California Alliance for Arts Education California Alliance for Arts Education HOME
Subscribe to ArtsEd Mail Join Us Featured News Arts Block Grants Action Center Upcoming Events Contact Us Site Map
Insider's Guide


1: Developing Your Community Arts Team

Who needs to be on the team?

One of the critical elements of success in arts education planning is assembling a winning team. By tapping into the respected, established district leadership, cultivating relationships with leaders in the community and involving committed parents, teachers and arts supporters, a strong collaborative will emerge.

You may have heard, “If you want something done, ask a busy person…” This adage can certainly be applied to your arts education planning effort. You want to seek out the most dynamic, enthusiastic and passionate people for your team.

On the district side, it is absolutely critical to have the direct support of the superintendent, the commitment of a high-level district administrator (either assistant superintendent or director of curriculum and instruction, for example) as well as principals and teachers from different disciplines and grade levels. On the community side, it is strongly suggested that you invite the school board president, (or a school board member), PTA leadership, arts organization leaders and business leaders. The combination of the district and community coming together creates a fabric that is strong, supple and flexible. It is this weaving together as one team with a shared vision that allows new ideas, relationships and energy to emerge.

Leadership

This truly is a leadership team. All of the members are asked to be fully engaged, participate and take the message out into the district and community.

Suggested structure:

Coach: We have found that having a coach guide the efforts creates confidence and capacity within the team. We specifically call this person a coach (rather than a consultant) because they are trained to focus the efforts of the team, clarify in times of confusion, facilitate a group process, and motivate by celebrating successes. They do not give “expert advice” or do the work for the team. There are a number of organizations, in addition to CAAE, that train and/or provide arts education planning coaches to assist districts throughout the state of California. [Contact CAAE for more information.]

Co-Chairs: It is highly effective to appoint co-chairs to lead the meetings of the Community Arts Team. It is suggested that one co-chair be a staff member of the district administration and the other co-chair a leader from the community (a business leader or arts organization leader, for example).

Design Team: The design team is made up of the coach and the co-chairs, and if desired, one other person from the larger team. The design team is responsible for planning/designing each meeting, (the agenda items, the scheduling and the content), de-briefing after each meeting to determine effective next steps, and keeping the overall effort on track.

Suggested Community Arts Team Members:

The Community Arts Team Roster template (Excel doc:70K) designates key individuals who will contribute to a strong team. For consistency, it is recommended that all members of the team attend every meeting. However, there may be individuals who contribute to a particular aspect of the planning process (such as policy development or budget planning) who will attend only certain meetings. The process is flexible enough to accommodate that as well We suggest that the total number of people on the team not exceed 25.

Facilitation Methods for Team Meetings

The process that is outlined in this guide for arts education planning is based on a method developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) called “Group Facilitation Methods” This highly participatory method incorporates a number of tools and techniques that encourage full engagement by team members. It develops an atmosphere of mutual respect that allows the flow of creative ideas and innovation. The method has been applied to a number of different fields with demonstrated success all over the world. For more information on ICA and their workshops, please visit http://www.ica-usa.org.

Several of the important underlying assumptions of this approach to planning are:

The methods are very flexible and can be combined with most other approaches to group decision making or learning.

Below is a list of materials you will need during the planning meetings. We work off what is called a Sticky Wall, which is an 8’ length of ripstop nylon (the type of fabric used in tent making) sprayed with Repositionable Adhesive (available in arts stores in spray cans). Spraying the nylon fabric creates a surface where paper with various thoughts and information can be positioned so that it is visible to the group and moved to a different spot as needed. If you would like to purchase an ICA Sticky Wall which has been prefabricated you can go to the website sited above. You can also spray colored paper cut from a large roll for one-time use.

Materials List for Facilitator

Meeting Management Tools

The arts education planning process as outlined in this guide is based on one academic year – September – June. The entire process may be completed in that length of time, as demonstrated by a number of districts in Los Angeles County. However, you may find your district is more comfortable with 18 – 24 months (2 academic years) as a target for completion, which is also an effective model. The pace will vary from district to district and this calendar may be adjusted for your use.

Suggested Timeline (PDF:61K)
Suggested Calendar (PDF:78K)
Meeting Agenda Planning Template (Word doc:43KB)