Institute for Education and the Arts

IEA Special Announcement for Wednesday, September 3, 2008

2008-09-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I am writing to share with you some news about the Institute, and to ask for your thoughts and suggestions. As you may recall, since our establishment in 2001 IEA has legally been the education program ofthe National Music Center and Museum Foundation, which has been our fiscal agent and 501(c)3. The National Music Center board recently decided to close that foundation, effective August 31, 2008.

So that we can stay in business, the Institute has been legally transferred to become a Sponsored Program Fund of the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region, which will allow us tocontinue in a non-profit status as we plan for the future. Our website will remain the same – http://www.edartsinstitute.org/ – and I can still be reached at rfstowe@edartsinstitute.org . The Community Foundation will be our fiscal agent; its website is http://www.cfnr.org/; and it is based inWashington, DC.

As we review our plans, one immediate question is whether our research and information messages are providing a significant benefit, and to how many of you. To help us decide on next steps, would you be willing to answer a few brief questions at this survey?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=XYylx27TdMG3qVBFJOwLZg_3d_3d

Alternatively, you can reply to this email and answer these questions:
1) Do you read the newsletter?
2) Do you want them to continue?
3) With what frequency? And
4) If a modest charge were essential for us to continue thenewsletter, what would you consider a reasonable subscription fee?

We very much appreciate the commitment and energy that so many of you bring to the cause of helping all children and students learn better,both through and about the arts, and we are gratified by your continuing interest in the work of the Institute.

With best regards,

Ron Stowe
President, Institute for Education and the Arts

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Institute for Education and the Arts
1156 15th St. NW, Suite 600Washington, DC 20005
(202) 223 - 9721
http://www.edartsinstitute.org/
ieanewsletter@gmail.com

IEA Newsletter for Wednewsday, August 27, 2008

2008-08-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, August 27, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived on the IEA blog at http://edartsinstitute.blogspot.com .

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WANT KIDS TO UNDERSTAND? SPEAK SLOWLY.
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SLOWING SPEECH EASES CHILD’S ABILITY TO LEARN
Suzanne Perez Tobias, Wichita Eagle, 8/22/08
“Toddlers can be a tough audience lively, distracted, always on the move - but Amy Hockenberry knows how to grab them. ‘Let's get in a circle,’ she tells her class at Wichita State University's Child Development Center. ‘We're going to sing some songs.’ Hockenberry speaks slowly and clearly. The children watch her intently, then meld into a cluster for music time. Wichita State audiology professor Ray Hull would say the children heard something unusual and irresistible: an adult they can understand. Because the trick to get children to listen to really hear and comprehend, whether they're toddlers or high school students isn't speaking up, Hull says. It's slowing down.”
Read more>>

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FUNDING FOR EXTRACURRICULAR ARTS
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BEYOND SPORTS, ACTIVITY FEES TOO
Kathleen Conti, Boston Globe, 8/24/08
“A combination of expense increases and less state aid has forced area school district administrators to impose fees. For several districts, the trend started with athletics. Now, many charge for everything from drama club to parking. In most districts, students who meet a low-income classification don't have to pay a fee, or are eligible for a reduced fee. Administrators said that for the most part, waivers or discounts are available, on a case-by-case basis, to anyone who can prove a financial hardship.”
Read more>>

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THE WHOLE CHILD
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HORSESHOES AND HAND GRENADES
ASCD, 8/21/08
“Whole child education isn't easy. Sometimes even with all the right intentions we fall short of the mark. Like when we fund athletic programs by selling candy. Or when we mandate community service instead of engaging students in real service learning. Or when we extend the school day with drill and kill "tutoring" instead of enrichment, project-based learning, or a host of other activities that have a direct positive impact on achievement.”
Read more>>

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ACCESS TO PRE-KINDERGARTEN PROGRAMS
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A PROMISE OF PRE-K FOR ALL IS STILL FAR OFF IN NEW YORK
Winnie Hu, New York Times, 8/23/08
The not-so-universal state of pre-kindergarten has frustrated many parents and children’s advocates, who cite studies showing that access to early education classes can be critical in smoothing out socioeconomic differences in vocabulary and development and in preparing children for the demands of schoolwork.
Read more>>

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READING AND WRITING
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WRITING TO LEARN
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, Education Week, 8/27/08
“The workshops sponsored by the Bay Area chapter of the National Writing Project have drawn a steady and loyal following over more than three decades among teachers seeking to refine their own skills, reflect on their practice, and learn strategies for teaching their young scribes. But at a time when the demands of high-stakes testing have led to a curriculum dominated by reading and mathematics instruction, discussion in the seminars these days is more likely to turn to the practical challenges of fitting writing into the school day, and how to show that it makes a difference in student achievement. After years of fending off critics and proposed budget cuts, the long-standing national program is moving beyond the notion of writing as an art form to promoting writing as a learning tool. And officials are collecting data they say will prove the program’s benefits to teachers and students.
Read more>>

WE’RE TEACHING BOOKS THAT DON’T ADD UP
Nancy Schnog, Washington Post, 8/24/08
“[A]s school starts up again, it's time to acknowledge that the lure of visual media isn't the only thing pushing our kids away from the page and toward the screen. We've shied away from discussing a most unfortunate culprit in the saga of diminishing teen reading: the high-school English classroom. As much as I hate to admit it, all too often it's English teachers like me -- as able and well-intentioned as we may be -- who close down teen interest in reading.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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METLIFE FOUNDATION CREATIVE AGING PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools for the Arts
Deadline: September 26, 2008
Maximum Award: $7500
This pilot program will provide in-depth technical assistance and seed grants of $7,500 to eight National Guild members to enable them to design, implement and evaluate sustainable creative aging programs (participatory, skill-based arts education programs for adults age 60 and above) using best practices detailed in the Guild's latest publication, Creativity Matters: The Arts and Aging Toolkit. Technical assistance will focus on capacity-building with particular attention to outcome-based evaluation measuring changes in the health of participants.
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, August 20, 2008

2008-08-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, August 20, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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STARTING KINDERGARTEN LATER GIVES STUDENTS ONLY A FLEETING EDGE
ScienceDaily, 8/18/08
“New research challenges a growing trend toward holding kids out of kindergarten until they’re older, arguing that academic advantages are short-lived and come at the expense of delaying entry into the workforce and other costs. The findings show older kindergartners fare better academically largely because they learn more before starting school, not because age improves aptitude, said Darren Lubotsky, a University of Illinois economics professor who co-wrote the study.”
Read more>>

INSTANT MESSAGING FOUND TO SLOW STUDENTS’ READING
Debra Viadero, Education Week, 8/15/08
“Students who send and receive instant messages while completing a reading assignment take longer to get through their texts but apparently still manage to understand what they’re reading, according to one of the first studies to explore how the practice affects academic learning. ‘Students who are managing busy lives may think they are accomplishing more by multitasking, but they will actually need more time to achieve the same level of performance on an academic task,’ said Laura L. Bowman, a psychology professor at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.”
Read more>>

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MUSIC EDUCATION
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TEACHER’S HELPER FILLS GAPS IN MUSIC INSTRUCTORS’ DEVELOPMENT
Jonathan Devin, (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, 8/18/08
“When Dr. Deanna Stark taught elementary school music for Memphis City Schools, she found herself, like many teachers, struggling for classroom resources and creative freedom … Last September, Stark created her own business, Sister Squared, filling in the gaps in music teachers’ professional development and resources using Orff Schulwek, a methodology for teaching music adopted by Memphis City Schools’ elementary curriculum to enhance the learning experience for teachers and students alike.”
Read more>>

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SCHOOL FUNDING
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COULD BUMPY ECONOMY LEAD TO SLUMPING EDUCATION?
Libby Quaid, Associated Press/USA Today, 8/18/08
“Harder times and higher fuel prices are following kids back to school this fall. Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks, even wear last year's clothes. Field trips? Forget about it. This year, it could cost nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. If you think it's expensive to fill up a sport-utility vehicle, try topping off a tank that is two or even three times as big. At the same time, bills are mounting for air conditioning and heating, for cafeteria food and for classroom supplies, all because of the shaky economy. And parents have their own tanks to fill. The extra costs present a tricky math problem: Where can schools subtract to keep costs under control?”
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EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
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AT SCHOOL, TECHNOLOGY STARTS TO TURN A CORNER
Steve Lohr, New York Times essay, 8/7/08
“[T]he time may have come to reconsider how large a role technology can play in changing education. There are promising examples, both in the United States and abroad … In the classroom, the emphasis can shift to project-based learning, a real break with the textbook-and-lecture model of education. In a high school class, a project might begin with a hypothetical letter from the White House that says oil prices are spiking, the economy is faltering and the president’s poll numbers are falling. The assignment would be to devise a new energy policy in two weeks. The shared Web space for the project, for example, would include the White House letter, the sources the students must consult, their work plan and timetable, assignments for each student, the assessment criteria for their grades and, eventually, the paper the team delivers. Oral presentations would be required.”
Read more>>

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ARTS IN SCHOOLS
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KIDS ARE THE STARS OF THIS SUMMER SHOW
A TWIST ON THE CLASSIC 'SNOW WHITE' IS A PLEA TO KEEP THEATER IN SCHOOLS
Paul Nyhan, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/8/08
“[I]n an era of widespread standardized testing and tight budgets, formal theater and arts programs are harder to find in schools. Nearly three-quarters of Washington public schools didn't offer all students weekly theater classes, according to a 2005 report by the Washington State Arts Commission. Some worry there isn't nearly enough art education, particularly at schools that serve lower-income families. ‘A lot of schools obviously are choosing to let go of art, or in some cases, in elementary schools, recess,’ said Tina LaPadula, education director at Arts Corps, a nonprofit that runs independent arts programs in Seattle schools. ‘I feel right now there is not a lot of equity between who has access to that well-rounded education.’ Change may be coming. Seattle Public Schools is conducting an audit to identify any gaps in arts offerings – part of a broader, five-year arts partnership with the city. It plans to begin making changes tied to its report in the 2009-10 school year.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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TE@CH AWARDS
Best Buy
Deadline: 10/12/08
Maximum Award: $5,000
“The Best Buy Teach Award program recognizes creative uses of interactive technology in K-12 classrooms. Winning programs focus on kids using technology to learn standards-based curriculum, rather than on teaching students to use technology or educators using technology that children aren't able to use hands-on. The purpose of the Best Buy Teach Award program is to reward schools for the successful interactive programs they have launched using available technology. Please do not be discouraged from applying if your school does not have the most current equipment.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, August 13, 2008 our 200th blog post!

2008-08-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, August 13, 2008 and our 200th blog post! The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog .

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REPORTS
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STUDY: ARTS EDUCATION IN DECLINE
LOCAL SCHOOLS BUCK TREND THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
Charles Menchaca, Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald, 8/13/08
A new report that suggests fewer students are learning about the arts has local school administrators grateful for community partnerships. The report, released by Arts Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, shows there has been a 5 percent decline in overall student participation in arts classes among state students in grades 6 to 12 during the past four years.In addition, the report noted that most students do not have opportunities to participate in or learn about dance and theater.
Read the article>>
Read the report>>

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UNCOVERING A SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE
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EARLY LONDON THEATER DISCOVERED
Julie Bloom, New York Times, 8/7/08
“Archaeologists in London have unearthed the remains of what is believed to be one of the earliest playhouses in the city and the second to present a Shakespeare play, Agence France-Presse has reported. The open-air theater in Shoreditch, in East London, was once known as the Theater and was where Shakespeare appeared as an actor with the troupe Lord Chamberlain’s Men.”
Read more>>

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WHO TEACHES THOSE IN GREATEST NEED?
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EXPERIENCED TEACHERS NOT IN NEEDIEST SCHOOLS, REPORT SHOWS
Kate Alexander, Austin American-Statesman, 8/5/08
“Teachers at Texas schools serving largely minority and low-income students tend to have less experience and less expertise than their counterparts at wealthier, low-minority schools, according to a study released Monday. ‘The students most in need of the most qualified teachers are the least likely to be taught by them,’ the Association of Texas Professional Educators said in the study.”
Read more>>

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EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
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VOTERS WOULD BE WISE TO TARGET SKILLS GAP
David Brooks, opinion piece, Dallas Morning News, 8/2/08
“America's educational progress was amazingly steady [earlier in the 20th century], and the U.S. opened up a gigantic global lead … But the happy era ended around 1970 when America's educational progress slowed to a crawl. … America's lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment. This threatens the country's long-term prospects. It also widens the gap between rich and poor. Ms. Goldin and Mr. Katz describe a race between technology and education. The pace of technological change has been surprisingly steady. In periods when educational progress outpaces this change, inequality narrows. The market is flooded with skilled workers and so their wages rise modestly. In periods like the current one, when educational progress lags behind technological change, inequality widens. The relatively few skilled workers command higher prices, while the many unskilled ones have little bargaining power.”
Read more>>

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IMPROVING INSTRUCTION
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EDUCATORS PEER OVER STUDENTS’ SHOULDERS AT MICH. MATH LAB
Sean Cavanaugh, Education Week, 8/13/08
“Hunched over tables, peering over one another’s shoulders, a group of 5th graders is attempting to conquer some of the most difficult—and essential—material in elementary school math. They are not alone. On one side of their classroom, about 30 adults are sitting on risers, watching the students closely. They jot down notes. They listen to the students’ comments and questions, broadcast to them over a sound system. And when the students leave the room for a break, the adult observers move in to peruse the answers the children have scrawled in their notebooks. This unconventional classroom arrangement is part of the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory, a forum held here over a two-week period this summer at the University of Michigan’s school of education. The lab, now in its second year on this campus, brings together teachers, college students preparing for the teaching field, and academic researchers from across the country to observe and discuss the challenges elementary educators face in trying to help students struggling in math.”
Read more>>

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ACCESS TO THE ARTS FOR KIDS
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$12 MILLION DONATION TO THE U. WILL BOOST ART OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN
Brian Maffly, Salt Lake Tribune, 8/11/08
”For the past few weeks, Beverley Sorenson's mind has been on Maria Menchaca, the 7-year-old Salt Lake City girl killed in a shoot-out allegedly among teen-age gangsters. Sorenson, an arts philanthropist who unveiled a blockbuster gift to the University of Utah on Monday, was pondering the toll on school children stemming from the disappearance of arts education in elementary schools, according to her son Jim Sorenson. Can the arts channel the energy of at-risk children into more productive and fulfilling paths? … [T]he Sorensons believe that the arts help. Thanks to the family's support of a new ground-breaking interdisciplinary arts program at the U., Utah school kids will have more access to music, dance and visual arts than they've had in recent years.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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NATIONAL SCHOOLS OF CHARACTER
Character Education Partnership
Deadline: 12/8/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
Every year, the Character Education Partnership (CEP) names approximately 10 public and private schools and districts (K–12) as National Schools of Character (NSOC) for their outstanding work in character education. The awards program honors these exemplars, showcase their work, and facilitates their leadership in the field of character education.
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, July 30, 2008

2008-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 31, 2008. We apologize that extenuating circumstances delayed this issue’s publication by a day. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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21ST CENTURY LEARNERS
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PREPARING CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKERS
Donald J. Treffinger, Educational Leadership Online, Summer 2008
“Once upon a time, educators might have said to their students, ‘If you'll pay close attention to what I'm going to teach you, you'll learn everything you need to know for a successful life.’ It's doubtful that this message was ever entirely true, but it's certainly not true today. We don't know all the information that today's students will need or all the answers to the questions they will face. Indeed, increasingly, we don't even know the questions. These realities mean that we must empower students to become creative thinkers, critical thinkers, and problem solvers—people who are continually learning and who can apply their new knowledge to complex, novel, open-ended challenges; people who will proceed confidently and competently into the new horizons of life and work.”
Read more>>

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ARTS IN EDUCATION FILM
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DOCUMENTARY TRACKS SUCCESS OF SOUTH L.A.’S FOSHAY CHOIR
Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times, 7/27/08
“It all started 10 years ago when middle school student Helen Camarillo walked up to music executive Tom Sturges at a Christmas party for youths and adults interested in mentoring … Sturges, a son of legendary screenwriter and director Preston Sturges, asked Helen where she went to school. Foshay Learning Center, she told him, naming a school in a crime-ridden neighborhood in South Los Angeles … For the next six years Sturges worked with the Foshay Learning Center Choir as members wrote and performed songs before ever-growing audiences. The choir's journey was featured in a documentary that premiered Saturday in West Hollywood as part of the Dances With Films independent film festival. The audience included 150 Foshay students and Sturges, who is now working with a new group of choir members. Directed by Reginald D. Brown, ‘Witness to a Dream’ chronicles the success of not only the choir but also of the students. In a school district known for high dropout rates, Helen and 30 other sixth-grade choir students graduated from high school in 2003, and 97% were accepted to four-year colleges. Of those, 92% are now college graduates.
Read more>>

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ONLINE LITERACY
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LITERACY DEBATE: ONLINE, R U REALLY READING?
Motoko Rich, New York Times, 7/27/08
“Books are not Nadia Konyk’s thing. Her mother, hoping to entice her, brings them home from the library, but Nadia rarely shows an interest. Instead, like so many other teenagers, Nadia, 15, is addicted to the Internet. She regularly spends at least six hours a day in front of the computer here in this suburb southwest of Cleveland … Her mother … would prefer that Nadia, who gets A’s and B’s at school, read books for a change. But at this point, Ms. Konyk said, “I’m just pleased that she reads something anymore.” Children like Nadia lie at the heart of a passionate debate about just what it means to read in the digital age. The discussion is playing out among educational policy makers and reading experts around the world, and within groups like the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.”
Read more>>

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SCHOOLS FOR THE ARTS
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STATE GIVES $250,000 TO HAGERSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL
Baltimore Examiner/Associated Press, 7/24/08
“The state is giving a quarter-million-dollar boost to a planned, arts-oriented high school in downtown Hagerstown [MD]. The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development says the grant will help finance the renovation of an old movie theater … the school will offer a college-preparatory academic curriculum in the arts to 300 students. They will be trained in the instrumental, performing, visual and vocal arts.”
Read more>>

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ARTSPACE
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ARTISTS TO GET THEIR SPACE IN ELGIN
Chicago Daily Herald, 7/25/08
“The Minneapolis-based group [Artspace] has chosen Elgin for its second Illinois project to create a co-op for artists. What put the city over the top? ‘Leadership, a vision, a drive - those were all the big indicators,’ said Stacey Mickelson, Artspace director of government relations, Thursday before a meeting with artists and community leaders. ‘We had a gut reaction in our first visit here that told Wendy (Holmes, Artspace vice president of resource development) and I this was the place.’ The 29-year-old not-for-profit group has 23 projects in 14 states. Artspace uses federal, state and local grants to convert neglected warehouses and old buildings into apartments, studio space, galleries and other commercial-use spaces.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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MUSIC GRANTS
Mockingbird Foundation
“The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. ("Mockingbird") offers competitive grants to schools and nonprofit organizations that effect improvements in areas of importance to the Phish fan community. Our programmatic focus is music education for children.”
Learn more>>

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2008-07-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS/PUBLICATIONS
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NEW RESOURCE HELPS TEACH 21ST-CENTURY SKILLS:
FREE ONLINE GUIDE MAPS DIGITAL-AGE SKILLS TO SOCIAL STUDIES PROJECTS AND TASKS
Laura Devaney, eSchool News, 7/18/08
“Social studies teachers now have a new resource to help them integrate 21st-century skills into their lessons: a free online document that maps various social studies projects, tasks, and outcomes to corresponding skills--such as problem solving and critical thinking--that are becoming increasingly important for 21st-century success. The 21st Century Skills and Social Studies Map, developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), demonstrates how integrating these 21st-century skills will help support teaching, while also preparing students to become effective and productive citizens in the 21st century. The map gives educators concrete examples of how 21st-century skills can be infused into classroom practices at various grade levels, and it highlights the critical connections between social studies and 21st-century skills.”
Read the article>>
View the guide map>>

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WHEN FIELD TRIPS BECOME TOO EXPENSIVE
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GAS PRICES FUEL RISE IN VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS:
AS SOARING COSTS MAKE TRADITIONAL TRAVEL IMPOSSIBLE FOR MANY SCHOOLS, EDUCATORS ARE TURNING TO THE INTERNET
Laura Devaney, Senior Editor, eSchool News, 7/14/08
“As schools grapple with budget cuts and rising fuel costs, many districts are finding it necessary to reduce or eliminate field trips, leaving students and teachers with a surprisingly attractive option--virtual field trips. Virtual field trips typically involve students using video conferencing software or using a simple web browser to visit an online destination, such as the web site of a national museum, that offers virtual tours through the facility and up-close, three-dimensional views of geological formations, art work, and so on. They are different from webquests, which tend to be inquiry-based activities in which students use the internet to answer a set of questions. Some virtual field trips are conducted through video or web conferencing, while others are available on individual computers by clicking a link on an organization's web site.”
Read more>>

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MUSIC AND LEARNING
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HAWTHORNE’S HIP HOP HIGH LOSES ITS CHARTER
Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times, 7/10/08
“Students at Hip Hop High know all about adversity. For many, life has been a minefield of gangs, violence and family chaos. They were academic failures, most of them, kicked out of school after school, allowed to fail their way from one grade to the next. At their charter school in Hawthorne, they say, they found a home -- a place that is quirky and rough-hewn, but one where students are given the motivation to learn. Now, they fear, a bureaucratic breakdown will cause the school, formally known as the Media Arts Academy Charter School, to close ... Giovanna Zepeda told the board that in traditional schools, ‘people looked at me like a low-life gangster. . . . When I got to Media Arts Academy, they looked at me different, they looked at me like I was somebody.’ Sobbing, she continued, ‘This is the only place we can be ourselves and express ourselves.’"
Read more>>

STUDENTS GET SHOT AT STARDOM – AND MATH GETS A GOOD RAP
Meghan Gilbert, Toledo Blade, 7/20/08
“Math is going to make these kids superstars. They're musicians, having recorded an album with a multi-platinum music producer, and actors currently rehearsing for a movie written and to be directed by professionals in the entertainment world … So have you heard of the Smart Shorties? If not, listen up and you'll say you knew them when. In a new age spin on the classic School House Rock education tool, the Smart Shorties rap, sing, and dance to today's hip hop hits. Only these musicians sing about math, specifically multiplication. … All involved will get royalty payments with music and movie sales. And they should be compensated, Ms. Smith said, since they did a lot of the work writing the lyrics, recording the songs, memorizing their lines for the film, and even coming up with the name Smart Shorties … The youngsters will spend three weeks in New York next month to film the movie, which should be finished by October. Although it will be theater quality, Ms. Smith said, it will probably go straight to DVD because of the expense of promoting a film on the big screen.”
Read more>>

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COMMUNITY ARTS CONFERENCE
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71ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE FOR COMMUNITY ARTS EDUCATION
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts
Hyatt Regency Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA, 10/29 – 11/1/08
“Presented by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, the Conference is the preeminent gathering of community arts education providers in the United States. Over 500 delegates--leading more than 350 community arts education organizations in over 45 states, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands--are expected to convene this year to discuss the latest research findings in community arts education, share information on best practices and emerging trends, and develop and share strategies and tactics for success. The conference is the only national event of its kind tailored to address the specific interests and needs of community arts education providers. Sessions led by nationally renowned experts in the field are organized into progressive tracks to provide in-depth training in best practices in Program Development, Assessment and Evaluation; Leadership and Governance; Development and Marketing; and Collaboration and Community Engagement.”
Learn more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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GRANTS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD, TECH AND COMMUNICATION FOR LEARNING, SPORTS FOR YOUTH
Lego Foundation
Maximum Award: $5000
Deadline: 8/1/08 ***coming soon***
“The Foundation awards grants to qualified tax-exempt organizations (as determined under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue code) including educational organizations as defined in USC 26 § 170 (C) with specific, identifiable needs primarily in these areas of support early childhood education and development, technology and communication projects that advance learning opportunities, or sport or athletic programs that concentrate on under-served youth.”
Learn more>>

