October 2008

Dear ArtsEd Washington friends and members,

Fall is a great time of year. The air turns cool, leaves change to their unique colors, and the word “brisk” is spoken fondly.

Each fall, I experience a rebirth of sorts with the beginning of a new school year.  It is exciting to visit arts-focused classrooms where students’ eyes sparkle as they are engaged in learning in and through the arts. The arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) provide an opportunity for all students to feel successful and involved.

That’s why ArtsEd Washington is continuing to work toward the creation of our Curricula Bank, an online portal where teachers will find state-standard-aligned lesson plans and curricula that will help them integrate more arts into their classrooms, and bring that sparkle to every student’s eye.

We know that in order for the Curricula Bank to be most useful, it must specifically and directly answer teachers’ arts education needs. That’s why we partnered with the Washington Education Association last spring and sent out a survey asking teachers what they want most from our Curricula Bank. More than 3,500 teachers responded, providing valuable input for this new teaching resource. Thank you! Be on the lookout for more specific survey results in our November issue of eNews.

Even though teachers clearly need this support now, creating such a comprehensive resource requires time, effort, and money.  As a member-supported organization, we need you to make a financial commitment to help us make the Curricula Bank a reality.

Just like those students engaged in learning in and through the arts, membership with ArtsEd Washington provides an opportunity for you to feel successful and involved. Please visit http://www.ArtsEdWashington.org and become a member today.

Sincerely,
Michael J. Sandner
Board President

Advancing the Arts Through Basic Education Finance

Thank you to everyone who took up our call to action and attended one of the recent presentations on the new Basic Education Finance Joint Task Force proposal. We appreciate your passion and commitment to ensure that arts education is an integral part of Basic Education funding. This will be our key legislative issue in the 2009 session, so we’ll continue to keep you updated throughout the year.

We’re not the only ones who appreciate your concern for basic education funding. Last week, ArtsEd Washington staff members attended a reception for longtime champion of the arts and education, and Joint Task Force member, State Representative Ross Hunter. We told Rep. Hunter about your desire to hear more about the proposal, and he immediately offered to respond in a message sent directly to you. Keep watching your inboxes; we’ll soon send you this very special message from Rep. Hunter.

In the meantime, learn more about the proposal by clicking on the following links:

Basic Education Funding Proposal – The Highlights

Basic Education Funding Proposal: Preparing Children to Succeed in the 21st Century

Remember, our legislators are always eager to hear from their constituents. The weeks following the election are a great time for you to meet with your newly elected or re-elected state representatives and senators. If you can’t meet with them, take a moment to send an email and remind your legislators of the importance and relevance of the arts in education to you, their constituents, and the need to ensure adequate funding for education as a whole. ArtsEd Washington will soon publish a White Paper to assist you with these conversations.

PAL Workshop Turns Research Into Practice - and Poetry!

Nearly 40 principals and teachers from schools in King, Pierce, and Kitsap counties came together to continue incorporating the arts into their schools at our Principals Arts Leadership (PAL) fall workshop, “Instructional Leadership in the Arts: Connecting Research to Practice.”

Workshop participants learned about important research from former OSPI senior researcher Sue Shannon, Ed.D., co-author of Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools. Participants immediately began connecting these characteristics to the process of creating and implementing their school arts plans. Groups from different schools also worked together to give each other feedback and suggestions for advancing their respective arts plans throughout the school year. One principal commented, “collaborating with other educators around the arts…was inspiring and gave me great ideas.”

At the end of the afternoon, participants took part in “Power Poetry,” facilitated by teaching artist and former PAL program manager Gail Frasier. Principals and teachers learned firsthand how creative writing, movement, and theatre can enhance their understanding of what it means to be an instructional leader in the arts.

Many participants expressed their appreciation for the workshop, including one principal who wrote, “This was the best thing ever!”

ArtsEd Washington warmly thanks our presenter, Dr. Sue Shannon; our power poetess, Gail Frasier; and our workshop host, the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

For more information about the PAL program, please visit http://www.ArtsEdWashington.com/Frame_Programs.html or contact PAL Program Manager Erin Guest at erin@artsedwashington.org.

