|
|
|
The BlueMoon
is published bi-monthly by the Kentucky Arts Council. Please send comments,
questions and information to The Blue Moon, Kentucky Arts Council, Old
Capitol Annex, 300 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601-1980 or call 502/564-3757V/TDD
Toll Free: 1-888-833-2787
|
 |
KAC Arts Education Programs GrowingWith the addition of two new residency programs and a major partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools and Stage One: Louisville Children's Theatre, the KAC Arts Education Programs have experienced a growth spurt of unprecedented proportions in the past year. At the same time, the Artists in Residence (AIR), the Teacher Initiated Program (TIP) and arts education in general are all experiencing renewed interest throughout the state. Youth Center Initiated Program (YCIP)The Youth Center Initiated Program (YCIP), partially funded through a Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, was designed to serve incarcerated youth in minimum, medium and maximum-security centers throughout the commonwealth. It has since been enlarged in scope to include more youth at risk by permitting alternative schools to apply. Based on the TIP model, the YCIP provides artist residencies of one or two weeks and in a new twist for our arts in education granting programs, there is no specific application deadline for. Instead, applications are accepted year round, 20 or more days before the residency is slated to begin. Perhaps because the program is new, or because there is a small number of eligible sites, YCIP is currently very non-competitive and the likelihood of strong applications being funded is extremely high. Teachers/schools/facilities may apply for one of these residencies with a local artist or may obtain a list of artists who have experience working with at risk youth by emailing John Benjamin or by calling John, toll free, at 1-888-833-2787, extension 4813. ArtsStart!ArtsStart!, which is also based on the TIP model, offers one or two week residencies to early childhood facilities and comes with built-in flexibility to enable small and large programs to apply. Even - for-profit” pre-school programs may apply for this grant by using the - umbrella” of a not-for-profit partner. If you're interested in this program and have questions about your eligibility or anything else, contact Lisa Rosenbarker, the program administrator, at (859) 985-1226 or via email. Like the YCIP, applications are due 20 or more days before the start of the residency and, at this point, the program is very non-competitive and strong applications are likely to be funded. A list of artists with experience working with pre-school children is available from Lisa or John Benjamin. You may also apply with a local artist not on our KAC list. ArtsStart! is also partially funded through the NEA Challenge America grant. KAC Receives Continued Funding from the US Department of Education Thanks to a special Youth at Risk Partnership Grant from the United States Department of Education, the Kentucky Arts Council was able to provide 106 artist residencies, ranging from several days to several weeks in length, to 10 schools in the Jefferson County Public Schools, State Agency Children's Program. As in our other programs, there were residencies in virtually all disciplines - theatre, literature, painting, dance, quilting, drumming, sculpture, music and even metalworking. Happily, this partnership has received additional funding, albeit at a reduced rate, enabling it to continue for the next three years and add two schools in the Georgia Chaffee Teenage Parent Program. This continuation funding is surely due, in part, to the extensive evaluation report prepared by Dr. Dena Dossett, Evaluation Specialist for JCPS, which indicates marked improvement in practically all areas surveyed. Once again, the arts have demonstrated their value in many, very special, educational settings. For more information about KAC's efforts to promote the Arts in Education, contact John S. Benjamin by email or at 1-888-833-2787, ext. 4813. NAEA Releases New Text "The Arts and the Creation of Mind"NAEA announces a collaborative initiative with Yale University Press to distribute The Arts and the Creation of Mind by Elliot W. Eisner, who is Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of Art at Stanford University. One aim of the new text is "to dispel the idea that the arts are somehow intellectually undemanding, emotive rather than reflective operations done with the hand," says Eisner, and "unattached to the head." His straightforward, accessible language takes the reader into chapters such as: What the Arts Teach and How It Shows; Describing Learning in the Visual Arts; The Educational Uses of Assessment and Evaluation in the Arts; What Education Can Learn From the Arts; Agenda for Research in Arts Education, and more. Although the arts are often thought to be closer to the rim of education than to its core, they are, surprisingly, critically important means for developing complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Eisner in this engrossing book. In it he describes how various forms of thinking are evoked, developed, and refined through the arts. These forms of thinking, Eisner argues, are more helpful in dealing with the ambiguities and uncertainties of daily life than are the formally structured curricula that are employed today in schools. Offering a rich array of examples, Eisner describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and the virtues each possesses when well taught. He discusses especially nettlesome issues pertaining to the evaluation of performance in the arts. Perhaps most important, Eisner provides a fresh and admittedly iconoclastic perspective on what the arts can contribute to education, namely a new version of both its aims and its means. This new perspective, Eisner argues, is especially important today, a time at which mechanistic forms of technical rationality often dominate our thinking about the conduct and assessment of education. More information is available by phone at 800-299-8321 (8:30am to 4pm EST) or on the NAEA Web site. Online Database to Connect Artists and Schools Still UnderutilizedInitial responses from teachers that were introduced to "Arts Resources for Teachers and Schools" at the Arts Academies last summer were very enthusiastic. The Arts Council