Researchers

Artistic DisciplinesArtificial Intelligence in arts educationArts and craftsCommunity developmentDanceFolk/traditional/indigenous artsLiterature and StorytellingMedia ArtsMultidisciplinary ArtsMusicn/aOtherRural arts education accessSector backbone/sector...

AEP Research & Funder Policy Briefing

Join us on March 29 for a FREE, virtual policy briefing for researchers and funders in arts and education! Explore existing gaps in arts education research and focus on creating a deeper dialogue among funders, researchers and practitioners during the policy briefing....

Partners and Affiliates

AEP Partners and Affiliates National in scope and far-reaching in their community impact, AEP Partners are a diverse group of organizations representing the breadth of the arts education field. AEP Affiliates are a diverse group of organizations and individuals that...

Organizations

Artistic DisciplinesArtificial Intelligence in arts educationArts and craftsCommunity developmentDanceFolk/traditional/indigenous artsLiterature and StorytellingMedia ArtsMultidisciplinary ArtsMusicn/aOtherRural arts education accessSector backbone/sector...

Resource Card

AEP Resources Newest Resources A resource page about the state of the teacher workforce. Explore Explore what work is being done in STEAM education across the nation. Explore A collection of research about the intersection of the arts, education and the juvenile...

The Arts Count

In May 2018, the Arts Education Partnership published Music Matters. This was the first in a four-part series of special reports that used ArtsEdSearch to illustrate the many benefits of arts education. The Arts Counts series went on to publish Visual Arts Matters,...
The Arts Educator Workforce

The Arts Educator Workforce

Addressing the arts educator workforce requires an acknowledgement of the multifaceted challenges that are tethered to it, such as turnover, accessibility and funding. This year, the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) began collecting information on improving the...
What’s New in Arts Education Policy?

What’s New in Arts Education Policy?

We hope the anticipation has subsided as this year’s updates to the ArtScan database have finally been released! ArtScan is a comparison of 13 arts education policy areas across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity....
The ESSER III Deadline Explained

The ESSER III Deadline Explained

Only a month into the new year, education decisionmakers are at a critical juncture with the looming 2024 deadline for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III funds. These funds provided approximately $190 billion to states, districts and...
Creativity and Imagination

Creativity and Imagination

As an elementary teacher and doctoral student, I am wildly interested in how my students think and feel about learning. I wonder how I can support my students to engage with ideas, share findings with others and engage deeply to experience the joy and embrace the...

2024 AEP Annual Convening

Breakout Session Resources Hidden Leading With Creativity for Equitable Organizational Change Intersectional Anti-Racist Organizational Development Organizational Equity Self Assessment Organizational Race Equity Toolkit Peel Assessment Partners in the Arts Consortium...
Can Passion Make a Living?

Can Passion Make a Living?

China’s Sundance: A Closer Look at the First International Film Festival The First International Film Festival, often likened to China’s version of Sundance, holds a prominent position in discovering and nurturing new filmmaking talent. Its Chinese...
Challenges in Undergraduate Art Education

Challenges in Undergraduate Art Education

The university environment creates a unique intersection of financial, social and academic stressors. Within our research, students identified specific personal and structural issues in their undergraduate experiences. These issues are often exacerbated within arts...
Has Arts Education Failed BIPOC Communities?

Has Arts Education Failed BIPOC Communities?

In 2015, I took a job fresh out of grad school as the inaugural director of ASO Sympatico, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s El Sistema-inspired music education program. I anticipated being responsible for overseeing music educators, developing branding, building...
The Pursuit of Art and Higher Education

The Pursuit of Art and Higher Education

Why don’t more students pursue art in higher education?   For many students, art is more of an outlet rather than profession, and in a world where student’s lives revolve around academics, art gets sidelined. For our research, I interviewed Liam, an international...

The Arts Count

In May 2018, the Arts Education Partnership published Music Matters. This was the first in a four-part series of special reports that used ArtsEdSearch to illustrate the many benefits of arts education. The Arts Counts series went on to publish Visual Arts Matters,...
What’s New to ArtScan in 2023?

What’s New to ArtScan in 2023?

Spring has officially sprung, bringing warmer weather, fresh blooms and a new round of updates to the ArtScan database! AEP collaborates with the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education and Education Commission of the States to update this resource to equip...
What the NAEP Results Mean for Arts Education

What the NAEP Results Mean for Arts Education

Since the release of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) results, countless articles and analyses have revealed the same troubling trend: reading and math scores declined at an alarming rate for fourth and eighth grade students in the 2021-22...

