Welcome to our online library. Here you will find a number of documents that we have written or sponsored.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network
A Community Audit for Arts Education
Better Schools, Better Skills, Better Communities
The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network has published A Community Audit for Arts Education.
For those facing the daunting task of advocating for the arts in a constructive manner, we have some bullet points to consider when changing the face of arts education.
Many who question the value of the arts in general also don't understand the importance of arts in the workplace as well. To help illustrate some ways that the arts help people on the job, we've gathered some testimonials from prominent Arizona professionals.
Standards are an essential part of any formal education, artistic or otherwise. We have prepared a summary of the Arizona Arts Standards.
If you'd like to see how a model program for a local arts advocacy organization works, please read about the evolution of an arts in education council.
ADVOCACY: Changing the Face of Arts Education
Please keep these points in mind as you pursue your efforts advocating for arts education:
- Reform initiatives succeed when change is systemic.
- Long-range planning by district and school leadership is essential.
- Continuous communication and collaboration within and among change communities promote reform.
- Professional development programs and curriculum and instructional planning go hand in hand and should be pursued at the same time.
- Models of K-12 comprehensive curricula help already busy teachers and administrators.
- Ongoing assistance for curriculum implementation is imperative.
- Effective student performance assessment is essential.
- The best programs emerge in schools where educators collectively assume new instructional roles and responsibilities for coordinating the curriculum.
- Collaboration between teachers and experts in particular subject areas leads to improved instructional programs.
- The teaching of school subjects is enhanced when museum and other community cultural institutions provide content for instruction and settings for immersion in their respective worlds.
- The most important learning takes place when several school subjects are taught simultaneously within the context of large themes that illuminate conceptions of human purpose and well-being.
- Skills are not ends in themselves: they are the means for understanding human purpose and creating new visions of it.
- Evaluation of the change process is critical. (Brent Wilson. The Quiet Evolution. Getty, 1997)
ARTS AND THE WORKPLACE
Students getting more arts in their schools translates into students being more prepared for life after graduation, regardless of whether or not they have "traditional" jobs or full-fledged arts careers. The arts are, in fact, everywhere and provide life-long benefits.
Nancy Pendleton, Newsroom Artist, The Arizona Republic and painter who has shown her work at Wilde Meyer galleries in Scottsdale and Tucson states:
The background and learning I had in the arts taught me to take chances and to try different things. "Different" is acceptable, even embraced, in the arts. More conventional subjects often teach that an answer is either right or wrong, that there is a particular path that leads to one solution. My arts education helped me to see a realm of possibilities, to be able to think abstractly, to express who I am and be proud of that. For me art has been very freeing.
Kids who miss out on arts in their education are missing out on a whole different way of looking at life, looking at who they are, about working, solving problems. They are closed off to a part of their brain! I know kids today could benefit (by more arts in their education) in many facets of their lives. It is ironic that in today's business world that some companies are actually paying for courses to loosen up their employees' way of thinking, teaching them creative problem-solving skills, and encouraging non-linear, outside-the-box thinking. What's happening is they're trying to get the benefit of creative thinking back into the business world when, as kids, they could've learned it much more naturally and successfully.
It isn't just about teaching kids to dance or sing or draw, it is about opening up the realm of possibilities to them. When they learn to use the right side of their brain in schools from the beginning, it makes them that much more prepared for the problem solving they'll need in the real world.
Dave A. Howell, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, Wells Fargo commentedKids who miss out on arts in their education are missing out on a whole different way of looking at life, looking at who they are, about working, solving problems. They are closed off to a part of their brain! I know kids today could benefit (by more arts in their education) in many facets of their lives. It is ironic that in today's business world that some companies are actually paying for courses to loosen up their employees' way of thinking, teaching them creative problem-solving skills, and encouraging non-linear, outside-the-box thinking. What's happening is they're trying to get the benefit of creative thinking back into the business world when, as kids, they could've learned it much more naturally and successfully.
It isn't just about teaching kids to dance or sing or draw, it is about opening up the realm of possibilities to them. When they learn to use the right side of their brain in schools from the beginning, it makes them that much more prepared for the problem solving they'll need in the real world.
One of the things the arts add to any curriculum is that they're abstract and inter-disciplinary. You think about the connections with reading numbers in math and reading music. You think about the connections in geometry and painting. Studying the arts, by its very nature, involves more than one part of the brain. Kids these days have traditional testing that is single subject driven. It is about basic skills in certain areas but not about critical thinking in general. The bottom line is that the arts promote critical thinking, pulling from different parts of your experiences, using different sets of skills, and different bodies of knowledge to arrive at a solution. It forces student to be creative in ways other subjects didn't necessarily push them.
In any job--almost all jobs these days, and especially jobs that involve management or supervisory positions, you spend most of your time finding solutions to problems that arise or thinking of ways to take advantage of opportunities. People that can tap into other parts of their brain are those who survive and thrive at those jobs. Those are exactly the kinds of skills fostered by an arts curriculum or arts in education.
Sometimes art isn't considered approachable by the average person. Some consider it too elitist. The truth is that art is all around us in a lot of different ways. It is not as limited as some would think. There are a lot of people who aren't aware that art is all around them in their every day environment. It makes the community a more appealing place to live and puts that personal experience in every day life.
Jack Lunsford, CEO/President WESTMARC:In any job--almost all jobs these days, and especially jobs that involve management or supervisory positions, you spend most of your time finding solutions to problems that arise or thinking of ways to take advantage of opportunities. People that can tap into other parts of their brain are those who survive and thrive at those jobs. Those are exactly the kinds of skills fostered by an arts curriculum or arts in education.