initially developed the database for the Arts Toolkit, which is a prototype toolkit filled with dynamic resources for arts and humanities curriculum built from the Kentucky Core Content, Program of Studies and Academic Expectations. Although the Arts Toolkit itself is only available on a limited basis, the directory component is up and running and waiting to be used. If you are a teacher...Read the Tips for a Successful Search first to get a full understanding of how the resources are identified and found. Once you begin your search http://weba.state.ky.us/GenericSearch/LicenseSearch.asp?AGY=12 you will be able to find many artists or arts organizations available in your area of the state that are willing to come into the classroom and share the arts with your students. Some have extensive classroom experience and others are just willing to share their art form and traditions in a very informal way, as indicated in the Level of Expertise category. If you are an artist...This is your chance to make a difference. It is very important for children to understand and be a part of the creative process as well as appreciate and learn about the traditional arts that have been handed down from generation to generation. If you are willing to go into the schools and work with children or share your art form with children sign up now! If you are already on the database but would like to make changes to your current information, please use the same form. Corrections are updated on a weekly basis. If you are an arts organization...Is education part of your mission? Be sure to have your arts education opportunities listed on this database. There is a special title category for organizations which shows up in the Levels of Expertise search criteria on the database. Our goal is to have a complete listing of Kentucky arts organizations that are interested in working with schools. This will make the directory truly useful to teachers willing to bring in resources from beyond the classroom. Help Us Spread the WordIf you know of teachers that would be interested in the Arts Resources for Teachers and Schools please pass this information along to them. "The database is a very efficient use of communications technology and it has the potential to grow exponentially," says Public Information Officer Ed Lawrence. "We just haven't fully marketed the product yet." Coming in 2003: Arts ToolkitIn 2001 and 2002, a new arts teaching resource was distributed to a sample group of Kentucky arts teachers. The Arts Toolkit was created as a collaboration effort by KET, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Center for the Arts, The Speed Art Museum and Stage One. The project began in response to a challenge by Kentucky Commissioner of Education Gene Wilhoit to develop "a dynamic and powerful resource built from the Kentucky Core Content, Program of Studies, and Academic Expectation." More than 350 Kentucky teachers were asked to review, use and offer feedback on prototype Toolkits in Dance and Visual Arts or Music and Drama. Toolkit prototypes included video excerpts, fine art reproductions, a drama CD-ROM, an informational CD-ROM, and a statewide directory of artists and arts organizations - along with lesson plans, glossaries, access to a web site and other informational materials developed by experienced Kentucky educators. Feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive. Based on their input, KET and the Toolkit partners are preparing Arts Toolkits in Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts for distribution to teachers statewide. A First Edition Toolkit in one arts discipline is scheduled to be available in Spring 2003. From videos and lesson plans to artist information, the Arts Toolkit will include a wealth of teacher-tested and classroom-ready tools for arts specialists as well as general classroom teachers. If you would like to be kept informed about the development of this exciting new art teaching resource, and receive information about the First Edition Arts Toolkit when it becomes available, e-mail your name, address, and school name to artstoolkit@ket.org or mail your name, address, and school name to: Teresa Day, KET, 600 Cooper Drive, Lexington, KY 40502. First Art to Provide Arts Supplies to Programs in NeedFirst Art is a subsidiary of the national non-profit First Book which has a single mission: to provide new books to low-income children participating in existing community-based tutoring, mentoring, and family literacy programs. Through relationships with children's books publishers, First Book receives discounts on books and is able to pass these discounts on to First Book local boards around the country. The local boards raise money to make grants of books to literacy programs serving children from low-income families. In 2001 alone, First Book provided nearly seven million new books to hundreds of thousands of children in more than 700 communities across the country. First Book has established First Art, a national program that uses the First Book model to provide creative arts supplies to pre-school and after-school programs serving the most vulnerable children in the country. First Art has received funding from the Institute for Civil Society to launch the initial phase of the program' s development and roll-out of the pilot sites is underway. Pilot cities include: Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; Cape Girardeau, MO; Montgomery, AL; Dallas, TX; and Spokane, WA. Your Support is Important to First Art. First Art is looking for partners in this new project. First Art partners will be called upon to find supporters of arts education across the country interested in bringing First Art to their communities. If you are interested in learning more about First Art, contact Roopal Saran, Director, Community Development at (202) 393-1222 or by e-mail at rsaran@firstbook.org. Check This Web Site Out
|
Articles
The
Nancy
Johnson Barker, full-time Artist in Residence for the Nelson County School
District, and Alice Burton, artist, participated as a best practice model
of partnerships in arts education. The Nelson County School District took
unprecedented steps eight years ago when the school board created a full-time
position for the purpose of enhancing the integration of arts education
into the curriculum, and further connecting the school district to the
community.