Teaching Artists Organized Useful News

CAC Director Craig Watson on arts license plates, arts education and CREATE the State campaign

Belinda Taylor — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:23:16 GMT

From a recent interview with CAC Director Craig Watson by Barry Hessenius

High Profile "ambassadors"

"We have an incredible list of high-visibility "ambassadors" endorsing and appearing in our campaign, including, Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Quincy Jones, Jack Black, Wolfgang Puck, Steve Martin, David Geffen, Eli Broad, Annette Bening, Maria Shiver, Edget, Ozomatli, Tim Robbins and Alice Waters. The campaign will be fully revealed in March using a variety of media platforms, including digital billboards (in a huge donation from the media company, Clear Channel), bus shelter signage, social media, radio and television. Much of this donated by companies committed to our cause. We are right now developing unique ordering systems that will allow easier ordering of the plates or the giving of the plate as a gift to clients, friends and family."

New Partnerships for arts education

"But there are plenty of opportunities to be relevant in other ways. We are pursuing relationships with other state agencies, looking for those places where we have something specific to offer in the way of expertise or influence. For instance, the California Department of Education is now led by an arts-friendly Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson. Early in his tenure and inspired by a direct request from the Arts Council Chair, Malissa Ferruzzi Shriver, Torlakson has assigned his chief of staff to work closely with us on several initiatives. A joint Arts Council/Department of Education citizen taskforce will soon be appointed to draft an important policy document titled Blueprint for Creative Schools: How the Arts and Creative Education Can Transform California’s Classrooms.

CREATE the State

"And related to that, the Arts Council last week released an RFP to engage a planning firm to support a new arts-education collaboration called “CREATE the STATE.” “CREATE” being an acronym for “Core Reforms Engaging Arts to Educate”. This collaboration grew directly out of California’s involvement with the National Endowment for the Arts and its “Education Leadership Institute” held last May in Chicago.

“CREATE the STATE” has a diverse leadership and supporter base. The Department of Education and the Arts Council are joined by the California Alliance for Arts Education and the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association to bring together the various stakeholders in arts education – the California PTA, California Arts Advocates, corporate and foundation funders like Hewlett, Sony and Boeing, the university research community, professional teaching artists, arts discipline-focused associations, arts non-profits, creative industry and education leaders. These partners are working together to create and implement a shared action agenda for education reform that views arts education as an essential part of the solution to the crisis in California schools

While this effort is the most advanced of our inter-agency pursuits, we are also working toward potential projects with the agencies involved in Corrections, Economic Development, and State Parks."

Read the full interview on Barry's Blog at http://blog.westaf.org/

Feb 12 Teen Arts Advocacy Conference at Berkeley Rep App ddl Feb 3

Belinda Taylor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:09:42 GMT

Berkeley Rep invites interested teens to a teen arts advocacy conference on Sunday February 12 entitled CLAIM: Your Education. Your Voice. Your Arts. It’s intended as a kick-off to a larger advocacy initiative led by the kids which will hopefully include sending a Berkeley Rep Teen Council delegation to Arts Advocacy Day in D.C. (pending funding.) This is the second year of the teen Arts Advocacy committee, born out of Berkeley Rep students’ desire to engage and mobilize their peers around these issues. The kids have the right impulses; they just need the tools, some encouragement, and a platform, which is where Berkeley Rep stepping in. Click for info and registration form, downloadable at www.berkeleyrep.org/claimyourarts and via email to teencouncil@berkeleyrep.org.

Joe Landon to head California Alliance for Arts Education replacing Laurie Schell

Belinda Taylor — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:25:40 GMT

The Board of Directors of the California Alliance for Arts Education has named Joe Landon the organization’s new executive director, effective August 1. Landon currently serves as policy director for the Alliance. He will replace Laurie Schell, who has served as executive director for the past ten years and resigned to pursue other opportunities.

Landon joined the Alliance in 2006. He has helped the California Alliance achieve greater influence in Sacramento and played a key role in the development of local advocacy coalitions in 29 school districts and counties throughout the state.

