Tim Mikulski

On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring the week following the second Sunday in September (September 12-18, this year) as Arts in Education Week.  While there are a number of established arts education-related recognitions already (such as Music Education Week, or National Dance Week), this is the first congressional resolution to recognize all the disciplines: music, theater, visual arts, and dance.

Sponsored by Congresswoman, Rep. Jackie Speiers (D-California), the resolution  states many important advocacy messages that the arts education field has been touting for years including:

In honor of the organization’s 50th anniversary year, this year’s annual convention featured visionary panel sessions, providing the field with an opportunity to listen to, and engage with, leaders in their respective fields to discuss the future. The arts education visionary panel was moderated by Chris Tebben, executive director of Grantmakers for Education, and featured Eric Booth (teaching artist/consultant), Jillian Darwish (vice president of organizational learning and innovation at KnowledgeWorks Foundation), Carrie Fitzsimmons (international director for strategy at ArtScience Labs), and James Shelton (assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education).

The discussion on the current outlook and future of arts education was lively and engaging, but it was Mr. Shelton who sparked concern from many in the audience. Among his remarks, Mr. Shelton described the collection of research supporting arts education as, “loose” and, in another instance, he appeared to suggest that future arts education policy efforts should be more focused on out-of-school activities.

As hosts of the panel, we quickly found out that news of his remarks were spreading around the country as attendees shared the comments with their colleagues, who then shared them with others, etc.

After returning to D.C., Americans for the Arts Director of Federal Affairs Narric Rome sent a letter to Mr. Shelton, providing him the opportunity to publicly clarify what he meant, and reassure the arts education community that the department’s effort to strengthen arts education through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and elsewhere, remained a priority.

Mr. Shelton responded with a detailed letter clarifying those comments and reiterating the Department of Education’s support for arts education.

While we still have a great deal of work to do to strengthen arts education at the federal level, our staff is pleased that he was able to respond quickly and is quite aware of the realities that arts education advocates encounter on a state and local level.

If you were able to attend the panel session, or heard about it from others, does Mr. Shelton’s letter address any concerns that you had?

In your opinion, what types of policies should the department have in place related to arts education?

The two weeks prior to their promotion, boys and girls were separated from each other for a course in “human growth and development.” I got a phone call during the session that my daughter had a stomach ache. As it turns out, my daughter was not alone: “Liana did complain today of an upset stomach,” wrote her teacher in an e-mail. “However, it seems to be going around right now. It became an ‘epidemic’ during Human Growth and Development when all the girls had to learn about the boy parts. It was actually quite comical. That might have had a little to do with her extra nausea at the end of the day. I hope she is feeling better.”

When I read the e-mail about the girl’s epidemic and overheard the boys as they were leaving school exclaiming to each other that, “this is really advanced stuff” (referring to learning about the “girl parts”), I knew that humor had to be a part of our day if we were going to be able to eat again! Then I got to thinking that a huge part of being able to be humorous is having a good imagination. And a good imagination is something that is practiced. It is a skill. This brings me back to Zane’s speech, which is just below.

The kids at my daughter’s school have been privileged. The P.T.A. has paid for an arts teacher, a music teacher, a drama dance teacher, as well as special programs and assemblies. The teachers have engaged the kids in plays about history, and the principal plays an electric piano at assemblies where kids sing together. The first six years of their education has been rich and they have been in a supportive environment where they recite the purpose of learning is to create “healthy minds, bodies, and spirits.” In that context, kids’ imaginations have been encouraged and practiced.  Zane, is a terrific example of a kid with a great sense of humor as well as the poise to pull of a great speech. His mom let me know it went through several edits before the big day! Way to go Zane. Here’s his speech:

Dear Parents, Friends, Fellow Students and Teachers,

2010…we are the class of 2010. When we started here at Kelly Elementary way back in the Fall of 2004, we were nothing but a bunch over grown pre-schoolers. Most of us barely knew our letters, could count maybe to 20 and a good majority of us still picked our nose and rarely washed our hands after using the restroom.

