ArtsEd Digest

Volume 1, Issue 18 - November 24, 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, December 8 should be submitted by close of business Friday, December 4.

New from the Arts Education Partnership

Join us for our Spring 2010 National Forum in Washington, DC!
States of Change: New Leadership in Arts and Education; April 9-10, 2010
There’s nothing like the nation’s capital as a backdrop for highlighting leadership in many forms. As we bring our partners together for the Spring 2010 National Forum, we will be focusing on new leadership not just at the federal level, but also in how it relates to arts and education leaders of the next generation, and the new ideas and concepts that will help bring us to the next stage in making the arts a real and cohesive part of every child’s education.

Invited speakers include:

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts

The Forum will begin at 1:00 pm on Friday, April 9, 2010 and end at 5:00 pm on Saturday, April 10, 2010. All Forum sessions will take place at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington. A "Capitol view" reception will be held on the evening of Friday, April 9, 2010 at 101 Constitution, 9th Floor. Keep checking the Digest and our website for more information about the Forum, and mark your calendars for this exciting event. Help us build on the momentum from Cambridge -- and don't forget to register early!

Small group sessions: Proposals for Small Group Sessions are due to Laura Smyth, lauras@ccsso.org by January 5, 2010. You can obtain the RFP form here. AEP will be holding two webinars for those interested in submitting proposals to discuss the submission process and what makes a strong proposal. Webinars will be held on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 3 pm and Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 3 pm. For more information on registering for these webinars, please e-mail aep@ccsso.org.

Entries for the Cover Art Contest are due to aep@ccsso.org by January 22, 2010. You can obtain the form here.

Fall 2009 National Forum in Cambridge, MA
New information from the small group sessions is now available. Please click here to access this information and more.

National Endowment for the Arts Cultural Workforce Forum Held November 20th

On Friday, November 20th, 2009, the NEA hosted a discussion of how art works as part of the real economy. Academics, foundation professionals, and service organization representatives came together to discuss improving the collection and reporting of statistics about arts and cultural workers, and to develop future research agendas and approaches. The program was as follows:

9:00 a.m - Opening Remarks and introductions

Joan Shigekawa, NEA Senior Deputy Chairman and Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research & Analysis

9:30 - Panel One: What We Know About Artists and How We Know It

NEA Research on Artists in the Workforce
Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer
Artist Labor Markets
Greg Wassall, associate professor, Department of Economics, Northeastern University
Artist Careers
Joan Jeffri, director, Research Center for Arts and Culture, Teachers College, Columbia University
Artist Research: Union Perspectives
David Cohen, executive director, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

11:00 - Panel Two: Putting the Research to Work

Cultural Vitality: Investing in Creativity
Maria Rosario Jackson, senior research associate, The Urban Institute
Artists and the Economic Recession
Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
Teaching Artists Research Project
Nick Rabkin, Teaching Artists Research Project, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
Strategic National Arts Alumni Project
Steven Tepper, associate director, the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University

1:20 - Panel Three: Widening the Lens to Capture Other Cultural Workers

Artists in the Greater Cultural Economy
Ann Markusen, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
Creative Class: Who’s in, Who’s out?
Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer
American Community Survey: An Emerging Data Set
Jennifer Day, assistant division chief, Employment Characteristics of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, United States Census Bureau

2:20 - Comments and questions from panel participants

3:00 - Discussion: Summary and Recommendations for Future Research

Moderated by Sunil Iyengar and Tom Bradshaw

Lead discussants: Holly Sidford, president, Helicon Collaborative and Paul DiMaggio, professor, Department of Sociology, Princeton University

4:30 - Adjournment

N.B. There will be 15-minute breaks at 10:45 a.m. and 2:50 p.m.; and an hour break for lunch at 12:15 p.m.

In addition to the above presenters, the NEA Cultural Workforce Forum included the following respondents:

Randy Cohen, vice president of local arts advancement, Americans for the Arts
Deirdre Gaquin, consultant
Angela Han, director of research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Ruby Lerner, president, Creative Capital Foundation
Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
Carrie Sandahl, associate professor, Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago
Mary Jo Waits, director, Social, Economic & Workforce Programs Division, National Governors Association

An archive of the event will be available on www.arts.gov during the week of November 23rd.

At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening, March 25-27, 2010

The Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute at the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission (RAC) presents a conference that will cultivate innovative strategies in community cultural development.

This conference brings together a cross-section of artists, community partners and leaders in a platform for critical dialogue about arts and community development.

Consisting of presentations of new scholarship, workshops, and discussions, At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening connects and engages people working in diverse practices, inspiring new ideas and creative collaborations in communities.

Mark your calendars today for At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening, March 25-27, 2010 in St. Louis.

See http://www.art-stl.com/convene/ or contact convening@stlrac.org for more information

At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening is facilitated by the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute at the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, Missouri and is generously sponsored by the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Special support provided by the Whitaker Foundation.

CALL for papers, presentations, dialogues, and workshops from exemplary practitioners and great thinkers in arts based community development:

Deadline for submission: December 21, 2009

As hosts for the 1st Community Arts and Development Convening in St. Louis, the Community Arts Training (CAT) invites proposals for papers, presentations, dialogues, and workshops for At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening to be held March 25 – 27, 2010.

Please go to http://www.art-stl.com/convene/ for more information about At the Crossroads: A Community Arts and Development Convening and proposal submissions.

New SRI International Publication: Achieving Balance in Districtwide Arts Assessment Systems

California Alliance for Arts Education and California County Superintendents Educational Services Association are pleased to announce the publication Achieving Balance in Districtwide Arts Assessment Systems, authored by SRI International. The report reviews issues in district-wide arts education assessment systems.

The purpose of the research is to clarify issues and decision points that California school districts will face in developing assessment systems, improving program quality and enhancing reciprocal accountability for arts education.

No Child Left Behind and the emphasis on accountability exerted a considerable influence on what is taught in our schools. A broad curriculum, which includes the arts, has been narrowed, as schools must adhere to rigid standards of how academic progress is measured. In this context, what does accountability mean for the arts?

This report suggests that large scale assessment systems do have the potential to drive instruction in the arts, and that such systems are a vital mechanism toward achieving visibility among education leaders and policy makers outside the school district as well as improving program quality in arts education within the educational setting.

The full report is available online at http://www.artsed411.org/educate/research.aspx.

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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