Sometimes art isn't considered approachable by the average person. Some consider it too elitist. The truth is that art is all around us in a lot of different ways. It is not as limited as some would think. There are a lot of people who aren't aware that art is all around them in their every day environment. It makes the community a more appealing place to live and puts that personal experience in every day life.
When young people are transitioning to the business world, having had the arts in their education can give them self-confidence, experience and training in the areas of public speaking and inter-personal communication, and I can't underestimate the importance of the teamwork experience they get. For example, if you're doing a play, no one does it by themselves. The actors have to work with the production people, and those people have to work with the set design people, and those people have to work with the music people. They all have to work together if the final output-the production-is going to work and be a success.
Maybe the simplest way to say it is that getting into the habit of understanding and participating in the arts contributes to one's ability to experience life-long learning. If young people don't get into the habit of arts, they miss out on that ability.
Maybe the simplest way to say it is that getting into the habit of understanding and participating in the arts contributes to one's ability to experience life-long learning. If young people don't get into the habit of arts, they miss out on that ability.
ARIZONA ARTS STANDARDS
Introduction to Arizona's Academic Standards in the Arts
Philosophy and Rationale for the Arts
The arts are essential in education for they provide students with the means to think, feel, and understand the world around them in ways unique and distinct from other disciplines. These skills have been recognized as essential to lifelong success both in and out of school by a variety of education and civic leaders, including the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Education Commission of the States, the Arts Education Partnership, and BusinessWeek.
The arts are essential in education for they provide students with the means to think, feel, and understand the world around them in ways unique and distinct from other disciplines. These skills have been recognized as essential to lifelong success both in and out of school by a variety of education and civic leaders, including the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Education Commission of the States, the Arts Education Partnership, and BusinessWeek.
Arts Education in Arizona
Arizona has recognized the importance of arts education for its students in a variety of ways, including:
Arizona has recognized the importance of arts education for its students in a variety of ways, including:
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Requiring music and visual arts be taught in grades K-8
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Creating high quality certifications (endorsements) for teachers in the areas of dance, music, theatre and visual arts
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Requiring a fine arts high school credit for admission to our state's universities
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Adopting Academic Standards in the Arts, with rigorous, sequential guidelines for creating quality arts education for Arizona's students
Arts Standards
The Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts provide guidance on what a student should know and be able to do in all four arts disciplines: dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Every student should receive arts instruction through the intermediate level in all art forms, as well as reach an advanced level in at least one art form prior to graduation from high school. We believe these Standards will help schools develop quality arts education programs for their students. A quality arts education program:
The Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts provide guidance on what a student should know and be able to do in all four arts disciplines: dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Every student should receive arts instruction through the intermediate level in all art forms, as well as reach an advanced level in at least one art form prior to graduation from high school. We believe these Standards will help schools develop quality arts education programs for their students. A quality arts education program:
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provides essential ways to understand and express life experiences
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develops deep understanding of past and present cultures/peoples
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prepares students for active participation in creating the culture of the present and future
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develops imagination
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enables students to make informed aesthetic choices
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provide a creative, motivating vehicle for mastering technology, including multimedia
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helps develop the full range of students' abilities
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prepares students for enjoyable recreation and leisure time
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prepares students for success in a wide variety of careers
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develops self-discipline and focus
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develops the capacity to refine work, aspiring to high quality standards
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creates a positive, inclusive school atmosphere
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fosters creativity and independence
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develops the ability to solve complex, often ambiguous, problems
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develops teamwork
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enhances self-esteem
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increases learning across the curriculum
from Why Every Student Should Study the Arts, Scott C. Shuler, 1999
Arts are Essential to Learning
- The arts are a strong motivator for students to develop self discipline and social skills.
- The arts are essential to an understanding of personal, local, national, and global cultures past and present.
- The arts become essential learning tools by providing students --being there experiences, experiences with emotional markers, experiences appropriate to different learning styles--all of which enhance motivation and make learning possible for the broad range of students in Arizona schools.
Each art form brings special ways of perceiving the world and mentally organizing and retrieving information. Each art form brings special ways of thinking and problems. Expression in the arts helps students develop cognitive and physical skills.
Art criticism helps students develop observation, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation skills that can be translated to other areas of study.
Art criticism helps students develop observation, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation skills that can be translated to other areas of study.
What You Can Do to Increase the Quality of Arts Education
Get complete copies of the Arts and Reading/Writing Standards.
Find out who is teaching the arts and what curriculum and activities are used.
Contact Arizona Alliance for Arts Education for a Checklist to Assess Your School's Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts Programs.
Contact the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education and the Arizona Commission on the Arts for information about professional workshops, arts materials and residencies.
- Let everyone know you want education in all four arts disciplines for all K-12 students.
- Make your school and community aware of the need for qualified arts teachers.
- Create an awareness and understanding of the importance of arts education with parents and students, faculty and administrators, school board and community members.
For a copy of the Arizona Arts and Reading/Writing Standards, contact:
Arizona Student Assessment Program
Arizona Department of Education
1535 West Jefferson Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
http://www.ade.state.az.us/
Press Releases
| 6/15/06 | Art is All Around Us | ||
| 6/01/06 | Arts Education --Did You know? | ||
| 6/01/06 | Pyramids: First a Picture -The Arts |