ArtsEd Digest Archive

ArtsEd Digest Archive Here you will find all past issues of ArtsEd Digest, AEP’s bi-monthly newsletter highlighting news from AEP partner organizations and the field, including reports, research and job opportunities. Hidden 2024 Oct. 23, 2024 – ArtsEd Digest | AEP...

Our Shared Future

Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists On April 5-7, 2022, we hosted a virtual event in support of teaching artists across the country. Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists featured sessions that dug into the...
Power of the Arts: A COVID-19 Silver Lining

Power of the Arts: A COVID-19 Silver Lining

Remember when teaching was “only” about high achievement, standardized testing, active shooter drills and differentiating our instruction? All kidding aside, the fact that educators have been juggling those demands with the new educational landscape of...
New ArtScan: Update or Upgrade?

New ArtScan: Update or Upgrade?

AEP is committed to enhancing ArtScan to continuously meet the needs of our network as they utilize the database for their respective work. We are excited about this year’s update…or upgrade as some may consider it. Our goals with the changes this year are to make the...
Prince and the Power of the Arts

Prince and the Power of the Arts

Arts Education Partnership had a conversation with Prince Nwankwo about his arts experiences with Everett: Company Stage & School while in the care of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) and the continued arts support as he made his transition...
Dreaming of a Future Through the Arts

Dreaming of a Future Through the Arts

On August 2nd, Performing Statistics, a partner of Arts Education Partnership (AEP), announced the release of Freedom Constellations. This interactive public art project represents a new monument that asks youth to illustrate a road map toward freedom for all young...
Theatre Counts for Everyone

Theatre Counts for Everyone

The educator and playwright Timothy McDonald once described theatre as “the superfood of the arts.” He was speaking to a boisterous audience of middle schoolers and adults awaiting the performance of their school’s musical theatre play — produced through the...
For-Credit Arts Programs in Juvenile Justice

For-Credit Arts Programs in Juvenile Justice

In 2010, Austin Classical Guitar (ACG) expanded our 20-year school-based guitar education program to the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center, a residential facility that houses a school within the Austin Independent School District (ISD)for middle and high school...

AEP Affiliates

AEP Affiliates AEP affiliates are a diverse group of organizations and individuals that conduct arts education-related work at the local, state, regional, or direct-service level. # 3Looms Creative Education Consulting   A The Acadia Foundation A Child’s...
AEP is Celebrating National STEM/STEAM Day!

AEP is Celebrating National STEM/STEAM Day!

Happy National STEM/STEAM Day from your friends at the Arts Education Partnership and Education Commission of the States! For those who may not be familiar, when science, technology, engineering and math include the arts as an equal partner, STEM shifts to STEAM. This...

Theatre Counts

How Theatre Education Transforms Students' Lives On stage, the audience sees a young person bow at the end of a theatre production. What the audience may not see: the hours of rehearsal spent preparing for this moment; their classmates poised on the catwalk shining...

2021 AEP Virtual Gathering

In September 2021, AEP welcomed more than 550 participants to the AEP Virtual Gathering. This page includes all available resources from this online event. Session Video Recordings All Session Resources Invisible TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 Building a Holistic Narrative About...
New Study Shows Why Arts Education Matters

New Study Shows Why Arts Education Matters

As a theatre artist, no one needs to convince me that the arts have a powerful impact on youth. I have personally experienced and witnessed how the arts transform students’ learning experiences by fostering positive creative youth development outcomes such as...
Jeannine Osayande

Jeannine Osayande

Jeannine Osayande is an anthropologist, choreographer, dancer and cultural expert of Diasporic West African dance and drum traditions for over 38 years. She is founder and director of Dunya Performing Arts Company, specializing in arts integration programming,...
Jamison_white_headshot_400

Jamison_white_headshot_400

Jamison White is the senior manager of data and research for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Before joining the National Alliance, Jamison worked as a data analyst and freelance consultant in Boston and the greater New York...
Extra! Extra! ArtScan Captures New Policy Area

Extra! Extra! ArtScan Captures New Policy Area

Part of our mission at AEP is to research the latest policies and emerging conversations on arts education to provide a one-stop shop for readers. To that end, following last year’s ArtScan release, we got to work gathering feedback from our partners at the State...
Using STEAM to Support Remote Learners

Using STEAM to Support Remote Learners

Since remote and hybrid learning are dominant modes of teaching for the foreseeable future, educators and students alike can benefit from STEAM learning strategies to promote engagement and learning across settings. Research suggests that STEAM (the integration of...
ArtsEdSearch: 300 Studies and Counting

ArtsEdSearch: 300 Studies and Counting

In 2012, the Arts Education Partnership curated an extensive collection of research on arts education in one place: ArtsEdSearch. Eight years later, this online clearinghouse of research continues to support practitioners, researchers, policymakers and other...

