ArtsEd Digest

March 24, 2009

**Due to technical difficulties at the office, yesterday’s ArtsEd Digest issue for March 24, 2009 is being released one day late. Our apologies for any inconvenience!**

Welcome to ArtsEd Digest, the new and improved face of the AEP listserv. The ArtsEd Digest is an online publication that allows for the easy access to vital and timely information about arts education from our partners and from the field. It will be published twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesday. Items for inclusion in the upcoming listserv must be submitted by close of business on the first and third Fridays of each month. Items for the Digest to be published on Tuesday, April 14 should be submitted by close of business Friday, April 10.

New information from the Arts Education Partnership includes a summary and analysis of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Saving and Creating Jobs and Reforming Education, accessible here. Also, more information will be coming soon about the next 2009 AEP National Forum in Cambridge, MA on October 2-3, 2009.

Celebrate Music Education Month with The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation with a Film Screening and Discussion

Please join The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and CoHosts
Music National Service Initiative and ThunderSoul Filmmakers for
~ Music in the Key of Education: A Celebration of Music Education Month ~

As we promote and support music/arts education for young people with a showing of the new documentary film ThunderSoul: The True Life Story of Conrad O. Johnson and the Kashmere Stage Band.
Date: Wednesday March 25th, 2009
Location: E Street Theater 555 11th St. NW 20004
Time: 6:30 - 9:30 PM

Immediately preceding the film screening, there will be a reception with live jazz music and a welcome and introduction to the film by Dr. Scott of the CBCF.

For more information or to reserve seats: Inspired Productions 202-538-1758 or 310-204-2140
ThunderSoulCBCF@gmail.com
For more information on the CBCF see: http://www.cbcfinc.org
For more on the film ThunderSoul, see: http://www.thundersoulmovie.com

National Endowment for the Arts Announces Upcoming Education Leaders Institutes

How does arts education fuel the nation’s economic prosperity and innovation? Or capitalize on new media trends? These and other questions will be addressed at two upcoming Education Leaders Institutes, an NEA initiative that convenes “dream teams” to develop coordinated state arts education plans. This spring, the NEA will assemble policymakers, educators, advocates, and artists to design arts education plans for their respective states. With these upcoming Institutes, the NEA will have gathered 19 policy teams since the program was launched in 2007. Today, the NEA announces the state teams who will attend the third and fourth Institute, to be held this March and June in Chicago, Illinois.

For the full press release, visit the NEA News Room at http://www.arts.gov/news/news09/nea-announces-education-leaders-institutes.html.

Educational Theatre Association Member Named Winner of National Essay Competition
Sponsored by Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA)

March 17, 2009—An Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) member has been named the winner of an essay competition offered by the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).
Ruthie Tutterow is chair of the drama department at Greensboro (North Carolina) Day School and director of its International Thespian troupe 6570, the Educational Theatre Association’s (EdTA) student honorary.
As the winner, Mrs. Tutterow is awarded $500 toward airfare to the VASTA Conference, taking place August 3-7 in New York City, and has the $275 conference registration fee waived.
The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) is a professional organization for theatre education founded in 1929. EdTA’s mission is to create a network for theatre arts educators, students, professionals, and enthusiasts to share ideas and support the effort to have theatre arts education recognized in all phases of education and lifelong learning.
For more information, please visit http://www.edta.org.

The Smithsonian Latino Center’s 2009 Young Ambassadors Program

The Smithsonian Latino Center is pleased to announce the 2009 Young Ambassadors Program. Young Ambassadors is a national leadership development program for high school seniors with the aim to cultivate the next generation of Latino leaders in the arts and culture fields through one-on-one interaction with artists, curators, historians, and other museum and arts professionals. This program is made possible through the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund.

Students with an interest and commitment to the arts (e.g. film, dance, design, music, visual, performing, and/or literary arts) are selected to travel to Washington, D.C. for a week-long arts enrichment and leadership seminar at the Smithsonian Institution. Conducted by world-renowned experts in their respective fields, the seminar encourages youth to examine Latino identity and embrace their own cultural heritage through first-hand observation of the Smithsonian’s Latino collections, lectures, and other activities. Following the seminar, students return to museums and other cultural institutions in their local communities, including Smithsonian affiliated organizations, to participate in a four-week summer internship.
The deadline to apply is March 31, 2009. For further information and to apply, please visit http://www.latino.si.edu/education or contact Emily Key, Education Programs Manager, at 202.633.1268 or by email at keye@si.edu.

Arts and 21st Century Skills- New Report from North Carolina

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is pleased to announce its new publication: Arts Education and 21st Century Skills in North Carolina. This document examines how the NC Arts Education Standard Course of Study (which is aligned with the National Standards for Arts Education) aligns with and teaches 21st century themes and skills. The publication provides leadership to educators and administrators about how to implement 21st century skills in the curriculum, and specifically in dance, music, theatre arts and visual arts classrooms, K-12. The document also highlights various connections and resources that illustrate how 21st century skills may be implemented and assessed in the classroom and beyond.

To order, please visit:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/publications/details?id=391&p=1&orderBy=publication_name
The report may be accessed on-line at:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/artsed/resources

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Explores Theater and the Internet in Collaborative Project

As teachers of art in the twenty-first century we look past our own experiences and hope to impart tools of empathetic communication to the generation that will be witness to these first shaky steps of global collaboration. Utilizing the exploding network of the cyber-age to introduce the medium of storytelling to share with each other the commonality of our lives. We are seeking active participants in our project designed to capture stories from students around the world. The posts on our blog will be transformed into a live work of theater which we will stream live on the internet and facilitate both a live and online post performance discussion with viewers around the world. To participate or read submissions, please go to http://saasglobaltheater.blogspot.com.

United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles (UCPLA) Expands the UCPLAy Project

The UCPLAy Project, a multidisciplinary creative arts program dedicated to providing for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and other developmental disabilities is happy to announce the expansion of its programs into an additional 5 LAUSD school sites and the Santa Monica Malibu Schools District.

The program currently provides over 60 children a week with drama classes designed to introduce movement, mime, gesture, games, improvisation, playwriting and puppetry. The techniques are used as an opportunity to give students an alternative way to engage with and understand their curriculum.

A major factor in the success of the program is the collaboration between school teachers, district administrators and UCPLA. The students participate with sustained engagement, attention and interest because of the ongoing exchange between class teacher and visiting artist. The quality of the students’ expression and work is a direct result of the multiple perspectives and shared knowledge.

The program is an example of how the arts are an important part of special education and how teachers across Los Angeles are working and creating together.

For more information contact okaraolis@ucpla.org or visit www.ucpla.org.

Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest National Finals

Presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation and featuring a special performance by singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant.

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009, 7-10 PM
George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium
21st and H Streets, NW, Washington, DC

You are invited to a uniquely wonderful and inspiring event, the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest National Finals. Join NPR’s Scott Simon and A Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keillor who have returned each year for this galvanizing night of great poems and dramatic competition. A quarter of a million students from each state, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico competed for a spot in this year’s national competition. (The structure of the contest is much like the National Spelling Bee.)

Students will first compete in semifinal contests on Monday, April 27, 9 AM – 8 PM, and twelve of those students advance to the National Finals, starting at 7 PM on April 28. Both events are open to the public, and the daytime events on April 27 are especially conducive to school field trips.

No reservations required. Contact poetryoutloud@arts.gov or (202)682-5001 for more information. To learn more, visit: http://poetryoutloud.org.

This message is from the ArtsEd listserv. ArtsEd hosts discussions and communications for the Arts Education Partnership which demonstrates and promotes the essential role of arts education in enabling all students to succeed in school, life and work.

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