Posts Tagged ‘Maine Alliance for Arts Education’

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Arts Education Advocacy Day

March 23, 2016

Join the excitement in Augusta – tomorrow!

Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) has planned a wonderful day in Augusta at the State House for Arts Education Advocacy Day. Thanks to Executive Director, Susan Potters, MAAE for the preparation work. Students will be meeting with legislators, SLAM from MSAD #33 will be interviewing Commissioner of Education William Beardsley, Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader Andrea Wollstadt will be leading the Biddeford Intermediate School Chorus in a performance. Maine Arts Commission Executive Director Julie Richard will speak and Jeff Poulin, Arts Education Program Manager from Americans for the Arts will join us and much much more! I hope to see you there!

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Happy Arts Education Month!

March 1, 2016

March it is!

When others are looking out the window waiting for Spring, Visual and Performing Arts Educators and others committed to excellent quality and access to arts education, are celebrating Arts in the Schools Month!

The month of March officially marks Youth Art Month, Music in Our Schools Month, Theatre in Our Schools Month, and Dance Education Month. A time for everyone to recognize students and their involvement in Arts education. We celebrate all that is “right” and “great” about visual and performing Arts education and a time to shout about it!

Celebrating Arts in Our Schools Month

Celebrating Arts in Our Schools Month

March provides an opportunity for Arts education to shine even greater than it does day to day. How will you take advantage of this opportunity? I suggest that you read the post I wrote one year ago called Arts Education Month for ideas or borrow language from this post to communicate with others. Use your voice to let others know why you believe that a quality Arts education is essential for all students, PK-grade 12.

Parts of this blog post have been borrowed from HomeRoom, an education blog of the US Department of Education who borrowed the post from the Office of Innovation & Improvement. Other parts are from the professional dance, music, theatre, and visual arts organizations websites.

The arts are an important part of a well-rounded education for all students. Arts-rich schools, those with high-quality arts programs and comprehensive course offerings, benefit students in and outside of the art or dance studio, music room, or stage. “All children deserve arts-rich schools,” Secretary Duncan told an audience of arts education advocates in 2012, as he discussed the disappointing results of an ED survey that showed many students lacking adequate access to arts education.

There’s no better time to echo the secretary’s pronouncement than in March, widely known as “Arts in the Schools Month.” Under the leadership of national associations representing teachers of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, a variety of activities unfold throughout the month — some that showcase the achievements of students and others that focus on the professional growth of arts educators committed to achieving the goal of arts-rich schools for all students.

Waterville Senior High School band students

Waterville Senior High School band students

MUSIC

Music in Our Schools Month was established nation-wide in 1985 by the National Association for Music Education.

Music teachers celebrate Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM) in many ways by offering special performances, lessons, sing-alongs and activities to bring their music programs to the attention of administrators, parents, colleagues, and communities to display the positive benefits that school music brings to students of all ages.

Each year the National Association for Music Education sponsors a concert for MIOSM. You can view the concert videos by CLICKING HERE.

Bossov Ballet, Maine Central Institute

Bossov Ballet, Maine Central Institute

DANCE

For students of dance, March is when the National Dance Education Organization celebrates the artistic and academic achievements of exceptional students through the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NAHSDA), which recognizes students who display outstanding artistic merit, leadership, and academic achievement in studying dance. Students who are members of NHSDA have an opportunity to be nominated for one of the highest honor programs for dance in the U.S., the NDEO Artistic Merit, Leadership, and Academic Achievement Award.

Poland Community School STEAM camp

Poland Community School STEAM camp

VISUAL ART

Youth Art Month (YAM) focuses on the value of visual art and art education for all children, with the theme of “Start With Art, Learn for Life.” State affiliates of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) help with support of YAM programs throughout the month, and NAEA members locally sponsor art exhibits and other activities to direct attention to benefits of visual arts learning and to increase community understanding and support of their schools’ arts education programs.

Maine Northern Maine Regional Final participants

Maine Northern Maine Regional Final participants

THEATRE

Theatre In Our Schools (TIOS) is a celebration of theatre in our schools and schools in our theatres. Sponsored by the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) and the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), the goals of TIOS are to raise public awareness of the impact of theatre education and draw attention to the need for more access to quality programs in and out of school for all students. While TIOS presentations and advocacy may happen anytime in schools, theatres, and other public spaces, AATE and EdTA will recognize and promote March as the official Theatre In Our Schools month.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Like all academic areas, students of the arts are successful because of teachers who are highly skilled, knowledgeable of developments in their fields, and motivated.

