood dreams, and ‘Get Up,’ about his struggles with adversity. He's also refurbishing a bicycle through the program. Called the Lighthouse Project, the program represents the Pittsburgh public schools' first efforts to create ‘community’ or ‘full-service’ schools that go beyond education to focus on students' health and welfare. Many community schools serve adults, too. They often stay open well into the evening, providing a range of social services to lift individuals, mend families and revitalize neighborhoods.”
Read more>>


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KEEPING AN AGILE MIND
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CAN YOU BECOME A CREATURE OF NEW HABITS?
Janet Rae-Dupree, New York Times, 5/4/08
”[I]t seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.”
Read more>>


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ARTS, POLITICS, AND SCHOOLS
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DRAWING LESSONS
Ann Hulbert, New York Times, 4/27/08
”[L]ately Barack Obama has gotten on the arts-education bandwagon. In a speech this month, he riffed a little stiffly about the good old days, before No Child Left Behind, when all schools made time for the arts: ‘People understood, even though they hadn’t done the scientific research back then we have done now, that children who learn music actually do better in math, children whose imaginations are sparked by the arts are more engaged in school.’ . . . As Obama’s appeal to the achievement-boosting effects of the arts only goes to show, it’s hard to buck the narrow No Child Left Behind ethos he laments. If the arts can be celebrated as catalysts for improved performance in other subjects — the subjects that are tested and therefore respected — the hope is they won’t get treated as expendable frills. So advocates celebrate the arts’ score-enhancing influence across the school spectrum. Huckabee often invoked higher SATs as a reason to teach the arts. Obama cites sober social-science research on the poor city neighborhoods he knows best. ‘Studies in Chicago have demonstrated,’ his arts statement reads, ‘that test scores improved faster for students enrolled in low-income schools that link arts across the curriculum than scores for students in schools lacking such programs.’ There’s just one problem with this ostensibly hardheaded defense of arts education. The studies invoked as proof that involvement in band — or dance or sculpture — spurs higher academic performance actually show nothing of the sort. To the consternation of arts proponents wedded to this way of arguing, the instrumental logic has been challenged by a team of investigators affiliated with Harvard’s Project Zero, an education research group with a focus on the arts.”
Read more>>


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CONNECTIONS
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CABDRIVER THANKED FOR RETURNING A STRADIVARIUS
Richard G. Jones, New York Times, 5/7/08
”On April 21, [Philippe] Quint accidentally left a Stradivarius violin, valued at $4 million, in the back seat of a cab that he took from the airport to Manhattan on his return from a performance in Dallas. After several frantic hours, the Newark police told him the violin had been found and was at the airport taxi stand with the cabdriver who had taken him home. The two connected, and the violin was returned … The city of Newark awarded Mr. Khalil, who has driven a taxi here since 1985, a Medallion, its highest honor. Mr. Quint gave him a $100 tip when the violin was returned, but he wanted to do more, so he arranged for Tuesday’s concert in a parking-lot-turned-theater [at the Newark Liberty International Airport].”
Read more>>


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A BLOG TO WATCH
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EYE LEVEL
Smithsonian American Art Museum
”Using the museum’s collection as a touchstone, the conversation at Eye Level will be dedicated to American art and the ways in which the nation’s art reflects its history and culture. The discussion will extend beyond the walls of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection to include other collections, exhibitions, and events. Eye Level will also document the extraordinary collaboration between curators, conservators, handlers, historians, enthusiasts, critics, exhibition and new media designers, and of course bloggers that has motivated the past and present of American art history.”
Read it>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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GRANTS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Mr. Holland’s Opus Award
Maximum Award: $500 - $8.000
Deadline: 8/1/08
The Melody and Special Projects Programs of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation provide financial support for musical instruments for daytime or after-school music programs.
Learn more>>


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