ArtsEd Digest

Volume 1, Issue 13 - September 8, 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 2nd and 4th Tuesday. Items for inclusion in the upcoming listserv must be submitted by close of business on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month. For example, items for the Digest to be published on Tuesday, September 22 should be submitted by close of business Friday, September 18.

New from the Arts Education Partnership

Don't miss your last chance to register for the AEP Fall National Forum, "Charting a Course for the Arts and 21st Century Learning" on October 2-3, 2009 in Cambridge, MA! Registration ends September 15th and spaces are filling fast. Also, the special discounted rate of $169/night at the Hotel Marlowe ends September 10th. We hope to see you in Cambridge!

New NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Greets the Nation

Rocco Landesman began his tenure as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts on August 11. Rocco Landesman, nominated by President Barack Obama as the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, was confirmed on August 7 by the U.S. Senate. For the biography of the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, please click here: http://arts.endow.gov/news/news09/landesman-bio.html.

Access the video here: http://arts.endow.gov/news/news09/landesman-video-greeting.html.

NEA National Heritage Fellowships Celebrations Upcoming
Awards ceremony and concert honor recipients of nation's highest honor in folk and traditional arts

Washington, D.C. – Eleven master artists from around the country, representing eleven distinct folk and traditional arts, will be honored in Washington, D.C. the week of September 21st for events celebrating their receipt of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The fellowship is the highest form of federal recognition of the folk and traditional arts. Representing a cross-section of cultures, including cowboy, South Asian, Appalachian, and West African, and preserving such diverse art forms as accordion-driven zydeco, willow basketry, and New England contra dance, these awardees were chosen for their artistic excellence and contributions to our nation's living cultural heritage. The fellowship includes a one-time award of $25,000. The NEA National Heritage Fellowships public programs are made possible through the support of the Darden Restaurants Foundation and its family of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52 restaurants.

Capitol Hill Awards Ceremony

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and Members of Congress will present the 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Awards in a Capitol Hill ceremony on Tuesday, September 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the Senate Caucus Room (Room 325) in the Russell Senate Office Building, located at Constitution Ave. and Delaware Ave., NE. Photographs of the Capitol Hill awards ceremony will be distributed via e-mail the following morning.

Free Concert

On Thursday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m., the Fellows will perform at a free special concert, held at the Music Center at Strathmore, located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane in Bethesda, Maryland. Nick Spitzer, host of PRI's American Routes radio program, will emcee this exciting evening of performances, craft demonstrations, and artist interviews.

Free tickets are available from two locations: the Music Center at Strathmore Ticket Office, 301-581-5100 or www.strathmore.org, and the House of Musical Traditions, 7040 Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park, Maryland, 301-270-9090.

PLEASE NOTE: Though the concert's free tickets may be entirely distributed in advance, there will be seating available beginning 15 minutes before curtain. The NEA encourages those without tickets to arrive 20-30 minutes early.

For the complete release and more information on the 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellows, please go to: http://www.arts.gov/news/news09/2009-NEA-Heritage-Fellows-Celebrations.html

Media Contact: Liz Stark, NEA
202-682-5744
starke@arts.gov

Program Contact: Barry Bergey
202-682-5726
bergeyb@arts.gov

New Publication from Choral Arts Society of Washington: Celebrating Sacred Rhythms: A Teacher's Guide

The Choral Arts Society of Washington is please to announce the launch of its newest arts-integrated K-12 curriculum, Celebrating Sacred Rhythms: A Teacher’s Guide. This new educational publication is designed to accompany Choral Arts’ award winning CD Celebrating Sacred Rhythms, which won the 2006 Washington Area Music Award (WAMMIE). The Sacred Rhythms CD includes Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla, the first mass composed in the Spanish language. The lesson plans and student readings focus on the elements of Latin American culture found within Ramírez’s composition: indigenous Andean musical instruments; traditional Latin American rhythms; the Catholic Mass; and Spanish language texts. Celebrating Sacred Rhythms consists of six multi-day lesson plans, six student readings and reading comprehension questions in both English and Spanish, eight worksheets, seven rhythmic activities, and more. The curriculum includes basic music vocabulary for teachers with limited musical knowledge making it an ideal resource for arts-integrated classrooms. For more information on this unique publication, please contact scronenberg@choralarts.org or visit www.choralarts.org.

EdTA Inducting Two Educators into Hall of Fame

The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) has announced its 2009 Hall of Fame inductees.

Gail Burns of Rector (Arkansas) High School and Krista Carson Elhai of Claremont (California) High School will be inducted on Saturday, September 12 at the 2009 EdTA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California.

Hall of Fame inductees are EdTA members who have been nominated for twenty or more years of service to the cause of theatre education.

Ms. Burns is the director of theatre and the administrator of the gifted education program for Rector Public Schools. Ms. Elhai is the chair of Claremont High School’s department of theatre arts.

“It is a special kind of person who answers the call to be a teacher,” says EdTA Executive Director Michael J. Peitz. “A teacher must have a passion not only for their field of expertise, but also for sharing that knowledge with their students. Gail and Krista are the very definition of that passion. Each is most deserving of induction into the EdTA Hall of Fame.”

The 2009 EdTA Annual Conference is sponsored in part by Dolphin Entertainment, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.

September 30th Symposium on the New Renaissance in Creativity and Learning

This one day retreat, September 30th, at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Constitution Hall, brings international leaders together with Oklahoma educational and civic leadership for an intellectual exchange of ideas about the shifts occurring today as we prepare young people to be equipped for their roles in this 21st century global economy. Are we experiencing a New Renaissance? Is this perhaps the most exciting, yet challenging, frontier of ideas since the Italian Renaissance?

With the utilization of interactive hand-held devices, attendees will have an opportunity to actively participate in stimulating presentations and dialogue with student leaders about this New Renaissance in learning, which is facing us at all levels of the formal educational strata and as lifelong adult learners. Presenters will begin the day with a look at the elements of the Italian Renaissance and the Creative Mind of Leonardo da Vinci with Leonardo experts Bulent Atalay and Peter Donaldson. Dennis Cheek, an internationally renowned scientist and Kauffman Foundation fellow, and Jack Lew, from the University of Central Florida, will look at what we now know about development of the creative mind and how the confluences of the arts, sciences, and technology are influencing that development. The day will conclude with a look at specific examples of creative learning environments and a roundtable discussion with several of Oklahoma’s university presidents.

The symposium is presented by Creative Oklahoma, Oklahoma’s statewide creativity network, in conjunction with Apple. The DaVinci Institute and the University of Central Oklahoma are co-sponsors for the event.

The symposium is limited to the first 500 participants. Early bird registration is $45, including lunch; $65 at the door; and $25 for university students. All pre-registered participants will also receive an invitation to attend a special preview event, the evening of September 29th at 6:30 pm in Constitution Hall, of award-winning film documentarian David Kennard’s "ReCreating America." For more information and to register, please click the following link: http://www.uco.edu/stateofcreativity/.

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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