[Members] Arts Education Newsletter

[DWinder]

Issue No. 1	July 2009











Welcome to Michigan's
Arts Education Newsletter
Your voice in arts education.

We're working together to foster initiatives that promote arts  
education for all of Michigan's students.  In this, our inaugural  
newsletter, we introduce the four statewide organizations that make up  
this advocacy coalition, and invite you to join us in our efforts.

Please forward this email to people you know who care about arts and  
creativity in our schools, and encourage them to sign up for this  
mailing list (use the link at the bottom)!  We'll keep our subscribers  
abreast of important policy initiatives, news and information.

We also invite you to submit articles for consideration in future  
issues.  We want to hear what's going on with you.  Send an email to  
Kim Dabbs for more information.

Welcome!
Michigan Youth Arts

The Michigan Youth Arts Association (MYAA) is a statewide arts  
education association that serves as a collaborative of discipline- 
specific arts education organizations. The programming of MYAA  
consists of the Michigan Youth Arts Festival, statewide arts education  
awards, arts education advocacy, leadership roundtables, and funding  
programs for youth, schools and arts education professionals  
throughout Michigan.

MYAA offers statewide arts education programming, strengthens arts and  
culture by establishing and facilitating partnerships between arts  
education organizations, increases the visibility of quality arts  
education in Michigan schools, nurtures the creative talents of  
Michigan's youth, encourages their present and future participation in  
the arts, and provides them with opportunities to explore careers in  
the arts.

As we look towards the future of arts education in our schools, MYAA  
has made the commitment to come together with the other three  
statewide arts education organizations to move forward policy  
initiatives that create and sustain arts education curriculum for all  
students.  The first Arts Education Policy Forum is being convened by  
Michigan Youth Arts in August at Interlochen Center for the Arts,  
which will develop key strategies to move these vital policies forward  
in Michigan.

MYAA believes in collaboration at every level and this newsletter is  
just one of many new collaborative initiatives that will move arts  
education forward.

Kim Dabbs, Executive Director
Michigan Youth Arts
director at michiganyoutharts.org
(248) 649-8888
The Michigan Council for Arts
and Cultural Affairs

The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) is a state  
government agency, currently within the Department of History Arts and  
Libraries. Our primary function is to facilitate adjudication,  
distribute and monitor state and National Endowment for the Arts grant  
funds for arts organizations, schools and municipalities for a wide  
variety of arts and culture activity. We also fulfill our mission to  
"encourage, develop and facilitate an enriched environment of  
artistic, creative, cultural activity in Michigan" through  
partnerships with Michigan's leading arts organizations such as the  
Michigan Youth Arts Association.

MCACA has provided funds for thousands of arts education projects over  
the years. Some direct grants have gone to schools for artist  
residencies involving amazing artistic groups such as the Eisenhower  
Dance Ensemble and Vincent York's Jazzistry. We support education  
programs at museums, theatres, zoos, community art schools and local  
art agencies. We also help bring high quality, affordable professional  
development opportunities for art educators such as the Lincoln Center  
Institute's Summer Institute in partnership with Kalamazoo RESA /  
Education for the Arts. Unfortunately, we can't offer programs or  
accept applications for fiscal year 2010 until the state budget for  
FY10 is determined.

Find a complete list of this year's awards and links to arts and  
culture organizations' education opportunities at www.michigan.gov/ 
arts or by calling (517) 241-4011.

The Michigan Department of Education
Teaching, Learning and the Arts

If you have been following Superintendent Mike Flanagan's podcasts or  
tweets, you are aware of the Michigan Department of Education's (MDE)  
focus on re-imagining the pre-K-12 educational system in Michigan to  
attain substantial and meaningful improvement in academic achievement  
for all students/children with primary emphasis on high priority  
schools and students.

MDE's Curriculum and Instruction Division is responsible for  
leadership in arts education content, instruction, and assessment. Its  
role is to promote instructional excellence to increase district,  
school, and student achievement of Michigan's K-12 curriculum. The  
division's renewed focus on instruction with primary emphasis on high  
priority schools and students reflects a more balanced approach to  
teaching and learning that begins with those with greatest need.  
However, it also reflects a shift in funding and accountability from  
the state to federal levels as a result of declining state funding to  
support the work of the Michigan Department of Education.