Now some 5-1/2 years later, due to a large part of the knowledge and experience that our teachers and parents have given us, we are set to graduate….AND LOOK AT US…we all know our letters now, we can all count to at least 90 or so, and only a few, Justin…Max, still lack the social graces needed to fit in at Valley Middle School.

Because I have an older brother who currently attends Valley, I have learned from his experience and have made a list of the do’s and don’ts that may help you get by at Valley next year.

Boys: Boxers not briefs, Axe not old spice, and Text don’t talk.

Girls: Well my brother doesn’t know much about girls, so girls, you are on your own.

My point is that we must all learn from the experience of those who have come before us like my brother. That we should continue to learn from those who are paid great sums of money to tolerate us…our teachers. That we should continue to learn from those who have raised us, our parents.

So teachers, Moms, Dads, family and friends, thank you for helping us learn. Some day, maybe we’ll surprise you and have a little wisdom to share ourselves.

Have a great summer!  Class of 2010, you rock!

In the session “Beyond Liking It: Prioritizing Arts Education,” Laurie Lock and Lynn Tuttle talked about the things that can do as arts education advocates to ensure the future of arts programs in our school, whether we are addressing continuing funding in difficult times or trying to establish funding for new programs.  Some thoughts from the session:

• THERE IS FEDERAL MONEY OUT THERE FOR ARTS PROGRAMS IN THE SCHOOLS, AND IT IS MORE READILY AVAILABLE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK!  The truth is that in the government education documents, the arts are defined as a part of the core curriculm.  Title 9 defines us in this way.  That means that arts programs are eligible for Title 1 funding, which many school systems receive.  Keep in mind that Title 1 money is SUPPLEMENTAL – Title 1 funds cannot be used for the salaries of the teachers who should be in place already.  However, Title 1 funds CAN be used for Arts Integration programs!
• You must COMMUNICATE with your school system and all of those involved in your existing or proposed programs.  If you an arts institution outside of the schools that provides services to school systems, make sure you communicate openly and often to determine the system’s goals and make sure that everyone is on the same page.
• Be creative! Think of how to engage school and community leaders.  Make sure you know their priorities, and then demonstrate how you can address these priorities. You may want to bring in a model of a successful program and show how it can work in your community.
• Don’t make promises that you can’t keep!  This is crucial – we must set realistic goals, and then execute them.

As we set out to advocate for the future of arts, these tips will serve all of us well.  Thanks to Laurie and Lynn for their advice and expertise!

How will the next version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) support access to the arts as part of a well-rounded education for every child? This month the Administration, Congress, and arts education advocates have advanced the conversation. Now is a critical time for arts advocates to engage in the real heart of the debate.

Speaking before the national Arts Education Partnership forum on April 9, US. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered his view, declaring that the arts “can no longer be treated as a frill,” and reported that, during his national listening tour, “almost everywhere I went, I heard people express concern that the curriculum has narrowed, especially in schools that serve disproportionate numbers of disadvantaged students.”

The March 13 Obama Administration blueprint for re-writing ESEA lays out the Department’s view on federal education policy. Three areas of the blueprint emerged in Duncan’s remarks:

• Proposals would allow states to incorporate assessments of subjects beyond English, language arts and math in their accountability systems.
• The current Arts in Education funding program would be merged with other funding areas so that districts, states, and non-profits would apply for competitive grants to support the arts among other eligible non-tested core academic subjects of learning.
• New resources for afterschool and extended day learning could open the door for support for arts education.

These proposals present opportunities, but also concerns, for arts advocates. All three are based on the assumption that state and local leaders would be incentivized to choose the arts when crafting applications to U.S. Department of Education and forming assessment plans. Arts proponents — already hard-pressed to gain support for the arts among state and local policymakers in the wake of NCLB’s math and reading focus ,and anxious about the added emphasis on Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the Obama funding and ESEA proposals – are asking: How will the arts gain traction, without stronger federal leadership?