MINI-GRANTS FOR SERVICE-ORIENTED PROJECTS
Pay It Forward
Deadline: 9/15/08
Maximum Award: $500
“Pay It Forward Mini-Grants are designed to fund one-time-only service-oriented projects identified by youth as activities they would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Projects must contain a "pay it forward" focus - that is, they must be based on the concept of one person doing a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others, with the results growing exponentially - to be considered in the grant making process.”
Learn more>>

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GRANTS
NEA Foundation
Maximum Award: $5000
Deadline: 10/5/08
“The NEA Foundation provides grants to improve the academic achievement of students in U.S. public schools and public higher education institutions in any subject area(s). The proposed work should engage students in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen their knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Proposals for work resulting in low-income and minority student success with honors, advanced placement, or other challenging curricula are particularly encouraged.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wedneday, July 16, 2008

2008-07-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 15, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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PAKISTANI/AMERICAN ARTS EDUCATION
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TEACHERS CROSS CULTURES
Victoria Guay, The Citizen of Laconia (NH), 7/13/08
“The rhythmic beat of drums and chorus of voices singing "Funga Alafia," a welcoming song from Liberia, could recently be heard emanating from a second-floor music room in the Draper Maynard building on the Plymouth State University campus. The voices belonged to a blend of New Hampshire and Pakistani teachers who were taking part in a workshop Wednesday during a week-long arts in education initiative …The group of 20 teachers and administrators from Pakistan are taking part in the graduate-level Pakistani Educational Leadership Institute, now in its fifth year. ‘This institute is exposing them to some sophisticated and groundbreaking educational ideas that they can bring back to their country and share with other educators,’ PSU spokesman Bruce Lyndes ... According to the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, based in Lahore, Pakistan, the organization that partners with PSU in the summer institutes, those who have been trained at PSU have gone on to train approximately 10,000 more educators in Pakistan.” Read more>>

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CREATIVE WRITING
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THE SHORT, HAPPY LIVES OF TEACHERS
John Norton, Teacher Magazine, 7/9/08
“It’s a good time to share this fun (and often illuminating) activity we tried out recently in the Teacher Leaders Network discussion group. The idea came from a newspaper feature describing a trend toward "succinct prose." The story cited a recent book published by Smith Magazine which carried the intriguing title, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. As the feature story noted, this and similar collections of extremely short prose have been inspired by a six-word novel said to have been written by Ernest Hemingway on a dare. The novel read: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ Here’s the specific question we tossed into the TLN Forum arena: ‘If you were writing a mini-memoir of your teaching life, what would your six words be?’”
See what teachers wrote>>

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ARTS CONSORTIA
------------------------------

ARTS, EDUCATION, AND LEADERSHIP: POWERFUL NETWORK OR TANGLED WEB?
Essay by Laura Reeder, Arts Education Information Quarterly, 7/08
Reeder, Founding Executive Director of Partners for Arts Education in Syracuse, NY, wonders whether the current focus being given to the development of consortia and arts education networks is an advantage ‘or are we just building something that will ultimately draw dollars and time away from our children and their arts education?’
Read her essay>>

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CHILDREN AND EMPATHY
-----------------------------------------

EMPATHY COMES NATURALLY TO CHILDREN: STUDY
Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters/ABC News, 7/11/08
“When children see others in pain, their brains respond as if it were happening to them, U.S. researchers said on Friday. This response, which also has been shown in adults, suggests that normal school-age children may be naturally prone to empathy, they said. ‘What it shows us is that we have this inborn capacity to resonate with the pain of others. That's probably a very important step toward empathy,’ said Jean Decety of the University of Chicago, whose study appears in the journal Neuropsychologia. Decety said he hopes to use these results to better understand brain function in children who are aggressive or engage in anti-social behavior, such as bullying.”
Read more>>

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RETHINKING TEACHING
-----------------------------------------

HOW TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE CHILDREN:
THE PRESSURES OF RED TAPE AND TARGETS ARE DRIVING EARLY-YEARS TEACHERS INTO THE WORLD OF FRANCHISES
Janet Murray, The Guardian (UK), 7/8/08
“After 20 years as a primary school teacher Jayne Stanton was feeling jaded. Each new initiative (and there were many) brought hours of additional paperwork. While she still loved working with children, the pressure to meet government targets meant she was fast losing her passion for the job … Two years on, she is a small business owner, providing pre-school music classes in and around Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. After spotting an advert in a trade publication, she bought a franchise of Musical Minis - which provides music classes for babies and toddlers - and has never looked back.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

SCHOOL COUNSELOR OF THE YEAR
American School Counselor Association
Deadline: 9/5/08
“ASCA's School Counselor of the Year program honors the best of the best -- school counselors who are running a top-notch, comprehensive school counseling program at either the elementary, middle or high school level. This newly enhanced program brings 10 finalists and their nominators to Washington, D.C., in late January, where they participate in a congressional briefing, tour Washington, D.C., and are honored at the School Counselor of the Year Gala. From these 10 finalists, one school counselor of the year is selected.”
Learn more>>

NATIONAL GRANT COMPETITION
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Maximum Award: $65,000
Deadline: 9/5/08
“The Foundation's grant-making program seeks to develop or expand projects that are designed to support the development of literacy skills for adult primary care givers and their children. A total of approximately $650,000 will be awarded; no grant request should exceed $65,000. The organization must operate an instructional literacy program that has been in existence for at least 2 years and includes one or more of the following components: literacy for adults, parent education, pre-literacy or literacy instruction for children pre-k to gra
de 3, and intergenerational literacy activities (Parent and Child Together time or P.A.C.T. time).”Learn more>>

OUTSTANDING YOUNG EDUCATOR AWARD
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Deadline: 8/1/08
“Do you know any emerging education leaders who exemplify excellence and equity in teaching and learning? Share their spirit and successful strategies and skills with the education community by nominating them for the ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) Program.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, July 9, 2008

2008-07-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 9, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORT
------------------------------

REVITALIZING ARTS EDUCATION THROUGH COMMUNITY-WIDE COORDINATION
Rand Corporation, 6/08
Arts education in the nation’s public schools has been declining for a generation, undermined by factors ranging from the state budget crises of the late 1970s to current school reforms that focus on reading and math. In a number of urban areas in recent years, arts learning advocates have sought to counter this trend by forming coordinated networks of schools, cultural organizations, funders, local government and other groups to work in common to revive arts education. These efforts are fragile and vary widely from city to city, but when well planned and executed, they show promise toward achieving the goal of more arts education for more children. This RAND study, commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, examines six such initiatives — in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles County, New York City and the Oakland-Berkeley area of California. It details common strategies they have used and discusses conditions that have helped and hindered their effectiveness."
Download the free report>>
Read the Chicago Tribune story>>

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THINKING SKILLS NOW
------------------------------

THINKING SKILLS NOW
ASCD
“At a recent workshop for educators, participants pondered: What is the most important 21st-century skill to teach our students? In a world where teachers cannot teach every student what each will need, thinking skills landed near the top of the list for everyone. The summer online issue of Educational Leadership addresses thinking skills for the second time this publishing year. The ASCD Homepage highlights this issue and other resources that demonstrate how to improve students' ability to think deeply and well.”
View resources>>

IMMERSED IN INQUIRY
Jean Anne Clyde and Angela Hicks
Thinking Skills NOW/Educational Leadership Online, 7/08
“When adults observe children outside of school—playing, exploring, interacting—few of us recognize their behaviors as evidence of powerful learning. Yet in a moment, children's silliness can turn serious. Hooked by their own curiosity, children will intently examine found "stuff," focus on clues, and together compare what they are seeing with what they already know. They become oblivious to everything but their learning. Genuine inquiry builds on natural curiosity. It draws on strategies that most good learners use in nonschool settings: experimenting, questioning, thinking and rethinking, and communicating. It's also the kind of learning that is largely swept aside in schools.”
Read more>>

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MUSIC EDUCATION
------------------------------

MIXED REVIEW FOR MUSIC IN CHARTER SCHOOLS
News Wise, 6/30/08
"Are charter schools embracing or excluding the arts? The first investigation of the status of music education in charter schools suggests the answer is neither. Joshua A. Russell of the University of Arkansas music department and James R. Austin of the University of Colorado, Boulder, examined 122 surveys from charter schools in 15 states, a representative sample of charter schools nationally. In addition to investigating music education within charter schools for the 2005-06 school year, the researchers compared music education in charter schools and other public schools. The researchers found that 70 percent of the surveyed charter schools offered music classes, with music available in 84 percent of the schools that had a combination of elementary and secondary students. The percentage dropped for schools without the combination: only 64 percent of individual elementary schools and 53 percent of secondary schools. The larger the school, the more likely music would be offered. While the majority of charter schools offered music, the researchers found that the music instruction provided in charter schools ‘does not appear to be at a level completely commensurate with that of traditional public schools.’”
Read more>>

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GAMING AND LEARNING
-----------------------------------------

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RECEIVES $1 MILLION GRANT FROM VERIZON FOUNDATION TO STUDY HOW GAMING CAM BE USED TO IMPROVE PROBLEM-SOLVING AND LITERACY SKILLS
American Library Association (ALA), 7/08
“ALA will launch an innovative project to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming that can be deployed nationally. Funding for the project will be provided by a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation. ‘Gaming is a magnet that attracts library users of all types and, beyond its entertainment value, has proven to be a powerful tool for literacy and learning,’ said ALA President Loriene Roy. ‘Through the Verizon Foundation’s gift, ALA’s gaming for learning project will provide the library community with vital information and resources that will model and help sustain effective gaming programs and services.’”
Learn more>>
Read a reaction on the ASCD blog>>

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ARTS POLICY
-----------------------------------------

PUTTING THE ARTS BACK INTO THE ARTS:
AUTHOR BILL IVEY CELEBRATES CREATIVITY, CULTURE, AND THE “AMATEUR”
Utne Reader, 7-8/08
An interview with former National Endowment for the Arts chair Bill Ivy about his new book, Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights (University of California Press, 2008). “Ivey, now director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, argues that arts policy has long targeted two issues, arts education and increasing funding for nonprofit organizations, that aim to ‘bring more fine art to the American people’ without encouraging more people to actually create. Amateurs who might like to dabble in photography or the guitar, for instance, aren’t empowered by our society (or our schools) to do so.”
Read more>>

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MUSIC AND MATH
-----------------------------------------

MISSISSIPPI CLASSROOMS WORK TO INTEGRATE THE ARTS
Eleanor Barkhorn, Delta Democrat Times (Miss.), 6/29/08
“Fifth grade geometry students at Melissa Manning Elementary sang songs instead of memorizing facts. Sixth graders … learned about negative and positive numbers by dancing along a number line, not filling out worksheets. And as teachers abandoned their tried and true teaching techniques in favor of arts-based methods, student enthusiasm and achievement soared. The woman behind [it] was Marcia Daft, a Washington, D.C.-based educational consultant who specializes in using the arts to teach math, as well as language arts, social studies and science. Daft has spent four weeks in Greenville over the last two years, showing local educators how to employ chanting games to promote literacy, dance routines to demonstrate scientific processes, and group movement to teach math. Earlier this month, she was back for a final series of workshops in which she reinforced concepts to teachers who experienced her workshops before and revealed her secrets to educators who were new to her techniques. ‘Every classroom learns better if the arts are part of the learning process. That transcends private school, public school, economics,’ said Daft, whose visits to Greenville were funded by a grant from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

GRANTS FOR NATIVE PLANTS
Lorri Otto Seeds for Education
Deadline: 11/15/08
“Project goals should focus on the enhancement and development of an appreciation for nature using native plants. Projects must emphasize involvement of students and volunteers and increase the educational value of the site. Creativity in design is encouraged, but must show complete and thoughtful planning. The use of and teaching about native plants and the native plant community is mandatory, and they must be appropriate to the local ecoregion and the site conditions (soil, water, sunlight). The project leader should be knowledgeable and committed. Funds will be provided only for the purchase of native plants and seed.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, July 2, 2008

2008-07-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 2, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

------------------------------
REPORT
------------------------------

ARTISTS IN THE WORKFORCE: 1990 – 2005
National Endowment for the Arts, 6/12/08
“National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces the release of Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005, the first nationwide look at artists’ demographic and employment patterns in the 21st century. Artists in the Workforce analyzes working artist trends, gathering new statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide a comprehensive overview of this workforce segment, its maturation over the past 30 years, along with detailed information on specific artist occupations. ‘Artists now play a huge but mostly unrecognized role in the new American economy of the 21st century,’ said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. ‘This report shows how important American artists are to both our nation’s cultural vitality and economic prosperity of our communities.’”
Read more>>

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ART EDUCATION IN CHINA
------------------------------

EXHIBITING NEW APPEAL
China Daily, 7/1/08
“Yu Anjie has been a regular museum visitor for years. But the 12-year-old Beijing primary school student insists her motivation has nothing to do with Hollywood blockbusters … For her, the appeal comes from the ever-changing exhibits and educational programs offered by Dongcheng Art Cener for Children … Yu was among the 30 school pupils … attending a recent art class at the National Art Museum of China. The lessons revolved around an exhibition of German landscape paintings and the Synthetic Times International New Media Art Exhibition … Art educator Xu Weiwei … asked the kids to create their own stories after explaining to them world-renowned contemporary artist Xu Bing’s interactive Book from the Ground.”
Read more>>

------------------------------
CREATIVITY
------------------------------

THE POWER OF THE IMAGINATIVE MIND
Teacher Magazine, 6/25/08
After reading a speech by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity, several educators provide their perspectives on the importance of creativity in the classroom.
Read more (requires free subscription)>>

------------------------------
CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM
------------------------------

STRICKLAND AIMS TO MAKE EDUC ATION MORE PERSONALIZED
Catherine Candisky, Columbus Dispatch, 6/18/08
“Gov. Ted Strickland wants a more flexible and personalized system of public schools where students are encouraged to be more creative and innovative. ‘Because we have become scared and frightened that we have fallen behind, there has been a tendency to emphasize sameness in curriculum,’ Strickland said. ‘We are trying to force some students into a mold, and we perhaps neglect to appreciate or understand the full array of abilities and potentials that exist within a student.’”Read more: Read more: http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/18/EdTed.html

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FUNDING FOR ARTS EDUCATION
-----------------------------------------

TERRY FOUNDATION GIVES $1 MILLION TO ARTS CENTER
Dallas Morning News, 7/1/08
“The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts has received a $1 million gift from the Mike and Mary Terry Family Foundation, which is dedicated to investing in Dallas-area initiatives designed to make an impact in the lives of children. A core focus is cultural education through performing arts, which is reflected in the 2-year-old foundation's first major contribution to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts … With more than 600 performances each year, the new multi-venue arts and entertainment center will transform the way people experience the arts in North Texas.”
Read more>>

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LIFE AFTER GRADUATION
-----------------------------------------

WHAT’S YOUR JOB?
I’M AN ACTRESS WITH A HARVARD DEGREE – AND A FAMILY THAT WORRIES I’M WASTING MY EDUCATION
Danielle Kwatinez [Opinion], Newsweek, 1/14/08
“The arts are generally viewed as a waste of time in this country, in much the same way that arts education plays the stepchild, in public schools, to reading, writing and 'rithmetic. When school budgets get tight, art, music and drama are invariably the first to go. When the national budget is on the hot seat, fingers are pointed at the National Endowment for the Arts much more readily than they are at the defense budget. Similarly, artistic pursuits are generally accepted, even applauded, when an individual is in college. But once the commencement invitations go out and that same individual dons his or her graduation robe, it's time to get a ‘real job.' A real job usually means business, law, medicine--anything with a clear path and a certain paycheck. And that's fine for students with interest or aptitude in those areas. The rest of us, though, are essentially being asked to abandon the very thing that made us special enough to be accepted to such an exceptional school in the first place.”
Read more>>

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STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN RURAL SCHOOLS
-----------------------------------------

ATTITUDE DETERMINES STUDENT SUCCESS IN RURAL SCHOOLS, STUDY FINDS
ScienceDaily, 6/30/08
“While most of the country focuses on ACT scores, student-teacher ratio and rigorous curriculum to increase student success, it may be the commitment to excellence that determines student achievement in rural schools. This is an overlooked, yet critical, factor when considering nearly half of American school districts are in rural areas, educating nearly 21 percent of all students. Perri Applegate, a researcher at the University of Oklahoma K20 Center, recently investigated the qualities that differentiate a high-achieving school and low-achieving rural high school, focusing on high-poverty high schools with at least 51 percent of the population eligible for free or reduced lunch. Surprisingly, the top factors that did impact student achievement in urban high schools, ACT scores and dropout rates, did not determine student success in rural schools. Community involvement and the school's commitment to student excellence were the determining factors in whether a rural school was high- or low-achieving.”
Learn more>>

-----------------------------------------
GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

GRANTS FOR MUSIC INSTRUCTION
Guitar Center Music Foundation
Maximum Award: $5000
Deadline: n/a
“The Guitar Center Music Foundation's mission is to aid nonprofit music programs across America that offer music instruction so that more people can experience the joys of making music. Qualifying applicants are established, ongoing and sustainable music programs across the United States that provide music instruction for people of any age who would not otherwise have the opportunity to make music.”
Learn more or apply online>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 25, 2008

2008-06-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 25, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

------------------------------
REPORT
------------------------------

AN UNFINISHED CANVAS, ARTS EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA:
TAKING STOCK OF POLICIES AND PRACTICES
SRI International’s Center for Education Policy for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
“A landmark study from independent research institute SRI International, for the first time systemically examining the status of arts education in California, reveals that the vast majority of California's schools fail to meet state standards for teaching the arts, and that access to arts instruction varies widely among the state's schools.”
Read the report>>

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JOB POSTING
------------------------------

PART TIME COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE

American Alliance for Theatre & Education

Bethesda, MD – minimal travel required
Deadline: July 15, 2008 ***coming soon***

“Responsibilities: Works with Publications Advisory Board to edit and oversee the design and production of AATE's quarterly magazine; Works with members of the Board of Directors to ensure quality of publications and communications; Manages website content and web components of AATE publications; Proofs and copy edits AATE communications including newsletters, email alerts and publicity materials; Conducts various additional administrative tasks and other duties related to AATE Communications.”
For more information, contact: employment@aate.com

------------------------------
CLASSICAL MUSIC EDUCATION
------------------------------

PROGRAM GIVES YOUTH ACCESS TO FREE CLASSICAL MUSIC LESSONS
Hannah Wolfson, Newhouse News Service/Houston Chronicle, 6/13/08
[In Birmingham, Alabama,] Every Friday afternoon, the dingy rock club called Cave9 echoes with classical music instead of the usual guitars and amps. On the stage, two kids fiddle with clarinets and trumpets while a young man who works nearby gets a violin lesson. In the rickety balcony, a brother and sister from the nearby public housing development sit side by side for a piano lesson while friends watch. As the afternoon wears on, more people come in: One wants to try the flute; another's ready for her regular viola lesson. Some of the music is good, some bad, but it's all unexpected because the lessons — open to anyone who walks in — are free. The lessons are being provided by Scrollworks, a new program inspired by Venezuela's revolutionary music system, which has created hundreds of youth orchestras in poor areas across the country. The group is giving lessons at Cave9, an elementary school on Birmingham's west side and a theater downtown, and plans to expand to a neighborhood church this summer.
Read more>>

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ARTS MAJORS ON THE RISE
-----------------------------------------

ALTHOUGH BUSINESS STILL DOMINATES, THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE FLOURISHING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Dave Newbart, Chicago Sun-Times, 6/9/08

“What's your major? For many Illinois college students these days, the answer to that question is music, acting or art. In fact, students majoring in visual and performing arts at Illinois colleges number more than 25,000 -- making the field of study the second most popular, according to unpublished data released by the state at the request of the Sun-Times. While still lagging business majors by a wide margin -- there are nearly twice as many business students in the state -- the arts' popularity has increased faster than any of the other 10 most popular majors in the past decade. The number of arts majors is up 110 percent since 1997. ‘A lot of folks believe we are moving more towards a creative economy,' said Murphy Monroe, executive director of undergraduate admissions at Columbia College, now the largest private arts college I’n the nation. ‘There is a newfound respect for people with creative problem-solving skills.'

Read more>>

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UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
-----------------------------------------

THE CONTOURS OF INCLUSION:
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING IN ARTS IN EDUCATION

VSA arts
Friday, 9/19/08, Holiday Inn Capitol, Washington, DC

“A full-day conference that explores the application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to arts curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Dr. Tracey Hall, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), will provide a keynote to frame UDL principles and practices. Participants will then engage with examples of UDL in presentation workshops and discussion groups facilitated by expert practitioners from the VSA arts affiliate and program networks.
Learn more about the conference: LJBarnum@vsarts.org
Learn more about UDL>>

2008 PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE
11/6 – 11/18/08
Proposals due 7/15/08
International Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco
This conference will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the first local education funds. The conference will center around the legacy, focus and impact of local education funds over the last 25 years.” Speakers include Susan Berresford, Carol Bellamy, Ronald Ferguson, Carol Gilligan, Ira Harkavy, and Andreas Schleicher.
Learn more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

EDUCATION GRANTS
Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation
Deadline: 10/15/08
“Proposals submitted to the Foundation for review for educational and cultural programs must address the priorities listed below: target K-12 and college students; expose students to career opportunities; develop skills in new technologies; leverage teacher/administrator, parental, and community involvement; include hands-on program activities; lead to comprehensive, systemic change on a regional and/or national basis; involve collaborative partnerships; demonstrate capacity to gain continuing support; will result in dissemination and replication of lessons learned; have broad and positive impact on diverse populations with a special emphasis on women, minorities, and at-risk students; develop evaluation component with measurable results.”
Learn more>>

VERY BEST IN YOUTH AWARD
Nestle
Deadline: 11/8/08
“Nestlé has been a proud sponsor of the Very Best In Youth program for more than nine years. Created to spotlight the best in youth leadership, the program identifies teens whose efforts are making a profound impact in lives other than their own … Nestlé helps young people who want to make a difference realize their dreams by donating $1,000 in the name of each winner to the charity of his/her choice. Nestlé awards the winner a trip for them and a parent or guardian to Los Angeles for the Nestlé Very Best In Youth awards ceremony. The trip includes round trip coach air travel, hotel accommodations for three nights plus spending money.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 18, 2008

2008-06-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 18, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived on the IEA blog at http://edartsinstitute.blogspot.com.

