ArtsEd Digest

Volume 1, Issue 7 - June 9, 2009

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 is 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. For example, items for the Digest to be published on Tuesday, June 23 should be submitted by close of business Friday, June 19.

New from the Arts Education Partnership

AEP National Forum Information - "Charting a Course for the Arts and 21st Century Learning"
Join us on October 2-3, 2009 in Cambridge, MA for a lively exploration of the connections and synchronicities between the arts and 21st century learning. This meeting will be hosted by Lesley University. Click here for more information about this Forum. Registration opens June 15, 2009!

Submissions for Small Group Session Proposals are due June 15th to Laura Smyth, Senior Associate for Communications and Partnerships at lauras@ccsso.org. Submissions for the Cover Art Contest are due June 25th to Teka Phan, Program Assistant, at tekap@ccsso.org.

MENC Music Education Week in Washington June 18 – 23

RALLY FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
June 18 Join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Florence Henderson, Mrs. America 2009 Maureen McDonald, and "Funky Winkerbean" cartoonist Tom Batiuk to show your support for music education. Be at the Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, by 11:15 a.m. for the music of the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps and other music students from around the nation. Signed Petitions for Equal Access to Music Education will be presented at 11:30 a.m. to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

All welcome. No registration required. Tell friends, family, coworkers, and other music supporters about the rally and petition.

NATIONAL ANTHEM PROJECT AND MUSIC TRIBUTE TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN
June 19, 9:00 a.m. Members of Congress, other honored guests will gather at the Lincoln Memorial to sing the Star-Spangled Banner along with about 1,000 students.
All are welcome…..

FREE JAZZ CONCERT
June 19, 8:00 pm Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA
A jazz concert with Joshua Redman, the U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors, Sonare Artist Lew Soloff and Anne Drummond and the Frank Catalono Quartet.
Reserve tickets by calling MENC at 800-828-0229 or 703-860-4000 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, through June 17; ask for Member Services.

SCREENING OF NEW MOVIE - Immediately after the jazz performance (approximately 9:30 p.m., in Salon 5), THUNDER SOUL (directed by Mark Landsman; run time 82 minutes). In the seventies, at all-black Kashmere high school in Houston, Conrad “Prof” Johnson would turn his school's mediocre jazz band into a funk powerhouse. Thirty-five years later, his former students return to the band room, dust off their instruments, and prepare to pay tribute to the man who changed their lives—the 92-year old Prof.

ACADEMIES

Jazz Academy
General Music Academy
Music Technology Academy
Performance Academy

COMPLIMENTARY ADMISSION TO Advocacy Leaders in AEP to these academies, but you must register by June 12, 2009. If interested, register through LynnE@menc.org. More information available online at http://www.menc.org/events/view/menc-s-music-education-week-in-washington.

Call for Nominations for the Music Center BRAVO Awards

Do you know an outstanding Arts educator who deserves to be recognized? The Music Center is now accepting nominations for the Music Center BRAVO Awards.

The BRAVO Award was established by the Music Center in 1983 to recognize teachers and schools for creativity, innovation and excellence in arts education. The BRAVO Award honors educators and schools for excellence in all arts disciplines. BRAVO Awards are presented in three categories; schools, arts specialist teacher, general classroom teacher. BRAVO Award winners use the arts to revitalize teaching, enhance academic achievement and foster self-esteem, teamwork and cross-cultural communication and understanding.

The winners receive a BRAVO sculpture and cash awards.

Please visit http://www.musiccenter.org/education/bravo.html for more information and to download a nomination form to nominate your favorite arts teacher or school today!

Kentucky Establishes a New Model for School Accountability in the Arts

In a recent session the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1, which changed the Kentucky’s system of testing and accountability. A major change in arts accountability included elimination of the arts and humanties pencil and paper testing, and the addition of a school level program review model. Over the next two years Kentucky will phase in this new accountability model.

A pilot project conducted in the 2007-2008 school year in elementary schools involved schools in completing self-evaluations of their arts instructional programs by measuring them against a rubric. That rubric included program standards, indicators of quality, and ratings of performance that schools used to classify the quality their arts program. Schools were required to collect hard evidence to support their decisions on quality.

During the next two years additional program evaluation tools will be developed and piloted for middle and high school levels. Full implementation of the new accountability model is set for the 2011-2012 school year. At that time, all public schools in Kentucky will report results to the Kentucky Department of Education. Random audits will be conducted to support reliability of the process.

For more information visit: Kentucky Department of Education Preliminary Information About Program Reviews.

National Dance Education Organization’s 2009 Conference in New York City - June 23-28
Exploring Resources to Promote Best Practices in Teaching and Learning Dance

Hosted by LaGuardia Arts High School at Lincoln Center. Intensive workshops and panel discussions with American Ballet Theatre, Lincoln Center Institute, Joyce Theater Foundation and Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street Y. Master classes with Eric Franklin, Chuck Davis, Bill Evans, Mary Anthony, Cunningham Dance Co. and others. Over 150+ presentations and movement workshops on best practices in teaching and learning. Student all day intensive with Bill Evans – Passing on the Legacy. Masters Artist Concert. Vendors, bookstore, keynote speakers and more. For registration information go to www.ndeo.org or call 301-585-2880.

Chorus America - New Study Finds Choruses Enhance Student Success

According to a new study by Chorus America, children who sing in choruses have greater academic success and more advanced social skills than children who don’t sing, as reported by large majorities of both parents and educators surveyed for the study. Additionally, both parents and educators (from every discipline) attribute a significant part of a child’s academic success to singing in a choir.

The 2009 study, commissioned by Chorus America, benchmarks a study in 2003 to evaluate the benefits of choral singing and its impact on communities. The results from this latest research support and advance earlier findings that adult choral singers exhibit increased social skills, civic involvement, volunteerism, philanthropy, and support of other art forms, when compared with non-singers.

The 2009 study included a new component that explicitly examined the effects choral singing has on childhood development. The results show children who sing in choirs display many of the enhanced social skills found in adult singers, substantiating earlier conclusions that singing in childhood is likely to have an enormous influence on the choices individuals make later in life.

The 2009 Chorus Impact Study was produced with funding support from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, an anonymous donor, and The National Endowment for the Arts. The full report and an executive summary are available online at www.chorusamerica.org.

EdTA Announces Grant Recipients

The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) and its student honorary, the International Thespian Society (ITS), have announced the recipients of the 2009 Doug Finney Festival Grant.

The grant is to attend the 2009 International Thespian Festival, June 22-27 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is named for Doug Finney, the former International Thespian Festival Director who passed away in 1992.

This year’s grant recipients are:

Paige Billiot, Thespian troupe 5273 at Las Vegas (Nevada) Academy
Cheryl Kays, Thespian troupe 5151 at Silver Creek High School, Sellersburg, Indiana
Britany Morgan, Thespian troupe 7245 at Jefferson West High School, Meriden, Kansas
Lindy Pickens, Thespian troupe 7328 at Paris (Arkansas) High School.

“The Thespian Festival is about everything that makes theatre such a transformative experience,” says EdTA Executive Director Michael J. Peitz. “From watching a story unfold in the audience, to attending outstanding workshops, to charting a path for the next phase of learning, the Thespian Festival is full of experiences that promise to transform. We are happy to award this grant to Paige, Cheryl, Britany, and Lindy and provide them with this opportunity to experience the Thespian Festival.”

For more information on the Thespian Festival, please visit http://www.edta.org/educational_events/festival.

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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