If you look through the 45-page blueprint, you gain a deeper a sense of the major themes that will play out in the upcoming federal debate:

• College and Career-Ready Students
• School Turn-Around Strategies
• Improved Professional Development
• Evidence-Based Instructional Models

To be players in this rapidly-developing policy discussion, the arts education community will need to communicate how the arts advance these broad education goals. While advocates must continue to argue for the arts’ rightful place among core academic subjects accessed by all students, it will not be enough to complain about being pushed to the margins. In other words, asking to put the “STEAM in STEM” – while a memorable catch-phrase – does little to inject the arts into other areas of the broader policy debate.

The good news is that we have the goods to make a convincing case about the impact of the arts on improving education. On the heels of Secretary Duncan’s speech, more than 500 arts advocates took to Capitol Hill for national Arts Advocacy Day, calling for dedicated funding for arts education, improved national research, and annual state reports on the status and condition of all core academic subjects, including the arts.

The chair of the Senate committee charged with drafting the next ESEA says he plans to have a draft bill ready by June and recently hosted a hearing on “Meeting the Needs of the Whole Student.” While completing the new law before the end of the year is unlikely, given the host of other policy priorities in this mid-term election year, early talks on the Hill will lay the foundation for the final bill to come. By weighing in now, and marshaling our best arguments, arts education advocates can and should claim a seat at the policy table.

This blog entry is cross-posted from California Alliance for Arts Education.

Tim Mikulski

Two weeks ago, I joined approximately 40 other arts education leaders in a two-day meeting to discuss plans for National Expectations for Learning in Arts Education, a projected originally taken on by State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE).
 
For the first time in 16 years, arts education experts from national organizations spent time evaluating the possible impact and creating a plan for potential revisions, additions, or replacement for National Arts Education Standards.
 
Over the two days of discussion, I was struck by the passion in the room and energized by what will be coming in the next steps in the process.
 
Much has changed in the world since 1994. In fact, an entire generation of students has passed through the K-12 school system since that time and approaches to the challenges of access, equity, and quality arts education must change if not only because of time alone. However, we also cannot ignore the fact that other core subject areas are also realigning and revisioning their expectations. We simply can’t be—forgive the term—’left behind.’Thinking back to my own arts education experience, I realize that ironically most of it ended in 1994—the year I graduated eighth grade. Due to a variety of reasons including social pressures, the option of elective courses, and the low number of credits given to music classes (I lack the dexterity needed to be a visual artist, computers weren’t my thing, dance wasn’t an option, and theater could have been another route to being further identified by my sexuality before I was ready to deal with it.), the only arts education courses that I took in high school were a new course called Humanities Seminar and a one-semester course called Mass Media, which looked at music, tv, and film.
 
I often ponder if Humanities Seminar is even still a course, or was even repeated the following year, because it was one of the best classes I took in high school—combining history and language arts and using the arts as a way to create context for both. It was a challenging course, but judging by the reaction of my peers, even our checked-out senior minds didn’t seem too bothered by it because it was fun and fascinating.
 
It is courses like those that should be the norm in today’s schools. We no longer live in an education world where math, language arts, history, music, science, foreign languages, etc. should be all separated into their own little nodes. The 21st century needs, and deserves, students with well-rounded educations that prepare them for daily decisions and choices in every job sector.
 
Are you aware of courses like my Humanities Seminar in your local schools? Do you think they’d be valuable as an arts-integration model?

Tim Mikulski

Thank you for taking the time to visit, read, and comment on the blog posts throughout our Arts Education Blog Salon this week.

Thanks to the hard work of all of our bloggers, I feel like visitors had the opportunity to learn more about the various aspects of arts education – from advocacy to standards – that many of us work with on a daily basis, and engage the authors via thoughtful comments and emails.

Although the Salon is over, we will continue to add new blogs on arts education throughout the rest of the year, and I am truly looking forward to the next time around.