------------------------------
ARTS SCHOOLS
------------------------------

LA ARTS HIGH SCHOOL BRINGS PRESTIGE, BUT HIGH COST
Jacob Adelman, Associated Press, 6/10/08
“The Los Angeles High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, with space for some 1,600 students, most from surrounding low-income neighborhoods, is the architectural crown jewel of the district's ambitious $20 billion building campaign. Supporters call the five-acre campus a beacon for a reformed educational system, a magnet for good teachers, and a means of raising dismal student performance in the nation's second-largest school district . . . Critics, however, see the school as a wasteful extravagance for a district where more than a quarter of the 700,000 students remain in temporary classrooms and many existing buildings are in dire need of renovations and repairs.”
Read more>>

CHARTER SCHOOL FINDS ITS RHYTHM
The Homeroom Blog, Los Angeles Times, 6/10/08
"Gabriella Charter School says it might be the only dance-themed public elementary school in the nation. We don't know if that's true, but it sounds like fun. Students get one hour of dance instruction daily -- ballet, jazz, tap, creative movement and world dance … Twice a week, in "reading In motion" classes, kindergartners and first-graders twist their bodies into letters while singing corresponding sounds. In a school where most of the students are English learners, vocabulary is introduced regularly and systematically −− parts of the body, directions, places in the room. And students improve graphing skills by plotting points to choreograph a dance.”
Read more>>

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MUSEUM EDUCATION
------------------------------

LESSONS AT THE MUSEUM
Sean Cavanagh, Education Week, 6/11/08
“Museums and cultural institutions like the aquarium have long provided a crucial resource for students and teachers in science classes. Many of those institutions, in fact, consider working with schools to be a core part of their missions … [S]tudents from Russell Sage Junior High School in Queens are taking part in one of the largest and most coordinated such programs in the country. Known as Urban Advantage, it goes further than most museum-to-school outreach efforts in connecting students’ trips to science centers directly to school curriculum—in this case, that of the New York City schools. The program also provides teachers with extensive, ongoing training in how to use those institutions’ resources wisely.”
Read more>>

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DIRECTING THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
------------------------------

MASS. SEES ARTS AS VITAL TO ECONOMY:DIRECTOR HIRED TO AID CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Robert Gavin, Boston Globe, 6/3/08
“The Patrick administration today launches an initiative to expand so-called creative industries in the state, appointing a first-in-the-nation "creative economy" director to help expand a diverse sector that ranges from individual artists to cultural institutions to video game makers. The appointment of Jason S. Schupbach of Boston illustrates the growing role creative sectors play in economic policy as states compete for jobs, companies, and skilled workers. Beyond the direct employment provided by museums, art galleries, and design and other creative firms, the vitality of the local arts and cultural scene is increasingly viewed by development specialists as key to attracting knowledge workers expected to drive 21st century economies … Massachusetts is the first state to create such a post for creative industries, according to national economic development and arts groups.”
Read more>>

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ACTIVE LEARNING WITH SCIENCE
-----------------------------------------

LABS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL HELP BRING SCIENCE ALIVE
Sean Cavanagh, Education Week, 6/4/08
“State and district science standards typically call for students to take part in hands-on labs and experiments in the elementary grades. The 1996 National Science Education Standards, which were written by the National Research Council and serve as a reference for many states, emphasize similar activities. Yet the use of even simple labs and experiments in early grades varies widely, say many observers, largely because of the pressure to devote time to other subjects, but also because elementary teachers lack experience and confidence in setting up those lessons.”
Read more>>

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CELL PHONE ART
-----------------------------------------

ARTIST HEEDS CALL OF A NEW MEDIUM
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/28/08
"[Colleen] Chartier, 56, could be edging toward the forefront of cell phone art. A photo-text story she wrote for cell phones in the language of texters -- "Th tale of ltl br" (The Tale of Little Bear) -- is featured in a group exhibit at Western Bridge titled, "You Complete Me” . . . The first line of her story came to her late at night when she couldn't sleep. "Thus bgnz th tale of ltl br" (Thus begins the tale of Little Bear). Chartier has rules for the project, such as the text can't be any longer than a single line on a cell phone screen. Both image and text are condensed without being cramped. Against swirly blue origami paper she placed her bear and created image-text No. 2: "Lil br thnx of wntrs aproach" (Little Bear thinks of winter's approach) . . . Cell phone art is gaining ground. The Australian Network for Art and Technology has a good site: anat.org.au/portableworlds. There are festivals for cell photos, videos and even ring tones. In Japan, teenagers write novels on their way home from school. The field has yet to attract established major artists or produce one of its own, although Chartier is in the running. She makes worlds, not just special effects.”
Read more and see sample screenshots>>

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VALUE OF ARTS EDUCATION
-----------------------------------------

DON’T LET CURTAIN FALL ON ARTS EDUCATION:
CHALLENGE, INSPIRE AND CHANGE PEOPLE
Craig W. Johnson, editorial, Orlando Sentinel, 6/10/08
“With school budget cuts, we're seeing the disintegration of our arts-education programs. The effect of lost jobs is unfortunate; the long-term repercussion on our community is inexcusable. There's more to the arts than meets the eye. Yes, the performing and visual arts are supposed to be entertaining, but behind every creative discipline there is a more profound concept without which a community shrivels up and dies: The arts teach us how to innovate. As a foundation for practicing imagination, the arts are a critical ingredient to forward-thinking change. When widely applied, the inherent concepts taught by the arts lead to progress in every arena of life -- from advances in medical technology to transformative public policy. The arts are not superfluous to society; they are an underestimated force that is driving it forward.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

GRANTS FOR PROJECTS LED BY AND BENEFITING WOMEN AND GIRLS
Maximum Award: $2000
Deadline: 8/15/08
“Open Meadows Foundation is a grant-making organization for projects that are led by and benefit women and girls. Open Meadows Foundation funds projects that do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age or ability. It offers grants up to $2000 to projects that are designed and implemented by women and girls; reflect the diversity of the community served by the project in both its leadership and organization; promote building community power; promote racial, social, economic and environmental justice; have limited financial access or have encountered obstacles in their search for funding. Organizational budget should not exceed $150,000.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 11, 2008

2008-06-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 11, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

------------------------------
REPORT
------------------------------

REPORT: EARLY KINDERGARTEN CUTOFF DATE BENEFITS CHILDREN
Tracy Garcia, Whittier Daily News, 6/8/08
“What is the best age for California children to enter kindergarten? That's the question that researchers Jill S. Cannon and Stephen Lipscomb at the Public Policy Institute of California explored in their recent report, "Changing the Kindergarten Cutoff Date: Effects on California Students and Schools." They analyzed 14 recent studies on the topic - and concluded that moving the cutoff date for 5-year-olds to begin kindergarten from the current Dec. 2 to Sept. 1 would likely have several benefits. The primary benefit is better elementary math and reading scores that persist as far as eighth grade, researchers said, because some students would be a year older when taking those tests. But it also may increase the so-called ‘achievement gap’ between poor students and their more affluent peers whose birthdays fall in this three-month gap, mostly because higher-income families would be able to afford a better preschool education than low-income families.
Read more of the article>>
Read the report>>

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CREATIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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EUROPE: REPORT ON CREATIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Eurogates, 6/8/08
“Contemporary society is characterised by rapid change in all spheres of life, and creativity has been identified as a key factor in tackling challenges caused by change as well as a driving force towards knowledge creation and socio-economic advances. Scholars have been studying change in recent years, yet little attention has been paid in Europe to how creativity and innovation can be enhanced within and by academe. A 2006-07 report from European University Association, Creativity in higher education, aims to contribute to the development of the European knowledge society by identifying good practices and providing universities and their major external stakeholders with recommendations on how to foster creativity. ‘Progress towards a knowledge-based society and economy will require that European universities, as centres of knowledge creation, and their partners in society and government give creativity their full attention,’ says the report, and it continues: ‘If Europe should not succeed in strengthening creativity in higher education, the very goal of a European knowledge society would be at stake.’”
Read more>>

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CIVICS VIA GAMING
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FORMER JUSTICE PROMOTES WEB-BASED CIVICS LESSONS
Seth Schiesel, New York Times, 6/9/08
“’If someone had told me when I retired from the Supreme Court about a couple of years ago that I would be speaking at a conference about digital games, I would have been very skeptical, maybe thinking you had one drink too many,’ [retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor] said to laughter Wednesday in an auditorium downtown at Parsons the New School for Design. Yet there she was, a notable figure in modern history, at once engaging and imposing as she explained why she had embraced the Internet and interactive digital media as an essential tool for preserving American democracy… Justice O’Connor is helping develop a Web site and interactive civics curriculum for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students called Our Courts.The initial major elements of the site are scheduled to become available this fall. ‘We’ll have them arguing real issues, real legal issues, against the computer and against each other,’ she said. One of the first interactive exercises in the Our Courts program, she said, would take up First Amendment issues involving the ability of public schools to censor students’ speech, as in student newspapers or on T-shirts.”
Read more>>

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SCHOOL CLIMATE
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SCHOOL CLIMATE KEY TO CURBING VIOLENCE: U.S. REPORT
Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters, 6/5/08
“Schools can prevent shootings and other violent attacks by creating a climate in which students feel free to share information about potential threats, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. Previous studies have found that in 81 percent of violent school attacks, student bystanders knew about the attacks before they occurred. But many chose not to tell. A report issued by the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Education and Harvard Medical School's McLean Hospital explores how schools can get students to come forward with information that could prevent such attacks.”
Read more>>

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THEATRICAL ARCHIVE ONLINE
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CANADIANS TO HAVE ACCESS TO VISIT RARE AND PRICELESS NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE POSTER AND COSTUME COLLECTIONS ONLINE
Ottawastart.com, 6/8/08
“Canadians have access to hundreds of rarely-seen and priceless posters and costumes thanks to two new and exciting collections on ArtsAlive.ca, the National Arts Centre's (NAC) award-winning performing arts educational website. Persuading Presence: A Performign Arts Poster Archive and The Secret Live of Costumes offer teachers and students – as well as all theatre, dance and music lovers – a rare look into the NAC's perfoming arts archives and its rich, 39-year history. Until now, the poster and costume collections lived only in the dark recesses of the NAC archive. But from now on, Canadians will be able to access these archives from their home and classrooms through ArtsAlive.ca. Visitors will be able to learn about the history of the collections, peruse detailed archival records and take a behind-the-scenes look at special curatorial features on poster and costume design.”
Read more>>
Visit the Web site>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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CVS CAREMARK CHARITABLE TRUST
Deadline: 6/15/08 **coming soon**
"The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust focuses primarily on supporting charitable organizations that are making a difference in the lives of children with disabilities. Resources are also allocated to help support organizations focused on providing healthcare to the uninsured. We believe these two areas represent opportunities for the Trust to create positive outcomes for diverse populations of people in communities across the country.”
Learn more>>

C-SPAN ARCHIVES GRANTS FOR TEACHERS
Deadline: Rolling; allow 30 days for processing
Maximum Award: Videotape(s)
“K-12 or College/University educators who want a videotape (or tapes) of C-SPAN programming can apply for a C-SPAN Archives Grant …Simply write up a one page summary of how you intend to use videotape(s) from the C-SPAN Archives in your classroom. Include your resume or cv, the tape(s) you want including ID# and price from the C-SPAN Archives web site — you may also call the C-SPAN Archives for help in identifying tapes.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 4, 2008

2008-06-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 4, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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WHAT SHOULD SCHOOLS TEACH?
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MORAL DIMENSIONS OF EDUCATIONAL DECISIONS:THE ESSENTIAL PLACE OF VALUES-RICH CURRICULA IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Amitai Etzioni, School Administrator, May 2008
“There is a widely held notion that public schools … should not teach values. In effect, schools do. Moreover, there are next to no significant decisions a school administrator or classroom teacher can make that do not have a normative dimension … Schools are under considerable pressure from the community to focus on academics, which in effect means serving the utilitarian, economic futures of pupils. Parents, school boards and news media that push for higher academic achievements are not seeking to turn the students into scholars but to equip them to compete in the marketplace … In contrast, schools are, and ought to be, concerned with human and social development, ensuring graduates are able to work out differences with others verbally and nonabusively; to walk in the other person’s shoes; to resist temptations to act in unethical ways; and to care about higher purposes than self. Many curriculum decisions reflect the balance those who run schools and education systems strike between these two competing set of values, the academic and the social.”
Read more>>

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DEVELOPING VOCABULARY
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SMALL KIDS, BIG WORDS:RESEARCH-BASED STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING VOCABULARY FROM PREK TO GRADE 3
Laura Pappano, Harvard Education Letter, May/June 2008
Pappano summarizes research projects demonstrating young students’ capacity to take on vocabulary that is beyond the basics. “At Lee Academy, where 67.1 percent of the students are categorized as low income by the state Department of Education, teachers focus on words related to specific content and use a four-step process for teaching them. Using the OWL curriculum, says reading support teacher Heather Nord, preschool teachers choose a theme such as ‘wind and water.’ Using six books related to the theme, they target 60 key words during a four-week unit. Teachers read each book four times, using a different approach each time. The first time … teachers verbally highlight targeted vocabulary words and post them on cards. The second time, they reconstruct the story, with children helping to retell. The third time, the teacher leaves out words, which children fill in orally. The fourth time, children act out the story. The aim? Experience the words, the concepts, the story itself.”
Read more>>

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BEING HUMAN
------------------------------

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
Brandon Keim, Wired.com, 6/1/08
“What does it mean to be human? And can science illuminate the answers? A star-studded panel of scientists gathered to discuss those heady themes [May 31] at the World Science Festival in New York City.” Read a summary of their perspectives, including this summation of the perspective of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio: “The critical unique factor is language. Creativity. The religious and scientific impulse. And our social organization, which has developed to a prodigious degree. We have a record of history, moral behavior, economics, political and social institutions. We're probably unique in our ability to investigate the future, imagine outcomes, and display images in our minds.”
Read other perspectives>>

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STUDENT ART SHOWCASES
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TALENTED YOUTH SHOWCASE THE ARTS
Christine Dolen, Miami Herald, 5/31/08
“More than 400 arts-loving kids will get the opportunity to perform on a high-profile stage when Growing Up With the Arts, a free program presented by The Children's Trust, takes over the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts … Children and teens will sing, dance, act, play musical instruments and display their artwork in the venue's lobby … The purpose of Growing Up With the Arts, says Trust President and CEO Modesto E. Abety, is both to showcase young talent and make a statement. ''We have in this community some wonderful, positive, creative young people. We need to engage that, celebrate it and continue it, …I question what happens when children have limited exposure to the arts. [The arts] are necessary for children to become well-rounded citizens … Increasingly, the school system is pressed. . . . The focus has been on the basics, on testing. . . . The arts are not considered part of the basic core curriculum. We're proud that we've been able to step up.'' Michael Spring, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs, estimates that the Trust money his department administers provides arts experiences for more than 200,000 children each year. The showcase, he says, tells the community that ``the arts are important. They help make kids mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. They help kids think beyond their current circumstances. The Trust has been visionary in its full-spectrum look at what it takes to make a healthy kid's life.''
Read more>>

STUDENT ART EXHIBIT
Seema Mehta, The Homeroom Blog, Los Angeles Times, 5/30/08
“The news about Latino and black student relations in Los Angeles schools is often troubling, such as the melee earlier this year involving 600 students at Locke High School that was quelled by police clad in riot gear and wielding billy clubs. But today, about 100 students from 10 Los Angeles schools are coming together for the second annual ‘Colors for Unity’ art exhibition … "Our goal is to use art as a tool that will allow students a form of expression to help break the race barrier," said Mike Piscal, founder and CEO of Inner City Education Foundations Public Schools, in a press release. "Our hope is that this experience will provide students with a better understanding of each other's cultures and will bring unity by focusing on their common strengths."
Read more>>

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ARTS EDUCATION IN POLITICS
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MARKELL PROPOSES DELAWARE ARTS TRUST:CREATION OF ARTS DISTRICTS PART OF PLAN
Christopher Yasiejko, The News Journal (Delaware), 5/30/08
“If elected Delaware's next governor, Jack Markell said Thursday, he would establish an endowment to support programming at arts institutions, offer incentives for local governments to apply for designation as arts and entertainment districts and strengthen arts education programs for at-risk youth. Markell, the state treasurer and a Democratic candidate for governor, … acknowledged the financial squeeze that has threatened arts institutions, and he proposed the formation of the Delaware Arts Trust, an endowment that would comprise government agencies, the business community, philanthropists and foundations. Throughout his 20-minute address, Markell sprinkled citations of studies attesting to the economic benefits of the arts -- they generate an 8-to-1 return on investment and employ 3,685 full-time workers, for example -- with links to ‘protecting Delaware's cultural legacy.’ He vowed to ensure that all students receive a "quality arts education," including the replacement of the Delaware Student Testing Program with an adaptive testing method that would allow more classroom time for the arts.
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
----------------

GRANTS FOR THE WELFARE OF AMERICAN CHILDREN
Maximum Award: $70,000
Deadline: 7/1/08
American Legion Child Welfare Foundation Grants to Help Children fund proposals that “contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society.”
Learn more>>

RICHARD RILEY AWARD:
HONORING EXCELLENCE IN SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF COMMUNITY
Maximum Award: $10,000
Deadline: 7/25/08
“Sometimes referred to as ‘community learning centers’, schools that serve as centers of community provide a rich array of social, civic, recreational and artistic opportunities to the broader community, often clustering educational and municipal buildings together. These additional services and opportunities often improve student achievement and help maximize local tax dollars. With school enrollment in the United States forecasted to increase at record levels, and spending on school construction and renovation to total nearly $30 billion annually, it makes sense that this major investment should benefit both students and the local community. The American Architectural Foundation, in partnership with KnowledgeWorks Foundation, invites you to enter a submission for the Richard Riley Award. If your school is a center of community that demonstrates innovative design ideas and helps promote student achievement, your school could win a $10,000 prize.”
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 28, 2008

2008-05-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

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
------------------------------

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
------------------------------

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
----------------------------------

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>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, May 21, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REDEFINING GIFTED & TALENTED
------------------------------

IDEAS ON CREATIVE AND PRACTICAL IQ UNDERLIE NEW TESTS OF GIFTEDNESS
Debra Viadero, Education Week, 5/21/08
“Yale University researchers are pilot-testing an assessment for identifying gifted and talented children that taps intellectual skills other than those captured by traditional intelligence tests. The new tests include questions … designed to measure students’ creativity. The new battery is based on [Robert J.] Sternberg’s definition of “successful intelligence,” which holds that people who succeed in the real world possess a combination of practical, creative, and analytical skills.”
Read more>>

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BEHAVIORS OF SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS
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STUDENT TURNAROUND BUILT ON TEACHING STUDENTS TO BE STUDENTS
Emily Alpert, Voice of San Diego, 4/25/08
”Five years ago, suspensions abounded at Webster Elementary. Fights regularly erupted during recess and teachers feared violent outbursts from gang-involved 6th graders. Fast forward to 2008. Students cheerfully greet their teachers by name, line up quickly, and listen respectfully to each other in class. The endless procession of kids to the principal's office has stopped. [Principal] White now spends her mornings ranging freely between classrooms to observe teachers and videotaping their best lessons to share. Teachers chalk up the turnaround to a homegrown program that explicitly teaches students how to behave in class . . . White and her teachers crafted the Webster Way, which teaches ‘scholarly behavior’ such as eye contact, cleaning up your trash, and greeting teachers by name.”
Read more>>

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ART? SCIENCE?
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GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times, 5/15/08
May 15, 2008
”Possibly the leader of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday could be considered a conductor. Definitely the leader was a semiconductor — a whole lot of them, The Associated Press reported. Asimo, a 4-foot-3-inch Honda robot, led the orchestra in a performance of ‘The Impossible Dream’ from Man of La Mancha. . . . Asimo mimicked the actions of a conductor, nodding at sections of the ensemble during the performance and gesturing with one or both hands. At the end Asimo — an aconym for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility — was greeted by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma . . .and enthusiastic shouts from the audience. Engineers based the robot’s motions on those of Charles Burke, the orchestra’s education director, as he conducted the piece about six months ago.”
Read more>>

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PARTNERING PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STUDENTS
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WHERE THE KIDS, NOT THE STARS, ARE THE STARS
Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 5/18/08
“As members of the 52nd Street Project, the theater program for Hell’s Kitchen children, the young performers long ago learned to treat the celebrities in their midst like regular folks. For 27 years the project has provided 9- to 18-year-olds with guidance in playwriting and acting by an enviable roster of volunteers, including … Frances McDormand, . . . Jon Stewart … and Sam Waterston . . . [T]he project annually stages some 80 plays created by its 110 students, with a little adult collaboration. On Tuesday the project broke ground for its first permanent theater, part of the Archstone Clinton development on 10th Avenue at 52nd Street. Designed by BKSK Architects, the 17,000-square-foot space will be home to a two-story black-box theater as well as rehearsal rooms, a lounge and kitchen, offices, a computer bar and an area for academic tutoring.”
Read more>>

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GENDER IN EDUCATION
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AAUW SEES NO EDUCATIONAL CRISIS FOR BOYS
Debra Viadero, Education Week, 5/20/08
”Even though more women and girls are getting college degrees and scoring in the top ranks on national math tests than was the case in the 1970s, their academic gains have not come at the expense of boys, says a report released today by the American Association of University Women. Some researchers and advocates have made the case in recent years for a ‘boys' crisis’ in education, pointing out, for instance, that boys have begun to trail girls on key academic indicators, such as in rates of enrollment in and graduation from college. But the AAUW, the Washington-based group that sparked a national debate about gender disparities in education with a report issued 16 years ago, contends bluntly in its new report that the fears about boys are overstated.”
Read the article>>
Read the AAUW report>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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RACHEL CARSON SENSE OF WONDER CONTEST
Maximum Award: Publication on sponsors’ Web site
Deadline: 6/16/08
“The EPA, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., announce a poetry, essay, and photography contest ‘that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes.’ We want you to share this love of nature with a child and others around you. When we teach our eyes and ears and senses to focus on the wonders of nature, we open ourselves to the wonders around us.” Entries should be created by an intergenerational team featuring a youth under 18 and an adult aged 50 or older.
Learn more>>

EZRA JACK KEATS MINI-GRANT PROGRAM
FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Maximum Award: $500
Deadline: 9/15/08
Provides funding for creative literacy initiatives in schools and public libraries.
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 14, 2008

2008-05-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, May 14, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS AND RESEARCH
------------------------------

THE POWER OF FAMILY CONVERSATION:
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS HELP PARENTS BUILD CHILDREN’S LITERACY FROM BIRTH
Laura Pappano, Harvard Education Letter, May/June 2008
“School matters, but literacy starts at home. Teachers armed with reading contracts and carefully worded missives have long urged parents to read aloud to their children. But now there is a second and perhaps more powerful message: Talk to your kids, too. Mounting research that links language-rich home environments with reading success and school achievement is driving educators and community groups to target families long before children register for school. In addition to Todd Risley and Betty Hart’s landmark work correlating verbal home environments with future literacy, Catherine E. Snow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and David K. Dickinson, a professor of teaching and learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, are assembling data on the impact of early literacy interventions. Their ongoing study of 57 low-income families reveals that home support for literacy markedly influences kindergarten language skills and fourth grade reading comprehension test scores. No wonder those at the leading edge of literacy want to increase the quantity and quality of conversations between parents and children beginning at birth. ‘It is really what parents have been doing at home that children have to draw on when they become readers and writers,’ says Gail Jordan.”
Read more>>

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THE POWER OF CHILDREN'S RESEARCH
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REMARKABLE RESEARCH PROJECT UNEARTHS WORLD WAR II HERO
“Some enterprising students from rural Kansas discovered a Catholic woman who saved Jewish children during World War II. The story began when four high school students were shown a news clipping, which said, 'Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-43.' The students began to research this amazingly underreported story by looking through primary and secondary sources. They eventually found that Irena Sendler, a Warsaw social worker, had gone into the ghetto and talked Jewish parents and grandparents into letting her take their children in order to save them from death camps. She then took the children past Nazi guards and had them adopted into the homes of Polish families or hid them in convents and orphanages. In addition, she made lists of the children's real names and put the lists in jars that were then buried. At one point, the Nazis captured her and she was beaten severely, but the Polish underground bribed a guard to release her, and she went into hiding. After the students' diligent research, they wrote a play depicting Sendler's life. Since then, they have performed for numerous clubs and civic groups all over the U.S. and Europe, notching at least 225 presentations. The students also bring a jar to every performance, aptly titled "Life in a Jar," and collect funds ... for the care of Irena and other rescuers.”
Learn more>>
(Found via PEN News Blast)

