E-Newsletter for July 11, 2007
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SPECIAL NOTE: This is the final edition of ArtsEdMail for the summer. We will be sending out special updates when the state budget is signed or should any other newsworthy events occur. We will resume our regular publication schedule in September. Should you have any concerns or questions during the summer, please contact our office either by email or phone.
- Budget Update
- Regarding the Final 25% Payment for the $500 Million Fund Arts, Music and Physical Education Grant
- Arts Education Building Steam In LA Area Schools
- Saugus District Joins Arts Program
- House Approves $35.6 Million Increase for NEA - up to $160 Million for 2008; Focus Shifts Now to U.S. Senate
- New York City Group Looks To Raise Awareness For Arts Education
- Massachusetts Battles For Arts In Core Curriculum
- Colorado School Plan Fully Incorporates The Arts
- Huckabee Meets With Coralville Chamber Group
- California Alliance Executive Director Named Durfee Sabbatical Recipient
- Call For Proposals: Americans For The Arts 2008 Convention
- On Engaging Higher Education In Community Arts Education
CONFERENCES, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Building Literacy Through The Arts in Orange County
- The Fund For Artists Arts Teacher Fellowship Accepting Applications
- A Community Audit For Arts Education
- Arts Integrated Curricula For Purchase
- Dancing in Your School Book Release
- Toolkit For Starting A Local Coalition For Arts Education
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Grammy Foundation Grants
EMPLOYMENT & JOB OPPORTUNITIES
- Vocal Music Position (50%), Los Alamitos Unified School District
- K-8 Art Teacher, The Buckley School
- Executive Director, Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA)
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California News
Budget Update
Like everyone else who follows California politics, we await the final negotiation of the state budget. There is no way of knowing exactly when this might occur. When agreement is reached between the Governor and the Legislature and the budget is signed, it will hopefully include the agreements that were reached in the Budget Conference Committee.
As we reported in the last ArtsEdMail, those agreements include an allotment of $109,757,000 for visual and performing arts education. In addition, the budget language requires that school districts shall provide a summary report to the Department of Education of how these funds were expended, and the number of students and grade levels served.
Language also details a compromise that protects the interests of both districts and school sites in the distribution of funds. The agreement directs the governing board of districts (charter schools, county office of education) to distribute the funding to all school sites. However, if the district elects not to distribute the funds in this manner, it may adopt a resolution to that effect at a public meeting. The resolution shall specify how the funds are to be allocated among schoolsites and for district-wide purposes and the reasons for these allocations. In addition, prior to the public meeting, districts will be required to inform schoolsite councils, schoolwide advisory groups, or school support groups of the content of the proposed resolution and of the time and location where the resolution is proposed to be adopted.
Regarding the Final 25% Payment for the $500 Million Fund Arts, Music and Physical Education Grant
The final 25% payment apportionment list was sent to the controller on June 27th, for disbursement to districts within the two-three week time period after June 27.
Arts Education Building Steam In LA Area Schools
Midway through a 10-year initiative to restore arts education in Los Angeles-area schools, the program has expanded to 27 districts serving some 450,000 public school students. At a time when regular offerings of art, music, dance, and theater have generally declined around the country, one-third of the 80 districts in Los Angeles County have agreed to provide such programs, and many have hired arts administrators and educators to carry them out. Through Arts for All, the county’s blueprint for strengthening its arts programs in grades K-12, more schools are providing regular, separate arts lessons, hiring artists in residence, acquiring more instruments, hiring arts staff, and hosting community arts activities. To read the article in full, click here.
Saugus District Joins Arts Program
"One in a group of nine Los Angeles County districts to do so, the Saugus Union School District joined the county's Arts for All program in May - making the district's 15 elementary schools eligible for additional K-12 arts education funding. Joining the Castaic Union School District as the Santa Clarita Valley's only other participating district, Saugus officials will be eligible for the increased aid after introducing an arts education implementation plan and timeline, drafting a board adopted arts education policy, setting aside a 5 percent budget allocation for arts programs, hiring or naming a district level arts coordinator and maintaining a ratio of at least one credentialed arts teacher per 400 students." To read the article in full, click here. (Source: Cultural Policy Listserv)
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House Approves $35.6 Million Increase for NEA - up to $160 Million for 2008; Focus Shifts Now to U.S. Senate
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) announced that members of House of Representatives approved a $35.6 million increase in funds for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) on June 27. The increase puts the NEA’s budget at a total $160 million for the 2008 fiscal year. Prior to the passage of the bill, three amendments targeted at eliminating or cutting funds NEA funds were defeated.
