Our
Essential Question
How
does creativity engage mindfulness
to generate nuanced perspectives,
skills of focus, balance,
and compassion, and capacity
for innovation?
Alertness, openness, sensitivity,
being in the present: the
state of mindfulness. It
enables us to observe more
carefully, acknowledge
ambiguity, construct more
complex, comprehensive
ideas. This is the artistic
process in action. In the
21st century, when the
ability to re-imagine,
to reconfigure and to synthesize
will be crucial, it’s
where our children are
headed, given the opportunity.
And it’s where we
come in.
Be a part of the interactive
exchange of ideas that
characterize our own states
of mindfulness. CommonGround
is the place and time for
the arts and education
to come together in New
York State. This year we
meet in our capital city,
and we will take advantage
of proximity to policy-makers
and leaders. Valuing, as
always, the multiplicity
of perspectives that comes
when our field gathers,
CommonGround prizes the
ideas that spring forth
as we all share, encourage,
compare, debate, appreciate,
and create anew.
More simply put, come to
CommonGround…it
will be fun.
Laura
Reeder, Executive Director
Technical
Assistance
Register Now for CommonGround
2008
Register today for CommonGround 2008,
New York State’s annual arts-in-education
conference! You can see the complete
schedule,
read about our
keynote
speakers, and get all the other
information you need at our
website.
We’re looking forward to another
exciting and inspiring gathering
this year. We hope you’ll join
us!
Funding
Featured
SAP Project: "Reading
and Writing Under the Ancient
Night Skies" at McGraw
Elementary
Using mythological stories about
the constellations and empirical
data about the stars, students
created “pourquoi” stories,
which explain why things occur
in the natural world, and plays
based on mythology. They were assisted
in their journey by writer/photographer
Charles R. Smith, Jr. and theater
artist Katrin Naumann, and visits
to Syracuse Stage and the Roberson
Museum and Science Center. A day-long
community celebration of displays
and star-related activities showcased
the children’s learning about
science, other cultures, writing,
and drama. Read
more about this project on
our website.
Resources
Featured
Website
The Imagine Nation is
dedicated to the idea that
building capacities of the
imagination rests primarily
with an education in and through
the arts and that the arts
are essential to invigorating
the teaching of other fundamental
school subjects. Their
website is a clearinghouse
for resources, press items,
successful initiatives, etc. http://www.theimaginenation.net/
Media
Buzz
The American Association of School
Administrators recently published
an interview of Tom Friedman (The
World Is Flat) by Daniel Pink
(A Whole New Mind) on
curiosity, passion and the politics
of school reform in the global
marketplace. Go ahead – count
how many times you say, “YES!” http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9736
NPR’s Claudio Sanchez investigates
NCLB’s outcomes over the
last 6 years: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18432881
Opportunities
Got
Video?
PAE is looking for videos with
a connection to our art$TART, SAP
and TAP grants. Did you videotape
your TAP-funded professional
development workshop? Did students
you worked with create a video
as part of their SAP partnership?
We’d like to post it on our
website. We have our first video
posted (check it out here),
and we’re ready to add more.
We’re hoping to document
portions of CommonGround as well.
Keep in mind, we’re looking
for edited, completed videos (not
raw footage). If you have it formatted
in Windows Media (wmp), even better.
If you have video you’d like
to submit, email
Connie. Thanks to Ensemble
Video for their technical assistance.
Researching
Professional Development Programs
for Teaching Artists
Teaching Artist Journal (http://wwww.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1541-1796.asp),
a professional development
resource for teaching artist’s
research and practice, has
begun to report on professional
development programs for
teaching artists from around
the nation and is seeking
your voice in describing
your professional development
program offerings.
Please consider completing this
simple survey to give us insight
into the scope of your TA professional
development program(s). http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BFd2DEpw3LdbM5wiULZVXg_3d_3d
You can also contact
Laura Reeder to recommend programs
that you are aware of, or to discuss
an article/submission you may want
to share with the TAJ community.
ATA
Solicits Award Nominations
The Association
of Teaching Artists (ATA) is
soliciting nominations for The
Teaching Artist Distinguished Service
to The Arts In Education Field
Award and The Golden Administrator
Award. The awards will be presented
at the ATA reception at the CommonGround
Conference in
Albany on Thursday evening, April
10.
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. The Award, initiated by
ATA in 2002, is the first in the
nation to honor a Teaching Artist
for lifetime achievement in the
Arts In Education field.
Previous recipients
include Richard Lewis, Barbara
Fisher and Richard Spiegel, Margot
Faught, Sherry Robbins, Susan Thomasson,
and Bertha Rogers.
The Golden
Administrator Award
This Award was designed to encourage
and to support excellence in the
Arts In Education field. The Golden
Administrator Award, initiated
by ATA in 2003, recognizes an education
professional whose talent, dedication,
and administrative skills actively
strengthen and support the role
of Teaching Artists and 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, and Carol Terry.
Nominations are
being accepted for both awards
until March 15. Please submit
by email a supporting statement
for your nominee outlining why
your nominee deserves the award
to. Please include your complete
contact information.
Fran most recently
served as the Director of Development
and Marketing at the Friends of the
Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Prior to that
she was Director of Development at
the Syracuse Opera Company. She is
an active member of the Association
of Fundraising Professionals, and
Vice President on the Board of Directors
of the George & Rebecca
Barnes Foundation. We are delighted
to have her on board!
Laura
Reeder Appointed to National
Arts Education Council
Americans for the Arts, the nation’s
leading nonprofit organization for
advancing the arts in America, has
appointed Laura Reeder to sit on
its Arts Education Council. The Arts
Education Council represents
the Arts Education Network,
a segment of the professional members
of Americans for the Arts, who work
to improve access to and quality
of arts education. The council provides
guidance on the development and execution of
programs and services that meet the
needs of the Arts Education Network.