If you are new to ARTSblog, we hope that you will continue visiting to read about all of the arts-related subject areas it covers.

And if you are particularly interested in arts education, I hope you join us for the Arts Education Preconference just before the Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit in Baltimore, MD, June 24-25, 2010.

For more information on the Arts Education Preconference, visit http://bit.ly/aeprcon.

And, if you ever have any questions about arts education, feel free to contact me anytime.

Merryl Goldberg

There is nothing like wonderful relationships to make life interesting, satisfying, challenging, and rewarding.  Our lives are filled with relationships from those we have with family, to friends, to partners, spouses, and even to those that are more passing, such as the relationship we have with the woman in the donut shop we visit every Saturday morning, or with the mail person, or with the stranger in the airport who doesn’t speak the same language, but nods in complete understanding as you wearily try to carry your bag, computer, and child through the crowded door to the check-in.  Our lives are filled with such relationships.

I was reminded of the importance of relationships this week as I attended my local High School’s performance of Footloose.  This is the same high school I wrote about last  year after they put on a production of Sweeney Todd.  This year’s performance was Footloose.  My high school neighbor, Gabe, a junior was the assistant stage manager, and we attended with his family and entourage on closing night.  Though I enjoyed the performance, what impressed me more was what happened after the performance.

After the students took their curtain calls, they all came back on stage and invited out the tech team, then they called up the band (live band mind you!), then the costumer, the conductor, and the director.  As they did so, the students on stage – which must have reached a count of easily over 100 – cheered wildly for their teachers.  It was evident that there was enormous mutual respect on the stage among the students and teachers.  It reminded me of how powerful the theater was in supporting positive relationships as part of the learning process.

It got me wondering about education in general and how fundamental relationships are to learning.  A wonderful relationship with a teacher can go a long way in motivating a student to learn, or to do her or his best.  By wonderful I don’t necessarily mean all sweet and rosy, but a relationship in which the individuals feel encouraged, challenged, and invested.  Arts and sports are arenas that develop relationships among students and between students and teachers.

With large class sizes in many schools, teachers’ ability to form relationships with students becomes increasingly difficult, especially at the middle and high schools where a typical teacher may see 150 students or more per day.  Schooling becomes more a method of delivery than a space for creating relationships.  How sad.  When I think back to my junior high school experience I remember my music teacher Miss. Desrouseau.  I was an enthusiastic music student – actually enjoyed practicing my saxophone.  One day, with the consent of my parents, Miss. D. invited me to a jazz concert in Newport RI.  I don’t remember much of that concert, but I do remember what an impact it made on me that a teacher cared about me.

When I saw the Carlsbad High students nearly falling off the stage with their enthusiasm, cheers, and chanting for their theater teachers, I got goose bumps.  These kids too will have memories of not only the arts, but of people who cared for them, cared about them, and cared that they succeeded.  These are the lessons that last throughout one’s lifetime.

Zack Hayhurst

In my last post, I ended with some questions about the academic field of arts management and how it should be studied. This past fall, I wrote a response to a paper that addresses this very same question.  The title of the original paper is Arts Administration: Field of Dreams by Charles M. Dorn. This paper, written in 1992, focuses on why the field of arts management lacks the seriousness afforded to other more established fields of study, and the steps that researchers in the field can take to change these perceptions. You can read my full response paper here.

The main idea of Dorn’s paper is that the field of arts administration has yet to develop a shared set of standards and beliefs that would afford it the respectful status it so desires within the academic community. Part of why Dorn thinks there is little consensus on theories and terminology within the arts administration community is due to the diverse academic backgrounds of those who comprise the field.

Unlike the biological sciences, for example, where there is a shared language, consensus on core research principles, and a generally clear academic path for researchers, the arts administration field has yet to even agree on what it should be studying, let alone what certain terms should or should not mean. To complicate matters further, arts administration researchers come from highly varied educational backgrounds ranging from the performing arts to business to sociology.

Is there not any one thing we can agree upon as arts administrators?