The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative provides resources aplenty at THIS LINK.

Maine DOE MEARP-1 participants

Maine DOE Maine Arts Education Resource Project – Integration participants

It’s your turn to get involved

Arts-rich schools benefit everyone. Research increasingly shows that arts education heightens engagement for all students and can increase motivation and persistence for those most at risk of failing or dropping out of school. Learning in the arts also uniquely equips students with the skills in creativity and divergent thinking as well as problem-solving and teamwork that they need to be college and career ready. The Arts Education Partnership, with support from ED and the National Endowment for the Arts, has publications and a research clearinghouse, ArtsEdSearch, to help you learn more about why the arts in our schools are worth honoring for a month.

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Attend Maine’s Arts Advocacy Day at the State House in Augusta, March 24. For more information CLICK HERE for the Maine Alliance for Arts Education website. I hope to see you there!

Take advantage of Arts Education Month to engage others in the conversation of why a quality arts education is essential for all students. Be sure that your principal and school have participated in the statewide Arts Education Census that is underway and being facilitated by the Maine Arts Commission. To learn more CLICK HERE.

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Arts Advocacy Day

January 16, 2016

Augusta – March 24

Registration for MAAE Arts Education Advocacy Day, Thursday, March 24th, is now open!  And attending yourself is only one of the ways you can register your interest and support.

In this year of increased statewide attention to arts education generated by the Arts Commission’s Census of arts ed in all Maine schools, MAAE’s Advocacy Day will be sending a message to all of the state’s legislators that every Maine student deserves access to quality arts education at school. Our lobbying at the Statehouse in Augusta this year will be a full court press!  We’re inviting our best advocates… young people… to come to Augusta from every senate and house district in the state…..first to tell their legislators how the arts have been important to them in one-on-one lobbying outside the senate and house chambers between 10 and 11 a.m. then to invite their legislators to come downstairs to the Hall of Flags to meet more of their constituents at the tables, which will be organized this year by counties and hosted by delegations from the whole community. All are invited to be at their county’s table to talk to their legislators when they come downstairs.

Register at http://eepurl.com/bLE54n if you plan to attend on March 24th yourself, if you can help us to identify a student who can attend, or if you just want to be kept in the loop about all the excitement!

For information about the Arts Ed Census click https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Arts-Education-Census

And feel free to contact me Susan Potters, Executive Director of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education at spotters@maineartsed.org if you have any questions about Advocacy Day.

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Statewide Arts Education Survey

December 15, 2015

Launching today Arts Education Census

Many of you remember that in 2008 a statewide arts education census was conducted. At that time the work was lead by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education. Out of that work the Opportunities to Learn in the Arts reported the findings. The full report and executive summary are located at https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Arts-Education-Census. At that time PK-12 Visual and Performing Arts Educators were asked to complete a lengthy survey.

It is time to update the information and get a clear picture in 2016 what is happening statewide in arts education. This time every Maine school Principal is being invited to complete the survey. Principals may be asking you (PreK-12 arts teachers) to help complete the survey. I urge you to participate in any way that you can so we can get a complete picture. Our goal is 100 per cent – without every school participating we will not have a complete picture of Arts education in Maine!

Below is today’s news release from the Maine Arts Commission. You can learn more about the census plan and the opportunity that you have to participate at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Arts-Education-Census. Please email me at argy.nestor@maine.gov if you have any questions.

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The Maine Arts Commission is leading the effort to conduct a statewide inventory of all arts education resources in the state’s 751 PK-12 schools currently recognized by the Maine Department of Education. Data collection has just begun and will continue through May 2016, with the goal of collecting information from 100% of Maine schools.

The objectives and outcomes of the Statewide Arts Education Census include:

  • Identifying the changes in Maine’s visual and performing arts education programs and resources since the 2009 census.
  • Discovering where students have access to quality arts education and where it is unavailable.
  • Development of a comprehensive report to inform stakeholders and policy makers at both the local and state levels.
  • Broad sharing of the census findings so that it can be used to frame conversations, evaluate where programs or program enhancements are needed, and guide policy-making decisions.