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KIDS AND TECHNOLOGY
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ARE WIRED KIDS WELL SERVED BY SCHOOLS?
Stefanie Olsen, CNET News Blog, 4/24/08
“Among the generation of kids growing up wired, many teens are hyper-motivated to learn a special skill like how to create a podcast, direct a YouTube video, publish an anime site, or hack an iPhone. Now if only teachers could inspire such ingenuity. That was one of the basic questions that had academics scratching their heads here Wednesday at Stanford University, where a group of researchers from the University of Southern California and University of California at Berkeley presented their first findings from one of the largest ethnographic studies on kids in digital environments. (An ethnographic study draws on fieldwork to provide a descriptive picture of a group. The full research will be published later this year as part of a MacArthur Foundation grant.) Sure, kids have long been attracted to extracurricular activities like dance or sports. But researchers say digital media is bringing up a new generation who are creators of media rather than just passive consumers of it. Within these digital environments among peers, kids who create and evaluate media are deriving a sense of competence, autonomy, self-determination and connectedness, researchers say.”
Read more>>

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REPLACING ARTS WITH P.E.
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BILL TO REQUIRE P.E. ELIMINATES ARTS ELECTIVES
Jerry F. Rutledge, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, 5/6/08
“Smiths Station High School senior Jordan Hatch can't conceive of a world without music or theater … Hatch is a member of the high school's award-winning chamber choir, one of the highly acclaimed choirs in Alabama for more than a decade. He and other students and faculty are concerned that a bill before the Alabama Legislature could limit or eliminate choir and other electives from the curriculum in favor of more physical education time.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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NSTA NEW SCIENCE TEACHER ACADEMY
National Science Teachers Association; sponsored by Amgen Foundation
Award: Program Expenses covered
Eligibility: Teachers with a minimum of 51% of courses in middle or high school science
Deadline: 5/23/08 ***COMING SOON***”
NSTA New Science Teacher Academy, cofounded by the Amgen Foundation, is a professional development initiative created to help promote quality science teaching, enhance teacher confidence and classroom excellence, and improve teacher content knowledge The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy endeavors to use mentoring and other professional development resources to support science teachers during the often challenging, initial teaching years and to help them stay in the profession.” NSTA Fellows receive many benefits, including e-Mentoring and facilitated online curriculum.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 7, 2008

2008-05-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

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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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, April 30, 2008

2008-04-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, April 30, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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A NATION AT RISK: 25 YEARS LATER
Education Week series, 2008
The pragmatic report A Nation at Risk was released 25 years ago this month. Education Week is running a series of articles focused on the impact of that report on education over the years and today.
Read more>>

PISA 2006: SCIENCE COMPETENCIES FOR TOMORROW’S WORLD
Programme for International Student Assessment
”Presents the results from the most recent PISA survey, which focused on science and also assessed mathematics and reading … Analysis gives the most comprehensive international picture of science learning today, exploring not only how well students perform, but also their interests in science and their awareness of the opportunities that scientific competencies bring as well as the environment that schools offer for science learning. It places the performance of students, schools and countries in the context of their social background and identifies important educational policies and practices that are associated with educational success. By showing that some countries succeed in providing both high quality education and equitable learning outcomes, PISA sets ambitious goals for others.” High-performing countries include Finland, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.
Learn more>>

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LOSING A SENSE OF PLAY
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CHILDHOOD’S END: GROWING UP TOO FAST
SOMETHING IS LOST WHEN LITTLE RED WAGONS AND MUD PIES MAKE WAY FOR WORKSHEETS AND TESTS
M. Jones, Edutopia, 3/18/08
”She waltzes into my room on winged feet -- all 3 feet and a bit of her, with a pixie cut and huge brown eyes. She is Katy (not her real name), and she is in the first grade. As everyone else settles down, Katy twirls in a dizzying display of excess energy. She is wearing her favorite outfit -- a rainbow poncho and a tiara with pink feathers. The rest of the class sits on the rug, crisscross applesauce. They stare up at me expectantly. Katy is trying to lie across my lap and peer up into my face. She slithers down, bounces up again, and moves to her desk to see what treasures might be in her backpack. Her bottom has never touched her chair. I invite her back to the group and sit her right next to me -- her favorite place in the room. A little young, I tell myself on the first day. Not ready for first grade and the rigors of state standards … When I check her file in the office, I am dumbfounded by an inch-thick IEP folder … An Individualized Education Program usually signals some serious area of concern. The plan spells out goals for the student and how the teacher will monitor and assess the accomplishment of those goals. Benchmarks are set. Meetings are held. I've never had a first grader with an IEP. Most students come equipped with a slim folder holding their vaccination records and birth certificate. What could possibly be wrong with this girl that warrants this level of scrutiny? The answer: nothing. She has an older brother with a learning disability and anxious parents who want to make sure Katy doesn't ‘fall through the cracks.’”
Read more>>

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ARTS AND THE ECONOMY
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ARTS INSTITUTIONS FEELING IMPACT OF AILING ECONOMY
Karen Matthews, Associated Press, 4/21/08
”When the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles was seeking to finance the purchase of art works, it did what cultural institutions often do to raise money: It issued bonds. But rising interest rates brought on by turmoil in the financial markets boosted payments, and the organization got socked for an additional $650,000 in fees earlier this year for which it had not budgeted. Like homeowners and stockholders, museums, concert halls, dance companies and other arts organizations are feeling the pinch from the faltering economy. Museums and symphony halls that financed renovations with seemingly safe municipal bonds saw interest rates spike in recent weeks; other arts institutions are suffering from low returns on investments; and some arts executives are worried that recession fears could take a bite out of donations and ticket sales.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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PARTNERS IN EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Partners in Arts Education
Deadline: 5/23/08 ***coming soon***
Grant Award: Up to $20,000
“The goal of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program is to enhance arts learning in K–12 Public Schools (PS) by supporting exemplary Community School of the Arts (CSA)/PS partnerships which serve large numbers of public school students during the school day or extended day, exemplify best practices in creating and sustaining effective partnerships, provide pedagogically-sound arts education experiences, prioritize student learning and achievement in the arts, and address national, state, and/or local arts education standards.” See Web site for list of eligible communities.
Learn more>>

CVS COMMUNITY GRANTS
Deadline: October 2008
“Community Grants target effective and innovative programs that align with our philanthropic values and criteria. To ensure that we make a positive impact, the 2008 Community Grants Program will focus on these two key areas: healthcare services for uninsured people and programs targeting children under 18 with disabilities [such as] health and rehabilitation services, public schools promoting inclusion, or creating opportunities or facilities which give greater access to physical movement and play.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, April 23, 2008

2008-04-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, April 23, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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THE ART OF COLLABORATION:
PROMISING PRACTICES FOR INTEGRATING THE ARTS AND SCHOOL REFORM
Arts Education Partnership, 2008
”The Arts Education Partnership is pleased to announce the release of its new publication The Art of Collaboration: Promising Practices for Integrating the Arts and School Reform by Andrew L. Nelson, AEP Associate for Research and Policy. This second installment in AEP’s research and policy brief series outlines promising practices for building community partnerships that integrate the arts into urban education systems.”
Learn more>>

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES: BUSINESS & EMPLOYMENT IN THE ARTS
Americans for the Arts, 2008
Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts reports offer a new, research-based approach to understanding the scope and importance of the arts to the nation's economy. While most economic impact studies of the arts have focused on the nonprofit sector, Creative Industries is the first national study that encompasses both the nonprofit and for-profit arts industry. By documenting Dun & Bradstreet business and employment data for both the nonprofit and for-profit arts sectors, you can paint a picture of a powerful engine in your community's information economy. What makes this data especially potent is that it can be localized to any city, county, state, region, or political jurisdiction in the country, and it can be updated annually so that you can track trend data.”
Learn more or order a report for your area>>

STUDY: CREATIVE ECONOMY PLAYS KEY ROLE ON NORTH SHORE
Ethan Forman, Gloucester Times, 4/16/08
”From Cape Ann artists to Peabody advertisers, large newspaper publishers to one-man Web page design firms, the creative economy on the North Shore represents 10 percent to 12 percent of the region's private sector employment, a study released yesterday finds. Creative economy companies focus on industries that are tied to innovation and individual creativity, skill and talent, where ideas, products and services can lead to wealth and job creation. This economy employs a larger percentage of workers than biotech (2 percent) and manufacturing (7 percent) in the metropolitan Boston economy, the study says. While economic development officials have been touting the creative economy as a driver of job growth for years, this study represents the first time the size and scope of the creative economy on the North Shore has been fully measured.”
Read more news coverage>>
Read the report>>

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EDUCATORS
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DRAMA CLASSES HIT BY 60% TEACHER CUT
Lalayn Baluch, The Stage (UK), 4/16/08
”Secondary school drama teaching is at risk from a serious “dilution” in quality because of government plans to cut the number of new specialist teachers by 60%, education experts have warned. Figures from the Training Development Agency - which regulates the allocation of teaching programmes - reveal that in 2005 there were 261 places on postgraduate PGCE Secondary Drama courses nationwide. By 2011 that number will have fallen to just 109. Emma Brown, PGCE course leader at Central School of Speech and Drama and member of the Standing Committee of Initial Teacher Education in Drama, believes that without sufficient specialists, the government will struggle to carry through its initiatives to increase participation in the arts - such as the recently announced Find Your Talent scheme, which promises five hours of culture to youngsters every week. She told The Stage: ‘There are lots of implications. If you only have 100 trained drama teachers for 4,000 secondary schools [each year], obviously what you are going to have is a dilution in the quality of drama teaching and also a limited number of people who are specialists.’”
Read more>>

HYLTON TEACHER IS HONORED FOR HELPING STUDENTS ENVISION HISTORY
Ian Shapira, Washington Post, 4/17/08
”Lisa Racine, a history teacher at C.D. Hylton High School in Prince William County [Maryland] does not care much for textbooks in the classroom. Instead of reading aloud from a monstrous history book, Racine instead will teach topics playing music, such as an Alan Jackson song related to the Sept. 11 attacks, or with photographs from the civil rights era that depict violent protests in Alabama. ‘I have never, ever used a textbook during class time. There is not a bigger waste. They can use the textbook at home,’ Racine said. ‘You have them for 90 minutes and need to be teaching them something new. . . . I think teaching with pictures is very important. So many of us are visual learners.’"
Read more>>

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TEACHING RESOURCES
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THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT MATH
These resources use puzzles, games, patterns, music, and mnemonics to develop students’ interest in and motivation for math.
Air Force Brain Booster Book>>
Harvey Mudd College’s Math Department’s Fun Facts>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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FIVE-DAY CAMP FOR MATH AND SCIENCE
Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy
Application Deadline: 10/31/08
Award: All expenses paid for weeklong program
“The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy is a one-week all-expense-paid intensive professional development program for third- through fifth-grade teachers. The Academy offers a five-day program designed to provide third- through fifth-grade teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to motivate students to pursue careers in science and math. Phil and Amy Mickelson partnered with ExxonMobil to develop the Academy in conjunction with the National Science Teachers Association and Math Solutions. The Mickelsons wanted to develop a program that inspires teachers from across the country in math and science and equips them with interactive teaching tools to ignite their students' passion for these subjects. They also wanted to develop a program that helps to develop the next generation of science savvy citizens who will grow up to make the next breakthrough in medicine, in energy, or in any of the growing number of fields that require a solid foundation in math and science.”
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, April 16, 2008

2008-04-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived on the IEA blog at http://edartsinstitute.blogspot.com.

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REPORTS
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READY TO INNOVATE: ARE EDUCATORS AND EXECUTIVES ALIGNED ON THE CREATIVE READINESS OF THE WORKFORCE?
Conference Board, Americans for the Arts, American Association of School Administrators
“Innovation is crucial to competition, and creativity is integral to innovation. Employers rate creativity/innovation among the top five skills that will increase in importance over the next five years, and stimulating innovation/creativity and enabling entrepreneurship is among the top 10 challenges of U.S. CEOs. But how to foster creativity in new entrants to the workforce? [This project] surveyed public school superintendents and American business executives (employers) to identify and compare their views surrounding creativity. Overwhelmingly, both the superintendents who educate future workers and the employers who hire them agree that creativity is increasingly important in workplaces … and that arts training— and, to a lesser degree, communications studies— are crucial to developing creativity. Yet, there is a gap between understanding this truth and putting it into meaningful practice. Our findings indicate that most high schools and employers provide such training and studies only on an elective or “as needed” basis.”
Read the report>>

MULTIMODAL LEARNING THROUGH MEDIA: WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
Metiri Group, commissioned by Cisco
As summarized in eSchool News: “An analysis of existing research supports a notion that already has begun to transform instruction in schools from coast to coast: that multimodal learning--using many modes and strategies that cater to individual learners' needs and capacities--is more effective than traditional, unimodal learning, which uses a single mode or strategy. According to a new report commissioned by Cisco Systems, adding visuals to verbal (textual and/or auditory) instruction can result in significant gains in basic or higher-order learning, if applied appropriately. Students using a well-designed combination of visuals and text learn more than students who use only text, the report says.”
Read the eSchool News article summarizing the report>>
Read the report>>

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DEVELOPING ARTS EDUCATION
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ART SCHOOL
Mary Tutweiler, Independent Weekly (Lafayette, Louisiana), 3/26/08
“In 2007, the Louisiana Legislature passed Louisiana Act 175 to bring visual and performing arts into every classroom in Louisiana by 2012. Working with the Kennedy Center, Lafayette City's arts community hopes to develop a working model for the state to adopt in implementing the new law. During last year’s legislative session, Baton Rouge Sen. Sharon Broome authored legislation requiring the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and implement an arts curriculum in the public schools. Broome worked closely with Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who has pledged to integrate eroding arts programs back into education. ‘Unlike other states, every child in Louisiana doesn’t have that opportunity for arts education, which compelled us to create the legislation and champion its passage,’ says Pam Breaux, an assistant secretary within the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. ‘We want to put music and the arts back in schools … Research tells us that when children are exposed to the arts, dropout rates go down, test scores go up, and science skills improve. And so it’s important for education because it ignites creative thinking and critical thinking, and it makes better students.’”
Read more>>

ARTS EDUCATION DESCRIBED AS VITAL:
STATE WORK FORCE NEEDS CREATIVITY, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SAYS
Dani McClain, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/29/08
”Wisconsin needs to cultivate an innovative, entrepreneurial work force, and arts education is the key, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton said Friday. A new task force on arts and creativity, co-chaired by Lawton and state schools Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, plans to survey arts offerings in Wisconsin schools, hold public hearings around the state, and issue a list of recommendations by the end of the year. ‘I see artists imagining solutions to 21st-century problems,’ Lawton said … ‘Creativity is important to every sector of Wisconsin's economy.’ The task force[‘s] … goal will be to position arts education as a way to teach critical-thinking skills and encourage Wisconsin's students to become visionaries who can propel the state to the forefront of the green economy and other emerging industries, Lawton said. ‘The Silicon Valley wasn't brought in on semi trucks,’ she said, citing Apple CEO Steve Jobs as someone who combines technical know-how with an artist's touch.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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GRANTS FOR ARTS, EARLY CHILDHOOD READING, AND FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Target Local Store Grants
Deadline: 5/31/08
Maximum Award: $3,000
Organizations are invited to apply for grants sponsored by local Target stores in the areas of arts, early childhood reading, and family violence prevention.
Learn more>>

SAVE OUR HISTORY
The History Channel
Deadline: 6/6/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
”Inspire the youth in your community to become the preservationists of tomorrow. Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities. Each year, The History Channel awards grants … to organizations across the country that partner with schools or youth groups on community preservation projects that engage students in learning about, documenting and preserving the history of their communities.
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, April 9, 2008

2008-04-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, April 9, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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ART AND WAR
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BALLET AMID THE BULLETS IN IRAQ
Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times, 4/1/08
"In a city full of bloodshed, the Baghdad School of Music and Ballet is an oasis, instilling in its young charges a love of music and dance in the midst of war. ‘I feel happy when I come here,’ 11-year-old Lisam says as she catches her breath between leaps and twirls in another of the school's studios. Through the worst of the violence, Iraq's only performing arts school never stopped putting on shows and sending its teachers and students on cultural exchanges abroad. But the school, one of the few places left in Baghdad where children of all ethnic and religious backgrounds learn together, cannot shield the students from the horrors beyond its heavily guarded gates."
Read more>>

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WEBINAR
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TEACHING ARTISTS AS ADVOCATES
Thursday, 4/10/08, 3pm EST ***THIS WEEK!***
Free
RSVP to dnachbar@douglasgould.com
”Join us in April for the very first in a series of arts learning Webinars. ‘Teaching Artists as Advocates’ will feature field experts from Alameda County, CA and Minneapolis, MN who will share first-hand accounts of arts learning and community engagement. They will also offer advice on what teaching artists can do to effect change. ‘Teaching Artists as Advocates will focus on how teaching artists promote arts learning in public schools. Our presenters will provide real-time examples and talk about how arts learning in public schools has affected students, teachers, parents and themselves. Have questions on how or why? Presenters will be available to answer your questions live!”
Learn more>>

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CONFERENCE
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AMERICAN EVOLUTION: ARTS IN THE NEW CIVIC LIFE
June 20 – 22, 2008
Advance Registration Deadline: 4/18/08 ***COMING SOON***
Sheraton Philadelphia City Center
American Evolution: Arts in the New Civic Life
”At this convention, Americans for the Arts will come together to share strategies for leading creative communities. We'll celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first percent-for-art ordinance in the city that created it. We'll visit traditions in arts education that date back to the founding of the country and continue on the cutting edge. We'll also fast-forward to a new vision of civic leadership being crafted daily by the collaborative spirit of Philadelphia's artists, arts administrators, business innovators, and elected leaders. Civic life is evolving in all of our communities and the arts are at the center. In this year of democratic decision-making, join more than 1,000 of your colleagues to laugh, listen, learn, and lead in the place where it all began -- and is happening again.”
Learn more>>

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DEREGULATION AND THE ARTS
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AN ARTFUL APPROACH TO REVITALIZATION
Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute, 3/17/08
”The City of Phoenix decided a vibrant arts district would be a nifty idea to revitalize its downtown core. Too often, cities are tempted to achieve such a goal by taxpayer subsidies, eminent domain, tax hikes, or draconian zoning requirements. Instead, Phoenix decided to try a different approach --deregulation.”
Read more>>

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ARTS AND NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
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ARTS EDUCATION DOWN SINCE NCLB
Keith Jones, WHSV.com, 3/3/08
”A new study conducted by the Center on Education Policy shows that art education has declined almost 35 percent in schools since No Child Left Behind was implemented in 2001. Here's at look at how that Act has affected schools in the Valley. Dr. Donald Ford, Superintendent of Harrisonburg City Schools, says the opposite. The art program at his schools is thriving. However, they have squeezed down minutes for academic time. Ford says they'll even discuss extending the school day by 25 to 30 minutes to accommodate subjects like art, music and physical education. Dr. Robin Crowder, Superintendent of Waynesboro City Schools, says they've started doing just that. They now offer "zero period" classes, which occur after the school day and accommodate the subjects that students may not be able to fit into their regular schedules. He says such classes include choral music, drama, art, and even photography. In Augusta County, School Board member David Shiflett says not only has NCLB led to a decline in the arts, but also in vocational education. He says many students learn by doing and just aren't good test takers. ‘What happens to these students is very simple. They have trouble in some of their classes … They have to take remediation classes in order to pass the No Child Left Behind test. Well, when that happens, then they cannot take the electives that they would like to take.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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PARTNERS IN EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Partners in Arts Education
Deadline: 5/23/08
Grant Award: Up to $20,000
“The goal of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program is to enhance arts learning in K–12 Public Schools (PS) by supporting exemplary Community School of the Arts (CSA)/PS partnerships which serve large numbers of public school students during the school day or extended day, exemplify best practices in creating and sustaining effective partnerships, provide pedagogically-sound arts education experiences, prioritize student learning and achievement in the arts, and address national, state, and/or local arts education standards.” See Web site for list of eligible communities.
Learn more>>

ING UNSUNG HEROES
ING
Deadline: 4/30/08 ***coming soon***
Awards: $2,000 - $25,000
“Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into reality for students. For more than 10 years, and with $2.8 million in awarded grants, ING Unsung Heroes has proven to be an A+ program with educators. The program’s “alumni” have inspired success in the classroom and impacted countless numbers of students. Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.”
Apply online>>

GRANTS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Music is Revolution Foundation
Deadline: 3 times annually: January 15, April 15, and October 15 ***coming soon***
Awards: Mini-grants up to $500
"The Music Is Revolution Foundation administers a mini-grant program for Music Is Revolution activities designed by teachers to implement, support, and/or improve their ability to provide
quality music education for their students. Mini-grants up to $500 are available to teachers for music education activities of all types. Only projects that clearly contain a music education focus . . . will be considered. Applicants are encouraged to include activities that expose students to genres and styles of music not likely to be experienced as a part of their normal daily lives ... Funds may be used for supplies, materials, equipment, transportation for a field trip, and/or to bring a performer or musical group to the school. Funds may not be used to pay for personnel, to replace state or local school funds, or for celebration food and drinks."
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, April 2, 2008

2008-04-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived on the IEA blog at http://edartsinstitute.blogspot.com.

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CLASSICAL MUSIC
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FORUM: EDUCATION IS THE FUTURE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC
Melinda Bargeen, Seattle Times, 3/16/08
"During the past decade, reports about the impending death of classical music have arrived with such regularity that doom-saying is practically a full-time activity for several arts journalists ... Attendees at a national classical-music summit held at Seattle University last month, however, had a whole span of quite different views. Presented jointly by Seattle U. and Bellevue Philharmonic CEO Jennifer McCausland, the summit brought in representatives from coast to coast — Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, The Washington Post, and several others — and described a classical-music industry that is doing considerably more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
Read more>>

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ARTS EDUCATION
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ARTS EDUCATION ISSUE
School Administrator Magazine, 3/08
Arts education leaders including Richard Deasy of the Arts Education Partnership, Lois Hetland of Project Zero, and John M. Eger, author of The Creative Community, contribute articles to this special arts education edition.
Browse articles>>

RHEE'S '09 BUDGET ADDS $44 MILLION: NEW FUNDING PROPOSED FOR ART, MUSIC, SOCIAL WORKERS AND ACTIVITIES
By V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post, 3/18/08
"D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said yesterday that classrooms would get an additional $44 million in the fall for art and music teachers, psychologists, social workers, literacy coaches and more extracurricular activities under her proposed fiscal 2009 budget.Some school advocates questioned whether the school system would have $44 million for the initiatives, given Rhee's previous statements that the closings would save $23 million and the firings would reduce the payroll by $6 million. Rhee's spokeswoman said that, although she could not specify, the additional savings came from cutting some part-time employees at the schools and shifting maintenance costs from the school system to a new school construction authority."
Read more>>

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MAKING CHEMISTRY RELEVANT
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EXPERIMENTING WITH MAKEUP: WHAT PUTS THE 'ICK' IN LIPSTICK?
Natasha Singer, The New York Times, 3/27/08
Girls dissect lipstick and create their own lip balm at Boston's Museum of Science in a course called Cosmetic Chemistry. By linking chemistry to the girls' personal interests, the class brings the scientific method to life.
Read more>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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PARTNERS IN EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Partners in Arts Education
Deadline: 5/23/08
Grant Award: Up to $20,000
“The goal of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program is to enhance arts learning in K–12 Public Schools (PS) by supporting exemplary Community School of the Arts (CSA)/PS partnerships which serve large numbers of public school students during the school day or extended day, exemplify best practices in creating and sustaining effective partnerships, provide pedagogically-sound arts education experiences, prioritize student learning and achievement in the arts, and address national, state, and/or local arts education standards.” See Web site for list of eligible communities.
Learn more>>

BOOKS ACROSS AMERICA
National Education Association Foundation
Award: Approximately 50 annual awards of $1,000
Deadline: November 7, 2008
"The NEA’s Books Across America Library Books Awards program is funded by the NEA Foundation in collaboration with the NEA, corporate sponsors, and individuals who donate to the program. It enables public school libraries serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books." To be eligible, educators must "work in public schools in which at least 70 percent of the students are eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program."
Learn more: http://www.neafoundation.org or (202) 822-7289.

