Sharing the Ideas: Arts Education

Arts education has really been struggling in some schools, in Iowa and beyond. Lots of smart people, here and elsewhere, are talking about ways to address the problem.

We can't all be where the great sessions and informative speakers are, but we sure can help pass on some of the good content. Here's a nugget posted by Michael Gagliardo on ARTSBlog,with thoughts from an arts ed session at the Americans for the Arts National Conference in Baltimore last week (follow the link to read the whole thing, as well as plenty of other good blog posts from the conference):

In the session “Beyond Liking It: Prioritizing Arts Education,” Laurie Lock and Lynn Tuttle talked about the things that can do as arts education advocates to ensure the future of arts programs in our school, whether we are addressing continuing funding in difficult times or trying to establish funding for new programs. Some thoughts from the session:

1) THERE IS FEDERAL MONEY OUT THERE FOR ARTS PROGRAMS IN THE SCHOOLS, AND IT IS MORE READILY AVAILABLE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK! The truth is that in the government education documents, the arts are defined as a part of the core curriculm. Title 9 defines us in this way. That means that arts programs are eligible for Title 1 funding, which many school systems receive. Keep in mind that Title 1 money is SUPPLEMENTAL – Title 1 funds cannot be used for the salaries of the teachers who should be in place already. However, Title 1 funds CAN be used for Arts Integration programs!

2) You must COMMUNICATE with your school system and all of those involved in your existing or proposed programs. If you an arts institution outside of the schools that provides services to school systems, make sure you communicate openly and often to determine the system’s goals and make sure that everyone is on the same page.

3) Be creative! Think of how to engage school and community leaders. Make sure you know their priorities, and then demonstrate how you can address these priorities. You may want to bring in a model of a successful program and show how it can work in your community.

4) Don’t make promises that you can’t keep! This is crucial – we must set realistic goals, and then execute them.

What do you think? Are kids in your community learning in and through the arts? Should they be? Are you and other advocates using these tips and others? Share your thoughts with us, and with other artists, parents, community members, educators, and the folks at the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education.