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| Issue No. 10
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A publication of the Michigan Youth Arts Leadership Roundtable
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April 2010 |
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| In this issue | Taking Stock of the Arts
Artstock; Let's Save Michigan campaign
Advocate!
Arts education advocacy tools for local and national efforts | NEA Report
National informal and rural arts participation findings announced in Chelsea
News and Opportunities
Community partnership and history building grants.
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  Taking Stock of the Arts in Michigan
This June, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs will hold a summit in Lansing to gather artists, arts organizations and arts advocates from across the state.
Artstock, a two day event, will take place on June 22 - 23 and consist of keynotes, performances, workshops, a MCACA business meeting as well as an event at the Capitol Building.
Michigan Youth Arts is coordinating the arts education thread at the event. Save the date and check back soon for more details!
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The Let's Save Michigan campaign, www.letssavemichigan.org, has launched a petition to support increasing the state's art funding to $9 million by 2011. Follow this link to sign this petition. The campaign will be incorporating this into their testimony when the MCACA budget goes before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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Advocate in Michigan and Across the Nation
Arts education advocacy has had an exciting few weeks in Washington! Several times this month leaders in Congress expressed concern and raised questions about the future of arts education with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Secretary Duncan has appeared before several Congressional committees to speak about education funding and federal reform efforts. We need to build on this momentum by raising these concerns in the broader public forum, like your local newspapers.
Americans for the Arts is preparing a major effort this year to support arts education in upcoming education reform initiatives and funding. You can take action now by taking two minutes to visit their E-Advocacy Center and send a customizable letter to your local news outlets supporting arts education both in your community and at the federal level.
The 23rd National Arts Advocacy Day conference in Washington, D.C., is April 12-13. Can't fly to the east coast? The 13th is still a great day to contact your local government representatives, newspapers, and school districts to tell them you support the arts! Here are some resources:
List of Michigan and National arts advocacy resources at Michigan Youth Arts
2010 Michigan Arts Education Policy Agenda endorsed by over 15 statewide arts organizations
Winning School Board Support arts advocacy toolkit from Keep Arts in Schools
PTA's advocacy toolkit for addressing legislators and policy makers
Arts Advocacy Day conference details and status updates
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National Endowment for the Arts Announces Research on Informal Arts Participation in Rural and Urban Areas
Announcement made during NEA Chairman's Art Works Visit to Chelsea, Michigan Any serious reckoning of how Americans participate in arts and cultural activities must account for demographic and geographic diversity. Prior National Endowment for the Arts publications, including the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, already have examined the age, race/ethnicity, gender, and education and income status of arts-goers. Another way to understand arts participation is by asking where it takes place.
Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities is the NEA's first research publication in several years to examine the "informal arts"-such as playing a musical instrument, attending an art event at a place of worship, or visiting a craft fair. This finding is part of new research from the NEA, announced during a visit by NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman to Chelsea, Michigan, as part of the NEA's Art Works Tour. The publication provides an analysis of arts participation in rural and urban areas.
Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities is available in print and pdf on the website. "Art works everywhere and this new research helps us to understand the many ways and many places in which people across America experience art in their daily lives," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "I look forward to drawing on this data as we move forward with opportunities for cities and towns to invest in the arts in their communities. "
Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities analyzes data from the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). Among the findings:
Traditional arts venues and institutions such as art museums, galleries, and performing arts centers and companies cluster in urban populations. Eighty-eight percent of nonprofit performing art organizations and art museums are located in urban metropolitan areas, with the top 10 metro areas home to 30 percent of the nonprofit arts institutions. As a result, a third of all urban metro dwellers attended at least one of the main performing arts events tracked by the SPPA (classical music, jazz, or Latin/salsa music performances; opera; musical or non-musical plays; or ballet or other dance). Similarly, 24 percent of urban dwellers visited an art museum or gallery in 2008.
However, an analysis of the "informal arts" offers a more comprehensive measure of arts participation. Informal arts comprise a broad range of "citizen" arts in the forms of folk arts, popular culture, and casual or hobby arts. Informal arts activities captured by the SPPA include: visiting historical parks and neighborhoods, craft fairs, and outdoor performing arts festivals; attending arts events at places of worship and schools; and personal performance and creation of art, such as playing a musical instrument, singing in a choir, or doing creative writing.
When looking at the informal arts, metro and non-metro residents enjoy most of these activities at the same rates.
- In 2008, one in four residents from each type of community-urban or rural-visited a historical park or neighborhood or attended an arts and craft fair; one in five adults from both communities went to an outdoor performing arts festival.
- Twenty percent of both urban and rural dwellers attended a music, theater, or dance performance at a place of worship.
- Urban and rural dwellers played musical instruments at the same rate-13 percent. Nine percent of each group created paintings, drawings, or sculptures. Two percent performed dance.
- There are two notable exceptions: rural residents were more likely to sing in choirs, sew, weave, crochet, or quilt. Urban dwellers were more likely than rural dwellers to create photography, videos, or films for artistic purposes.
The 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts is the nation's largest and most representative periodic study of adult participation in arts events and activities, conducted by the NEA in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau. Five times since 1982, the survey has asked U.S. adults 18 and older about their patterns of arts participation over a 12-month period. |
News and Opportunities
Detroit/Southfield Partners in Arts Education Grants
MetLife Foundation and the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts have announced the renewal of the MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Program. The national initiative, now in its sixth year, aims to improve teaching and learning in the arts by supporting and promoting sustainable partnerships between community arts education organizations and public schools. Grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded to support arts education partnerships during the 2010-2011 school year. Only organizations that are Full Members in good standing of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and are in Detroit or Southfield may apply. Follow the link above for complete details. Applications are due May 26.
National Trust for Historic Preservation Seeks Applications for Pilot Grant Program for Historic School Buildings
Do you know of a historic school in need of preservation funding? The National Trust for Historic Preservation, in partnership with the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation, is currently seeking applications for a new pilot grant program that will fund the stabilization or rehabilitation of historic school buildings by providing funding for construction expenses. Once construction is complete, these buildings must be open to the public for use by the community. Grant applications must be postmarked by April 30.
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