Action now shifts to the Senate, where the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved its version of the Department of Interior funding bill with an increase in the NEA budget of $9 million over the 2007 level, to $133 million. The proposals from each house will be considered over the next few months for the final NEA appropriations for fiscal year 2008 (starting in October 2007). For more information and ongoing updates, visit NASAA’s website here. (Source: CAC Update)
New York City Group Looks To Raise Awareness For Arts Education
The Center for Arts Education believes the arts are essential to a well-rounded basic education, and the nonprofit organization kicked off a new public engagement initiative in late June. The New York Department of Education spent $285 million on arts education last year, which represented roughly 1.7 percent of total spending for education. Under reforms implemented by the Bloomberg administration, principals will be able to create their own arts budgets. “We are moving in a direction to ensure empowerment for school principals and to increase autonomy by giving principals more control over their budget,” said DOE spokeswoman Lindsey Harr. According to Harr, this past year, most of the school system’s roughly 330 empowerment schools — which determined their own budgets — spent more on the arts than other schools. To read the article in full, click here. (Source: Americans for the Arts)
Massachusetts Battles For Arts In Core Curriculum
Arts advocates are pushing the state Department of Education to make arts education a bigger part of recommended high school graduation requirements, which list music, art, and related subjects as electives.
The state, for the first time, has been drawing up a list of courses it would like all high schools to require, at a minimum, though the final decision remains with the school systems. Most high schools generally do not require art and music for graduation.
The recommendations, which the state Board of Education plans to vote on this fall, include four credits each of English and math, three credits each of history and a lab-based science, two credits in the same foreign language, and six credits in a chosen elective. Electives may include visual and performing arts, career and technical education, technology, or additional courses in other academic subjects. Advocates would like to see students required to take at least one credit of art. To read the full article, click here. (Source: Americans For The Arts)
Colorado School Plan Fully Incorporates The Arts
The Pueblo City Schools new Strategic Plan has been finalized and approved. The efforts of more than 300 community leaders, led by the vision of Superintendent John Covington, are to be applauded. The plan clearly mandates an integrated pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (PK-12) curriculum that includes the fine arts. In addition, a focus on developing individualized education plans for all students is central. To read the article in full, click here. (Source: Americans For The Arts)
Huckabee Meets With Coralville Chamber Group
Speaking in Iowa, presidential hopeful and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee articulated his desire to “foster a creative economy in which the arts are nurtured in schools and innovation is encouraged in the private business sector. Stimulating creativity early on is critically important in ensuring children develop into inventive, productive adults.” To read the article in full, click here.
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Announcements
California Alliance Executive Director Named Durfee Sabbatical Recipient
We are pleased to announce that California Alliance Executive Director, Laurie Schell, is the recipient of a Durfee Foundation Sabbatical award. The Durfee Foundation was established in 1960, and has awarded more than $20 million in grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, history and community development, primarily in the Los Angeles region.
The Durfee Sabbatical Program “recognizes that creative leaders need time to think and reflect if they are to keep their organizations ahead of the curve.” In a study of the effectiveness of the program, it was found “that nonprofit leaders who engaged in a compensated sabbatical did spend their time focusing on personal renewal and rejuvenation, but also spent time immersed in thought regarding their own professional development, the development of their organization, and the development of their employees. From an organizational development standpoint this is a win-win situation for both the leader and the nonprofit organization.”
Laurie Schell’s three month sabbatical began on July 9, and will last through mid-October. During that time, Joe Landon, Policy Director, will serve as the California Alliance’s Interim Director, overseeing management and programmatic activities, with the support of strong Board leadership. Nicole Russell, Office Administrator, will continue to handle all administrative matters.
Call For Proposals: Americans For The Arts 2008 Convention
Americans for the Arts will hold its Annual Convention in Philadelphia,
June 20-22, 2008. Proposal Deadline: August 3, 2007. For more information, click here.
On Engaging Higher Education In Community Arts Education
The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) created a Task Force on Higher Education to identify and document promising practices for engaging higher education institutions in partnership with the schools and arts communities in the pre-service and in-service professional development of the arts teaching workforce.
In the report, Working Partnerships: Professional Development of the Arts Teaching Workforce (Feb 2007), AEP outlines the work, results, and recommendations. To learn more, click here.