This work is an important part of the education initiative of agency’s recently-completed, five-year cultural plan. The education component of the plan will guide and inform the agency’s work in educational collaborations, promoting arts learning and enhancing the quality of arts education throughout Maine.

For the Census, the agency is collaborating with the Maine Department of Education and a steering committee comprised of representatives from the Maine Principals’ Association, Maine Superintendents, Maine Alliance for Arts Education, New England Institute for Teacher Education, Maine Art Education Association, Maine Music Educators Association, cultural and arts organizations, and PK-12 educators. More information about the census can be found at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Arts-Education-Census.

The Maine Arts Commission shall encourage and stimulate public interest and participation in the cultural heritage and cultural programs of our state; shall expand the state’s cultural resources; and shall encourage and assist freedom of artistic expression for the well being of the arts, to meet the needs and aspirations of persons in all parts of the state.

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MAAE Artist Residency Program

August 19, 2015

Addressing Social Issues in Portland

Maine Alliance for Arts Education’s (MAAE) Building Community Through the Arts drama and dance residency program (BCTA) was developed in 2000 after the shooting at Columbine High School brought the issue of social climate in schools to the nation’s attention. The BCTA residencies, engaging whole classes of students in non-­arts high school classrooms in the collaborative creation and performance of an original theater or dance piece,  introduced many students to creative theater and dance, even as they helped to break down social barriers and build trust. Until recently the program has been operating primarily in the Penquis Region of the state, where student social issues were often based on socio­-economic diversity or gender issues. But BCTA has been expanding into more areas, and this summer it has come to Portland, where the social issues the students are dealing with include racial and religious diversity.

5e4a1529-30a4-4c07-8632-b978223a4a28The introduction of the BCTA program into Portland has been through MAAE’s new partnership with OPEN (Organization for Partnership and Engagement with Neighborhoods), an after-school and week­end program in Portland’s Parkside area that engages diverse youth to take an active role in the decision making and dialogue about issues of social justice affecting their community.  During a three-­week residency in July with BCTA theater artist Jeri Pitcher, an OPEN group of 12 mostly minority and immigrant youth created “Amy’s First Day,” an original drama, which they performed for the community on the evening of July 22.

The play, the first time that the OPEN program had incorporated theater, addressed racial and religious bias in the community through the eyes of the title character Amy, an African girl newly arrived in Portland. To read more about the play and the issues it raised, visit MAAE’s website, http://www.maineartsed.org

668f31f2-e4bc-4d8c-b762-6ceeb50c2a54MAAE will be working with OPEN and with the youth themselves to explore options for bringing the BCTA program into Portland schools. Public input is welcome as well. To contribute to this discussion and for more information contact MAAE Executive Director Susan Potters either by email (s.potters@maineartsed.org) or by phone (207) 439­-3169.

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Maine Alliance for Arts Ed News

December 13, 2014

Building Community Through the Arts

In November the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) brought five English classes from Bangor and Brewer high schools together for the performance of original works each class had created as part of Building Community Through the Arts (BCTA).  BCTA, the MAAE drama and dance artist residency program now in its fifteenth year, engages whole classes in the collaborative creation of an original play or dance piece, culminating in a regional public performance.

FullSizeRenderThe three Brewer High School groups, all creative writing classes of teacher Michelle MacDonald, worked with drama teaching artist Jeri Pitcher to create and perform works that were based on their self-identified social issues. These were compelling and in some cases darkly humorous plays of social criticism directed at such issues as persistent negative attitudes, social labels and intolerance of difference. Even online social networking came under criticism, for paradoxically encouraging a focus on self rather than on caring about others.

The two Bangor High School classes of teacher Angela Domina, both college preparatory classes in Junior English, worked with dance teaching artist Katenia Keller to create dances that expressed universal  themes, such as nature versus societal order, and loyalty versus betrayal that the students  had explored in their readings of medieval British literature.

FullSizeRender 4Initiated in response to the tragedy at Columbine High School, the collaborative process in the MAAE program helps to break down social barriers among students even as its classroom setting directly connects that process with academic learning. As one Bangor student remarked,  “just as we all have to work together to form a dance group, all the parts need to work together to form a story.”

For more on the November student performances and photos visit MAAE’s website, www.maineartsed.org.

