FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2007

Education and Arts Leaders Energize CommonGround 2007

CommonGround, New York State’s annual Arts in Education Conference, is delighted to welcome a number of luminaries to speak with professionals from around the state. Guests include:

Manuel Rivera, NYS Deputy Secretary of Education
Jeffrey Cannell, NYS Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education
Cyrus Driver, Ford Foundation Deputy Director of Education, Sexuality, & Religion
Amy Duggins-Pender, Director of Arts in Education, NYS Council on the Arts
Gary Dayton, Associate, Arts in Education, NYS Council on the Arts
Arnold Aprill, Executive Director of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
June Choi, Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisor for the NYS Music Fund
Glenn McClure, Composer and President of the Association of Teaching Artists
Tara M. Brown, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction in the Minority and Urban Education Unit at the University of Maryland

CommonGround 2007, “AIE 3-D: The Arts in Three Dimensions,” will take place March 28-30 at the Rochester Hyatt Regency.

Partners for Arts Education, a state-wide agency based in Syracuse, hosts the conference, which brings together over 200 administrators, teachers, teaching artists, and cultural organizations for three days of policy setting, planning, exchange of skills, and inspirational speakers. This gathering contributes to fresh curriculum design, school reform and new models for classroom learning.

Mr. Rivera, Mr. Cannell, Mr. Driver, Ms. Duggins-Pender, and Mr. Dayton will all be participating in “Talking to Power: Dimensions of Change and Advocacy” on Friday, March 30 from 2:15 to 4 pm., a dialogue about the role of the arts in changing schools for the 21st century. There will be opportunities to raise questions, examine issues, and craft a framework for the policies that will guide arts-in-ed practice.

Arnold Aprill, co-author of many best-selling books on arts integration, will moderate this forum as an extension of his Friday, March 30 lunchtime keynote, "A Culture of Evidence: Leadership in Arts Education Partnerships" from 12:30 to 2pm.

Ms. Choi will arrive on Thursday, March 29 when NYS Music Fund-supported Glenn McClure and Mt. Morris Middle School Students perform: “We only Choose What We Imagine: Feeding the Mind, Body, & the Spirit of Creativity” at 8:00 am breakfast. The Mt. Morris/McClure partnership won the Harvard-Radcliff Award for Teaching Innovation. Mr. McClure’s other national and international partnerships include “Galileo’s Universe,” which has engaged more than 15 schools, a best-selling author, and an NPR report. 

Ms. Choi will stay on to discuss the impact of the NYS Music Fund grant in: “Leveraging Dollars for AIE Longevity: Inspiration from the NYS Music Fund,” 11:00 – 12:15. The NYS Music Fund presents a creative opportunity for promotion, research, and development for the arts in education field.

Tara M. Brown will deliver a keynote address on “Media from the Margins: Evoking the Power of Student Imagination and Memory for Learning and Engagement.” It will explore the potential of adolescents’ uses of media and new technologies to enhance student learning and self-expression, and to connect disengaged adolescents to school. She will speak at lunch on Thursday, 12:30 – 2:00 pm.

“The attention to the arts in the daily education of children everywhere is becoming a top agenda item for this century. We are fortunate to have some of the most influential leaders in educational and cultural reform as our inspiration,” says Laura Reeder, Executive Director of PAE.

You can get more information and register for CommonGround at PAE’s website, www.arts4ed.org.

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Partners for Arts Education inspires learning and leadership for arts in education in Central New York and throughout New York State. We provide funding and support to deepen and enrich educational experiences in and through the arts for students, teachers and artists.

Partners for Arts Education
Delavan Center Suite 221  501 W. Fayette St.  Syracuse, NY  13202
315.234.9911  info@arts4ed.org  www.arts4ed.org

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