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Conferences, Professional Development
Building Literacy Through The Arts in Orange County
The Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Education and Community Programs presents Building Literacy Through The Arts, Professional Development Institute targeting K-12 educators, administrators, parents, student teachers and others on August 6 - 10, 2007. Research shows that the arts integrated into education impacts reading, writing, personal creativity and overall potential for students’ achievement. Discover how the arts are linked to literacy through demonstrations by teaching artists from Arts Teach and Orange County Museum of Art in dance, theatre, music and visual arts. Participants will have the opportunity to see Mamma Mia!. Continuing education units available through Chapman University Extended Education. Click here for a registration brochure.
The Fund For Artists Arts Teacher Fellowship Accepting Applications
FFAATF supports the artistic revitalization of outstanding arts teachers in Bay Area middle and high schools, and selects eight Bay Area arts teachers to receive fellowship awards of up to $5,000. Fellowship awards will be used to defray the costs associated with a self-designed course of study enabling arts teachers to expand artistic range and abilities in the making of art, and interact with other professional artists in their field. Applicants must be permanently assigned arts teachers employed by Bay Area public middle and high schools. Teachers of the visual and media arts, theater, music, dance and creative writing are encouraged to apply. Applications are due January 10, 2008.
For Applications and more information go to the San Francisco Foundation, click here, or contact Melody Ferris at fund4artists@eastbaycf.org.
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A Community Audit For Arts Education
In November 2000, the KCAAEN developed an effective tool known as A Community Audit for Arts Education: Better Schools, Better Skills, Better Communities, to assist local education, community and cultural leaders in assessing the status of arts education in their schools and school districts, and to encourage community partnerships to strengthen and expand arts education for all students. While designed to encourage serious evaluation, it is most valuable as a vehicle for encouraging conversation and community planning in support of arts education.
An updated and re-designed edition of A Community Audit for Arts Education is now available. A workable PDF version is also available online here. You can click and type into the fields of this version. You will also be able to save your information if you use Acrobat Professional. (Source: National Partnerships Update)
Arts Integrated Curricula For Purchase
The ArtWorks curriculum is a series of 12 units that integrate language arts, social studies, dance, drama, music, and the visual arts for elementary school students. The academically rigorous units, which are based on national curriculum standards in each of these subjects, use children's fiction and nonfiction books, CDs, DVDs, and videotapes (purchased separately) to help students understand and appreciate the arts. To learn more, click here. (Source: Americans for the Arts)
Dancing in Your School Book Release
A new book, Dancing in Your School: A Guide for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers can help support standards-based arts education as core curriculum, and encourage teachers‚ use of dance as interdisciplinary learning in their classrooms. For more information please click here, or call 301-657-2880.
Toolkit For Starting A Local Coalition For Arts Education
Modeled on Florida’s Arts for a Complete Education, this Toolkit provides information and resources to begin, develop, or sustain an arts education coalition in your community. In each tabbed section of the Toolkit, you will find information, suggestions and a wealth of resources. It provides new and emerging coalitions with conceptual and philosophical underpinnings to build their organizations on a firm ideological foundation. For established coalitions, it provides ideas and suggestions for sustaining energy and enthusiasm for continuous improvement in community arts education programs. This Toolkit helps coalitions to shortcut the process with examples of successful work already accomplished.
This Toolkit has been designed in a flexible format, allowing it to evolve as a document, and to be modified and expanded upon either by ACE/FAAE or by its users. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. To access the Toolkit, click here! (Source: Americans for the Arts)
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Grammy Foundation Grants
The Grammy Foundation, a philanthropic organization of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences that works to cultivate the awareness, appreciation, and advancement of the contribution of recorded music on American culture, has announced guidelines for its 2007/2008 grant cycle. The GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program awards grants to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the research and/or broad reaching implementations of original scientific research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition, and to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the music and recorded sound heritage of the Americas. Application Deadline: October 1, 2007. For more information, click here.
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Employment & Job Opportunities
Vocal Music Position (50%)
Los Alamitos Unified School District
For application visit: www.losal.org
Deadline: July 20, 2007
K-8 Art Teacher
The Buckley School
Send resume to:
Ellen Mahoney
Visual Arts Department Chair
The Buckley School
3900 Stansbury Avenue
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.
Email: emahoney@buckleyla.org
Executive Director
Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA)
Send cover letter and resume to:MOCHA.EDSearch@CompassPoint.org
Deadline: July 20, 2007
For more information, click here.
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Hot Links to Online Job Pages
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