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MAAE New Director

September 18, 2014

Maine Alliance for Arts Education announces new Executive Director

IMG_0721Stephen Wicks, president of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE), has announced that Education Director Susan Potters of Kittery has been chosen to head the non-profit as Executive Director, taking over from retiring director, Peter Alexander.

“The board is pleased to have a director of Potters’ experience and we look forward to working with her” said Wicks. Potters, a former teacher from New York City, has been involved with MAAE since the early 1990’s, first serving as a board member from Veazie. After organizing the successful 1997 “Arts in Our Schools K-12” conference in Bangor, Potters was tapped to direct the organization’s first regional office in Greater Bangor, a post that was later expanded to include the two-county Penquis Region.

Since becoming MAAE’s statewide Education Director in 2003 Potters has been most closely associated with “Building Community Through the Arts” (BCTA), the creative theater and dance high school residency program she designed in 2000, just after the Columbine High School tragedy, to generate trust and support among students.

Outgoing Director Alexander, who helped to promote BCTA during his two-year tenure at MAAE, is enthusiastic about the board’s selection: “I am delighted that the board has chosen Susan Potters to take on the role of Executive Director,” said Alexander. “She has the qualifications, connections, experience, and most importantly the passion to take the organization to the next level in fulfilling its mission.” Potters sees a vital role for the arts in education: “The arts develop and engage all students as motivated and joyful learners, “ she said. “Making the arts a thriving reality in young people’s lives means providing lots of opportunities to be creative – in the home, the school classroom and the community. MAAE is here to help show what those opportunities look like and to help make them happen.”

CONGRATULATIONS SUSAN!

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Another Student’s Story: Zachary Fisher

April 10, 2014

What Can The Arts Do For Me? By Zachary Fisher

Zachary is the student representative on the Maine Alliance for Arts Education board. On Arts Education day recently at the State House in Augusta Zachary shared the following message.

Why on Earth is arts education a necessity in my upbringing? What could theatre do for me? What could music do for me? Painting, dancing, acting, singing, sculpting? What could they do for me? What could the arts possibly do for me?

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Zack and fellow student on Arts Education Day at the State House in Augusta

It scares me to think that this is the mindset of some people in our world. When I hear the question, “What can the arts do?”, I think to myself, “What can’t the arts do?”. Mind you, the Minuet in G has never cleaned my room nor has it cooked me dinner, but when the arts are placed in such a useless and expendable light, I cannot help but be appalled.

I am required to take math because it is a fundamental component of our universe. Math classes increase logical problem solving skills and keep the brain sharp.

I am required to take science because it allows me to comprehend my universe. Science class helps me acknowledge the processes of life and complicated systems in my surroundings.

I am required to take English because it is the language I, and approximately 30% of the entire world speak. English classes help me to express ideas and communicate effectively through our common tongue.

I am hardly required to take classes in the arts. My high school, and many others like it, only require a single year of any “fine arts” class to gain the credit. Compare this to the three years of math, three years of science, and four years of English I was required to take in order to obtain my high school diploma.

What is it then, that separates the arts from other classes? Most importantly is emotion. In high school emotions rage like a wildfire. I have never met a person who can express themselves properly by use of the trigonometry fundamentals. In theory, the english language could express our emotions, and does to some degree, but we as students learn quickly that English class is not interested in our opinion influenced by emotion, but our opinion influenced by research. The arts give us a place to release these kept emotions, and grants us a medium to express ourselves at a satisfactory level.

Common statistics show us that the arts are components to an overall better student. Students who take over a year of classes pertaining to the arts have on average better attendance rates, less discipline reports, higher grade point averages, higher graduation rates, and higher standardized test scores. This is because the arts teach discipline like no other classes offered in a school. This discipline transfers to other classes quite easily and in turn creates a student with better habits.

Finally, if the arts making a better student and providing safe emotional expression does not interest you, then hear this final argument. I have to sit eighty minutes every day, learning how to do complicated math problems. As a future music teacher, I will never touch quadratics after high school so long as I have something to say about it. The future engineering major who sits beside me though, cannot get enough of this curriculum. Just as he enjoys math because it pertains to his career, chorus class is my shining moment of the day where I get a taste of my future, and a taste of what I love. Without math class, the country would be in turmoil. Our economy would likely collapse and our everyday innovations cease to exist. That being said, even utopia would be boring without the arts to color it. The perfect world would give us music to be heard, art to be seen, and plays to be entertained by. Poets would be praised, and singers highly respected. The unfortunate truth is, we live in a world far from perfect. Which means we need the arts more than ever. You need the arts more than you realize. We as students are the influences of your future, so please ask yourself, what can arts do for our students? As you’ll then in turn ask yourself, what can the arts do for me?