Prior to working for the Alliance, Landon worked in the California Legislature, as a speech writer and senior consultant for Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg and Assemblymember Wilma Chan.

The bulk of Landon’s professional career was spent as a practicing artist, having been a Playwright in Residence at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, with his plays and musicals produced there, at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York, and the Z Space in San Francisco. He also spent 15 years writing for television in Los Angeles, with credits that include the movie “The Comeback Kid” and working for several years on the award winning series “The Paper Chase.”

His background also includes six years of classroom teaching experience, one as a preschool teacher, and five as a music and theater specialist at Marin Primary and Middle School. He lives in Davis with his wife Laura, and the comings and goings of three fully grown children.

The mission of California Alliance for Arts Education is to promote, support and advocate for visual and performing arts education for preschool through post-secondary students in California schools.

Arts administrator, artist, businessman - Craig Watson to head California Arts Council

Belinda Taylor — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:32:25 GMT

Craig Watson has an extensive background in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Prior to his position with the Arts Council for Long Beach and other recent work in the arts, he held senior executive positions in the telecommunications field in Rhode Island, New York and California. His earlier career in the arts included positions with the Sonoma County Arts Council and Rural Arts Services in Northern California, as well as a fellowship at the National Endowment for the Arts, participation in the Coro Foundation's Arts Management program, and a co-directing position at Santa Barbara Arts Services.

A visual artist in addition to his experience the business sector and as an arts administrator, Watson studied fine arts at Occidental College, trained as a sculptor and worked with renowned artists such as Christo. "I have a strong, working knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for artists and I expect to bring that experience to the work of the Arts Council," said Watson.

The new Director agrees with the governing Council that access to the arts for all Californians is vital for the state. "My goal is to help the Arts Council fulfill its mission in making the arts and arts education available to all Californians. If we succeed, we will help our citizens reach their highest creative potential, in whatever fields they choose, while advancing our 'creative economy' that has been such a hallmark of California's unique standing in the world."

He also feels his experience in both the arts and business world have given him insight into how the arts can play a role in California. "I have seen first-hand the power of the arts to revitalize economically and culturally challenged communities," he said. "Recent studies are compelling -- access to the arts and arts education pay huge dividends; educationally, culturally and economically."

Watson joins the California Arts Council at a time when several U.S. state legislatures and governors have questioned their ability to invest in the arts during the economic downturn and budgets have been slashed. The California Arts Council has a unique funding structure, where more than 60 percent of its current funding comes from the purchase of the "Arts License Plate" by California motorists.

"One of my key responsibilities will be to grow this source of funding, the Arts License Plate program, for the arts in California," said Watson. "The Council and staff expect the 'Million Plates' campaign to raise $40 million for the arts and arts education in California."

Local experts praise Watson's work at the Arts Council for Long Beach. "Craig inspired the entire City of Long Beach with his broad and inclusive vision for the arts," said Alex Slato, Executive Director of LA Artcore and former Senior Vice President of the Museum of Latin American Art. "From activating empty city lots with hip hop, poetry and new media to his creation of GLOBAL -- the nation's largest celebration of Arts and Humanities Month -- Craig has developed the respect of local artists, community activists, elected officials, business leaders and the arts community alike."

Watson also has arts experience outside large metropolitan areas, notes Libby Maynard, co-founder of Eureka's Ink People Center for the Arts and the former board chair of Rural Arts Services. "Craig's experience with organizations such as Rural Arts Services bodes well for his leadership of the California Arts Council and for those of us in the field who represent smaller, culturally rich communities in rural California."

Watson expects to have a strong and productive relationship with state elected officials. He is a veteran of the advocacy process in the state Capitol, where he spent considerable time with legislators during his career in the telecommunications business.

"Craig brings a powerful set of advocacy skills to this new role," said Dennis Mangers, former Board chairman of the California Confederation of the Arts, state legislator and lobbyist. "He understands the political process as the 'art of the possible' and will be a highly effective spokesman and champion for the arts."

