Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


John Abodeely

The New Common Core for the Arts are Imperative

Posted by John Abodeely, May 26, 2010 1 comment


John Abodeely

The Common Core for the Arts are a huge triumph for our professional community—for arts teachers, teaching artists, cultural organizations, supporters, advocates, etc. This is for two reasons:

1.    We’re keeping up with the other subjects.
2.    Three dozen people got together agreed on one giant thing.

Let me explain.

1.    We have to keep up with our peers. We have to pony up the same infrastructure, research, and political mobilization that our peers in the other core subjects are offering.  That’s true if we want arts education to be treated equally. And right now, the Common Core for ELA and math define policy advances (even if we disagree with the content or strategy). But there’s more.

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Gary DeVault

Arts Education in Jeopardy?

Posted by Gary DeVault, May 26, 2010 0 comments


Gary DeVault

Greetings from the rural heartland of Wooster, OH. My name is Gary DeVault, and I am the Fine Arts Consultant for Tri-County Educational Service Center, and serve as a member of the Arts Education Council for Americans for the Arts. Tri-County ESC is a state and locally supported agency which serves the school districts in Ashland, Holmes, and Wayne Counties in Ohio to improve the quality of education for all children.

As Fine Arts Consultant, I supervise nearly 150 music, visual art, and drama/theatre teachers in the seventeen school districts in a three county region. I provide curriculum and instructional support; design professional development opportunities for arts, classroom teachers, and teaching artists; coordinate arts services with community arts organizations and institutions; and provide direct services to students through numerous fine arts events and activities.

This school year has been filled with lots of exciting school music concerts, art exhibitions, plays and musicals. It is so gratifying to see the results of student learning in and through the arts at public performances and art displays. However, much of my time lately has been spent advocating vigorously for adequate funding for arts programs; seeking additional sponsors, donors, and/or grant resources for arts projects; and making the case with school board members and superintendents for keeping arts teachers employed in school districts where failed tax levies and a weak economy is threatening the inclusion of arts education for all children.

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Joan Weber

Micro-advocacy

Posted by Joan Weber, May 26, 2010 1 comment


Joan Weber

For three years I was the director of an organization whose mission is to make arts education and arts integration an integral part of the education of every child in an urban public school system. Our goal was to organize on a city-wide level to bring together the arts and cultural organizations and the school system, a la Big Thought in Dallas, our model. At the same time, we were working school by school to create systemic reform using arts integration.

It is very hard work, especially in times of economic uncertainty. We (schools, cultural organizations, teaching artists, parents, advocacy organizations) agree on the common cause, that all students in our city deserve access to quality arts education from specialists in the buildings, through trips to cultural organizations and by bringing artists into the school. But, we have different ideas as to how to achieve that goal, especially given our current existential crises.

A school system is like a giant cruise ship that moves with great difficulty and at an incredibly slow pace. Arts education advocacy feels like being part of a flotilla of little tiny tugboats trying to push the cruise ship back into port. (Sometimes, each tugboat is trying to push the cruise ship into a different port.) And, when you look at other parts of the cruise ship, you’ll find thousands of little tugboats flying different flags (phys ed, foreign language, business, etc.), working with all of their strength to push the ship in the direction of distant ports.

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Lynn Tuttle

For Educators, Getting Professional Development Can Be Tough

Posted by Lynn Tuttle, May 26, 2010 0 comments


Lynn Tuttle

In the Americans for the Arts May 2010 Monthly Wire, a Top-10 list of reasons to attend the Half-Century Summit in Baltimore in June included: Reason #4: “Think you don’t have the time? Fake a cough or take a well-deserved vacation day (just kidding!).”

Unfortunately, for many of my colleagues in arts education, this joke hits a little too close to home. Arts teachers in public schools are given very little time to attend professional development opportunities outside of their school or school district. In Arizona, the dance educators hold an annual “pink tutu flu,” where many have to call in sick in order to participate in a statewide professional development day for dance teachers. Even when the day was devoted to our new state standards in dance, many teachers couldn’t take the day as a professional work day – they had to call in sick.

Colleagues working at the state level don’t necessarily fare any better. One of the leaders of my national organization, SEADAE (State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education), is routinely “sick” in order to attend Arts Education Partnership meetings.

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Tim Mikulski

Visiting an Arts Connection Dance Class in Harlem

Posted by Tim Mikulski, May 26, 2010 1 comment


Tim Mikulski

Thanks to the kindness of Arts Education Council member Steve Tennen, I had the opportunity to visit a dance class at New York P.S. 241 in Harlem last week during a sojourn to the New York office of Americans for the Arts for other meetings.

Over the past 30 years, Steve's organization, Arts Connection, has provided the students of New York City schools access to art, music, media, visual arts, and dance, and the countless accolades they have received throughout that time demonstrate their undying devotion to the cause that is so near and dear to our hearts.

Following the hour-long session, dance teacher Yvette Martinez did an amazing job of explaining everything that she is able to do with the children thanks in part to a grant from MetLife. Not only is she providing them with quality dance lessons, but she is also working well beyond the topic of dance. She includes lessons in how the muscles of the body work, how the food the children eat impacts their current and future health (many of them are already diagnosed with diabetes and their families have histories of heart complications and cancer), and how to read food labels on the sides of their food.

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Americans for the Arts

Baltimore Staff Picks: Best Cultural Activities

Posted by Americans for the Arts, May 26, 2010 0 comments


Americans for the Arts

American Style Magazine goes ga-ga about Baltimore in its May issue listing favorite picks. The Americans for the Arts staff and colleagues in the region have put together some of their Baltimore favorites too--to help attendees at this year's Annual Convention. This first blog post covers Cultural Activities in Baltimore:

Bird Plaza at the American Visionary Art Museum
  • Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum and a pint for history’s sake at Annabelle Lee Tavern, shrine to all things Edgar Allen Poe
    --Kate Gibney, Americans for the Arts

  • Visiting the Baltimore Museum of Art or attending the city’s Artscape
    --Sara Hisamoto, Visit Baltimore

  • Touring the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica. It's considered the masterpiece of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the "Father of American Architecture."
    --Theresa Cameron, Americans for the Arts

  • Get there early on a Saturday you can see a show in the center of the Harbor. Normally magic, clowns and singers.
    --Angel Baker, Americans for the Arts

  • Walter's Art Museum (one of the best decorative arts collections in the world)
    --Karen Newell, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation

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