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Arts Education Awards

February 4, 2014

Nominate a deserving educator who supports Arts education

Screen shot 2014-02-03 at 10.53.07 PMDear Administrators, Arts Educators, and Community Members:

Each year the Maine Alliance for Arts and Education (MAAE) selects two individuals to be honored who are advocates for the arts through education. MAAE’s main goal is to promote and support quality programs in arts education in Maine. One school leader will receive the Distinguished School Leadership Award, which may be displayed at the school for the coming year. Our second commendation, the Bill Bonyun Award, will go to a teacher, parent or community member who is making a positive impact on arts education. Bill Bonyun was a life-long arts educator and folk singer who lived on Westport Island, Maine. These two awards will be presented at a special MAAE ceremony in conjunction with Arts Education Day at the Capitol Building in Augusta on April 2, 2014.

We know that there are many individuals in communities throughout the state who are promoting quality arts education. Perhaps you are aware of someone in your community whose passion for arts education is making a difference! If so, we need your help in nominating this person for one of our awards.

Please do the following:

  • Go to http://maineartsed.org/?attachment_id=417 and download the nomination form
  • Notify Argy Nestor at argy.nestor@maine.gov with your intention of nominating someone.
  • Fill out the nomination form (or pass it on so that someone else who knows this individual can complete it).
  • Return the form by March 7 to Argy (at the above email) or return it by snail mail:

Awards Committee, c/o Argy Nestor, Maine Arts Commission, 93 State Street SHS 25, Augusta, ME 04333-0025

Too often people go unrecognized for their good deeds. This is an opportunity to recognize an individual in a special way for their dedication to quality arts education programs.

We look forward to receiving your nomination by March 7, 2014. We will inform you if the nominee is selected for this award. If you have any questions please feel free to contact one of the MAAE Awards Committee members.

The MAAE Awards committee is comprised of Joan E. Staffiere, jestaffiere@yahoo.com, Argy Nestor, argy.nestor@maine.gov, Kal Elmore, kalelmore@gmail.com ,Peter Alexander, peter@peteralexander.us.

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Advancing Arts Ed Report

August 27, 2013

June 5, 2013 release

In this day and age when we have the use of technology that provides learning opportunities almost all the time and from almost anywhere I am exploring ways to capitalize on that for the arts. A recently released report called Advancing Arts Education through an Expanded School Day: Lessons from Five Schools, caught my attention. The authors are David Farbman, Dennie Palmer Wolf and Diane Sherlock. You might remember Dennie’s name from Maine’s statewide arts census that Maine Arts Alliance for Arts Education and the Maine Department of Education published in 2008. Dennie was the lead consultant for the work.

I know what many of you might be thinking – “The arts after school?, How fair is that?” Before you go down that rabbit hole please check out the report. Read about the five schools who are utilizing the time to “improve the overall academic instruction”. I am certain that you are aware of the work that the Maine DOE has undertaken by identifying schools with a letter grade. This is not an easy topic or conversation for anyone. However, I don’t think that anyone would disagree that we all want students and our schools to be successful.

The report includes “Americans for the Arts believes that an expanded school day is one successful model for providing a high-quality education in the arts,” said Narric Rome, Senior Director of Federal Affairs & Arts Education at Americans for the Arts. “Through this report, education leaders can clearly see how five different schools have maintained high values for arts education, such as offering the arts to all students, offering core arts classes taught by certified teachers, and enriching the arts curriculum through partnerships in the community.” When you read about the five schools you will see that they are in urban areas of our country. What I suggest you ask yourself while reading the report is what you can learn from the work that they have undertaken?

One of the things that I miss from teaching art in the middle school is trying new ideas and discussing them with my colleagues. As you start off the school year why not consider a new approach, be pro-active around collaborative ideas so you can lead the change rather than being told what to do.

This report and others contain research that we can learn from and apply in multiple ways to our classrooms.

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