I think one way the question can be measured is in terms of a shift in attitude towards how we as a field have recognized and begun to adapt to the changes in cultural and economic climate occurring across the world. Within the United States, the diversification of cultures and current scrutiny with which U.S. consumers approach leisure activities, plays heavily into how all arts administrators approach many aspects of maintaining their organization’s mission.

What can arts administration educators learn from Dorn’s paper? As there is no clear consensus on what should or should not be included in arts administration curriculum, Dorn wisely avoids prescribing any set standards for what should be included and/or excluded. Instead, he proposes some general criteria one might use in creating a curricula for arts administration. These four criteria are subject validity, philosophical validity, political feasibility, and technical adequacy. I explain these criteria further in my paper.

Many of you seasoned and experienced arts administration professionals, those of you out in the field every day who deal with the tough realities, are probably asking yourself “Academic research is great and all, but how does it apply to how I run my organization on a daily basis?” 

This is a completely valid question and one I often find myself thinking after reading forty pages of academic writing on the subject of “audience participation.” After a while, one begins to wonder how all this research translates into improving the field. Are there limits on how much research can tell us about arts management? Can running a successful arts organization be reduced to a scientific formula, or is it, like the art forms it supports, ultimately a subjective judgment call that only the experienced arts administration professional can make?

These are many of the questions that have occurred to me this year. I don’t have any answers yet, but I would love to get everyone’s insight and opinions.

David Flatley

Because so many of us need to raise a significant portion of our budget through grants to deliver arts education programming, we have the increasingly challenging task of articulating the “why” of this work to cash strapped funders. I’d suggest that it’s getting old to simply speak about “empowering” youth, and developing “critical thinking skills.”

Those are wonderful things, of course…objectives we all value and share; but as resources become more scarce, and we are driven to collaborate and build partnerships even more in order to maximize our leveraged and shared assets. We need to be more rigorous in our approach to articulating our impact. 

So I argue that for our own sake, if nothing else, let’s consider whether our continued use of phrases such as “Higher Order Thinking Skills,” “Critical Thinking Skills,” or “21st Century Learning Skills” might not become clichés, or worse, perhaps…that they might start to lose their significance. Do we all know what these terms mean exactly? And do we mean the same things when we use them?  I believe we start to do ourselves a disservice if we do not more explicitly articulate what these things look like, and how the arts make a difference.

What it means to me is that we overemphasize regurgitation of facts and we end up teaching to the test. We lose the capacity to make meaning. And making meaning is what learning, and learning to learn, is all about. 

We make meaning, as learners, when we have the opportunity to develop and understand our own sense of inquiry; when we learn how to ask open ended, contended questions that require real exploration; when we gain the skills to search for information from various sources, but not just gather that information…sort it, organize it, and synthesize it; we make meaning when we learn to make judgments, to render opinions, based on complex sets of information that we’ve been taught and motivated to assimilate as part of the inquiry process.  

We make meaning when we demonstrate, as Elliot Eisner points out, that there is often more than one answer to a question. Understanding, and learning to appreciate, and learning to develop multiple perspectives cannot be underestimated.

I think the arts support this kind of meaning making.

The arts provide a platform for seeing things in ways other than they are normally seen. In so doing they help us wonder, “Why not?”

I’m a big fan of Elliot Eisner because he talks so eloquently about the many ways in which education learns or gains from the arts, such as how one outcome of effective arts education is the refinement of perception. 

He also points out something particularly interesting for us in our work:

“The likelihood of being able to observe students in nonschool settings using what they have learned in school is small. Hence, we make inferences from in-school behavior to how students behave elsewhere. How do students react to the visual world around them? With what level of interest do they take on tasks in the arts? Are they engaged? Do they seek out qualities in the environment in order to enhance their aesthetic experience? Arts education, when it is effective, has dispositional outcomes. It stimulates appetite. And it is appetite that ensures, if anything can be ensured, that what was begun in school will be continued outside it. All of this adds up to the importance of intrinsic satisfaction as an educational outcome. As long as extrinsic rewards provide the motives for action, action is likely to cease when extrinsic rewards stop.”
(from Arts and the Creation of Mind, Yale University Press, 2004)

What do you think of Eisner’s point?

