NYS Arts Ed Network News Winter 2009
In this Issue:
• Test Your Creative Thinking Skills
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Shiny happy people at last year's CommonGround! |
Test Your Creative Thinking Skills
Is your hair on fire yet?
Now we champions of creative thinking get an opportunity (all right, crisis) to really use our skills.
There’s a surplus of scary stories out there – cuts from the NYSCA budget with likely more to come, legislators voting to strip money for cultural organizations out of the stimulus package, shrinking endowments, staff cuts, the faltering economy – we're all surrounded by this malodorous haze of anxiety. Before you inhale too richly, take a deep breath of another kind.
Remember that there are opportunities available to help stabilize your situation, and ways to get more for less. In this climate, we're all learning that even if we can't find new money, we can pool resources to maximize our effectiveness.
Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative is designed to provide planning assistance and consulting to struggling arts organizations throughout the US. The program will provide counsel to 501(c)(3) performing arts organization in the areas of fundraising, building more effective Boards of Trustees, budgeting, marketing, technology, and other areas pertinent to maintaining a vital performing arts organization during a troubled economy. If you have expertise to share, you can become a mentor through the program. Find out more at http://www.artsincrisis.org/.
Sharing expertise is something we at PAE champion at every turn. If you need to figure out how to get the most out of your resources, a TAP grant may help you find creative solutions to partnership challenges by connecting with creative experts here in New York State.|
We at PAE are working with our allies in Albany and Washington to make sure the arts-in-education perspective factors into decisions being made about our economic future. And we are always ready to help you do your best creative work.
Laura Reeder
Executive Director
Technical Assistance
Register Today for CommonGround
You can now register for New York State's annual arts-in-education conference at our website. It's all on line, takes just a few minutes, and you can pay by credit card, check or purchase order. We suggest you peruse the conference schedule and workshop descriptions first so you'll be able to create your personalized printable schedule.
We're looking forward to another substantive, stimulating and fun three days at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany March 25 – 27. You can find our more about the exciting workshops ("Process Made Visible: Activate your Potential as a Research-Practitioner," "Mosquitoes, Malaria, and Art Making: Arts in Education in the Third World," "Bridges Out of Poverty: A Conversation with the Arts-in-Education Community," "Budget Treasure Hunt: Aligning Existing Resources for Arts Education Partnerships") creative engagement sessions ("I Am Poet, Hear Me Roar!," "Landscapes of Power: Exploring Creativity in Ordinary and Extraordinary Ways," "Personal Shrines: Preserving and Making Memories"), our keynote speaker Karen Brooks Hopkins, TAP grants to help with expenses, hotel accommodations, sponsorship opportunities, and more at our website.
If you are interested in sharing travel expenses, either as a driver or a rider, please email Kristin with your town, phone number, and when you'll be traveling to and from CommonGround. We'll send out an email to all interested parties on March 10 so you can find people to carpool with. (We'll let you work it out amongst yourselves.)
Don't forget – the deadline for receiving the special conference rate for rooms at the Crowne Plaza is 3:00 pm on March 3. Call them at 518 462 6611 or toll-free at 800 227 6963, and make sure to mention that you are attending the CommonGround conference.
Reconnecting with friends, brainstorming with colleagues, hobnobbing with the movers and shakers - we hope you're as excited as we are! See you in Albany!
Apply for CommonGround TAP by February 15
The deadline for applications for assistance to attend CommonGround has been extended until February 15th.
You can apply for a TAP grant to help with travel, lodging and other associated expenses. The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) grant can support travel, food and lodging of up to $500 for attendance at CommonGround 2009. This year, unlike in the past, theTAP funds will not be able to be applied to the conference registration fees. (This policy applies to all NYSCA AIE-supported events.)
The application can be downloaded at our website. Just download, fill it in by February 15 and email it back to PAE. The applications will be evaluated for eligibility and drawn by lottery. If awarded, payment will be made directly to the applicant upon receipt of a reimbursement form with receipts attached. You will be notified via email by February 22nd.
Of course, as always, TAP funds are available for hiring AIE consultants, for attendance at workshops or conferences, and for the creation of partnership team retreats. Upcoming deadlines for TAP for 2009are March 16, May 18 and July 1.
Next TAP Grant Applications Due March 16
A TAP Grant can help you grow as a teaching artist, teacher, or partnership. TAP funds are available for hiring AIE consultants, for attendance at workshops or conferences, and for the creation of partnership team retreats. Basically, it will support whatever your partnership needs to improve and/or expand your practice. Upcoming deadlines for TAP for 2008-09are March 16, May 18 and July 1.
Resources
Featured Website
The Community Arts Network website offers a rich national look at what's up in arts ed and community arts. http://www.communityarts.net/
Media Buzz
National Campaign to Hire Artists to Work in Schools
An alliance of arts leaders and policymakers in San Francisco convened December 4, 2008 to launch the National Campaign To Hire Artists to Work in Schools. The campaign promotes the use of federal job-stimulus funds to employ artists to work in public schools and community centers. You can find out more on their website, and join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36483884735
Arts in Schools Advocacy Videos
Lots of stuff is showing up on Youtube – here are a couple of nice ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx0kuuukWPk – from Keep Arts in Schools – always a powerful voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flfXYBDWQvM - Bill Irwin on hiring artists to work in schools.