Arts graduates find jobs, satisfaction USA Today Reports on research from the Strategic National Arts Alumin Project

Sabrina Klein — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:05:15 GMT

Arts graduates find jobs, satisfaction

By Dan Berrett, Inside Higher Ed

Posted USA Today 05/03/2011 12:13:00 PM | Share

Conventional wisdom has long held that pursuing a career in the arts is a likely ticket to a life of perennial unhappiness, hunger and unemployment. But the opposite appears to be true -- graduates of arts programs are likely to find jobs and satisfaction, even if they won't necessarily get wealthy in the process -- according to a new national survey of more than 13,000 alumni of 154 different arts programs.

"Arts graduates are finding ways to put together careers and be employed -- and many of them are satisfied with their work," said Steven J. Tepper, associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, assistant professor in the department of sociology at Vanderbilt University and senior scholar of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP).

The results of the survey, which are being released today, may offer some measure of succor to parents who are anxious about their children's artistic aspirations. And, while the survey may help arts programs defend against accusations that they produce an oversupply of soon-to-be-discouraged artists, they also suggest areas -- particularly in the area of career preparation -- in which these programs can improve.

The results reflect the responses of 13,581 alumni of 154 arts colleges and conservatories; arts schools and departments within broader colleges and universities; and arts high schools. They constitute the largest dataset gathered about the lives and careers of arts graduates, according to George Kuh, professor emeritus at Indiana and SNAAP project director (SNAAP is based at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research at the School of Education). Those surveyed include graduates from fine arts, theater, dance, music, creative writing, media arts, film, design and architecture programs between 2005 and 2009, as well as those who graduated in 2000, 1995 and 1990.

"Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future through Creative Schools." Report now available

Sabrina Klein — Sat, 07 May 2011 14:14:39 GMT

Posted elsewhere by Nick Rabkin:

Yesterday the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities released an important report, "Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future through Creative Schools."

It calls for expanding the roles of teaching artists in schools, collaboration rather than competition among approaches to teaching the arts in schools, development of arts integration as a particularly hopeful innovation, more research to understand and demonstrate the power of arts education to improve student outcomes, and more leadership at the federal level to encourage states and local districts to develop arts education capacity. This is a very important and hopeful development!

Check out the report at http://www.pcah.gov/sites/default/files/photos/PCAH_Reinvesting_4web.pdf

A roundup of arts education advances

Belinda Taylor — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:54:43 GMT

Americans for the Arts reports that on April 15, Congress and the president approved the FY 2011 appropriations bill which included restoration of the federal Arts In Education program – the only education program to be restored from being cut or terminated earlier in the year.

Last week, Americans for the Arts published its National Arts Policy Roundtable final report which captures the recommendations from an event co-convened at the Sundance Preserve by President and CEO of Americans for the Arts Robert L. Lynch, and Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Institute. Officials from both the U.S. Department of Education and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities participated in the National Arts Policy Roundtable. The report identifies four key recommendations, including the need for increased research, strong public policy support, and better casemaking efforts from the field.

The need for increased federal research cited in the National Arts Policy Roundtable recommendations will be answered, in part, by two new federal studies being released this week:

U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics is releasing the preview of a study on the national status and condition of arts education -- it has been almost a decade since the last one was published! The full study is scheduled to be released by the end of 2011 and will be a key measurement of access to arts education.

And the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities is set to release their study “Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools” which will promote successful arts education models and best practices.

New journal Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art - Seeks submissions

Sabrina Klein — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:57:04 GMT

Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, a new internationally peer reviewed journal dedicated to exploring the complex processes of learning and teaching art in the classroom, studio and beyond.

(Posted by Dale Davis, Association of Teaching Artists, NY)

Aims and Scope Visual Inquiry is a new journal from Intellect that looks to create a forum in which to engage with the multifaceted and intricate process of learning and teaching art. The journal recognises that art instruction has a powerful influence on the way new art is created, yet the majority of degree granting art programmes have no stage to discuss what good teaching looks like.