Victoria Plettner-Saunders

I want to follow up on my last entry about the Local Advocacy Networks (LAN) that were started in San Diego County this spring with support from the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE). As you might recall four LANs (Escondido, San Diego, Vista, and South Bay) were launched in April and May and so far two have held their first follow up meetings.

At each of these meetings approximately 10 or more people gathered to review the brainstormed ideas from the breakfast launch event, discuss their vision for arts education in their district, and identify who else should be at the table. Each one identified at least three action steps they could take over the next year.

The Escondido LAN reported that they want to 1) start a blog or Facebook page to help people stay connected; 2) collaborate with their local Escondido Arts Partnership which is building an open-access web database to connect artists in north San Diego county with the schools; and 3) look into developing a citywide arts fair, an idea from the breakfast that met with considerable enthusiasm.

In the South Bay area of the region, the LAN encompasses five school districts which form a K-12 cluster. While most of the LANs focus on one school district, South Bay felt that they needed to address not only the Sweetwater Union High School District, but the four lower grade school districts that feed into it. That way they are working together to ensure that students are ready for high school arts courses because the students will all have access to programs at the elementary and middle school levels.

Their three-point agenda includes gathering data on what schools in each district are offering to understand where gaps might exist; working to bring in more representation on the committee from the business sector; and communicating with parents about the importance of arts education for their students.

I guess what I want to illustrate with this case study is the role that a small group of people can play to initiate arts education advocacy efforts. Keep in mind that advocacy work doesn’t have to be big and complicated–its not only about the work that takes place during a critical moment, but about the ongoing work that it takes to engage people in learning and caring about ensuring that all students have equal access to a quality education that includes the arts. I am deeply impressed by the scores of people across California that are participating in the CAAE’s LAN effort.

Rachel Evans

Do you know any pre-service arts educators? Those starting or finishing the student-teaching experience? Please deliver this letter to their inbox. Comments to this blog, especially additional suggestions for motivations and action steps for the Pre-Service Arts Educator, are encouraged. Thank you! 

Dear Pre-Service Arts Educators, 

Congratulations! You’ve stepped forward as the bravest of souls willing to self-identify your passion for an art form and your commitment to the education of young people.  I hope that your university is working diligently to aid you in becoming equally effective as an artist and as an educator, with plenty of wise mentoring as you merge the two into one mind, one body, one professional. 

It’s imperative that you know there is a meaningful movement afoot to create Common Core State Standards for the Arts; it’s on the event horizon.  See recent Arts Education Blog Salon entries by Lynn Tuttle and John Abodeely. 

Did you roll your eyes at the thought of new standards? I thought you might have.  

So what follows is a list of reasons why you, and you specifically, should care about the creation of arts standards to be adopted by as many states in the country as possible. 

Why should I care about the Common Core State Standards for the Arts?
… because you have a responsibility to participate in the process as heirs to this inheritance,
… because you should understand how the field organizes itself and its content, and then reorganizes itself, on a regular basis,
… because you will discover a satisfaction when contributing to something large that bears your thumbprint,
… because using standards can make you a better teacher, one who is ensuring compliant and effective personal practice by using national guidelines,
… because you need to know the current leaders in the field who will spearheading this process using their experience, philosophy, and aesthetic,
… because these Standards are an opportunity to represent the depth and breadth you’ve come to appreciate in your art form, and
… because your students need you to imbed in the new standards their needs expressed in their language. 

If I care, what can I do?
Action Steps for Pre-Service Arts Educators to be a part of Common Core State Standards for the Arts (and beyond…)
Consume a healthy diet of relevant listservs, web updates, Facebook friends, Tweets, and blogs to keep your eye on opportunities. Be an information hound. 

