Arts Education Network News Summer 2009

In this Issue:

What Do You Do with Research?
We hear a lot about educational research, but what does it do for us? Does it actually affect our practice or the milieu we operate in? Is it making our lives easier or harder, or is it having any effect at all?

Certainly, we have access to more of the research that's being done. Gail Burnaford's literature review, Arts Integration: Frameworks, Research, and Practice, was published in 2007. In 2008 and into the present, a dozen-odd research projects have explored the role of teaching artists in a variety of settings, with the most comprehensive, “Teaching Artist Research Project,” still being conducted by Nick Rabkin of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC).

I recently interviewed Sandra Ruppert, the new Director of the Arts Education Partnership (you'll be able to read the entire interview in the Fall issue of Teaching Artist Journal). As the former Senior Associate for Research and Policy of an organization that has brought arts education into the serious world of education policy, she has a history and a stake in arts ed research as a useful tool. Here are a few of her pertinent comments:

"I believe research done by AEP and anyone else must be rigorous and understandable. This means that practitioners such as teaching artists must be able to do something with it to carry their own work forward. Translating research into practical language is essential. . .  Critical Links is an example. This was an excellent body of peer-reviewed information about arts education in general. . . that gave people the tools to make the case about how arts are beneficial.

"There are also parts of the field where we really need applied research - teachers and artists trying out new ideas. This is where it gets exciting. . . . The next step will be closing the loop that begins with research findings, then distills policy implications, and then makes those policies understandable and available to policy makers and practitioners alike."

Have you got any stories about how you've used research in your work? What research has actually been relevant to helping you reach a goal?  Keep me posted.

Laura Reeder, Executive Director

Technical Assistance
Last Call for 2008-09 TAP Grants 
Thinking of attending an arts-based education conference? Planning a partnership, but want some expert advice? Maybe your existing partnership is looking to improve its assessment, or develop new curriculum.
The deadline is July 1 for your last opportunity to apply for a TAP grant for this funding year. Teachers, teaching artists, schools, or cultural organizations can apply for grants for Partnership Planning and Collaboration, Arts-Integrated Curriculum Design, Program Evaluation and Student Assessment, and Professional Development and Capacity Building.
You can see a listing of recipients of TAP funding on our website.

Resources
Featured Website
IssueLab aggregates and disseminates nonprofit research on social issues. Its new collection of research on arts
education culls work from nonprofits nationwide who are addressing related topics. It includes 60+ case studies and evaluations that reveal many lessons, benefits, and pitfalls of existing and past projects, providing vital information for program staff at organizations. http://artsed.issuelab.org/research. You can also sign up as a LabRat, which allows you to keep your own personal library of research that interests you, or subscribing to their RSS feed on Arts & Culture or Education.

Media Buzz
Harvard University's Jerome Kagan spoke about the importance of arts education in elementary schools during the Learning, Arts, and the Brain Conference at Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore on May 6, 2009. Read his prepared remarks at http://education.jhu.edu/nei/ . The conference was sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education’s Neuro-Education Initiative, which fosters dialog among educators and brain science researchers to develop joint research projects and magnifies the potential for current findings to enrich educational practice.

The National Assessment Governing Board released the 2008 NAEP Arts, which presents the educational progress of eighth-grade students nationally in visual arts and music. http://nationsreportcard.gov/arts_2008/ . You can also read a press release from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan commenting on the report at
http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/06/06152009.html.

Finance, Technology and Dance – an unusual combination gets results in a Bronx middle school by integrating dance studies into the curriculum. Says the principal, “Before, we saw [arts and academics] as mutually exclusive, and now we see things differently.” http://www.dance-teacher.com/sections/teaching/405

Opportunities
New Orleans MusicianCorps Fellowship
Click here for application - due June 26, 2009
Contact: Sonya Robinson by email
More information: www.musicnationalservice.org 
In the fall of 2009, MNS will pilot MusicianCorps,  “musical Peace Corps” that recruits, trains and places musicians in  disadvantaged public schools, therapeutic settings and low-income neighborhoods nationwide. In exchange for 1-2 years of service, MusicianCorps Fellows will receive a stipend, health care, training and the opportunity to impact their communities through music for positive social change.

Start Date: August 2, 2009 (Additional school-based training may be required in July 2009)

QUALIFICATIONS:
  · Excellent music performance skills as well as theory & ear training proficiency
  · Experience in and passion for music, youth and service
  · Strong entrepreneurial, community outreach and project management skills
  · Ability to innovate within existing music programs as well as develop new ones
  · Ability to improvise curricula within schools and communities
  · Must be at least twenty-one years old; college degree preferred
  · All music disciplines welcome

Living Sculpture Conference
Cayuga Nature Center, Ithaca
Wednesday, July 22
$80
Registration Deadline: July 10
Click Here for General Information     Click Here for Brochure
Contact: Max Welcome: (607) 255-5439 or email
What do sod furniture, topiary, willow domes, large scale earth art, and table top vegetable art have in common?  They're fun and also a great way to meaningfully engage in the outdoors.  Learn how to do a project that takes an hour, or an afternoon at this conference on the Cornell campus and at the nearby Cayuga Nature Center.

Call for Proposals
Essays on the future of the arts and arts education
Chapter Proposals Due: August 31, 2009
Selected Chapters Due: January 15, 2010
20UNDER40 is in search of essays demonstrating the most innovative and unique perspectives on the future of the arts and arts education from artists, teaching artists, researchers, administrators, and cultural activists under the age of forty.

In light of the impending generational shift in leadership the field of the arts and arts education is about to experience, there has been much talk about the future: who will be our new leading arts thinkers, administrators, policymakers, and practitioners—and in what social, cultural, and political landscapes will these individuals operate? While there is great concern surrounding this matter, little is being done to provide a platform for tomorrow’s leaders to share their ideas with the larger field.

This anthology will provide a unique arena for new ideas by formally gathering the thoughts of young artists, teaching artists, administrators, researchers, and other arts and arts education professionals—legitimizing the talent of young leaders by bringing their ideas out of the margins and into the forefront of our dialogue.

Editor/Project Director: Edward P. Clapp, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Project Advisor: Eric Booth, The Juilliard School/Independent Arts Consultant

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