ING UNSUNG HEROES
ING
Deadline: 4/30/08
Awards: $2,000 - $25,000
“Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into reality for students. For more than 10 years, and with $2.8 million in awarded grants, ING Unsung Heroes has proven to be an A+ program with educators. The program’s “alumni” have inspired success in the classroom and impacted countless numbers of students. Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.”
Apply online>>

GRANTS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Music is Revolution Foundation
Deadline: 3 times annually: January 15, April 15, and October 15 ***coming soon***
Awards: Mini-grants up to $500
"The Music Is Revolution Foundation administers a mini-grant program for Music Is Revolution activities designed by teachers to implement, support, and/or improve their ability to provide
quality music education for their students. Mini-grants up to $500 are available to teachers for music education activities of all types. Only projects that clearly contain a music education focus . . . will be considered. Applicants are encouraged to include activities that expose students to genres and styles of music not likely to be experienced as a part of their normal daily lives ... Funds may be used for supplies, materials, equipment, transportation for a field trip, and/or to bring a performer or musical group to the school. Funds may not be used to pay for personnel, to replace state or local school funds, or for celebration food and drinks."
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, March 26, 2008

2008-03-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, March 26, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

------------------------------
OPERA ON THE BIG SCREEN
------------------------------

LIVE OPERA MOVIES AT THE MET
Joann Klimkiewicz, Hartford (CT) Courant, 3/21/08
“The crowd hums, then hushes as the signature chandeliers of the Metropolitan Opera House rise to the ceiling. Lights dimmed, a conductor with wild white hair takes the podium. A hearty stretch of applause, and then the audience settles down and settles in for the near four-hour operatic affair ahead … They're eased into in a pair of reclining movie theater seats in a packed auditorium at their local Regal Cinemas, watching a live broadcast performance of the contemporary opera "Peter Grimes." The air smells of hot butter, and every once in a while is heard the noisy crinkle of candy wrappers … This is the Met's "Live in HD" series, one of several digital endeavors the company embarked on last year to dust off its stale image. Transmitted around the world in real time, the high-definition broadcasts aim to reinvigorate a centuries-old art form and extend its reach to newer, broader audiences. The company is also broadcasting on Sirius Satellite Radio, posting live audio streams on its website and offering digital downloads of opera recordings on Rhapsody's online music service. In the midst of its second season, early signs point to a success even the company hadn't anticipated.”
Read more>>

----------------------------------
ARTS EDUCATION
----------------------------------

A PUSH TO BRING BACK ARTS IN SCHOOLS
Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/25/08
“Someone finally is taking on the job of returning arts education to Philadelphia children. The William Penn Foundation convened [120 arts] leaders to begin what promises to be one of the most important initiatives in the city's history. It will be an expensive and possibly politically fraught process. But there seems to be an acknowledgment that the little fixes (better marketing, cheaper seats, more populist repertoire) are no longer working. The time has come to think long term, difficult as it may be. No one knows what form the solution will take, but the process is going forward confidently with a series of workshops and discussions. William Penn hopes to have a blueprint for a program within six to nine months. Presumably, though it hasn't said so, the foundation will also put its money behind the idea. Whether it comes in the size of one of its usual grants, or on the extraordinary scale of its 1996 gift to Fairmount Park ($26.4 million), remains to be seen.”
Read more>>

ARTS-THEMED SCHOOLS BENEFIT STUDENTS, RAISE QUESTIONS
Halley Bondy, Backstage.com, 3/19/08
“Bronx Theatre [High School] is one of 15 arts-themed public schools in New York that have opened since 2003 and is part of the city's New Century High Schools Initiative, which converts large failing schools into smaller schools with themes ranging from the arts to finance to aeronautics. It is also part of a national trend. The Coalition of Essential Schools, a nonprofit school reform organization in Oakland, Calif., has affiliated performing-arts schools in New York and Massachusetts. The Animo Film & Theater Arts Charter High School was opened in Los Angeles in 2006 by Green Dot Public Schools … In 1998, a study conducted in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Justice found significant decreases in crime among at-risk, low-income students who were involved with arts programs. These students also showed an ‘increased ability to work on tasks from start to finish, which is vital for both educational and vocational success,’ according to the study, the YouthARTS Development Project.”
Read more>>

----------------------------------
ARTS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM
----------------------------------

ARTS EDUCATION: TAKING STOCK OF THE FUTURE
Barbard Auditorium, U.S. Department of Education, 6/24/08
Arts Education Partnership
“This one-day symposium will engage participants in an interactive discussion of major advances in arts education that have occurred since the Arts Education Partnership was founded and in recommending areas of focus and actions needed to advance the field in the future.”
Learn more>>

------------------------------
SPECIAL CALENDAR EVENTS
------------------------------

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), 3/08
"We know that Theatre and Drama are essential in the lives of students year round, but March is a great time to celebrate and increase public awareness of the important impact of Theatre In Our Schools."
Learn more>>

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), 3/08
Visit MENC's Web site to learn more about how to celebrate and advocate for strong music education programs in March and throughout the year. This year's theme is "Music Touches Lives."
For more information>>

MARCH FOR ARTS EDUCATION
Douglas Gould & Co./Keep Arts in Schools, 3/08
Visit this site for advocacy tools and gain inspiration from how other communities are marking the occasion.
Learn more>>

21ST ANNUAL ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
Americans for the Arts, 3/31 – 4/1/08, Washington, DC
“The 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. LEARN how to lobby Congress. NETWORK with other attendees from your state and across the country. BE HEARD by your members of Congress when you visit them to make the case for the arts and arts education.” Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, is a featured speaker.
Learn more>>

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

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Partners in Arts Education
Deadline: 5/23/08
Grant Award: Up to $20,000
“The goal of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program is to enhance arts learning in K–12 Public Schools (PS) by supporting exemplary Community School of the Arts (CSA)/PS partnerships which serve large numbers of public school students during the school day or extended day, exemplify best practices in creating and sustaining effective partnerships, provide pedagogically-sound arts education experiences, prioritize student learning and achievement in the arts, and address national, state, and/or local arts education standards.” See Web site for list of eligible communities.
Learn more>>

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS ESSAY CONTEST
American Alliance of Theatre Education
Open to K-12 Students
Deadline: 3/31/08 ****coming soon!***
“AATE is holding its second annual Theatre in our Schools Essay Contest as part of a nationwide search for powerful stories about the positive impact of theatre on the lives of students.” View topics by grade on the AATE Web site.
Learn more>>

AMERICAN STARS OF TEACHING
An Initiative of the U.S. Department of Education
Deadline: 3/31/08 ***coming soon***
Award: Recognition to one teacher per state and the District of Columbia
“American Stars recognizes and honors superior teachers with a track record of improving student achievement, using innovative instructional strategies, and making a difference in the lives of their students. These teachers will be highlighted as representatives of the thousands of teachers who are making a difference in the classroom. The next group of American Stars of Teaching will be identified in each state and the District of Columbia and will represent all grade levels and disciplines. Officials from the U.S. Department of Education will again be visiting the classes of each American Star to congratulate them on their success.”
Learn more>>

ING UNSUNG HEROESING
Deadline: 4/30/08
Awards: $2,000 - $25,000
“Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into reality for students. For more than 10 years, and with $2.8 million in awarded grants, ING Unsung Heroes has proven to be an A+ program with educators. The program’s “alumni” have inspired success in the classroom and impacted countless numbers of students. Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.”
Apply online>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, March 19, 2008

2008-03-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, March 26, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived on the IEA blog at http://edartsinstitute.blogspot.com.

------------------------------
OPERA ON THE BIG SCREEN
------------------------------

LIVE OPERA MOVIES AT THE MET
Joann Klimkiewicz, Hartford (CT) Courant, 3/21/08
“The crowd hums, then hushes as the signature chandeliers of the Metropolitan Opera House rise to the ceiling. Lights dimmed, a conductor with wild white hair takes the podium. A hearty stretch of applause, and then the audience settles down and settles in for the near four-hour operatic affair ahead … They're eased into in a pair of reclining movie theater seats in a packed auditorium at their local Regal Cinemas, watching a live broadcast performance of the contemporary opera "Peter Grimes." The air smells of hot butter, and every once in a while is heard the noisy crinkle of candy wrappers … This is the Met's "Live in HD" series, one of several digital endeavors the company embarked on last year to dust off its stale image. Transmitted around the world in real time, the high-definition broadcasts aim to reinvigorate a centuries-old art form and extend its reach to newer, broader audiences. The company is also broadcasting on Sirius Satellite Radio, posting live audio streams on its website and offering digital downloads of opera recordings on Rhapsody's online music service. In the midst of its second season, early signs point to a success even the company hadn't anticipated.”
Read more: http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-metopera0321.artmar21,0,7718567.story

----------------------------------
ARTS EDUCATION
----------------------------------

A PUSH TO BRING BACK ARTS IN SCHOOLS
Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/25/08
“Someone finally is taking on the job of returning arts education to Philadelphia children. The William Penn Foundation convened [120 arts] leaders to begin what promises to be one of the most important initiatives in the city's history. It will be an expensive and possibly politically fraught process. But there seems to be an acknowledgment that the little fixes (better marketing, cheaper seats, more populist repertoire) are no longer working. The time has come to think long term, difficult as it may be. No one knows what form the solution will take, but the process is going forward confidently with a series of workshops and discussions. William Penn hopes to have a blueprint for a program within six to nine months. Presumably, though it hasn't said so, the foundation will also put its money behind the idea. Whether it comes in the size of one of its usual grants, or on the extraordinary scale of its 1996 gift to Fairmount Park ($26.4 million), remains to be seen.”
Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20080325_A_push_to_bring_back_arts_in_schools.html

ARTS-THEMED SCHOOLS BENEFIT STUDENTS, RAISE QUESTIONS
Halley Bondy, Backstage.com, 3/19/08
“Bronx Theatre [High School] is one of 15 arts-themed public schools in New York that have opened since 2003 and is part of the city's New Century High Schools Initiative, which converts large failing schools into smaller schools with themes ranging from the arts to finance to aeronautics. It is also part of a national trend. The Coalition of Essential Schools, a nonprofit school reform organization in Oakland, Calif., has affiliated performing-arts schools in New York and Massachusetts. The Animo Film & Theater Arts Charter High School was opened in Los Angeles in 2006 by Green Dot Public Schools … In 1998, a study conducted in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Justice found significant decreases in crime among at-risk, low-income students who were involved with arts programs. These students also showed an ‘increased ability to work on tasks from start to finish, which is vital for both educational and vocational success,’ according to the study, the YouthARTS Development Project.”
Learn more: http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003727915

----------------------------------
ARTS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM
----------------------------------

ARTS EDUCATION: TAKING STOCK OF THE FUTURE
Barbard Auditorium, U.S. Department of Education, 6/24/08
Arts Education Partnership
“This one-day symposium will engage participants in an interactive discussion of major advances in arts education that have occurred since the Arts Education Partnership was founded and in recommending areas of focus and actions needed to advance the field in the future.”
Learn more: http://www.aep-arts.org/forums/savethedate_june2008.pdf?PHPSESSID=66b28271c9534ad163402c5b5fa9978c

------------------------------
SPECIAL CALENDAR EVENTS
------------------------------

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), 3/08
"We know that Theatre and Drama are essential in the lives of students year round, but March is a great time to celebrate and increase public awareness of the important impact of Theatre In Our Schools."
Learn more: http://www.aate.com/tios.asp

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), 3/08
Visit MENC's Web site to learn more about how to celebrate and advocate for strong music education programs in March and throughout the year. This year's theme is "Music Touches Lives."
For more information: http://www.menc.org/guides/miosm/MIOSMFront.html

MARCH FOR ARTS EDUCATION
Douglas Gould & Co./Keep Arts in Schools, 3/08
Visit this site for advocacy tools and gain inspiration from how other communities are marking the occasion.
Learn more: http://www.keepartsinschools.org/Advocacy_Day/index.php

21ST ANNUAL ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
Americans for the Arts, 3/31 – 4/1/08, Washington, DC
“The 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. LEARN how to lobby Congress. NETWORK with other attendees from your state and across the country. BE HEARD by your members of Congress when you visit them to make the case for the arts and arts education.” Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, is a featured speaker.
Learn more: http://www.artsusa.org/events/2008/aad/default.asp

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

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Partners in Arts Education
Deadline: 5/23/08
Grant Award: Up to $20,000
“The goal of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts/MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program is to enhance arts learning in K–12 Public Schools (PS) by supporting exemplary Community School of the Arts (CSA)/PS partnerships which serve large numbers of public school students during the school day or extended day, exemplify best practices in creating and sustaining effective partnerships, provide pedagogically-sound arts education experiences, prioritize student learning and achievement in the arts, and address national, state, and/or local arts education standards.” See Web site for list of eligible communities.
Learn more: http://www.nationalguild.org/programs/partners.htm

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS ESSAY CONTEST
American Alliance of Theatre Education
Open to K-12 Students
Deadline: 3/31/08 ****coming soon!***
“AATE is holding its second annual Theatre in our Schools Essay Contest as part of a nationwide search for powerful stories about the positive impact of theatre on the lives of students.” View topics by grade on the AATE Web site.
Learn more: http://www.aate.com/TIOSEssayContest.html

AMERICAN STARS OF TEACHING
An Initiative of the U.S. Department of Education
Deadline: 3/31/08 ***coming soon***
Award: Recognition to one teacher per state and the District of Columbia
“American Stars recognizes and honors superior teachers with a track record of improving student achievement, using innovative instructional strategies, and making a difference in the lives of their students. These teachers will be highlighted as representatives of the thousands of teachers who are making a difference in the classroom. The next group of American Stars of Teaching will be identified in each state and the District of Columbia and will represent all grade levels and disciplines. Officials from the U.S. Department of Education will again be visiting the classes of each American Star to congratulate them on their success.”
Learn more: https://www.t2tweb.us/AmStar/About.asp

ING UNSUNG HEROES
ING
Deadline: 4/30/08
Awards: $2,000 - $25,000
“Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into reality for students. For more than 10 years, and with $2.8 million in awarded grants, ING Unsung Heroes has proven to be an A+ program with educators. The program’s “alumni” have inspired success in the classroom and impacted countless numbers of students. Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.”
Apply online: http://www.ing-usa.com/us/aboutING/communityconnections/ineducation/unsungheroes/index.htm

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, March 12, 2008

2008-03-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, March 12, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

--------------------------------
REPORT
--------------------------------

LEARNING, ARTS AND THE BRAIN
Dana Foundation, 3/08
"Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. Researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter? For the first time, coordinated, multi-university scientific research brings us closer to answering that question. Learning, Arts, and the Brain advances our understanding of the effects of music, dance, and drama education on other types of learning. Children motivated in the arts develop attention skills and strategies for memory retrieval that also apply to other subject areas."
Learn more and download the report>>
Read the related Education Week article>>

--------------------------------------------------
ARTS EDUCATION OFFERINGS IN NEW YORK CITY
--------------------------------------------------

CITY SCHOOLS FAIL TO COMPLY WITH STATE RULE ON ARTS CLASSES
Jennifer Medina, New York Times, 3/7/08
"Only 4 percent of the city’s elementary schools meet the state’s requirement for arts education, according to the results of a city survey Mayor Michael M. Bloomberg announced on Thursday. But the mayor said that the city was making progress, noting that 98 percent of elementary schools have some instruction in either dance, music, theater or visual arts ... Advocates for the arts in public education immediately attacked the city’s efforts. 'In our City of New York, the arts capital of the world, the majority of our elementary and middle school students do not appear to meet what are the most minimal state requirements,' said Richard Kessler, the executive director of the Center for Arts Education. Several advocates said that the roughly $150,000 in private donations spent on the survey would have been better spent on arts programs. The state requires that elementary school students receive education in dance, music, theater and visual arts every year. The survey showed that fewer than 30 percent of middle schools met the requirement of providing two half-unit art classes between seventh and eighth grades."
Read more>>

-----------------------------
DONATED INSTRUMENTS
-----------------------------

MIDDLE SCHOOL EMITS SQUEAKS AND BLEATS AFTER READERS DONATE INSTRUMENTS, CASH
Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel, 3/6/08
View video and read about how an earlier Sentinel story resulted in over 100 instruments and $11,000 in cash donations has invigorated a Florida middle school's music program.
Learn more>>

-----------------------------------------
A NEW ARTS EDUCATION TRAINING MODEL
-----------------------------------------

THE ARTS ARE A FORCE THAT DRIVES ANY AND ALL LEARNING
Opinion Piece by Michael L. Hardman and Raymond Tymas-Jones, Salt Lake Tribune, 3/1/08
”We contend that the arts are the very breath of discovery, a force that drives any and all learning, and that without their influence the educational process would be nothing more than the accumulation of facts and their mindless regurgitation. As a powerful learning tool, the synergy of art and education is a true phenomenon, one that we need to nurture, promote, and ensure that all current and future educators are able to experience. While standardized tests certainly have a strong role to play in school accountability, alone they simply cannot detect or measure the full range of learning we want to encourage in young people … In an ever-changing world where proactive thinking and pre-emptive problem solving has turned into an art form itself, the need for the arts as an integral part of public education is more critical now than ever before. At the University of Utah, we have developed a rare and unique partnership that will change all that -- a collaborative endeavor with common goals, pooled resources and shared spaces. This arts and education partnership, which begins in fall 2008 … will prepare teachers to use an integrated curriculum model that teaches children to explore multiple subjects simultaneously; integrate traditionally distinct content subjects, such as art and science, and apply them thematically; and collaborate with arts specialists working in schools to teach fine arts content.”
Read more>>

------------------------------
SPECIAL CALENDAR EVENTS
------------------------------

BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK
Dana Foundation, 3/10 - 3/16/08
Visit Dana's site to view brain-related research, play brain-stimulating puzzles, view an international calendar of events, and find resources.
Learn more>>

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), 3/08
"We know that Theatre and Drama are essential in the lives of students year round, but March is a great time to celebrate and increase public awareness of the important impact of Theatre In Our Schools."
Learn more>>

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), 3/08
Visit MENC's Web site to learn more about how to celebrate and advocate for strong music education programs in March and throughout the year. This year's theme is "Music Touches Lives."
For more information>>

MARCH FOR ARTS EDUCATION
Douglas Gould & Co./Keep Arts in Schools
Visit this site for advocacy tools and gain inspiration from how other communities are marking the occasion.
Learn more>>

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

GLORIA BARRON PRIZE FOR YOUNG HEROES
Deadline for nominations: 4/30/08
The prize “honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet. Their leadership and courage make them true heroes—and inspirations to us all. Each year, the Barron Prize selects ten winners nationwide. Half of the winners have focused on helping their communities and fellow beings; half have focused on protecting the health and sustainability of the environment.”
Learn more>>

# # #

2008-03-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, March 5, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

--------------------------------
CREATIVITY INDEX FOR SCHOOLS
--------------------------------

CREATIVE THINKING IN THE CLASSROOM
Editorial by Dan Hunter and Dan Bosley, Boston Globe, 2/23/08
”All the third-graders at Chase Street School in Somerset were on the floor under their desks - painting. They had been studying the Renaissance and the works of Michelangelo. And now the children were painting their own vision, Michelangelo-style. Years from now, will they remember the facts of the Renaissance, facts that can be measured by a standardized test? Or will they remember how it felt to be in Michelangelo's skin and the challenge of articulating their individual vision? They are likely to remember the art of creativity, something that is not measured on today's standardized tests. Standardized tests use individual student performances to provide one measure of school achievement. This is valuable. But, because the tests are the only public measure of school success, schools have an incentive to "teach to the test" and to educate children to be test takers. Is this all children need to learn? Are we adequately preparing them for the future? … We have proposed a bill that creates a new measure of accountability for schools in Massachusetts. With the Creative Challenge Index, a commission - comprising legislators, and business and community leaders working with the Department of Education and education leaders - would establish an index to measure how many opportunities schools provide for students to engage in the practice of creative work - taking a project from inspiration to revision to fruition.”
Read more>>

------------------------------------------------------------
MANDATING THE CONTINUATION OF ARTS COURSES
--------------------------------------------------

AZ HOUSE PANEL OKS PE AND ARTS SCHOOL BILL
Howard Fischer, Arizona Daily Star/Capitol Media Services, 2/21/08
”State lawmakers Wednesday moved to ensure schools don't cut electives like PE and the arts to offset increased math and science requirements. With only a single dissenting vote, the House Committee on K-12 Education approved legislation to bar schools from cutting music, art and physical education programs as they're being forced to provide more academics … The committee's move came over the objection of several school officials and their representatives [who] said these decisions are best left to locally elected school boards. But state School Superintendent Tom Horne, who is pushing the measure, said there's nothing wrong with the state setting minimum standards. HB 2557, however, does not set standards or even mandate schools that don't currently offer these programs add them to the curriculum. Instead, it simply ensures those that do have the programs don't drop them.”
Read more>>

-----------------------------
VALUE OF IMAGINATIVE PLAY
-----------------------------

CREATIVE PLAY MAKES FOR KIDS IN CONTROL
Alex Spiegel, National Public Radio, 2/28/08
“For most of human history, children played by roaming near or far in packs large and small. Younger children were supervised by older children and engaged in freewheeling imaginative play. But, while all that play might have looked a lot like time spent doing nothing much at all, it actually helped build a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of elements, such as working memory and cognitive flexibility. But perhaps the most important is self-regulation — the ability for kids to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline … Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Unfortunately, play has changed dramatically during the past half-century, and according to many psychological researchers, the play that kids engage in today does not help them build executive function skills. Kids spend more time in front of televisions and video games. When they aren't in front of a screen, they often spend their time in leagues and lessons — activities parents invest in because they believe that they will help their children to excel and achieve.”
Read more and listen to the story>>

-----------------------
ARTS IN OUR SCHOOLS
-----------------------

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), 3/08
"We know that Theatre and Drama are essential in the lives of students year round, but March is a great time to celebrate and increase public awareness of the important impact of Theatre In Our Schools."
Learn more>>

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), 3/08
Visit MENC's Web site to learn more about how to celebrate and advocate for strong music education programs in March and throughout the year. This year's theme is "Music Touches Lives."
For more information>>

MARCH FOR ARTS EDUCATION
Douglas Gould & Co./Keep Arts in Schools
Visit this site for advocacy tools and gain inspiration from how other communities are marking the occasion.
Learn more>>

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

DO SOMETHING PLUM YOUTH GRANTS
Do Someting
Maximum Award: $500
Deadline: Weekly
"This grant is available to U.S. or Canadian citizens, 25 or under, who want to further the growth and success of their existing community action project. The grant money needs to be used to fund a community action project. This is not an educational scholarship."
Learn more>>

# # #

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, February 27, 2008

2008-02-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, February 27, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

-------------
PUBLICATION
-------------

TRANSFORMING ARTS TEACHING: THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Dana Foundation
"This new Dana Press book examines innovations in arts-teacher training and features the best practices at 24 higher-education institutions. Also included are proceeings from The Dana Foundation's 2007 national symposium on how colleges, universities and conservatories can enhance arts learning.
Download a copy or request a print copy>>