Does Your Candidate Support Arts Education?

The Washington State Arts Alliance recently released the results of their 2008 Washington Legislative Candidates’ Arts Survey. ArtsEd Washington provided two survey questions about arts education.

Of the candidates who responded to our first question, an overwhelming 93% agreed or strongly agreed that more must be done at the state level to support arts education for all students.

Only two candidates strongly disagreed: Leslie Klein, Republican candidate for Representative of the 36th District (Seattle/Regrade/Magnolia/Queen Anne/Ballard) and John Sweeney, Republican candidate for Representative of the 46th District (North Seattle).

Of the candidates who responded to our second question, another overwhelming 95% agreed or strongly agreed that the arts play a role in developing skills and habits such as: learning how to set goals and achieve them; respecting multiple values and perspectives; developing the imagination; and using multiple ways of learning and communicating experiences and information.

Only one candidate strongly disagreed: John Sweeney, Republican candidate for Representative of the 46th District (North Seattle).

Many of the candidates who responded to these questions also made encouraging comments about their support for arts education. Read their comments, and the rest of the survey results, at http://www.wsartsalliance.com.

You Can Make a Difference in Your District

Tonight, two school districts in King County will offer the public an opportunity to influence their district’s arts education leadership.

The Seattle Public Schools will present their 5th Annual Arts Education Forum from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, featuring Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno, District Arts Manager Carri Campbell, and the newest members of the district arts team. The forum includes free supervised arts activities and pizza for school-age children by reservation.

The Bellevue School District will offer parents and community members an opportunity to help shape the profile of characteristics desired in a new superintendent at a public meeting with the district’s hiring consultants from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Sammamish High School Performing Arts Center. The district also welcomes public feedback on their website at http://www.bsd405.org; and in early November, the school board will start to blog at http://bsdsuptsearch.blogspot.com/. 

If your district offers a similar public opportunity to influence district leadership, please let us know and we’ll spread the word so that arts education advocates can show their support.

If your district does not offer such an opportunity, why not consider being the catalyst? Most school boards offer an opportunity for public comment in their regular meetings; encourage your district to coordinate an arts education forum, and reiterate your support for all students to experience a complete education that includes the arts.

You may also consider offering some of these creative meeting ideas, like childcare for school-age children or a school-board-sponsored blog, to your district.

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Washington State Arts Commission Update
by Lisa Jaret, Arts in Education Program Manager

I’d like to use my update this month to highlight a recent national study that has some great information for arts education advocates.  The study is called Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy, and it comes from RAND Education, with funding from the Wallace Foundation.

Cultivating Demand for the Arts talks about the need to balance out the “supply side” of the arts, i.e. creating and performing works of art, with more attention paid to the “demand side” of the arts, i.e. educating people in and about the arts, which helps develop “arts-inclined individuals,” i.e. people who want to engage with the works of art that are being supplied.

Here’s the important bit: The report makes the case that comprehensive arts learning in K-12 schools, and other community-based arts learning programs, are a critical factor on the “demand” side of the equation.  I’m pleased to note that WSAC’s work in arts learning is cited in this report – both for our efforts to understand the status of arts education in our state (the Arts Education Research Initiative), as well as for our comprehensive approach to funding community-based arts education partnerships. 

More importantly, though, Cultivating Demand for the Arts provides a wide-ranging look at how arts learning – for adults as well as youth – relates to cultivating a strong future for the entire cultural sector.  I encourage you to visit http://www.wallacefoundation.org to download a free PDF of the report; or, for a bite-sized version and an excellent summary, simply download the two-page research brief.

In other WSAC arts education news, we are working hard on the next Arts Education Research Initiative (AERI), Poetry Out Loud (POL), and on revisions to the guidelines for our Community Consortium Grants.  I will provide more information about these efforts in the coming months.

As always, I welcome questions and comments regarding WSAC’s Arts in Education programs.  I can be reached at (360) 586-2418 or mailto:lisaj@arts.wa.gov. 

