Victoria Plettner-Saunders

As Chair of the Arts Education Council of Americans for the Arts, I’d like to welcome you to the first Arts Education Blog Salon of 2011.

There are always so many things to learn from our colleagues as we share blog posts and commentary on a particular theme for one full week.

I hope you have time to return to the Salon several times throughout the week (and again after it ends on Friday) and post your own thoughts or questions as they arise.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to share with you a little bit about the Arts Education Council and what our agenda for 2011 looks like.

This past January, the council met to plan its annual agenda. With a renewed focus on supporting members at the local level, we developed a rather ambitious set of activities for the year around five main themes (some of which were the result of the council’s Trends Report that has been developed over the past two years).  

The five areas (in no particular order) that we will explore are: 1) providing support and resources for advocacy at the local level; 2) connecting creativity, innovation, and the education system; 3) the role of coordinated delivery systems for arts education in communities; 4) examining the role of community collaboration in a new economy; and 5) an exploration of how to support awareness about careers in the arts.

The activities we will engage in to explore these themes are:

•    Weekly arts education blog posts each Tuesday;

•    Blog Salons in March and September to coordinate with Arts Education/Youth Arts Month and National Arts in Education Week;

•    Webinars: One on how to make presentations to your school board and another on how local arts agencies can work with and support the work of teaching artists;

•    Two special reports: 1) creativity, innovation, and arts education and 2) the role of coordinated delivery systems;

•    A peer networking session and expert discussion/professional development sessions at the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in San Diego; and

•    An Arts Education Network Survey to help us understand who we serve and how we can best provide professional and leadership development programs and services to address member needs.

We are also working closely with Narric Rome, Americans for the Arts' Senior Director of Federal Affairs and Arts Education, to stay abreast of ongoing and rapidly changing federal arts education advocacy needs.

We are always asking how it will affect members at the local level and how can we best use our efforts to support critical advocacy work at the national level.

The Arts Education Council is here to help voice and address your needs. Let us know how we can support you.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the Blog Salon.