Dance Counts

Search Results for: research reports How Dance Education Helps Students LEARN, GROW and CONNECT With Community Photo courtesy of NDI-NM. Dance education provides powerful opportunities for students to create, perform and understand movement as a means of artistic...

Partner With AEP

Partner With AEP   AEP partners work in arts education at the national level or focus on systems change. Which Category is a Better Fit? AEP Partner The Partner category is designed to create a network of organizations working at the national or systems level and...

What We Do

What We Do Learn more about AEP’s work and how to get involved. STRATEGIC MISSION AEP’s updated strategic mission focuses our work on building leadership capacity for arts and education leaders. Through research, reports, convenings and counsel, leaders gain...
Arts Integrated Teacher Education Benefits Elementary Students and Teachers Alike

New to ArtScan? Here’s What You Need to Know

Did you know that Nevada has arts education instructional requirements for K-12 public schools, youth centers, state facilities and detention centers? Neither did I, until I joined the team at the Arts Education Partnership and began working on ArtScan. As part of...
Recruitment
Definition:

Regarding the strategies, policies and practices used by higher education and school officials to engage new K-12 teachers.

Questions to Consider:

General:
How are colleges/universities attracting young people to their arts teacher preparation programs?

Young Person:
What would make you feel like teaching in an arts discipline would be a sustainable career?

Retention
Definition:

Regarding the strategies, policies and practices used by school officials to maintain K-12 teachers in the workforce.

Questions to Consider:

Arts Teachers:
What efforts need to be made for you to feel integral to the school community?

What compensation and benefits efforts would you like to see to support your work?

Administrators:
What type of arts specific supports are offered to your arts teachers?

Preparation
Definition:

Regarding the programs, courses and practices to equip new
K-12 teachers with the skills, practices and behaviors for their role, and if required, state certifications.

Questions to Consider:

General:
What are the qualifications for a certified arts teacher?

What pathways exist for arts teacher certification?

New Arts Teachers: 
What prepared you for your first year in the classroom?

Definition:

Regarding the ongoing learning opportunities for K-12 teachers to increase their knowledge in effective teaching practices.

Questions to Consider:

General:
What arts specific professional development opportunities are available for teachers both within and outside of the school district?

Arts Teachers:
What evaluation measures do you feel do not reflect the context of the arts teaching practice?

Administrators:
How is the work of arts teachers taken into consideration when determining evaluation metrics? 

Intervention

There are multiple points throughout the juvenile justice process where arts–based programs can intervene in the lives of youth involved in the system, including during initial contact, correctional placement and reentry. Many of these programs enter juvenile correctional facilities to offer arts activities with support from teaching artists, but there are also diversion and alternative school program opportunities to engage the arts as well. The overall goal of these programs is to reduce recidivism through creative practices that allow youth to grow and discover future possibilities for themselves. 

Baltimore Youth Arts – This program provides entrepreneurship and job training initiatives that support artistic and professional opportunities to young people ages 14–25, focusing on young people involved in the justice system. (Maryland)

Free Verse – Serving youth incarcerated in both juvenile detention centers and inpatient treatment centers, this organization provides arts and humanities–based educational programming within facilities. In 2023, the organization expanded programming to to serve non-incarcerated, justice–involved youth. (Montana)

NOMADstudio – NOMADstudio has developed their Justice Studio in-house after–school art studio program at the Pinellas Regional Juvenile Detention Center where teaching artists host creative sessions with incarcerated students multiple times a week. (Florida)

Performing Statistics – This organization utilizes a variety of art mediums and storytelling to work with youth most impacted by the juvenile justice system to advocate for a world without incarceration. (Virginia)

Prevention

One of the most effective ways to reduce risk factors that may increase juvenile delinquent behaviors is to introduce preventative programs early on to assist children, families and their communities. Preventative programs that incorporate arts–based activities help children develop and strengthen cognitive, regulatory and social and emotional skills that can positively influence their academic and future workforce trajectory.