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OSPI - The Arts Update
by AnnRené Joseph, Arts Program Supervisor

Yes, the arts are alive and well in Washington State, but we have a lot of work to do before all one-million-plus K-12 students in all 295 school districts across our great state receive instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Washington State is the only state in the nation where the State Board of Education (SBE) has proposed requiring two arts credits for high school graduation. This vision for the well-rounded education of the whole child and for ALL students is historic, and will require all of us to “stay the course” and see the vision into reality. Full funding from the state legislature is the way for this dream to become a reality.

The efforts of ArtsEd Washington, our teachers, arts education and advocacy organizations, parents, administrators, the OSPI, the SBE, and countless others made this vision a possibility! It is empowering to our state, to the nation, and to the world to see this vision in progress!

We have enough teachers and classrooms to make it happen today. In four years, we will have more teachers and more classrooms. The colleges and universities are ready to embrace this vision; they are already working with us to certify arts educators and classroom teachers who are highly qualified and certified to teach with the rigor of state standards and assessments, and to love what they teach so that students love to learn!

All of us, working together, with synergy and a shared focus for standards-based education that will prepare our students for the challenges of the 21st century, are making a positive difference. My sound bite, as you know, is: MORE ARTS!

The challenges that face our state and nation are increasing, daily, and funding for the basic needs of life are difficult for many. With all of this in mind, it is even more imperative that MORE ARTS be a part of every student and adult life, as much as possible! For the first time in history, this school year, all 295 school districts are required by state law to report progress to the OSPI in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. View the draft reporting form at http://www.k12.wa.us/CurriculumInstruct/Arts/pubdocs/OSPIArtsCBPARptFormTeacherWorksheetDraft.pdf

Thank you to all of you who daily make MORE ARTS happen for all learners in your “circles of influence”: jobs, organizations, classrooms, schools, districts, regions, communities, business, and in your leisure! The OSPI January Conference – January 7 -9, 2009, at the Seattle Convention Center – will showcase all arts initiatives.

Learn more at about what is happening at the OSPI to make MORE ARTS happen by visiting our website: http://www.k12.wa.us/curriculumInstruct/Arts. You can also contact me at (360) 725-6365 or annrene.joseph@k12.wa.us.

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Washington State Arts Alliance Update
by Mary Langholz, Executive Director

It’s that time again! Please remember to vote on November 4. Your elected officials have a dramatic influence on funding and other measures that impact the arts in your schools and communities. November is a great time to get acquainted with your newly elected or re-elected legislators – let them know who you are, why you care about the arts, and what the arts do for your schools and community.

WSAA does not endorse candidates, but we are sharing their answers to our arts survey with you and the state arts community before the general election. Visit our website at http://www.wsartsalliance.com to see the results. If a candidate in your area did not respond to the survey, don't assume he or she isn't supportive of the arts. Go to a candidate's website, call or e-mail him/her and ask them about their position on the arts or the questions on the survey.

This is the time when legislators are working to build relationships with constituents. Once the state legislative session begins in January, they are very busy and relationships are harder to start. But if you've established a relationship with your district representatives and senator, it is easier to ask for support on specific issues later.

For more information on Washington State candidates and other important election information, you can visit our website at http://www.wsartsalliance.com, or visit the Washington Secretary of State website at http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/. Americans for the Arts has solid information about national candidates on their website: http://www.americansforthearts.org.

...and remember to vote on November 4.

Please note the new address for the Washington State Arts Alliance and Foundation: 1204 Minor Street, Seattle, WA 98101. Our phone number remains the same at 206.448.1909.

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Arts Education News & Reports

Obama, McCain, and the Arts
Los Angeles Times / October 24, 2008

A must-read article from the Los Angeles Times about the presidential candidates' positions on the arts.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-artscandidates24-2008oct24,0,7660935.story

Arts Helped this Copter Pilot Soar
Tucson Citizen / October 20, 2008

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Tim Ashcraft, an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter pilot, says of his music training: “I didn't realize at age 5 that I was already in training to fly this aircraft as I learned to manipulate all four limbs simultaneously, a skill necessary to control any flying machine.”

