When I received the Hawkins Award, I was honored. This was a huge, huge honor! I knew this, but I didn't realize how much going to Washington DC would change my perspective.
From the time I arrived in DC and met my room mate for the weekend- Jo Strom Lane, Director of Theatre at Roosevelt High School in Portland Oregon- until the time I said goodbye to my Kansas Advocacy Team Captain, Barbara Warady, former President for The Kansas Alliance for the Arts, I was busy gleaning insight and information about how I can serve my students better and become an even more effective advocate for theatre in our schools and communities.
I have always known how theatre can impact students, but as our training for the Capital Hill visit unfolded, I soon discovered that Advocacy is not just about amazing stories we tell about how theatre has changed lives, but for legislators, it is about the bottom line- statistics, measurements, proof that is tangible. Bottom line information we received in training was overwhelmingly clear. Theatre and the arts impact our economy- $699 billion last year, 4.3 percent of the GDP. Theatre and the arts impacts our students' learning- students involved in fine arts for all four years of high school scored 100 points higher on their SAT than those who had three years or less. Theatre impacts student retention and dropout rates. The statistics go on and on. Tangible proof of what theatre teachers have witnessed for years: Theatre impacts facets of all of our lives in school, in our communities, and across the nation.
My Kansas Advocacy Team Captain was amazing. Barbara helped explain the why and how of advocacy with legislators. She focused in on 'the ask'- what specifically we were requesting of our legislator, and how to present the statistical data for a compelling argument. Additionally- as we had an extensive list of 'asks', she assisted in weaning it down to four main items that were specific to Kansas Arts since we had time constraints for each Capital Hill appointment. We had time to practice and observed demonstrations of hypothetical visits with legislators.
Our day on The Hill was invigorating. I was particularly impressed with Jerry Morgan from Kansas. He cleared his schedule to make sure he had the opportunity to visit with Barbara and I. One of his aids was a former Kansas Thespian and told stories from when she attended The Kansas Thespian Conferences. While the other legislators were not able to meet with us in person, we still had an opportunity to visit with their aids. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by one of my own former theatre students, Ginger Neimann, at Lynn Jenkins office. While she was not the aid who covered Arts Advocacy, she requested to be present for our visit and asked compelling questions about the impact of the requested 155 million for the National Endowment for the Arts on Kansas. It was evident from former theatre students now in Washington, that being part of theatre in high school impacted their confidence, problem solving, and the willingness to experience new things as demonstrated by their work on Capital Hill.
When not in official training, I had the opportunity to spend time with fellow EdTA staff and members and ITOs. Amazing people! It was exciting to find out what directors in other states were doing with their programs and organizations. I was overwhelmed with their new teaching and show ideas. Exciting!
While seemingly time consuming, it is essential that we continue to track and record student successes to ensure that the impact of theatre in our schools have local, state, and national data to provide the proof that government needs to be fully enlightened as to the importance of the arts, not only in our schools, but our communities, our society as a whole. We cannot assume that funding will be provided and therefore must be prepared to advocate- articulating with concrete evidence-the necessity of theatre in our world.