The Advocacy
Update is where you can find current national and state news concerning arts
advocacy and arts education
EdTA
NEWS
EdTA Co-Sponsors Theatre in Our
Schools Campaign: The
Educational Theatre Association has announced a partnership with the American Alliance
for Theatre & Education (AATE) to sponsor Theatre in Our Schools, a
campaign designed to raise public awareness of the impact of theatre education
and draw attention to the need for more access to quality programs for all
students. AATE and EdTA will recognize and promote March as the official
Theatre In Our Schools month.
Searching for Teaching Artists: The Educational Theatre
Association is seeking qualified theatre professionals and educators to submit
proposals for workshops and professional development training sessions for
three 2016 educational events: the Junior Thespian Festival, the Thespian
Festival, and the EdTA National Conference. Detailed information on the events
and proposal specifications can be found here.
NATIONAL
NEWS
Arts
in Education Documentary Celebrates Student Success:
Purple Dreams, a documentary that chronicles a powerful theatre arts success
story in an urban high-school, promises to be a model illustration of why the
nation must embrace public arts education and recognize its immense role in
producing engaged, successful, college and career-ready students. (Americans for the Arts)
Arts
Education Partnership Releases 2020 Action Agenda: The
Arts Education Partnership (AEP) has released The Arts Leading the Way to Student Success: A 2020 Action Agenda for
Advancing the Arts in Education to serve as a blueprint for the collective
work of the organization for the next five years. AEP’s goal is that, by the
year 2020, every young person in America, at every grade level, will have
equitable access to high quality arts learning opportunities, both during the
school day and out-of-school. (Arts
Education Partnership)
STATE
NEWS
Got state theatre and other arts
education news you want to share? Send it to Anna at amarsala@schooltheatre.org
Colorado:
Funding Formula for Cultural
Attractions, Arts Reaffirmed
(Denver Business Journal)
STEAM Park Arts Group Argues
Durango Lags in Arts Funding
(The Durango Herald)
Connecticut:
Wallingford’s Choate Rosemary Hall Receives
$10M Donation (Record-Journal)
Illinois: Future of Illinois Arts Funding
Remains Murky (The Daily Illini)
New Federal Arts Standards Require
Illinois Education Changes
(Peoria Public Radio)
Kentucky:
Louisville Fund for the Arts Hires
Staff to Measure Impact (The Courier-Journal)
Minnesota:
Minneapolis High School Bets on
Arts as Way to Keep Students in Class (Star Tribune)
Montana:
New Arts Standards Proposed for
Montana’s Public Schools
(Montana Public Radio)
Nebraska:
UNL Professor Tirelessly Advocating
for the Arts (Lincoln Journal Star)
New
Jersey: Arts Organizations Help Drive
Downtown Revivals (New Jersey Spotlight)
New
York: Albright-Knox Study Lays Groundwork
for More Arts Education in City Schools (The Buffalo News)
The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway
Benefit Will Fund NYC Schools
(Broadway World)
North
Carolina: Macon County Grants $75K to Local
Nonprofits (The Macon County News)
Ohio:
Ohio State University to Host
National Conference on Arts Entrepreneurship (The Lantern)
Oklahoma:
Arts Play an Important Role in
Communities (The Oklahoman)
Utah:
Children Explore Creativity in
Southern Utah University’s Arts*Lab (KCSG Television)
Virginia:
Piedmont Arts Receives Award from
Virginians for the Arts (Martinsville Bulletin)
Washington:
Ms. Myrtle Woldson Celebrates Arts,
Education with $55M Gift to Gonzaga University (Gonzaga University News)
WORTH
READING
More
Schools Working to Integrate the Arts into Classroom Learning: Arts
integration has been steadily growing nationally, driven in part by increasing
research that points to academic, social, and personal benefits for students,
said Sandra Ruppert, director of the Arts Education Partnership. Studies show
that employing the arts in academic classrooms is associated with improvement
in test scores in math and English. (The
Washington Post)
Diversity is Critical to the
Success of the Arts – and Arts Education is the Key: Calls for increased diversity are no longer
episodic or quixotic; they are regularly heard across our business and cultural
landscapes. If trends we see currently with Millennials continue, the need to
cultivate diverse arts audiences will increase. In the arts, though, the desire
for change bumps up against a number of challenging realities. (Nonprofit Quarterly)