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/99927.php

Arts as Key to Learning as the 3 R's
Denver Post / October 10, 2008

"A first-of-its-kind study by the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Council on the Arts reveals that more arts education is linked to more successful students. The new data released last week associates arts education with higher scores at high schools on the Colorado Student Assessment Program in reading, writing and science and lower dropout rates, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status. The arts are as integral to learning as reading, writing or math."

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_10682412

Click here to see more local, state, and national arts education news and reports in one central location. Click here to support this free community service.

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Funding & Awards

Using Music to Teach Mathematics Grant

Deadline: November 14
Maximum Award: $3,000
Eligibility: K-2 elementary music specialists and classroom generalists

Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Using Music to Teach Mathematics grant is given to teachers who incorporate music into primary classrooms to help young students learn mathematics.

This award is for individual classroom teachers or small groups of teachers collaborating in one grade or across grade levels. Any acquisition of equipment must support the proposed plan but not be the primary focus of the grant. Proposals must address the combining of mathematics and music, the plan for improving students’ learning of mathematics, and the anticipated impact on students’ achievement. Learn more at http://www.nctm.org/met.aspx?linkidentifier=id&itemid=198.

SVP Seattle K-12 Development Grants

Deadline: December 5 (Letter of Inquiry)
Maximum Award: $40,000
Eligibility: 501(c)(3) public charities whose managing staff is located in King County

Social Venture Partners Seattle works to advance the common good in Washington State's King County by engaging and connecting a community of philanthropic leaders, strengthening local nonprofits, and catalyzing efforts to accelerate system change. The SVP Seattle K-12 Grant Committee expects to award two grants of approximately $40,000 each. SVP makes initial single-year grants with the intent of establishing longer term partnerships with its Investees (typically three to five years).

SVP seeks to help students succeed in school by supporting nonprofit organizations working on the following types of programs or initiatives: professional development and training for teachers; professional development and training for school leadership (principals, assistant principals, lead teachers, teacher mentors, etc.); school-based social support for students; systemic change, including whole-school reform and education policy; parent or community involvement in schools; and academic enrichment for students. Please note: SVP does not make direct grants to individual public schools or school districts. Learn more at http://www.svpseattle.org/grantmaking/how-to-apply.

Click here to find new funding and award opportunities, regularly added to our website. Click here to support this free community service.

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Professional Development Opportunities

Arts Impact Offers "Creative Pathways to Math"
Saturday, November 8 / 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. / Puget Sound ESD, Renton

"Creative Pathways to Math" provides K-6 teachers with strategies to infuse the arts into math using various media and visual art techniques. Learn more at http://www.psesd.org.

SAM Educator Workshop: S'abadeb--The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists
Saturday, November 8, 2008 / 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. / Seattle Art Museum

Explore issues of identity, relationships with the land, cultural history, and material culture in this one-day professional workshop featuring the Seattle Art Museum's new exhibition. Learn more at http://www.seattleartmuseum.org.

Teachers As Scholars: Artists and Intellectuals as Icons
Saturdays, November 8 and 22, 2008 / 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. / UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, Seattle

This seminar will look at artists and intellectuals as style-makers and theorists of style, and provide a vocabulary and framework for reading photographic portraiture and understanding our fascination with particular figures. Learn more at http://www.lectures.org/0809seminars.html.

Visit the Professional Development Calendar and Tools for Schools Calendar to explore programs offered by our member organizations. Click here to support this free community service.

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Join ArtsEd Washington Today!

We depend on your membership dues to help us provide tools and programs to advance arts education and support you in your work by keeping you informed of the latest news and developments locally and nationally. Please support our efforts by renewing or beginning your ArtsEd Washington membership today.

Visit the ArtsEd WA website at http://www.ArtsEdWashington.org/ to support our vital efforts today. Thank you for your help!

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If you are interested in sponsoring an eNews, please contact Christine Bateman, Communications & Membership Manager, at christine@artsedwashington.org

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