----------------
ARTS ADVOCACY
----------------

BANDING TOGETHER TO FIGHT: SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM IS PRIDE OF IPSWICH - AND PARENTS DON'T WANT IT CUT
Steve Landwehr, The Salem (Mass.) News, 2/19/08
"When Ipswich parents found out their beloved grade school programs were on the chopping block next year, they screamed bloody murder. Music, it seems, is an integral part of what it means to be from Ipswich, and parents aim to keep it that way."
Read more>>

-----------------------------
INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
-----------------------------

PLEASURE, BEAUTY, AND WONDER AT HIGH TECH HIGH
Commentary by John M. Egar, San Diego Business Journal, 2/11/08
"High Tech High in San Diego is a remarkable example of art infusion, indeed infusion of the various disciplines. It consists of six schools: three high schools, two middle schools and one elementary school, all with 2,500 students and 200 employees. One hundred percent of graduates have been admitted to college, 80 percent to four-year institutions of higher learning. Each semester the entire faculty and student body are assigned a topic they work together on and that draws on all disciplines, forcing students to work collaboratively on real world problems. There is no math class or art per se. Rather, those disciplines — still taught, still relevant — are curriculum-infused, integrated if you will, into larger questions like: How does the world work? Who lives here? Why do things matter? Larry Rosenstock, CEO of High Tech High, points with pride to these projects as they bring all the disciplines and all the energy and intellect of the class together. He has been accused of running 'an art school in disguise' ... Indeed, High Tech High is not a school many of us would immediately recognize. It is a place and a curriculum that has turned the K-12 world upside down ... There are plans to create 10 more such schools throughout California."
Read more: http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=121985&link=perm

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CONFERENCE
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NATIONAL COMMUNITY ARTS CONVENING & RESEARCH PROJECT
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
3/16 - 3/18/08
Registration deadline: 3/4/08 ***coming soon***
"Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) will host a national convening to advance the field of community arts. Funded by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the National Community Arts Convening & Research Project will provide a platform for college and university faculty and students and community-based practitioners to meet and share resources and models for best practices in the field; define and solve current challenges facing the field; identify and discuss new research and generate new ideas; develop strong leadership; and cultivate new partnerships. Research and other writing generated through the community arts convening project will be published online in spring 2008 on the Community Arts Network (CAN) website and the Community Arts Convening project website at http://www.mica.edu/communityartsconvening. Liz Lerman, founding artistic director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and a nationally prominent community arts practitioner, will deliver the keynote address.
Register here>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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BEST COMMUNITIES FOR MUSIC EDUCATION IN AMERICA
The NAMM Foundation and partner organizations
Deadline: March 3, 2008 ***coming soon!***
From the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts:
"The NAMM Foundation and leading advisor organizations are searching for communities that support music education and include music education offerings as part of a complete education for all students. The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts is proud to play a part in this important national recognition effort, and we encourage you participate in it as well by completing the ninth annual Best Communities for Music Education in America (BCME) survey."
Take the survey>>

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN GRANTS
The Libri Foundation
Maximum Award: N/A
Deadline: January 15, April 15, and August 15 each year
These grants partner with a library's Friends program to bring quality hardcover books to small and rural public libraries around the country with an annual total operating budget of less than $40,000.
Learn more>>

GRANTS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR PERFORMING ARTS TEACHERS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Dana Foundation
Maximum Award: $50,000
Deadline: 6/4/08
"The Dana Foundation grants professional development programs for arts educators in rural areas of the United States ... The Foundation is interested primarily in training for in-school arts specialists and professional artists who teach the performing arts to students pre-K-12 in the public schools. To be considered for this round, you must fill out a Letter of Intent in which you must describe why the proposed service area is considered to be rural, what challenges this presents and how the proposed project addresses these challenges."
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, February 20, 2008

2008-02-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, February 20. The newsletter is posted to the IEA listserv each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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MEDITATION AS A PATH TO CREATIVITY
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SCHOOL YEAR TO START ON A MEDITATIVE NOTE
Bridie Smith, Theage.com.au, 1/28/08
"When the 36 students at Reservoir's Maharishi School return to the classroom this week, there will be the usual buzz that comes from the thrill of seeing classmates and starting a school year. But by 9.30am, shoes will be off and all will be quiet. Complete silence will descend over the school as the students and teachers sit crossed-legged on the floor and meditate. Breathing and pulse rates will slow as students quickly settle into their transcendental meditation — a technique that teaches pupils to slow their mental activity and experience pure consciousness ... Meditation is a central part of the education students receive at Maharishi School, an 11-year-old independent primary school that teaches consciousness-based education. The ritual was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi — the man who introduced transcendental meditation to the Beatles, Mia Farrow and Shirley MacLaine in the 1960s. It is performed in two 10-minute sessions each day at the school, the only Maharishi school in Australia. Principal Frances Clarke said meditation enabled students to tap in to a reservoir of creativity and intelligence at the beginning and end of each school day."
Read more>>

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ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
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ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
March 31 - April 1, 2008
Americans for the Arts
"The 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. Learn how to lobby Congress. Network with other attendees from your state and across the country. Be heard by your members of Congress when you visit them to make the case for the arts and arts education."
Register or learn more>>

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PERFORMING ARTS AND THE CHANGING DIGITAL WORLD
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CLASSICAL ARTISTS EMBRACE DIGITAL CULTURE
Hazel Davis, Reuters UK, 2/9/08
"When violinist Tasmin Little announced in January that she would be giving away her 'Naked Violin' album as a free download, she tapped into a growing trend: classical music artists and retailers utilizing digital formats and business models. Since the album features Little performing the works of such little-known composers as Ysaye and Paul Patterson, listeners were unlikely to 'buy it on the off-chance,' Little says. But the response to the free download, she says, has been 'phenomenal.' Thousands of tracks have been downloaded, and monthly page impressions on Little's Web site have increased from 5,000 to 150,000 since the announcement. ''The Naked Violin' is a snapshot,' Little says. 'The idea is that people will go and buy (more classical) repertoire.'
Read more>>

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FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ARTS EDUCATION
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BUSH'S PROPOSED ARTS CUTS BRING OUTCRY
Editorial by Dorothy Shinn, Akron Beacon Journal, 2/8/08
"Bush asks nothing — not one thin dime — for the U.S. Department of Education's Arts in Education program in the 2009 budget, compared with the $35.3 million enacted appropriations in the 2008 budget ...This brings to an end his perfect record of attempting to eliminate altogether funding for this valuable program, which includes funding for model arts programs and collaborations with schools, teacher professional development and arts programs for at-risk youth.Once again, the current administration fails to understand the valuable role of arts education in developing an innovative and creative society."
Read more>>

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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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TECHNOLOGY IN MOTION: VISION OF THE FUTURE
Sony Creative Software, Intel, Edutopia, and ISTE
Proposal entry deadline: 2/22/08 ***COMING SOON!***
"The Technology in Motion contest is designed to engage students in professional video and audio production. By participating, your school will receive everything needed to produce a film or films that will be entered into a contest for a chance to win one of three $20,000 multimedia hardware and software prize packages. The film contest encourages high school students (grades 9-12) to share their vision of how technology will shape the future. Every school that submits a qualifying Call for Entries form will receive a Technology in Motion launch kit, which includes a free copy of Sony® Vegas™ Pro 8 Promotional Edition video editing software; free Sony Vegas Pro 8 video tutorials; a free copy of the Digital Video and Audio Production Vegas Pro 8 teaching guide; [and a] free 1 year subscription to Edutopia magazine.
Learn more>>

THE PURPOSE PRIZE
Civic Ventures
Nominations Close: 3/1/08 ***COMING SOON!***
"The Purpose Prize provides five awards of $100,000 each to people over 60 who are taking on society’s biggest challenges. It’s for those with the passion and experience to discover new opportunities, create new programs, and make lasting change."
Learn more>>

DRIVING SAFETY FILM CONTEST
Bridgestone Firestone 2008 Safety Scholars
Deadline: 6/24/08
"It’s your turn to take the director’s chair. Make a short video (25 or 55 seconds) related to safe driving. Enter it in the Safety Scholars Competition and your video may be aired as a commercial for Bridgestone Firestone. The three top filmmakers also will each win a $5,000 college scholarship and the ten finalists win a new set of tires." For high school students.
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, February 13, 2008

2008-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for February 13, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORT
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THE OTHER HALF OF THE STRATEGY:
FOLLOWING UP ON SYSTEM REFORM BY INNOVATING WITH SCHOOL AND SCHOOLING
Education Evolving, 1/08
This report advocates for the need to move beyond standards and accountability into new schools and kinds of schooling. The report suggests that new innovations, including a variety of school models, can advance this cause.
Read the report>>

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THE VALUE OF ARTS EDUCATION
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WHY ARTS EDUCATION MATTERS
Commentary by Stephanie Perrin, Education Week, January 30, 2008
”For years, we have watched arts classes give way to the seemingly more ‘practical’ courses that politicians and policymakers assume have a direct link to professional and economic success. But in an increasingly globalized economy, one in which an ability to innovate and to imagine new possibilities is critical to America’s ability to compete, we still train our young people very narrowly to work in an industrialized society. As the country contemplates reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, political and policy leaders must recognize that an education in and through the arts, as a central part of a total school program, allows schools to better address these challenges than a curriculum that defines success as aptitude in literacy and math only.”
Read more>>

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A LESSON ON DIVERSITY
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YOUNG STUDENTS USE CRAYONS TO LEARN ABOUT DIVERSITY
Chris Lundy, APP.com, 1/31/08
” Kim Troncone's first-grade students opened their crayon boxes to draw a picture but found a surprise: They only had one crayon. The students at Veterans Memorial Elementary School were taking part in a lesson on diversity, inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Sean Aubrey, 6, was stuck with just an orange crayon. Thus, he drew an orange. ‘An orange crayon doesn't really make a lot,’ he said. Then, Troncone gave them all the colors they were missing.”
Read more>>

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SCHOOL REFORM
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SCHOOL CHIEF LAYS OUT AMBITIOUS PLAN
Tracy Jan, Boston Globe, 1/31/08
”More Boston high school students would be able to attend classes on college campuses. Parents would be able to send their young children to popular Montessori schools without paying private school tuition. And students of all ages would have more opportunities to learn art and music. Those are among the ambitious plans Superintendent Carol Johnson unveiled last night during her first major policy address before the School Committee. Hoping to entice parents to enroll their children in public schools, Johnson called simultaneously for increasing accountability to ensure there are improvements among struggling students while expanding programs for the highest achievers.”
Read more>>

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THINK AN ARTIST’S LOFT IS A TAX BREAK? READ ON
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IRS CHALLENGES LOW-INCOME ARTIST LOFTS
Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio, 1/31/08
“Starting this year, artists may have a harder time finding places to live and work for cheap. A new IRS ruling says low-income artist lofts are not in compliance with federal tax regulations.”
Read more or listen to the story>>

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VISUAL LITERACY
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THINKING LIKE AN ARTIST
Pamelia C. Valentine, Educational Leadership online, 2/08
”I'm sitting at a staff meeting while the principal works her way through yet another PowerPoint presentation. This one is gloriously titled ‘Every Teacher Is a Reading Teacher!!’ All the teachers who teach non-text-based classes are reacting to the presentation. The physical education teachers are looking uncomfortable. The horticulture guy is squirming. The music teacher is pantomiming gagging. I'm a visual arts teacher at this middle school, and I'm sitting up straight and hanging on the principal's every word. OK, I'm not exactly hanging on every word, but I am paying close attention because I believe that every subject area has its own forms of literacy. I didn't always see the value in teaching reading, writing, and thinking skills in art class. I used to teach a project-based art class where we spent all our time "making art." But when I reflected on my teaching, I realized that I wasn't helping my students meet the National Visual Arts Standards developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, such as the ability to ‘reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.’ My art learners needed to be thinking deeply, writing about art, and making connections between the features of high-quality art across genres and styles.
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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ARTS EDUCATION AWARD
Americans for the Arts’ Arts Education Network
Deadline: 2/15/08 **coming soon**
”The Arts Education Award is given annually to identify the best in arts education program design and execution, as well as leadership. The award brings visibility and national recognition to model partnership programs. The award is presented to a local organization that can demonstrate systemic and sustainable results in support of learning in the arts, or through the arts, for public school students for a minimum of five years. Other important criteria include the integration of work into school or district infrastructure, involvement of public school and discipline-based arts educators, effective partnerships, industry-recognized work, success in building capacity for the organization itself and for the community, and conscientious efforts to build the scale of the work.”
Learn more>>

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DID YOU KNOW?
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We archive past newsletters here on our searchable blog.

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, February 6, 2008

2008-02-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for February 6, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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RESPONDING TO PRESIDENT BUSH’S EDUCATIONAL FUNDING PLAN
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FROM WENDY D. PURIEFOY
PRESIDENT, PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK
"President Bush has talked tough in the past about holding our country’s public schools and students accountable. His last proposed education budget appears to free him and his administration from any serious accountability for the state of our nation’s public education system, which is remarkable, as such accountability was something that he and his party fought hard for in the early days of his administration. The president has said he supports education but this budget, as was true for previous budgets, is insufficient to support education to the extent necessary in our nation. The 2009 budget includes what appears to be increases for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but are really just restorations of previous cuts. These restorations are nowhere near enough to provide the resources necessary to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress mandated by NCLB. This is insufficient funding for what was once termed a bold initiative by both parties, and which is now seen by many as a liability because of the failure of the administration to properly fund NCLB. Several reading programs have had their funding levels restored to levels they had at least two years ago. However, restoration of lost funds does not equal increases and it does not equal forward movement. Monies are being cut from a number of other crucial initiatives, including pre-school programs and several programs aimed at making American children ready for the technology revolution sweeping our globe. But the most serious cuts of all are those being made to programs aimed at addressing this nation’s teacher quality challenges. Teacher quality and teacher efficacy are at the very heart of student achievement. For these programs to be cut indicates that the administration is not listening to the American public, who have long voiced their support for measures to bolster the nation’s teacher quality.”
Read more>>

A RESPONSE FROM ASCD
“President Bush's FY 2009 proposal will essentially level fund education. This does not even include an inflationary increase, which will result in a funding cut for many programs. With increases for programs not meeting inflationary costs coupled with growing student enrollments, schools will be forced to do more with less. Further, the funding increases proposed for a few programs come at the expense of other education programs. The budget proposal continues the President's attempt to eliminate 47 programs to save about $3.3 billion. Slight increases in Title I and IDEA (roughly equal to inflation) are provided as a result of the cuts to other programs. While essentially freezing or eliminating many public school programs, the President has proposed about $300 million to enable children in lower performing public schools to go to unregulated private schools with no requirements for teacher quality and curriculum. To cover the tuition and other expenses of a few students, the initiative would take away taxpayer dollars that could be used to improve public school education for many more students.”
Read more>>

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PREPARING ALL STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE
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URBAN HIGH SCHOOLS AIMING HIGHER THAN DIPLOMA
Sara Rimer, New York Times, 1/17/08
”At Excel High School, in South Boston, teachers do not just prepare students academically for the SAT; they take them on practice walks to the building where the SAT will be given so they won’t get lost on the day of the test. In Chattanooga, Tenn., the schools have abolished their multitrack curriculum, which pointed only a fraction of students toward college. Every student is now on a college track. And in the Washington suburb of Prince George’s County, Md., the school district is arranging college tours for students as early as seventh grade, and adding eight core Advanced Placement classes to every high school, including some schools that had none. Those efforts, and others across the country, reflect a growing sense of urgency among educators that the primary goal of many large high schools serving low-income and urban populations — to move students toward graduation — is no longer enough. Now, educators say, even as they struggle to lift dismal high school graduation rates, they must also prepare the students for college, or some form of post-secondary school training, with the skills to succeed.”
Read more>>

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MUSIC INTEGRATION IDEAS
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MUSIC IN EVERY CLASSROOM
PBS.org
“Explore the world of music through activities that focus on musical beat, rhythm, mood and emotions. Investigate the science of guitars, learn musical notation and enjoy multicultural music and popular songs from three generations.”
Learn more>>

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MUSEUM FELLOWSHIPS
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RINGLING MUSEUM POST-GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
”The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, The State Art Museum of Florida and a division of Florida State University, offers two 12-month, post-graduate fellowships. The fellowships are designed to enable recent recipients of a master?s or doctoral degree in the arts, arts administration, museum studies, or other related fields to prepare for a museum career. These one-year non-renewable positions will provide each fellow with a challenging and comprehensive work experience. Fellowship departments change from year to year. The Circus Museum Archives and Collections Management will host fellows in 2008-2009. See online application at website below for full job description. We consciously look for upbeat personalities who can work as a team member, independently, and with imagination. Our organization works across departments and divisions, so each fellow participates in many areas of museum operations. Students nearing completion of a master or doctoral degree are encouraged to apply. The fellowship begins in June 2008. Interested applicants are required to submit an online application with attached or mailed cover letter, résumé or cv, and list of references. Additional materials will vary depending on the position.”
For more information, contact Karen Patriarca, kpatriarca@ringling.org, 941-359-5700 x4401.
To apply, visit: http://www.jobs.fsu.edu; Keyword: Ringling

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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SAVE OUR HISTORY INITIATIVE
The History Channel
Deadline: 6/6/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
” Inspire the youth in your community to become the preservationists of tomorrow. Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities. Each year, The History Channel awards grants of up to $10,000 to organizations across the country that partner with schools or youth groups on community preservation projects that engage students in learning about, documenting and preserving the history of their communities.”
Learn more>>

A+ FOR ENERGY GRANTS
BP America
Deadline: 3/7/08 **coming soon!**
Maximum Award: $10,000
”The A+ for Energy® program was developed by BP to recognize teachers for innovation and excellence in teaching energy and/or energy conservation in the classroom. Any public or private preK-12 teacher currently teaching in an accredited or licensed schoolin Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, or Texas, is encouraged to apply.”
Learn more>>

GRANTS FOR PROJECTS LED BY AND BENEFITING FEMALES
Open Meadows Foundation
Deadline: 2/15/08 **coming soon!**
”Open Meadows Foundation is a grant-making organization for projects that are led by and benefit women and girls. Open Meadows Foundation funds projects that do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age or ability. It offers grants up to $2000 to projects that are designed and implemented by women and girls; reflect the diversity of the community served by the project in both its leadership and organization; promote building community power; promote racial, social, economic and environmental justice; and have limited financial access or have encountered obstacles in their search for funding.”
Learn more>>

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DID YOU KNOW?
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We archive past newsletters here on our searchable blog.

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, January 30, 2008

2008-01-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for January 30, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORT
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CREATIVITY MATTERS: THE ARTS AND AGING
National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA); National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)
1/28/08
”Participatory arts education programs for older adults have been shown to improve participants’ health and strengthen engagement. [This publication,] a first-of-its kind resource for arts, healthcare and/or aging services organizations, . . . exemplifies a combined commitment—on the part of NCCA, the National Guild, and NJPAC— to lifelong learning in the arts. Authored by Johanna Misey Boyer, the Toolkit describes the benefits of participatory arts education programs for older adults; the aging services infrastructure as it relates to the intersection between arts and aging; the arts infrastructure as it relates to the intersection between arts and aging; best practices in designing, funding , implementing, sustaining and evaluating arts education/participation programs for older adults, and case studies of exemplary programs.
Learn more>>
Order the report>>

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”CORE KNOWLEDGE” EDUCATION MODEL
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MILNER STUDENTS WILL BE EXPOSED TO “CORE KNOWLEDGE”
Rachel Gottlieb Frank, Hartford (CT) Courant, 1/22/08
It will be back to basics — math and art and literature and science and other stuff every child should know — when Milner Elementary, the city's lowest performing school, transforms into a Core Knowledge school next year … Like Montessori schools, Core Knowledge schools [based on the philosophy of E.D. Hirsch Jr.] adhere to a particular philosophy. Unlike Montessori, they don't tell teachers how to teach. Instead, they focus on what items to teach, and in what order they should be taught. Core Knowledge schools seek to foster a love of learning through engaging students with literature and poetry. And lessons are planned around the goal of teaching students to be culturally literate. Hirsch, a retired English professor from the University of Virginia and author of a series of books about what children should know in each elementary grade level, said students learn to read when they are interested in the subject being taught. And the time spent teaching reading, he said, is time that should be used to teach children about the world. ’What we need to do for these poor kids is year-by-year give them interesting stuff and then they'll become readers. How did we get into this fix? How did we begin not teaching content?’ Hirsch asked. The recent trend of drilling students for hours, using a series of disconnected, highly scripted exercises, is mind-numbing, he said.
Read more>>

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DEVELOPING IMAGINATION
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NATIONAL POLL ON IMAGINATION IN SCHOOLS
ImagineNation.com/Arts Education Partnership
Released 1/24/08
Results from a national poll were released today … identifying a new strand of swing voters poised to support candidates and policy that ensures building capacities of the imagination in schools. The new national survey of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3.1% margin of error, identifies that 30% of American voters are not only dissatisfied with public education’s narrow focus on the “so-called” basics but that they also believe developing the imagination is a critical, but missing, ingredient to student success in 21st century schools and moving students beyond average … The majority of voters surveyed believe that it is extremely important to have good public schools nationwide, but there is also concern that public education in the United States is behind what is offered to students in other parts of the world and that we devote less attention to developing the imagination, creative skills, and innovation than other nations.”
Learn more>>

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GATHERING VOICES
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FORTY-CENT TIP: STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY IMMIGRANT WORKERS
A project of What Kids Can Do (WKCD)
The WKCD project turned students into interviewers. The collected interviews have been collected in the book Forty-Cent Tip. WKCD encourages teachers and students to replicate this model. Visit the Web site to download a manual, request a complimentary copy of the book, or purchase additional books at cost.
Learn more>>

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JOB OPPORTUNITY
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DIRECTOR, ARTS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
Washington, DC
Position Open Until Filled
The Arts Education Partnership is searching for a new Director to replace founding director Richard Deasy upon his retirement in June 2008.
Learn more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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A+ FOR ENERGY GRANTS
BP America
Deadline: 3/7/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
”The A+ for Energy® program was developed by BP to recognize teachers for innovation and excellence in teaching energy and/or energy conservation in the classroom. Any public or private preK-12 teacher currently teaching in an accredited or licensed schoolin Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, or Texas, is encouraged to apply.”
Learn more>>

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DID YOU KNOW?
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We archive past newsletters here on our searchable blog.