Addressing this issue, Visual Inquiry seeks to construct a platform for reflection on the teaching of art in a variety of contexts. It will engage art appreciaton experiences, share scholarship in instructing artistry, and facilitate a wide spectrum of perspectives on the rich traditions of art making and teaching.

Aiming to be accessible and useful yet challenging and visually engaging, the journal will move away from the selectivity of much published material related to art education, and enhance the readability and scope of teaching and learning in the arts. Highlighting the contributions, thinking processes, and successes of artist-teachers the journal will renew an excitement for teaching and learning in the arts.

For more details and information on how to subscribe to Visual Inquiry, please visit the journal online at :http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=201/

Call For Papers Papers are currently being invited for Visual Inquiry. The new peer reviewed journal from Intellect will launch its first publication in 2011, with three issues per volume.

The journal seeks a serious yet experimental approach to publication that values the myriad of visual art processes in contemporary culture. Readable to the outsider yet encouraging and challenging to the experienced artist-teacher, the journal will fill a niche in art and art education with a breadth and enthusiasm missing in contemporary art and art education journals. The journal seeks original research papers, interviews, art, and work in progress that address issues related to learning and teaching art.

Submission Details Submissions are welcome from scholars and practitioners. All contributions will be peer-reviewed, and all papers must be submitted in English. Please refer to the Intellect Style Guide before submitting a paper: http://bit.ly/dkiD4I.

Article submissions: an initial submission of a 150 word abstract, including in the information the intended word count of the article. Include the word ‘Article’ in the subject heading should be sent via email in Word Format and include author biography (stating affiliation/position – not to exceed 80 words). All submissions will be blind refereed.

Correspondence for submissions should be directed to the principle editors:

G. James Daichendt
Azusa Pacific University
gdaichendt@apu.edu

Publisher Contact Info Intellect is an academic publisher based in Bristol whose focus lies in areas of creative media and popular culture. Please contact James Campbell for further info, or to purchase a copy of the title.

Email: james@intellectbooks.com

Arts Ed related bills in Sacramento

Belinda Taylor — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:20:00 GMT

 The California Alliance for Arts Education tracks all bills in the state legislature that may have an impact on access to arts education. This session the Alliance is sponsoring ACR 25 (Campos), a resolution that champions Arts Education Month, as well as SB 789 (Price) which would, for the first time, promote and foster opportunities for creativity and innovation in schools. For an update on all the bills we are following, visit the Legislative Update.

California Senate Considers New Creativity & Innovation Index

Sabrina Klein — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:53:01 GMT

California: Senate Considers New Creativity & Innovation Index
Neon Tommy, 4/5/11 From Annenburg Digital News Reported by Hannah Madans

A California Senate committee is expected to vote on Senate Bill 789 on Wednesday, which if passed would create the Advisory Committee on Creative and Innovative Education. The Committee would develop an Index of Creative and Innovative Education and would make recommendations to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Under the bill, the governor, the president pro tempore of the senate and the speaker of the assembly would have to appoint 13 members to the Advisory Committee on Creative and Innovative Education by April 1, 2012. The Committee members would have to be experts in innovation “in specified fields, and to reflect a diverse, creative workforce, as specified,” Around the Capital said.

Members of the committee would have to submit a report by June 1, 2013 to the Superintendent detailing funding and a program index.

The index would provide California schools with the opportunity to share their progress in teaching and fostering creativity.

“As we have moved into an economy driven by ideas and innovation, our schools must respond by providing all our students with the opportunity to develop creative skills,” according to a statement by the California Alliance for Arts Education. “The scores of individual schools and districts would be published, establishing incentives for schools to promote an overall environment that fosters creativity and innovation through visual and performing arts, science, humanities and other educational opportunities.”

Law currently sets a course study for grades 1-12. The course study includes visual and performing arts.

Existing laws also include study of applied arts in grades 7-12.