Superintendent Flanagan and the State Board of Education remain  
committed to the arts because they foster the creativity and  
innovation that will drive Michigan's economic revival into the 21st  
century. Flanagan publicly affirms that the arts curriculum, once  
considered as optional for students, now must be taught to all.

The Curriculum and Instruction Division is working together with  
educators and partners across the state to initiate and support needed  
improvements at an accelerated rate. This is not a time for "business  
as usual" in Michigan. It is clear that the rate of change needs to  
accelerate or Michigan will fall further behind educationally and  
economically. Michigan's educators are up to the challenge and we look  
forward to working together in new ways to achieve this vision.

Summer 2009 learning opportunities aligned with this vision include:
June 21-24, 2009 Second Look: Visual Arts Standards, Benchmarks, and  
Grade Level Content Expectations (Public review session scheduled for  
6/24, 2-4 p.m. To participate contact: mccallc at michigan.gov)
August 5-6, 2009 Second Look: Music Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade  
Level Content Expectations (Participants are still being recruited.  
Public review session is scheduled for 8/6,    2-4 p.m. To participate  
contact: mccallc at michigan.gov)
August 18-21, 2009 Teaching for Learning Institute: Igniting Sparks of  
Genius featuring keynoters and strand 7 & 8 leaders Robert and Michele  
Root-Bernstein, authors of Sparks of Genius. To register visit: www.gomiem.org

To stay abreast of arts education news and resources from the Michigan  
Department of Education, the state, and nation, use the following tools:
ArtsEdNews - free listserv available in digest version.
Michigan Merit Curriculum Visual, Performing, and Applied Arts High  
School Blog which includes a calendar of professional development  
opportunities in the arts
Connect the Dots Michigan Imagination Creativity Innovation Blog which  
focuses on making creativity, innovation, and imaginative learning  
catalysts for prosperity in Michigan

ArtServe Michigan

ArtServe Michigan has faced the continuing economic crisis with a  
focus on opportunity and promise, and the need to build its statewide  
grassroots network of advocates to speak out for the importance of  
arts, culture and arts education.  The timing is more important than  
ever for us to unify our voices in support of funding and policies  
that invest in these tools that nurture innovation and creativity -  
tools that are essential to rebuilding Michigan as a competitor on the  
global stage.  We believe in the power of integrated arts education  
programs in the pre-K through 12 years to shape young minds to be  
innovative problem-solvers of the future while gaining a love and  
appreciation for the arts.  And, we are committed to leading advocacy  
initiatives that will maximize this moment of opportunity facing  
Michigan.

As the Michigan representative to the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts  
Education Network (KCAAEN), ArtServe was invited to submit a grant  
application under the National Partnerships program to support arts  
education initiatives in Michigan.  In late May, ArtServe submitted a  
proposal requesting support to develop a new Michigan Arts Education  
Tool Kit to strengthen and update the resources available to advocates  
in communities and school districts across the state.  The tool kit  
will be developed using the new 2009 KCAAEN Arts Education Advocacy  
Tool Kit as a model but tailored to reflect unique dynamics and  
circumstances in Michigan.   This new resource will be released in  
spring 2010 with training and promotional opportunities to be provided  
as part of ArtServe's 2010 Arts and Culture Advocacy Event.  It will  
also be made available in DVD format and on ArtServe's website (watch  
for our new website to be launched in August) to make it widely  
available to arts education advocates statewide.  If you have ideas  
for the tool kit project, please contact Mike Latvis, Director of  
Public Policy at mike at artservemichigan.org or 248-379-5897.

Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in the May Festival  
at the Brookside School at Cranbrook Educational Community - a program  
celebrating the array of fine arts programs and student creativity  
nurtured in this academic environment.  The event was a joyful  
celebration of the creative spirit nurtured by the school's mission,  
leadership, teachers and parents.  In that moment, I was reminded that  
these are the joys that all children in Michigan should have the  
opportunity to experience - the freedom of artistic expression and the  
pure joy of creating art that is uniquely theirs.  Each of us needs to  
speak up to ensure that all children have access to these experiences  
that shape their futures in such powerful ways!


Jennifer H. Goulet, President
ArtServe Michigan
jennifer at artservemichigan.org
248-912-0760 ext. 2#
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