• Join as many accomplished local, state, national, and international arts education service organizations as you can afford. If you can’t afford to join, create a calendar for checking web pages on a regular basis. If someone in your life wants to give you a gift, suggest memberships and conference trips.
•  Know the leaders in your field. Read their bios. Prepare for the likelihood that you may one day be called upon to step forward in a similar capacity.
•  Respond promptly to the field’s call: we share the responsibility to survey others and to contribute our point of view on a regular basis.
• Embrace the notion that arts advocacy is both civic duty and an effective form of professional development.
• Band together to create an identity as pre-service arts educators at your current institution. Leave a legacy behind for those who follow.
• Ask your university supervisor, cooperating teachers, and methods instructors how they plan to get involved in the new standards. If they don’t have a plan, teach them ways to learn more about the process.

Lastly, read the Green Paper prepared by the Arts Education Council of Americans for the Arts. 

You’ll see the three priorities defined for advocates across the country.  (I won’t quote them here because I want you to find the Green Paper for yourself.  Knowing how to find a resource is as important as knowing the content of the resource itself!) 

You, more than any other population in the field of arts education, can easily find yourself in each of the three priorities. You are in the unique position of being classified officially as student and teacher simultaneously. I encourage you to seize that dual empowerment, contribute meaningfully to the third Green Paper priority, and become a formidable force in the creation of Common Core State Standards for the Arts.

photo Michael Hevesy

It is pretty amazing to think on the impact art has had on society and culture since the beginning of recorded history. It’s one of the largest and most difficult to measure. One of my favorite minds, John David Garcia, defined it this way, “‘Beauty’ is the conscious perception of objective truth being communicated to our unconscious.” (Introduction, Creative Transformation, http://www.see.org/garcia/e-ct-dex.htm)

So beauty, let’s call it “art” in this case, is valuable based on the impact an object can have on the subconscious of the viewer. We look at something and stop for a moment and say, “Wow! That really moves me.”

Two different people can look at the very same thing and have wildly divergent descriptions of that experience. Before recorded history, art was magical. Shamans drew possible futures onto cave walls; fertility, the hunt, prosperity, evoking the life they wanted for their communities.

This form of communication, of prediction, of inspiring, and coordinating our social actions has become hidden in its magic and majesty as we’ve become more sophisticated.

We’ve demystified the value of art, not as a creation, but as an activity.

When we are children, accessing our creative side gets us put in the corner if we do it at the wrong time of day. Or try, as a three-year-old, writing what we remember of heaven in crayon on the wall. That’ll bring the devil out in our protectors and providers like nothing else.

As humans we have a difficult time remembering why art is important. And that is probably what helps it stay important. The indefinable nature and mystery of energy transferred between inanimate objects and our unconscious mind is a language older than words.

It frees us.

It consumes us.

It demands no justification.

It vanishes in an instant.

It outlasts our best efforts to eradicate it. Motionless, it has a life of its own.

Certainly, art inspires.

Perhaps there is nothing more to understand than that.

Joan Weber

My friend Larry used to be the coordinator of fine arts for an urban school district. There was no other staff in the office. He was the fine arts division for 85,000 students. As happens, he missed the connection with students that isn’t afforded regularly to central administration.

So, he went back into a school and became a vice principal, choosing a school that was struggling with all indicators: test scores, enrollment, school climate, suspensions, and so on.

Larry went to this school specifically because the system decided to transform the school through the arts. Beginning this fall, he will be the artistic director for the city’s first middle school for the arts.

The building is one of the most historic schools in the city. Great city leaders came from this school. The city talks of the “glory days” that once reigned when the arts were honored and students succeeded and the school system believes that the school will be saved through the arts.

The structure of the new school is interesting. The students enter the school through choice, not audition. They receive training in all arts disciplines in grade six before declaring a specialty in grade seven or eight.  The school day lasts until 5:00 p.m. with arts specialties explored in the extended day to allow for strong scope and sequence.  It provides concentrated time to acquire arts skills sequentially and also allows for more student choice for all the other subject areas that get cut from the regular day (foreign languages, physical education, etc.).