California State Sen. Curren Price (D) sponsored the bill, and a simple majority is all that is necessary for the bill to pass.

Sacramento's Arts Initiative "For Arts' Sake" receives grant for youth arts program

Sabrina Klein — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:06:35 GMT

Sacramento Press's Brandon Darnell reported on March 2nd....

Leaders in Mayor Kevin Johnson’s For Arts’ Sake initiative are laying the groundwork for the arts to flourish, they told the arts community Wednesday.

“We just received word of a planning grant of $50,000 to create a youth arts program to serve the entire region,” said For Arts’ Sake Project Manager Deborah Edward.

The grant, which came from AmeriCorps and will be used in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, is allotted for planning to determine the demand and opportunities for arts in the community.

Edward said For Arts’ Sake also partnered with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and the American River Parkway Foundation to submit a letter of interest to the National Endowment for the Arts to receive funding that would add artwork to the American River Parkway.

The program, called “Our Town,” gives grants ranging from $25,000 to $250,000 to 35 communities across the nation. “We should hear in the next month or so if we’re invited to apply, and then three months to hear if we’re one of the 35 communities selected to get it,” Edward said.

She stressed the importance in actively seeking funding, especially in the current economic recession. “That money is out there, and if we don’t ask, we don’t get it,” she said.

Read more about For Arts' Sake three goals aimed at the Sacramento regional cultural infrastructure at http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/46677/For_Arts_Sake_receives_seeks_grants.

Summary of new NEA reports "Arts Education in America: What the Declines Mean for Arts Participation?

Sabrina Klein — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:23:18 GMT

Dewey21C

Richard Kessler on arts education

This summary by Richard Kessler can be read in full at www.artsjournal.com/dewey21c/

1. What were your research questions?
The NEA's SPPA surveys have tracked adult participation in the arts since 1982. The NEA is particularly interested in attendance at what they call "benchmark" events--mostly performances and exhibitions presented by not-for-profit arts organizations--but the surveys track some other forms of arts participation as well, including arts education. The NEA commissioned my study and several others because the data shows that the rate of benchmark attendance has declined pretty significantly since 1992. That's a deep concern to the not-for-profits and the NEA, and it is probably what prompted Chairman Rocco Landesman's recent remarks about lagging demand and oversupply in the arts.

Our first question was to determine the strength of the relationship between arts education and adult participation in the arts. How strong is it? And has it been consistent over time across all of the SPPAs? Second, we wanted to probe the data to see if we could better understand what has happened to arts education over time. Has arts education had declined along with other forms of participation over the years? Some recent studies have suggested that increasing arts education might be vital to strategies to increase arts participation, so our third question was about whether there was evidence in the SPPA data that supported that idea.

2. What were your main findings?
We found that arts education is the single most powerful "predictor" of adult arts participation. Other variables, like educational attainment and income also had strong relationships to arts participation, but none had a stronger association with benchmark arts attendance or with personal creation or performance than arts education. Note that I'm using the word "predictor" here, not "cause." More arts education as a child or as an adult makes it likelier that people will participate in the arts as adults. That statistical relationship suggests that arts education is a contributing cause of adult arts participation. This finding is significant, but not a big surprise. It important to recognize that many, many influences contribute to adult decisions to participate in the arts. Read More.. . .http://www.artsjournal.com/dewey21c/here.

New TAO Membership Website in Progress

Sabrina Klein — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:37:12 GMT

Our growing pains are visible to all! In our transition from free to paid membership, we set up a membership registration process online at BigTent. And we're sorry to say that it's not working either for us or for our 35 NEWLY paid members!

So admitting our error and doing deeper due diligence, we're transitioning to a significantly IMPROVED membership website. We're very excited that soon we will have all our services in one place for you--

your membership records (which you'll be able to update with professional information on your own)
event registration
newsletter info
job bulletin board
advocacy information
and a comprehensive list of opportunities for you from TAO partners.

As the site grows, please let us know what you would like to see here.