Kennedy Center Forms Arts in Crisis to Help Struggling Arts Non-Profits
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has announced a new initiative designed to help nonprofit arts organizations that are struggling to stay afloat during the current recession, the Washington Post reports.
The program, Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative, is a high- tech support service through which arts administrators can have confidential discussions with the center's executive staff about issues such as shrinking income sources, fundraising, budgeting, marketing, the use of technology, and other areas pertinent to maintaining a vital performing arts organization in a troubled economy. Any nonprofit arts group may sign up to receive assistance, which will be provided via e-mail, phone, Web chats, and/or site visits. Find our more at www.artsincrisis.org
New Book by Eric Booth - The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible
Written for long time practitioners and beginners alike, The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible is a proven means for developing a successful career in music. Combining an overview of the field and key elements of practice, it includes useful guidance on issues such as effective communication, time management, gaining employment, partnering, advocacy, and more. Teaching artistry is increasingly seen as an essential tool of the 21st-century artist. With employment opportunities in education and arts institutions, as well as in health care, community settings and businesses, this foundational guide to this burgeoning yet often disorganized field is more necessary than ever. Already widely endorsed (by Bobby McFerrin, Marin Alsop, Bill Ivey and more), The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible marks the coming of age of this essential, vital profession. Get your copy today from the publisher, Oxford University Press, from Amazon, or at bookstores.
Visit the Prado via Google Earth
Google Earth is now offering a program that navigates reproductions of the Prado's masterpieces. In Google Earth, you can get close enough to examine a painter's brushstrokes or the craquelure on the varnish of a painting. The images of these works are about 14,000 million pixels, 1,400 times more detailed than the image a 10 megapixel digital camera would take. You'll also be able to see a 3D reproduction of the museum. Find out more at http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/prado/
Opportunities
Call for Nominations for ATA Awards
Deadline: March 1, 2009
The Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) is soliciting nominations for the 2009 Teaching Artist Distinguished Service to The Arts In Education Field Award and the 2009 The Golden Administrator Award. The awards will be presented at the ATA reception at The Albany Institute of History and Art, 125 Washington Avenue, Albany on Thursday evening, March 26, 2009.
The Teaching Artist Distinguished Service to The Arts In Education Field Award
The Teaching Artist Distinguished Service to The Arts In Education Field Award honors an individual Teaching Artist who not only pioneered the Arts In Education Field, but who also continues to define the best of what it means to be a Teaching Artist. Previous recipients include Richard Lewis, Barbara Fisher and Richard Spiegel, Margot Faught, Sherry Robbins, Susan Thomasson, Bertha Rogers, and Bill Vanaver and Livia Drapkin Vanaver.
Nominations are being accepted until March 1. Please submit a supporting statement via email for your nominee. Please include complete contact information.
The Golden Administrator Award
The Golden Administrator Award, initiated by ATA in 2003, recognizes an arts education professional whose talent,
dedication, and administrative skills actively strengthen and support the role of Teaching Artists in Arts in Education. Nominations may include administrators in any of the following three categories:
- School districts or B.O.C.E.S.
- Cultural organizations such as museums and arts councils
- Organizations whose primary mission is Arts in Education.
Previous recipients include Arlene Jordan, Susan Lesser, Cass Clarke, David Silver, Carol Terry, and Maria Marewski.
Nominations are being accepted until March 1. Please submit a supporting statement via email for your nominee outlining why your nominee deserves the award. Please include complete contact information.
Congressional Hearings to Be Held on Arts Support
Congressman George Miller, Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, has announced that he will conduct "a series of hearings this Spring to examine how the arts benefit the nation’s economy and schools—and what can be done to improve support for the arts and music fields."
Please convey your gratitude via email -- http://georgemiller.house.gov/contactus/2007/08/post_1.html (or by telephone to 202-225-2095) to Congressman Miller for his courage under fire and his wisdom in giving serious attention to an essential social good that has become an object for target practice.
Offer your help and support, and while you're at it, please ask that the hearings include not only the powerful arts-related unions, celebrities and establishment arts organizations that tend to be asked to offer testimony on Capitol Hill, but also a good representation of community artists and community arts advocates in all our diversity. You can read Rep. Miller's press release, or find out more at Arlene Goldbard's blog.
Nominations Invited for Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America
Deadline: March 9, 2009
The Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (http://www.bcainc.org/), a national not-for-profit organization working to bring business and the arts together, is accepting nominations for the BCA Ten Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America. Announced annually, the BCA Ten is a national list created to recognize businesses of all sizes for their exceptional efforts to use the arts to enrich the workplace, education, and the community.
Any individual, arts organization, or company employee may nominate a company for the award. Companies, both large and small, that support the arts in the United States are eligible for nomination. Tax-exempt not-for-profit organizations and companies in the BCA Hall of Fame are not eligible, nor are companies named to the BCA Ten since 2005.
Nomination statements should address how the company supports the arts through leadership, long-term commitment, impact, addressing community needs, employee and customer involvement, and by encouraging other companies to support the arts. Award information and nomination forms are available at the BCA web site.
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Our staff is always available to help you!
www.arts4ed.org or 315-234-9911
Executive Director: Laura Reeder
Administrative Assistant: Maureen Foster
Director of Strategic Development: Fran Hradil
Grant Programs Director : Sue Stonecash
Development Associate : Kristin Swift
Communications Manager : Connie Walters
(Click on a name to email.)
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