Keeping kids in the building may also contribute to greater stability in the neighborhood.  The school becomes a hub of activity seven days a week. However, because the school allows citywide enrollment, I wonder what will happen to its status now as a “neighborhood school.” Our city is losing those as free-market educational choice takes hold.

Larry has a huge job ahead of him. There is very little discipline in the school right now. Teachers spend more time on classroom management than they do on content. However, over the last year, as more arts classes have been added, students have become more engaged with the building.

I have been working with this school for three years now and have met with five principals. During that period. The school has been “zeroed out” twice. Over the next several years, I look forward to seeing what happens, especially as other cities are looking to this approach, as well. For example, Cincinnati will be opening the first K-12 arts school this fall.

Could this model be successful?

Do you have any advice for Larry?

Donna Collins

Congratulations to the Tri-M Honor Society Chapter 2252 at Midview High School in Grafton, OH. As the keynote speaker for this year’s induction ceremony I had the opportunity to meet more than forty fabulous students who excel at music, academics, and leadership. 

Justin, the chapter’s president was an outstanding emcee for the evening and chapter advisor and professional music educator Lisa Manning provided a very distinguished event built on tradition and ceremony.

During the course of the evening students performed vocal and instrumental works of art. There were solos, ensembles, and duets. The music was beautiful, varied, and worthy of Tri-M honors. Parents, grandparents, and friends attended the induction and were so proud of the students’ accomplishments. Beyond the students’ musical talents was the recognition of their community service work. Also noted was the Chapter’s honor in being named as Ohio’s Tri-M Chapter of the year for 2009.

The students, without exception, were talented and also appreciative of their peers’ musical talents and leadership. Thirteen new inductees were honored and nearly thirty additional students received first, second, and third year honors. As the camera flashes popped it occurred to me that I could be in the presence of the next great flautist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the next soprano with Opera Columbus, or the next great music teacher at Midview High School. I thought about how today’s children are busy making music, making art, dancing, acting, joining school clubs, working part-time jobs, and studying so they can get into college or get a better job or both. I thought about how they have no idea about what the future holds for them yet they smile and laugh and celebrate each moment.  

I began to think about my own efforts, and those of my colleagues, working to ensure today’s youth have arts education in their schools and communities. I thought about the arts-related jobs these students hope to have in the future. I thought about the orchestra, opera, and high school and wondered how these institutions will sustain necessary funding, sufficient human support, and quality programs so that they will be around in ten, twenty, fifty years. I wondered what will happen if state funding dries up, what will happen if the economy doesn’t recover, and what will happen if schools continue to reduce arts education opportunities as a way to reduce the budget. 

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks…the kids…they are the answer. 

These young people are the advocates we’ve been waiting for!  They are the new generation of messengers who have passion, drive, and youth on their side! So as I took the stage to deliver my remarks and offer my congratulations to the students I ended my address by offering each Tri-M member a student membership with Ohio Citizens for the Arts and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. 

What better way to grow our advocacy base by engaging young people. We can provide them with e-newsletters, action alerts, and resources.  Not one student turned down the offer of membership. At the end of the evening several parents thanked me for engaging their students and treating them like young adults. As students thanked me for the membership opportunities one young man said, “Wow, this will be great on my college application.” Another student asked, “May I list the memberships on my resume?” And yet another student asked, “As a member what resources do I have at my access and how can I use them to make a difference?” These statements and questions from the students assured me that the offer of membership was already a value and that my instinct about the next generation of advocates just might be on target.

I’m encouraged by the leadership of the students and I’m optimistic about the future of arts advocacy…a little social networking, a youtube video, a voice in the crowd…shouting, not whispering, about the value of a great education in and through the arts! 

Together we can build the next generation of arts advocates…one student, one class, one school at a time!

How are you engaging high school students in arts and arts education advocacy? Please share your ideas so that we can put your plan into action in communities across the country!