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, January 23, 2008

2008-01-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for January 23, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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REINVENTION THROUGH THE ARTS
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ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE
Ariella Cohen, New Orleans CityBusiness, 1/14/08
”Joshua Lee Nidenberg sold life insurance before Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, he traded his steady income for the creative freedom of … his new occupation as a fine art photographer.” Lee Nidenberg now pays the bills with proceeds from the prints he sells and shops and art markets or to corporate clients. ‘Photography has always been my passion so I decided to take a shot at trying to make it my career. Against all odds, it worked.’ The success story seemed unlikely in the months after Katrina, when galleries and artists were struggling to stay afloat without enough tourists and residents to buy work. Two and a half years later, the city’s creative community is making an unexpectedly strong rebound from Katrina.”
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HISTORICAL IMAGES ON FLICKR
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IMAGES NOW ON FLICKR
This month, the Library of Congress opened an account on the popular photo sharing site Flickr. The project began with over 3000 photos culled from LC’s collection of about 14 million items. By posting these uncopyrighted photos to Flickr, LC allows viewers to view and comment on the images.
View the LC Flickr collection>>

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RIGHT-BRAINED THINKING
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THINKING RIGHT IN A LEFT-BRAIN ENVIRONMENT
Su Bacon, Kansas City (MO) Star, 1/12/08
“In a business firm full of CPAs, an MFA stands out like an oboe in a room full of calculators. Yet Lori Diffendaffer says the degree and her musical background prepared her well to handle marketing at Grant Thornton LLP in Kansas City. Diffendaffer is a marketing senior associate at the accounting, tax and business advisory firm. She works with accountants, auditors and business advisers to write promotional pieces, prepare proposals, create direct mail campaigns and plan special events. ‘Whenever I write a piece, I consider if the tone is right, the voice is right — skills I applied in music — but in a more abstract way, she said. Diffendaffer … holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance and a master of fine arts in performing arts management. Her job requires creativity, empathy and an ability to see the big picture — what are called ‘right-brain’ skills because they originate in the right hemisphere of the brain. The skills that make her stand out in a left-brain environment are becoming increasingly important in all jobs, maintains author Daniel H. Pink in Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. Left-brain skills — linear thinking, logic and analysis — still have a role to play, Pink writes, but success belongs to those with a skill set that also includes imagination, a sense of humor, intuition and understanding the needs of others.”
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/business/moneywise/story/441931.html

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PHILANTHROPY
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WEILL, BROAD ARE TOP U.S. ARTS DONORS IN 2007, CHRONICLE SAYS
Patrick Cole, Bloomberg News, 1/14/08
”Citigroup Inc. Chairman Emeritus Sanford Weill and billionaire Eli Broad were among the top philanthropists overall in the U.S. in 2007 and the leading patrons of the arts, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Weill, 74, gave a total of $328.5 million last year to charitable organizations and ranked sixth among U.S. philanthropists in overall donations. Weill's gifts included $11.5 million to Carnegie Hall to endow music education programs and $10 million to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to boost its endowment, the Chronicle said. Broad and his wife, Edythe, ranked tenth overall with $176 million, which included $26 million to Michigan State University to build a museum for modern and contemporary art.”
Read more>>

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CONFERENCE
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AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS 2008 CONFERENCE
June 20-22, Philadelphia, PA
Preview rates end 2/1/08
”The program's planned, the weather looks great, so now is the time to register for the 2008 Americans for Arts Annual Convention! Join more than 1,300 of your colleagues and hear from six great innovators in and around the arts; take advantage of fourteen different ARTventures throughout the city of Philadelphia; have an afternoon of personal growth with Career 360; participate in one of the new Advance Workshops; and learn and take back new ideas from more than 75 program sessions.”
Learn more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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PROMISING PRACTICES AWARDS FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION
Character Education Partnership
Deadline: 3/15/08
”CEP gives Promising Practices Awards to schools and districts for unique and specific strategies in character education that others may replicate.”
Learn more>>

SPRINT AHEAD FOR EDUCATION CHARACTER EDUCATION AWARDS
Sprint Foundation
Application Window: 3/3/08 – 4/15/08
”Through the Sprint Ahead for Education grant program, the Sprint Foundation will award grants to school districts and individual schools to fund the purchase of resource materials, supplies, equipment and software that facilitates and encourages character education among K-12 students. With a national reach, the program is open to all US public schools (K-12) and US public school districts. The Sprint Ahead for Education Grant program will accept applications for Character Education programs that promote youth leadership, youth volunteerism, school pride and a positive school culture.” Grants will be awarded up to $5000 for individual building projects and up to $25,000 for district initiatives.
Learn more>>

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DID YOU KNOW?
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We archive past newsletters here on our searchable blog .

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, January 16, 2008

2008-01-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for January 16, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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TOUGH CHOICES OR TOUGH TIMES: THE REPORT OF THE NEW COMMISION ON THE SKILLS OF THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE
National Center on Education and the Economy, 2007
According to this Fall 2007 report, the future "depends on a deep vein of creativity that is constantly renewing itself, and on a myriad of people who can imagine how people can use things that have never been available before, create ingenious marketing and sales campaigns, write books, build furniture, make movies, and imagine new kinds of software that will capture people’s imagination and become indispensable to millions. This is a world in which a very high level of preparation in reading, writing, speaking, mathematics, science, literature, history, and the arts will be an indispensable foundation for everything that comes after for most members of the workforce."
Learn more>>

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ARTS IN SCHOOLS
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TO PROVIDE QUALITY MUSIC EDUCATION NOW, SCHOOLS COULD LEARN FROM THE PAST
Allen Kozinn, New York Times, 12/25/07
“[I]n the marginalized world of music education, a good deal of serious thinking needs to be done … The crisis of the moment has partly to do with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s announcement last summer that New York City schools would be required to teach the arts, and that principals would be rated annually on their success, much as they are in other subjects. In theory this could put some muscle behind the adventurous curriculum that the city’s Department of Education and a panel of arts consultants drew up in 2004: a kindergarten-through-12th-grade program that envisions choral and instrumental performance, the fostering of musical literacy and the consideration of the role music plays in communities and the world at large …The problem is that [it] is recommended rather than required. Given the paucity of music teachers in the system … schools that could execute it in all its glory were few … Mr. Bloomberg has also decreed that the $67.5 million earmarked annually for Project Arts …will go directly to the schools. The fear is that it will be absorbed by programs other than those for arts education. That’s what arts organizations are worrying about publicly. But the fact is that Project Arts and grant programs like it have become a dependable gravy train for these groups. In the absence of the teachers and the budgets necessary to offer comprehensive and coherent arts courses, the schools, encouraged and financed by such programs, have formed partnerships with performing groups, charging the ensembles with the task of creating arts programs for children.”
Read more>>

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MEASURING CULTURE
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BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
Sean Redmond, New City Chicago, 1/8/08
”Dan Silver … [is] eager to talk about his achievements; working with fellow University of Chicago faculty members Lawrence Rothfield and Terry Nichols Clark, the three have recently completed a groundbreaking study on just what it takes to create a ‘scene,’ whether it be bohemian or otherwise. The enterprise, termed the Cultural Amenities Project, is a product of the U of C’s Cultural Policy Center. ‘The initial goal [was to see] to what extent do the cultural amenities drive urban development,’ explains Silver of the project’s origins. The three men hoped that a crude count of amenities could be used to help guide policies with the aim of augmenting a neighborhood’s cultural strengths in ways that could help stabilize communities, attract businesses and spur economic growth. What the three ultimately ended up with, however, was a much more complicated quantitative rubric by which they could judge a neighborhood or city based on a number of categories, which, when compiled and averaged, could then be compared to other cities and to ideal neighborhood types, such as ‘cosmopolitan,’ ‘urban’ and, yes, ‘bohemian.’”
Read more>>

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NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
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COUR REVIVES LAWSUIT AGAINST NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LAW
Sam Dillon, New York Times, 1/8/08
”A federal appeals court on Monday revived a legal challenge to the federal No Child Left Behind education law, saying that school districts have been justified in complaining that the law required them to pay for testing and other programs without providing sufficient federal money. The 2-to-1 ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, gave new life to a 2005 lawsuit and appeared to be a setback to the Bush administration. School districts in Michigan, Texas and Vermont joined with the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, in their 2005 lawsuit. In it, they argue that [Secretary of Education] Spellings had violated the United States Constitution in enacting the law by requiring states and school districts to spend local money to administer standardized tests and to meet other federal requirements. The suit was built in part around a paragraph in the law that says no state or district can be forced to spend its money on expenses the federal government has not covered. A federal judge in Michigan dismissed the suit. In the ruling Monday, the appeals court sent the suit back to the lower court, arguing that a passage of the Constitution known as the spending clause requires Congress to give states clear notice of their financial liabilities when they accept federal financing that may fall short of the full costs of complying with requirements from Washington …It also noted that because the states had been required to spend state and local money to meet requirements of the federal law, their ‘injury has already occurred and is ongoing.’”
Read more>>

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DIVERSITY AND CREATIVITY
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IN PROFESSOR’S MODEL, DIVERSITY = PRODUCTIVITY
Claudia Dreifus, New York Times, 1/8/08
“In the long-running debate on affirmative action, Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan, is a fresh voice. His recently published book, ‘The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies’ (Princeton University Press), uses mathematical modeling and case studies to show how variety in staffing produces organizational strength. Rather than ponder moral questions like, ‘Why can’t we all get along?’ Dr. Page asks practical ones like, ‘How can we all be more productive together?’ The answer, he suggests, is in messy, creative organizations and environments with individuals from vastly different backgrounds and life experiences.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ARTS EDUCATORS
U.S. Department of Education
Deadline: 2/29/08
”This program supports the implementation of high-quality professional development model programs in music, dance, drama, media arts, or visual arts, including folk arts, for arts educators and other instructional staff of kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) students in high-poverty schools. Grants are intended to strengthen the capacity of teachers and schools to deliver standards-based arts education programs and to raise student academic achievement in the arts and ensure that all students meet challenging State academic content standards.” 30 grants averaging $200,000 each.
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, January 9, 2008

2008-01-09T05:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for January 9, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA email group and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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AN APOLOGY
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We apologize that a series of technical difficulties have prevented us from sending this newsletter recently. We have temporarily switched to a group email list in order to continue our newsletters to you.

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DC EVENT: THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE
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THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE
American University, 1/12/08
The School of Education, Teaching & Health and District of Columbia Public Schools, Department of Art Education, will launch The Art of Architecture, a curriculum guide for elementary and secondary classrooms designed by DCPS visual arts teachers, on Saturday, January 12, 2008, at the American University Katzen Arts Center, from 9:30am – 2pm. For information, call 202-885-3720.

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ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
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21ST ANNUAL ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
March 31 – April 2008, Washington, DC
Announced by the Americans for the Arts
“The 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. Learn how to lobby Congress, network with other attendees, and be heard.” The Nancy Hanks lecture will be delivered by best-selling author Daniel Pink.
Learn more>>

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WHO USES LIBRARIES? YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED
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STUDY: YOUNG ADULTS HEAVY LIBRARY USERS
Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press/Washington Post, 12/30/07
“Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes, according to a new study …Education-related tasks _ making decisions about schooling, paying for it and getting job training _ are the most common problems drawing people to libraries, according to a joint study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign … And people are going to libraries not only for the Internet computers there but also for library reference books, newspapers and magazines. ‘It was truly surprising in this survey to find the youngest adults are the heaviest library users,’ [Lee]Rainie [Pew’s director] said.” The study contrasts with a 1996 Benton Foundation report that found that users aged 18-24 were the “least enthusiastic boosters” of libraries.
Read more>>

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ARTS IN SCHOOL
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ART OF SCHOOLING
Portland (OR) Tribune, 12/11/07
”There’s a quirky, creative spirit at Buckman Elementary that can be explained by only one thing: art. Hallways and stairwells have been transformed into galleries of student and artist works. Classrooms resemble happily cluttered artist studios. The curriculum is infused with visual art, music, drama and dance. Even subjects like math and science are taught through a lens of creativity here, at Portland Public Schools’ only arts magnet school. Integrating arts into everyday learning is an approach many national studies have linked to increased reading and math skills, higher thinking and social skills, and more overall success in school and life.”
Learn more>>

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THE ARTS AND MEDICINE
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GOOD VIBRATIONS: ARTS-IN-MEDICINE PROGRAMS AIM TO HEAL BY CUTTING STRESS, PROMOTING GOOD FEELINGS
Winston-Salem (NC) Journal, 1/2/08
”When Robyn L’Heureux checked into Tampa General Hospital earlier this year to receive a new heart, she knew that the road to recovery would be arduous. After six weeks, she was back in her Tampa home, on the mend from a life-saving transplant. But she has more to thank than her doctors and nurses. Mozart and the Beatles, of all people, played a part in her return to health. ‘You get depressed being in a hospital for that long, and music helps put you in another world,’ said L’Heureux, 54. ‘You forget the aches and pains, and it raises your spirits.’ L’Heureux didn’t just listen to recordings; musicians came to her room and performed live, everything from classical to jazz to pop to original works. It kept her focused on the positive.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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COMING UP TALLER AWARDS
Deadline: 1/31/08
”Each year the Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and reward excellence in after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs for underserved children and youth. Award recipients receive $10,000 each, an individualized plaque, and an invitation to attend the annual Coming Up Taller Leadership Enhancement Conference. We encourage programs initiated by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, universities, colleges, arts centers, community service organizations, schools, businesses, and eligible government entities to consider participating.”
Learn more>>

2008 SMART KIDS YOUTH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Deadline: 1/31/08
“Nominations are now open for the fifth annual Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities Youth Achievement Award. This $1,000 award recognizing the strengths and accomplishments of young people with learning disabilities and ADHD will be given to a student 19 or younger who has demonstrated initiative, talent, and determination resulting in a notable accomplishment in any field—including art, music, science, math, athletics or community service. Honorable Mentions will also be awarded.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, December 12, 2007

2007-12-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for December 12, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog. We apologize that technical difficulties have prevented us from sending this newsletter recently.

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BRINGING MORE ARTS AND ARTISTS INTO SCHOOLS
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THE MUSEUM TAKES A FIELD TRIP TO THE CLASSROOM
Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, 11/7/07
”Armed with a $24-million special endowment, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has begun what its leaders say will be a long-term campaign to help plant visual art instruction securely in county public schools. …Under the program, LACMA-paid instructors should become familiar presences in 18 elementary and middle schools that will be among the primary feeders for a Los Angeles Unified School District downtown arts high school, due to open in 2009. The $1-million-a-year initiative, dubbed LACMA On-Site, will stay in the area, known as Local District 4, for at least four years. Each classroom in seven chosen elementary schools will get an intensive, six-lesson art sequence each year for two years; then the process will repeat in seven other grade schools. Comparable programs will take place in the four middle schools for all four years. Besides working with students, LACMA-sponsored artists aim to be mentors for regular classroom teachers, helping them gain the know-how to keep art learning going after the two or four years are up and the museum's caravan has moved on to a new set of schools.”
Read more (may require free registration)>>

ORGANIZATION USES INNOVATIVE METHODS TO REACH AT-RISK STUDENTS
Pat Sherman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/9/07
"Merryl Goldberg believes the arts can save at-risk students from falling through the cracks by helping them improve their communication, critical thinking and life skills. The Cal State San Marcos professor is so dedicated to her belief that in 2003, she formed Center Artes. The organization helps teach history, language arts, science and math to at-risk students by using art and theater projects. Center Artes educators work with North County middle and high school students enrolled in Advancement Via Individual Determination, a program for at-risk students. 'When we integrate the arts or teach something through the arts, we hear from a lot of teachers, "Oh my God, my students who were underperforming are doing so much better,"' Goldberg said. “What it tells me is that those students weren't necessarily underperforming or low achievers; it's just that now they have this other way to express themselves.' Last month, Goldberg's San Marcos-based organization received a $9,600 grant from the California Arts Council. The funding will allow Center Artes to visit additional middle schools in San Marcos and Vista and work with as many as 900 students. It currently sees between 300 and 500."
Read more>>

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ARTS AND NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
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ARTS EDUCATORS BATTLE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Erika Lovley, The Politico, 11/5/07
”Raising school test scores in reading and math remains the biggest hurdle for No Child Left Behind … But while districts scramble to improve on core subjects, educators say the latest subject to be left behind is arts education. The arts community is hoping to build a partnership with the business community to make music, dance and drawing classes more of a priority in the reauthorization of the education program. Their pitch: Art classes enhance the creative and innovative thinking that drives entrepreneurs. A recent study by the Center on Education Policy indicates that school time spent in art classes has decreased by nearly half since NCLB was passed in 2001 … Arts education was originally included as a core subject in President Bush’s 2001 law — a move the community considered a huge victory. But the arts movement struggled to find both funding and attention after reading and math tests became schools’ main focus. The law also does not require schools to provide the classes. Studies have found that art classes can help students’ performance in other subjects and could even raise test scores. For instance, dance movement can be used to help a child learn rhythm and meter in reading classes, while singing can enrich the memorization of multiplication tables …Although a number of politicians want to see arts funding, money for education is already a touchy subject in Congress, which is trying to allocate money for a host of other domestic priorities.”
Read more>>

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BRINGING MATISSE AND PICASSO INTO THE CLASSROOM
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Lesson Plans: Matisse and Picasso programming
KERA/PBS
Creative lessons for grades 3 – 8 include several ways to integrate study of the painters Matisse and Picasso into the curriculum, including a diamante poem, point of view, diorama, and interviewing a work of art.
Learn more>>

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ONLINE RESOURCES ABOUT ARTS AND ARTISTS
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BRING OREGON ARTISTS INTO THE CLASSROOM
Oregon Public Broadcasting: Oregon Art Beat
For secondary students
”Kids love art. They love to draw, sing, dance and perform. They love using art to express their creativity and personality and to explore their world. Teachers also love using the arts to engage and inspire students, to bring out their creativity, and enhance their learning experiences. That's why OPB has brought together this collection of over 100 video profiles, selected from the OREGON ART BEAT television series, featuring some of the best musicians, dancers, writers, photographers, and visual artists in the state. For each profile, our team of curriculum writers has developed arts-focused lesson plans with related activities, resources and projects to help teachers bring the arts into their classrooms and get kids engaged in learning and creating. Explore the collection of video clips and lesson plans by discipline, grade level, integrated subject or artist name. All of the lesson plans are available to view online and print and have been correlated to the Oregon Content Standards for the Arts. Each lesson plan includes tips on modifying the activities to fit different classroom needs. The video clips are available for you to stream or download to your desktop.”
Learn more>>

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ARTS EDUCATION AND THE RACE TO THE PRESIDENCY
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HUCKABEE SAYS SCHOOL BORES, SO BRING BACK THE ARTS, MUSIC
Jared Strong, Des Moines Register, 11/8/07
November 8, 2007
”One of the biggest problems with the country's education system is that it bores students, Mike Huckabee said Wednesday at a presidential candidate forum hosted by the University of Northern Iowa … Huckabee, who has long complained that education has been largely ignored in Republican presidential debates, proposed an education system that is tailored to each student's needs and places more emphasis on arts and music. ‘We've come to the conclusion that we were behind other countries in math and science, and we've changed requirements,’ the former Arkansas governor said during his 10-minute introductory speech. ‘We've done so at the expense of music and art, and in doing so we've made a huge, stupid mistake.’
Read more>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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2008 SMART KIDS YOUTH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD|
Deadline: 1/31/08
“Nominations are now open for the fifth annual Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities Youth Achievement Award. This $1,000 award recognizing the strengths and accomplishments of young people with learning disabilities and ADHD will be given to a student 19 or younger who has demonstrated initiative, talent, and determination resulting in a notable accomplishment in any field—including art, music, science, math, athletics or community service. Honorable Mentions will also be awarded.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, November 7, 2007

2007-11-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for November 7, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on this blog.

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REPORTS
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SHARING, PRIVACY, AND TRUST IN OUR NETWORKED WORLD
OCLC, 11/07
”The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web. This OCLC membership report explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:
- The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
- How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
- Opinions on privacy online
- Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking
Download the report>>

ART WORKS RELEASES COMMUNITY INPUT ON ARTS AND BUSINESS SECTORS WORKING TOGETHER TO BOOST TWIN PORTS ECONOMY
BusinessNorth (Duluth, MN), 10/25/07
“Overwhelming local response to a survey conducted in late August emphasized the significant potential benefits of greater collaboration between Twin Ports artists and businesses. A total of 320 people involved in the arts and business sectors responded to the survey conducted by Art Works, a Knight Creative Communities Initiative team which is planning an expo for spring 2008. The purpose of the Art Works Expo is to provide a structured forum for arts, business and community leaders to learn what other cities have done to leverage creative assets and develop specific initiatives to build on the unique assets and strengths of our area.” Among the survey results were the following: “81% of business people reported they contributed to the local arts with 58% of those doing so by donating funds. 50% of business respondents reported purchasing local art … 88% of all respondents suggested that increased marketing would enhance the Twin Ports appeal as a destination for tourists interested in attending arts events.”
Read more>>

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FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ARTS EDUCATION
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SENATE PASSES ARTS EDUCATION FUNDING
Americans for the Arts, 10/29/07
”The U.S. Senate has passed their FY2008 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill by roll call vote, 75–19. This bill funds a large number of domestic programs including the Arts in Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The Senate bill provides $36.3 million for Arts Education compared to the $39 million level of the House bill.”
Learn more>>

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DEGREE PROGRAMS IN ARTS ADMINISTRATION
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DIGGING INTO ARTS ADMINISTRATION EDUCATION
Andrew Taylor, The Artful Manager blog, Artsjournal.com, 11/1/07
”I generally don't talk a lot in this blog about my direct work in higher education -- finding, fostering, teaching, and connecting cultural managers through a two-year, resident, MBA degree in Arts Administration. I figure that I serve a wider audience by talking about the industry itself, rather than that tiny, tiny subset of the industry that teaches and trains cultural managers. But if you've been longing for that conversation, Barry Hessenius was kind enough to let me drone on and on about it in this in-depth interview on his weblog. We touch on how degree programs fit into the larger world of professional development, how curriculum is changing, how the industry is responding to radical shifts in how it works, and how our current conversations on the leadership crisis in the arts may be slightly misdirected.”
Read the interview>>
Read more>>

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WEAVING THE ARTS INTO A COUNTY
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ARTS AND CULTURE CAN BOLSTER LOCAL ECONOMY
Editorial, Ann Arbor News, 10/28/07
”If we asked you to name our community's top economic powerhouses for the future, you might cite universities or health care providers, technology companies, or even automotive-related firms. It's unlikely that arts and culture would make your list - probably not even the top 10. That might change, thanks to efforts under way by a broad group of community leaders. A project called "Community & Culture'' aims to strengthen individual artists and cultural groups while at the same time bolstering the local economy. More ambitiously, organizers hope to unify the very disparate parts of Washtenaw County in ways that haven't been seen before. The Arts Alliance, which is leading the project, has assembled an impressive group of stakeholders across Washtenaw County who have embarked on a carefully plotted path to gather data through community forums and an online survey over the next few months. They hope to assess the needs and concerns of the arts and cultural community, and to strategically build on existing strengths.”
Read more>>

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CREATING AN ARTS-ORIENTED TRAVEL DESTINATION
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DENVER’S ART SCENE SOARS WITH NEW GALLERIES, EVENTS
Gene Sloan, USA Today, 10/25/07
“Clark Richert recalls the cultural wasteland that was Denver in the 1960s when he arrived from Kansas City. ‘I basically went into shock when I walked into the Denver Art Museum," says the 66-year-old artist, sometimes called the godfather of Colorado contemporary art. ‘It really was almost non-existent when compared to the (art museum) in Kansas City.’ Lounging at the back of Denver's well-known Rule Gallery, which is showing his work through early November, Richert says that for a while, there was only one gallery in Denver exhibiting contemporary art … How things have changed. Not only is the gallery scene exploding — witness the crowd of gallery hoppers milling about Richert's large-scale geometric paintings — but this weekend brings the opening of Denver's much-awaited new Museum of Contemporary Art, a $15.5 million showplace for cutting-edge international works that already is drawing national attention. And it's just the latest major cultural landmark to make its debut in the fast-growing city, which suddenly finds itself on the map for more than just its sports teams. Watch out, Santa Fe. There's a new art mecca taking shape in the Rockies.”
Read more>>

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REFLECTING ON THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
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FAIRFAX COUNTY CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON CREATIVE ECONOMY
Brett Lieberman, Virginia Business, 10/25/07
”It used to be that if a city or region wanted to build its economy, it would try to attract new businesses by cutting taxes and reducing regulations. Some incentives might be thrown in to sweeten a deal. Plus, some areas tried to create the aura of a city-on-the-move by building stadiums and convention centers. ‘But that “if you build it they will come” model doesn't cut it anymore,’ said Richard Florida, the keynote speaker at yesterday’s first National Conference on the Creative Economy in Fairfax County. While manufacturing continues to head overseas where labor is cheaper, the ‘only advantage we have left is brain power, intelligence and creativity, said Florida, playing off one of the themes in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class. Some business leaders dispute Florida’s claims. They point out that some of the less glamorous regions of the country, such as Las Vegas and Oklahoma City, are adding jobs and population while “creative centers” such as San Francisco and Boston have become too expensive for many middle-class families.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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YOUNG POETS CONTEST
Christian Science Monitor
Deadline: 12/14/07
The Christian Science Monitor announces its 12^th annual Young Poets Contest. Students from preschool through high school are eligible. The paper will publish the winning poems in early January.
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, October 31, 2007

