PAE Postcard April 2007

“Big Thought” Brings Education and Arts Together in Syracuse
Big Thought, the Texas-based learning partnership that has raised test scores, improved literacy skills, boosted cognitive development, and engaged students by integrating cultural resources into Dallas’ classroom curricula, is inviting Syracuse to host its first dissemination project. The CNY Arts Education Roundtable for Arts Education will be hosting Big Thought representatives as they meet with focus groups from Syracuse City School District, the Arts and Culture Leadership Alliance, and Central New York education resource leaders on May 9. The public will be invited to an information session at 1:00 – 3:00 pm on May 10 at The Redhouse, 201 S. West St. in Syracuse.

The “big thought” is that a community, working together, can lift children up and better their lives using arts and culture as tools and catalysts. Schools, cultural organizations, community agencies, and public and private funders form multi-year, sustainable partnerships to consolidate local arts and learning resources into one coherent vision for education.  

We hope you will join us on May 10 to hear about the remarkable and exciting work Big Thought is doing, and share your ideas about how we could achieve similar outcomes in Syracuse.

Speed Networking at April Roundtable
The April CNY Arts Ed Roundtable will feature the Second Annual "AIE Speed Connections."  The gathering will be a combination of short introduction conversations and then a longer "mixer" time to follow up on those intros and create bonds that will lead to future projects. Join us on Wednesday, April 25 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the S.U. Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette Street (at the corner of West Street) in the Community Classroom, Room 003, on the first floor of the building. Light munchies and beverages will be served, along with the standard chocolate offerings. It’s terrific opportunity to converse with colleagues, welcome the long-awaited spring with PAE, and plant seeds for the next school year. Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 24 by emailing Georgia Popoff or calling 234.9911.

The final CNY AE Roundtable for this school year will be our End of Year Celebration on June 7, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., also at the Warehouse.

Save the Date for Marc Bamuthi Joseph!
We are very excited to bring international youth arts leader Marc Bamuthi Joseph to Syracuse for a one-night only performance at Syracuse Stage on June 25th at 7:30 pm. He is artistic director for the Living Word Project and program director for Youth Speaks. Through the spoken word medium, he leads students through a process of examining their world and the issues that are important to them and turning their perspectives into meaningful expression. His mission to be an agent for social change fuels much of his work, taking him far beyond the need for recognition into the realm of spiritual and personal expression.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph offers a stunning performance that blends spoken word, drama, dance, and his experiences as an arts educator. Through movement and poetic language, Mr. Joseph will draw you into the classroom experience, bringing the audience into the thoughts, responses, frustrations, and miracles of both students and teachers as they encounter the arts and how the arts influence lives. 

This performance is part of a celebration of CNY arts education partnerships and the Culture, Community and Education research project, and also kicks off the CNY Arts in Education Institute (see below), and is a benefit performance for PAE.  Tickets are available from PAE for $50, $15 for students with i.d. You can order tickets online or by calling the PAE office at 234.9911.

CNY Arts in Ed Institute June 25 – 29
The Central New York Arts in Education Institute moves back to Syracuse Stage this June for a week of intensive, inspiring, and practical professional development for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas.  Teachers gather Monday – Friday, 8:30 – 3:30, to take in performances, look at visual arts, and participate in hands-on sessions with experienced teaching artists to develop techniques they can bring into their classrooms to engage and motivate students.

This year, all arts repertoire will be Central New York-based, so in-school performances and visits to cultural organizations during the school year will be easy to arrange.  The Institute extends staff development credit in compliance with all local districts.

For more information about the Institute, contact Marsha Wheeler at Oswego County BOCES, (315) 963-4249, or email her.

SAP and TAP Grant Deadlines Approaching
The deadline for the School Arts Partnership grants, which provide matching funds up to $10,000 for artists, cultural organizations, and educators for arts-in-education partnerships in New York State public & private pre-K thru 12 schools, is May 7. You can find out more about the SAP grants at our website.

TAP (Technical Assistance Program) grants provide funding for Planning and Capacity Building, Curriculum Design, Assessment and Evaluation, and Professional Development. Awards range from $100 to $2,500. Teaching artists, schools, school districts, and non-profit cultural organizations are eligible to apply. The upcoming deadlines are May 1 and July 1. Find out more at our website.

Resources
BOCES Artists’ Showcase May 18
The Arts-in-Education Showcase is an opportunity for artists to present a preview of their program offerings to teachers, librarians, parents, administrators, school board members, and PTO members – anyone who is involved in scheduling Arts-in-Education programs in their school buildings.  Fourteen performing artists will showcase abbreviated versions of the performances they can present in schools. There will also be an exhibition area to meet artists and agents. The Showcase will take place at Ramsdell Elementary School in Jordan on May 18, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm. For more information, go to the Oswego BOCES website.

Opportunities
Dance Education in America Conference
contact: National Dance Association
1900 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191
800.213.7193 x464
www.aahperd.org/nda
nda@aahperd.org
Join NDA in celebrating Dance Education in America with this timely conference (June 14 – 17) and year-long exhibit at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York! Topics will include professional dance training around the world, national standards and models for teaching excellence, ArtsBridge, choreography, writing, technique and more.

Among the many presenters are: modern dance icon Bill Evans, Dance Teacher Magazine “Dance Teacher of the Year” Mary Ann Laverty; Scholar/Artist Sarah Hilsendager; Paulette Cote (Brock University); Lynnette Overby (Michigan State University); Theresa Purcell Cone (Rowan University); Gladys Keeton (Texas Woman’s University); and Charles Woodford (Princeton Books).

Author Seeks TA Experiences for book
Faye Stanley, Clapping Dog Music
3109 Five Forks Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
919/968-1168
clappingdog@nc.rr.com
The author is nearing completion of a book titled "The Teaching Artist Toolbox: Connecting Your Art and the School." This book is meant to be a very broad-based resource for teaching artists in designing and implementing their own work in the schools, and includes aspects of curriculum connections, school culture, business, marketing issues, resources and more. I am particularly interested in including some "real life" experiences of teaching artists, particularly as they pertain to the following:
1. The area of integration: How the work seamlessly addressed objectives from at least two curricular areas.
2. How this collaboration was achieved, i.e. What infrastructure was necessary for the effort to support collaboration between the teaching artist and the school/classroom teacher/community/others
3. How the work provided for the creative process i.e. where were the students engaged in improvisatory work drawing on their own creative processes
I would hope that these descriptions could be a page or two long, and am hoping to include samples that represent varied art forms. My goal is that these examples would serve to illustrate what good integration "looks like", and how that plays out specifically in the world of the teaching artist. I appreciate your consideration in offering your own experience, and would hope that the inclusion of your work would make you and your work accessible to a broader audience. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

_________________________________

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

State of the Arts

NYSCA