Miami Music Project – This program aims to empower children to develop values of community, develop creativity, obtain excellence, improve school performance and strengthen family dynamics through studying and performing music. (Florida)

Raw Art Works – Recognizing the unique stories of children, this program provides free painting and filmmaking experiences for kids in grades 4–12 to explore and envision different possibilities for their futures. (Massachusetts)

Arts For Ashes – This program encourages creative transformation through the power of artistic expression among high–risk youth age 9–24 years old. The program developed the award–winning Drawing on Air curriculum which uses expression, connection, and transformation to facilitate youth resiliency and artistic competence through visual and tactile art. (Colorado)

Healing

Youth in the juvenile justice system are commonly exposed to trauma in some capacity, whether before, during or after involvement in the system. Arts–based healing programs address these traumas and help youth build resilience, strengthen coping skills and foster positive self–esteem through modes of art therapy. Arts education and art therapy work hand–in–hand in the juvenile justice space, often overlapping and supporting each other. By offering opportunities for self–expression and reflection , youth can heal in safe environments with trauma-informed supports.  

A Reason To Survive (ARTS) – The ARTS 4 Justice initiative connects system-involved young people with arts programming and community-based projects to address the root causes of systemic violence and injustice in communities across south San Diego. (California)

Mural Arts Philadelphia – This organization offers their Restorative Practices Youth program that provides art and healing-centered engagements to students impacted by the juvenile justice system and transitioning out of foster care networks with hopes of empowering students to discover their creative voices. (Pennsylvania)

My Voice Music – This organization offers community satellite programs that provide instruments and instruction for music groups and recording sessions at mental health treatment centers, juvenile justice facilities, refugee resettlement centers, and social service agencies throughout Oregon. (Oregon)

NeOn Arts – This program is a collaboration between the New York City Department of Probation (DOP) and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute to integrate arts programming within community-based probation centers located throughout New York City, serving young people ages 16–24 years old. (New York)

Transition

Transition programs provide support services for youth who are reentering society from out–of–home placements. Arts–based transitional programs involve collaboration among placement facilities (including correctional institutions), schools, families and communities to provide arts activities that assist youth development for a successful transition.

Big Thought – This organization offers their Creative Solutions program- an arts–as–workforce intervention program for youth who have encountered the justice system. (Texas)

Keshet Arts – Through different justice initiatives, this organization offers post–release arts programming for previously incarcerated young artists/students. Originally focusing on dance programming, the organization has expanded and seeks to increase  community–based and arts-based resources and resource-connectivity. (New Mexico)

The Imagine Bus Project – This organization administers the Arts On The Outs 9–month reentry program for youth who have been released from a juvenile institution. This program provides arts education, individualized life skill building with a case manager, and arts employment. (California)

Title: A Riddle | Artist: MJ Robinson | Medium: Graphite on paper with digital edits

Title: 2280 Pasos Bajo un Cielo Nublado | Artist: Hernán Jourdan | Medium: Film

Title: What Is Me and What Is Not Me | Artist: Alex Chadwell | Medium: Music

My thinking on arts and literacy centers around the concept of literacies and artmaking as both sense-making and meaning-making processes that organically and inevitably overlap, intersect, and reciprocate. Compositionally, What is me and what is not me is a sound collage of sorts (there is no notation for the piece, and I'd be hard pressed to recreate it accurately) that abstractly and aurally represents the relationships between literacies and artmaking.

When I was asked to create a work of art exploring literacy, I wanted to create a dance but I had no dancers or a studio, so I chose to use my own body in the space I had, my yard. Fluent Nature is video of micro-choreography that explores what cannot be expressed with words, how nature has its own language, and how placing the human body in nature changes the story.

Title: False Binaries | Artist: MJ Robinson | Medium: Graphite on paper with digital edits

Title: Tercera Llamada | Artist: Karilú Forshee | Medium: Audio

La Carpa Theatre is a project that I am currently directing in the Detroit Latinx community. The project aims to strengthen and uplift youth voices through devised theatre, in the style of the Mexican Carpas. This audio was created in the theatrical environment envisioned for our project. The ways in which literacies are re-defined are at the heart of La Carpa Theatre's mission.

Title: A Curious Honeybee | Artist: Gideon Young | Medium: Film

Offering welcome through traditional and digital elements of literacy, A Curious Honeybee provides an experiential learning environment by activating visual, musical, natural, and emotional literacies.

Title: Literaseas | Artist: MJ Robinson | Medium: Graphite and ink on paper with digital edits