2007-10-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for October 31, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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ARTS INTEGRATION FRAMEWORKS, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Arts Education Partnership, 2007
”This literature review is an essential resource for anyone involved in the research, theories, or methods and practices of arts integration. It covers what has been written between 1995 and 2007 in the U.S. and abroad and includes an historical overview, definitions and theoretical frameworks for arts integration, research and evaluation studies as well as methods and practices for each of the art forms.”
Download a copy>>

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ARTS EDUCATION AND NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
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NCLB ADVOCACY TOOLS: WE NEED THE ARTS TO LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND
Douglas Gould and Company/Keep Arts in Schools
”Parents and teachers all over the country say they want students to have a well-rounded education that engages the whole child. And they know that arts education is central to making that happen. But the focus of classroom learning since the implementation of the Federal Education Act known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), appears to be narrowing to exclude the arts and other core subjects. With Congress now facing the reauthorization of this national education policy, it's critically important to make sure that arts education doesn't get left behind! Now is the time to understand what's at stake, get the latest information and have your voice heard.”
Learn more>>

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MUSIC INTEGRATION
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IN THIS CLASS, MATH COMES WITH MUSIC
Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post, 10/23/07
”The red plastic ON AIR sign is always lit in Eric Chandler's second-grade class, where a simple question about subtraction could elicit a rock performance styled after the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Loudon County teacher writes his own songs and also adapts the lyrics of popular tunes. Some musicians find inspiration in love or nature, but Chandler finds it in the Virginia Standards of Learning. The right combination of chords and rhythm, he says, makes the state's curriculum more fun and more memorable. ‘A song, if it's catchy enough, gets stuck in your head,’ Chandler said. So he embeds lessons in verses that kids might hum one day when sitting for a test. For years, researchers have studied whether music education raises IQ points, test scores, spatial sense or math and verbal skills. Definitive results are scarce, but experts agree that music sparks the memory. ‘Just think of the alphabet song,’ said Ellen Winner, a Boston College psychology professor who studies how music education affects learning. As formal music instruction is getting squeezed in many schools to make room for math, reading and testing, more teachers are looking for new ways to add melody or syncopation to the daily classroom diet of worksheets and more worksheets.”
Learn more>>

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SYMPOSIUM
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ART, ADOLESCENTS, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY
**this week!**
Thursday, 11/1/07, 10am
Room 902, Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC
”Stephanie Perrin, distinguished educator and Head of Walnut Hill School, and her colleagues from Harvard University, the Boston Public Schools, and the Arts Education Partnership will present five critical challenges facing the future of public and independent education in the United States. The Symposium will address issues and the role of educators in fostering global connections, civic virtue, imagination, integrity, and the healthy development of adolescents.” Speakers include Richard Deasy of the Arts Education Partnership, and Ellen Winner, a senior researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with remarks by Senator Edward Kennedy.
Learn more>>

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ARTS AND COMMUNITY REJUVENATION
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CREATIVE CLASS DRIVES DOWNTOWN GROWTH
Nettie Boivin, MILife, MITimes, 10/24/07
I don’t know about you, but I swear there are impressive new lofts, galleries, restaurants and bars popping up everywhere I look … What’s even more impressive are the young, enterprising spirits strolling around these urban spaces, shaking things up and taking our downtowns from gloom to boom. ‘Our generation is different from our parents',’ says Kate Tykocki at Capital Area Michigan Works in Lansing [Michigan]. ‘They could fall back onto manufacturing. We don't have that. You have to create your own opportunities. These entrepreneurs are creating their own futures.’ Old Town in Lansing is a shining example of resurgence. The 10-block area was the original downtown of Lansing in the 1800s. It was blue collar until the 1960s and then became seedy. A decade later, revitalization began, and today the district continues to grow exponentially. In June, Old Town welcomed eight new businesses. In September, it held a ribbon cutting for nine new businesses and then another 13 in October – a mix of retail, restaurant, nonprofit, creative arts, galleries and a law firm.” Artist Nick Stockton remarks, ‘The impact is great. It’s keeping the creative class in the Midwest doing our part in rebuilding communities and growing our city's culture.’
Read more>>

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PROGRAMMING
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Art in the Twenty-First Century: Romance
PBS, New Season begins the week of 10/28/07
On-Air & Online
Grade Range: 9-12
”The only primetime national television series to focus exclusively on contemporary art and artists returns to PBS with four new episodes. The premiere hour features four distinctly different artists whose works pose questions about the role of emotion, regret, fantasy and nostalgia in contemporary art.
Learn more>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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SURDNA ARTS TEACHERS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
***Deadline Coming Soon!***
Deadline: 11/16/07
“The Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Program recognizes that art teachers often lack the time and resources to reconnect with the artistic processes they teach and offers grants to enable selected teachers to perform art with professionals in their disciplines and stay current with new practices and resources.” All permanently assigned full- and part-time arts faculty in specialized, public arts high schools are eligible. The maximum award is $6500.
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, October 24, 2007

2007-10-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for October 24, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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NETWORKING FOR EMERGING LEADERS IN THE ARTS
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CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS: AN EMERGING ARTS LEADER DIALOGUE
Sponsored by The Forum for emerging arts professionals
Co-hosted by Americans for the Arts' Creative Conversations Program
Monday, 10/29/07, 4:30 – 7pm|
600 Restaurant at the Watergate, 600 New Hampshire Ave, NW, Washington, DC
“The Forum for Emerging Arts Professionals aims to provide unique professional development and networking opportunities for emerging arts professionals. This event is an informal and open discussion on topics pertinent to emerging arts leaders in the DC area. Bring with you the issues you face every day. Following the discussion, attendees are encouraged to walk over to the Kennedy Center for the 6:00 p.m. Millennium Stage performance of the Washington National Opera's Insights series, featuring A View from the Bridge. This event is FREE. Attendees of the discussion session will receive a free drink ticket and appetizers.”
To RSVP: Email theforum.mail@gmail.com
Learn more about the Emerging Leaders Network of Americans for the Arts>>
Visit The Forum’s Web site>>

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ARTS AS A PART OF A CHILD’S PLAY AND EDUCATION
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EDUCATING CHILDREN IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM: CHILD’S PLAY
Steven T. Webb, Education Week, 8/8/07
”Many students today are not benefiting from a balance of intellect and imagination. As an American Academy of Pediatrics report published last January notes, changes in the family structure, the highly competitive college-admissions process, and federal education policies have led to reduced time for recess and physical education in many school systems, a fact that has reduced free play and unscheduled time for children. Even worse, some school systems have reduced or eliminated curricular art programs that look like play to some people. Increasingly, research in neuroscience suggests that the arts (and play) have a significant impact on students’ cognitive, social, and emotional development. From a Piagetian perspective, we know this is true in theory. But recent developments in neuroimaging technologies (brain-based research) have added another important dimension to our knowledge, by allowing scientists to observe how various processing systems in the brain collaborate. Not only do play, the arts, and physical education have inherent value—new technologies demonstrate a significant link between artistic and cognitive development. During the brain’s early years, neural connections are made at a rapid rate. Much of what young children do as play—singing, dancing, painting, drawing, acting—are natural forms of art … High-quality early-childhood programs are grounded in the arts, play, and experiential learning. When children enter school, art experiences must continue. As David A. Sousa, a former superintendent and the author of How the Brain Learns, writes: ‘The arts are not just expressive and affective, they are deeply cognitive. They develop essential thinking tools—pattern recognition and development; mental representations of what is observed or imagined; symbolic, allegorical, and metaphorical representations; careful observation of the world; and abstraction from complexity.’
Read more>>

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ARTS EDUCATION AND THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
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GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON UNVEILS NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY
Campaigns and Elections, 10/11/07
“New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson unveiled a comprehensive national education policy … ‘My Democratic opponents have been cautious in confronting President Bush on this issue,’ Richardson said … ‘I have two words for No Child Left Behind: scrap it. The key to a good education is not narrow testing or Washington wisdom. The key is a good teacher in every classroom … As President, I will provide universal access to quality pre-K programs to all four-year-olds … I also will fund Head Start fully. The benefits of early education are clear and extensive’ … Richardson vowed that he would put the arts back in America's schools. ‘Arts education is not a silver bullet, but it is a lighted bridge,’ Richardson said. ‘Students who engage in the arts are more likely to get involved in community and charitable work. These students also perform better in the classroom. I will substantially increase investment in arts-in-education programs. I will pay for musical instruments and music teachers in underserved communities around the country. The federal government will offer extra matching funds to states that draw up their own comprehensive art programs."
Read more>>

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NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
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OCTOBER IS NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
Coordinated by Americans for the Arts
“Held every October, National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, it is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to storefront banners and newspaper articles, thousands of communities across the United States are recognizing the cultural gems all around them.”
Learn more, watch the promotional video, and order free NAHM decals>>

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CONFERENCE
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CONFERENCE FOR COMMUNITY ARTS EDUCATION
11/8 – 11/10/07 (Preconference 11/7/07)
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts
Los Angeles, California
”Guided by the conviction that participation in the arts is vital to individual fulfillment and community life, the Conference for Community Arts Education provides essential networking and professional development opportunities for community arts education leaders. As a conference delegate, you'll learn how to attract new students, fill studios in off-peak hours, recruit and retain talented faculty, establish successful partnerships, employ new technology, raise more money, diversify your course offerings, and more. Workshops are led by nationally renowned experts in the fields of advocacy, arts integration, student assessment, board development, evaluation, finance, fund raising, marketing, partnerships, technology and more. Roundtable sessions bring expert practitioners together to share information and ideas. And our showcases highlight successful programs that you can replicate back home.”
Learn more and register>>

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LESSON PLANS
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CONCEPTS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM: GREAT AMERICAN AUTHORS
Pbs.org
For grades 6 – 12
“Explore activities that highlight the careers and writing styles of American authors Ralph Ellison, Katherine Anne Porter, Maurice Sendak and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Explore their literature and review timelines of their lives.”
View lesson plans>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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ARTS CONNECT ALL: GRANTS FOR INCLUSIVE PROGRAMS
VSA Arts
Deadline: 12/7/07
”Involving and including students with disabilities demands more than separate, specialized programs. Having students with and without disabilities interacting in activities together creates awareness, understanding, and respect—which is inclusion. To create inclusive learning environments, accessible education programs engage students with and without disabilities by incorporating multi-modal approaches and accommodating a range of abilities, learning styles, and skills. VSA arts and MetLife Foundation invite proposals from arts organizations creating or enhancing inclusive educational programs.” Eligible communities are outlined on the Web site, as are specific program and application guidelines.
Learn more>>

IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, October 17, 2007

2007-10-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for October 17, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and is archived on this blog.

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NATIONAL ARTS POLICY ROUNDTABLE
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IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH ROBERT REDFORD
Raymond J. Learsy, blogger, Huffington Post, 10/8/07
[Robert Redford] hosted the second National Arts Policy Roundtable at Sundance … He was not only a gracious host to the Americans for the Arts, organizers of the event, but he shared with its participants his commitment to the importance of the arts in his life and of finding ways of making the arts central to the lives of all Americans. And he did so with passion and eloquence. At the forefront of the discussions that lasted nearly two days, was the importance of arts to the future of the nation's competitiveness in a changing paradigm of global, economic, technical and social evolution and cultural change. That creativeness, or perhaps better understood, 'innovation,' is and will become a factor of singular significance to the quickly changing world of the 21st Century … A fundamental goal of the American for the Arts is the advocacy of arts education. Much of the focus of this gathering centered on the lack of arts and cultural engagement in our schools at virtually all levels. That this reality was impacting the creative capabilities of our workforce and risked our ability to compete effectively in a world where innovation critical thinking and its attendant attributes of flexibility, problem solving, innovation, entrepreneurship were not only growing exponentially in importance but were becoming key to commerce and success in a wired and in an ever flattening world.”
Learn more>>

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PREPARING STUDENTS FOR A GLOBAL ECONOMY
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U.S. STUDENTS NEED 21ST CENTURY SKILLS TO COMPETE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY: AMERICANS EXPRESS STRONG SUPPORT IN NATIONAL POLL FOR TEACHING MORE THAN BASIC SKILLS
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 10/10/07
”A new, nationwide poll of registered voters reveals that Americans are deeply concerned that the United States is not preparing young people with the skills they need to compete in the global economy. An overwhelming 80 percent of voters say that the kind of skills students need to learn to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st century is different from what they needed 20 years ago. Yet a majority of Americans say that schools need to do a better job of keeping up with changing educational needs.”
Learn more>>

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NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
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OCTOBER IS NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
Coordinated by Americans for the Arts
“Held every October, National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, it is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to storefront banners and newspaper articles, thousands of communities across the United States are recognizing the cultural gems all around them.”
Learn more, watch the promotional video, and order free NAHM decals>>

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VISUAL ART: PRINTMAKING
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ART BEAT AT SCHOOL: PRINTING THROUGH A MASTER
Oregon Public Broadcasting (announced via PBS)
”Explore the history and process of the printmaker’s art. Learn about four different methods of printmaking: intaglio, relief, lithography, and serigraph.” Lesson plan aimed at secondary students.
Learn more>>

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FAMILY ACTIVITIES
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SUPER WHY!: Fairytale Memory
PBSkids.org
”Make fairy tale character or object cards and use them to play a memory matching game. Recommended for PreK – Grade 2.
Explore this activity>>

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RECOGNIZING OUTSTANDING TEACHING
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MILKEN FAMILY FOUNDATION LAUNCHES 2007 EDUCATOR AWARD TOUR
PBS in Education, PBS.org
”The Milken Family Foundation launched its coast-to-coast Milken National Educator Award Tour on Monday, October 8. Throughout the coming months, up to 80 outstanding educators will be surprised with $25,000 cash prizes. The largest teacher recognition program in the U.S., the Milken Educator Awards were first presented in 1987 to honor excellence in teaching and inspire young, capable people to join the profession. By this school year's end, the Foundation will have given a total of over $58 million in Awards to more than 2,300 outstanding educators. PBS Teachers forged an alliance with the nonprofit organization earlier this year when it co-hosted a blog and vlog at the Milken Family Foundation's 2007 National Education Conference. Visit http://www.mff.org for the latest highlights of the Milken Educator Award Tour, including videos, photos and news stories chronicling the surprise Award notifications - and to check out Award recipients in your home state!”
Learn more at the Milken Web site >>
Learn more from PBS.org>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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TARGET FIELD TRIP GRANTS
Deadline: 11/1/07
“The Target Field Trip Grants program will award as many as 1,600 grants of up to $1,000 each to applicants throughout the United States. Funds may be used to cover field trip-related costs such as transportation, ticket fees, resource materials and supplies.” Eligible applicants: educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, or classified staff.
Learn more>>

ARTS CONNECT ALL: GRANTS FOR INCLUSIVE PROGRAMS
VSA Arts
Deadline: 12/7/07
”Involving and including students with disabilities demands more than separate, specialized programs. Having students with and without disabilities interacting in activities together creates awareness, understanding, and respect—which is inclusion. To create inclusive learning environments, accessible education programs engage students with and without disabilities by incorporating multi-modal approaches and accommodating a range of abilities, learning styles, and skills. VSA arts and MetLife Foundation invite proposals from arts organizations creating or enhancing inclusive educational programs.” Eligible communities are outlined on the Web site, as are specific program and application guidelines.
Learn more>>

LISTEN TO A LIFE ESSAY CONTEST
Legacy Project of Generations United
Deadline: 3/31/08
“What can you learn when you listen to a life? Young people can become more aware of their own dreams and goals when they hear the real-life stories of older adults. The Listen to a Life Essay Contest is also an opportunity to build closer connections between young and old. To enter the Listen to a Life Contest, a young person interviews an older person about their hopes and goals through their life, how they achieved goals and overcame obstacles, or how dreams may have changed along the way. What life advice can they share? The young person then writes a 300-word essay based on the interview. Each team consists of a young person 8-18 years with a grandparent or grandfriend 50 years or over.”
Learn more>>

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IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, October 10, 2007

2007-10-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for October 10, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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IMPACT OF THE ARTS ON COMMUNITY GROWTH
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HOW ARTISTS INFLUENCE REAL ESTATE PRICES
Trista Winnie, NuWireInvestor.com, 9/18/07
” Investors may deepen their appreciation for the arts after they realize how much influence artists can have on real estate values. Not many artists can afford the expensive rents of trendy downtown areas, so most live in cheaper areas of cities. When an area is full of artists, it attracts new studios and galleries, restaurants and shops. This energy and culture can change a less-than-desirable neighborhood or city into a desirable one—with the property prices to match. ‘It has been proved that artists—defined as self-employed visual artists, actors, musicians, writers, etc.—can stimulate local economies in a number of ways,’ according to BusinessWeek. Greenwich Village, in New York City, is perhaps the most widely known example of this pattern. San Francisco, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, has another example of how artists can revitalize neighborhoods.
Read more>>

THE ARTS’ IMPACT ON AREA:
$1.3 BILLION, 40,000 JOBS
Stephan Salisbury, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/24/07
”In a study to be released today, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance reports that arts and cultural organizations in Southeastern Pennsylvania generate about $1.3 billion in annual expenditures. About 40,000 jobs in Philadelphia and its four suburban Pennsylvania counties are tied to that spending, which also yields about $158.5 million in state and local taxes … The report, ‘Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia,’ funded by Scannapieco Development Corp., is the last in a triad of alliance studies to parse the financial ecology of the area's cultural world. The two previous reports, published within the last year, have examined the relatively low level of public funding support for the region's cultural organizations, the prevalence of deficits in arts budgets, the relatively high level of audience support, and the rapid growth in the number of organizations across the region in the last quarter century. The report released today provides some key numbers, which alliance officials argue bolster the case not only for increased public arts funding, but also for some kind of dedicated regional funding mechanism … [T]he study shows that local governments receive $5 in tax revenues in return for every $1 of support invested in arts groups; the state receives $2.50 for every $1 invested.”
Read more>>

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NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
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OCTOBER IS NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
Coordinated by Americans for the Arts
“Held every October, National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, it is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to storefront banners and newspaper articles, thousands of communities across the United States are recognizing the cultural gems all around them.”
Learn more, watch the promotional video, and order free NAHM decals>>

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NEED FOR ARTS EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL GROWTH
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REASONS TO KEEP THE ARTS
Richard Clark (editorial), Escanaba (MI) Daily Press, 9/25/07
”State law requires students who entered the freshman class this year to pass a mandatory curriculum along with a state-sponsored test in each subject. In response, school districts will redistribute teachers and student from their present curriculum choices to the mandatory curriculum … Districts will need to trim extracurricular (co-curricular) activities and classes that are not mandatory. For better or worse, economic forces have changed in the last 50 years. It is no longer adequate to teach readin’, writin’ and ’rithmetic. The world economy will require people to be versatile, curious and creative to make a living. It seems we need to develop the right side of students’ brains, or the creative side of the brain … In an ironic twist we are moving to a test-driven curriculum while our economic rival is discarding it. China is moving from a test-driven curriculum to one that encourages creativity. The Sept. 1 Beijing Review noted that ‘the public expects the reforms of the Chinese educational system to help develop children with imagination, creativity, curiosity, and playfulness which are not only essential to the child but to the society as a whole.’ If competition from China isn’t enough to inspire support for the arts, watching youngsters sing in elementary school holiday programs will. They are focused, at their best and proud. They are on their way to being imaginative, creative, curious and playful. The Chinese would be envious.”
Read more>>

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STORIES OF SCHOOL REFORM
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EVERY STUDENT DESERVES A LEGACY 2007:
STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF HIGH SCHOOL REFORM
Knowledge Works Foundation, 10/07
“Sporting an all-black Goth look, … freshman Joyce Brumley displays something of an attitude. In English class, she questions the point of an assignment, then says the teacher's reprimand of another student is dumb. She eats junk food and puts on makeup. When teacher Pam Roberts gives her a detention, Joyce calls her a jerk. But if you ask Joyce who her favorite teacher is, she answers without hesitation, ‘Mrs. Roberts.’ ‘Mrs. Roberts and I fight a lot because we're both stubborn,’ Joyce says, ‘but… I talk to her about everything, and she makes me redo work that she thinks I can do better - even for other classes.’ Two new publications from KnowledgeWorks Foundation capture dozens of stories like that of Joyce … stories that bring to life the day-to-day struggles and triumphs inside two Ohio high school reform efforts. The books, the third annual edition of the "Every Student Deserves a Legacy" series, show what it's like for educators and students working to transform underperforming large urban high schools into small personalized schools or pioneer schools that blend high school and college learning. … [T]hese publications document why it's so hard to change schools and how, even so, change is taking place. From a teacher who helps spark an arts-based curriculum throughout her small school to a teacher leader working to persuade his colleagues to believe in their power to change… these are stories of real people making real progress in two ambitious initiatives that aim to reinvent public high schools.”
Download or request a paper hard copy of the reports>>

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ART MUSEUMS
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FISK UNIVERSITY AND MUSEUM OF WAL-MART HEIRESS AGREE TO SHARE PRIZED ART
Theo Emery, New York Times, 9/26/07
”Fisk University’s board of trustees has agreed in principle to share ownership of its prized Alfred Stieglitz Collection with the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas in exchange for $30 million, the two sides announced on Tuesday. The agreement, subject to approval by a chancery court judge, would entitle the university and the museum to display the 101 works in the collection for equal amounts of time, they said. Crystal Bridges is scheduled to open in Bentonville, Ark., in 2009. The founder of Crystal Bridges, the Wal-Mart heiress Alice L. Walton, also pledged $1 million to renovate and maintain the Fisk gallery that houses the collection and to finance an art internship. The board’s vote on Monday, which came after more than a year of litigation over the fate of the artworks, could help remedy Fisk’s financial problems, the university’s board said … Still, the fate of the art-sharing agreement is far from certain. The Tennessee attorney general, Robert E. Cooper Jr., who has a say because the collection was a charitable donation, must still weigh in; he has said he would prefer that the collection remain full time in Nashville, where Fisk is based.”
Read more>>

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GRANTS, FUNDING, CONTESTS, AND AWARDS
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LEARNING & LEADERSHIP GRANTS
NEA Foundation
Rolling Deadlines. Next deadline: 10/15/07 **APPLY SOON**
”Grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education for one of the following two purposes: grants to individuals fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research; grants to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment … The grant amount is $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study.”
Learn more>>

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT CONTEST
Deadline: 11/15/07
The Association for Career and Technical Education “is searching for budding filmmakers and is looking to the career and technical education (CTE) community to find them! Students will create a 30-second public service announcement to promote CTE Month in February 2008, which has the theme, “Discovering Skills for a Competitive Workforce.” Secondary and postsecondary students in CTE-related film, video, and production classes are eligible to enter.
Learn more>>

LEADERS IN LEARNING AWARDS
Deadline: 1/16/08
“Cable in the Classroom’s Leaders in Learning Awards outstanding educators, administrators, policymakers and other community leaders at the forefront of innovation in education. This prestigious awards program, in its 4th year of operation, is administered by the cable industry and its national education foundation, Cable in the Classroom.
Learn more>>

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Institute for Education and the Arts

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