issue # 93 march 28 |   2013
we are a non-profit association founded in 1981, 
dedicated t
promoting excellence in arts education 
by 
supporting and recognizing students, leaders, educators, schools, institutions, and organizations
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in this issue
jobs
college net price calculator
sponsors thank you
thank you early bird renewal members
early childhood arts ed blog salon
$10K for 500 words
ford theatre costume designer dresses dolly
tv writing gains by minorities
spotlights
congressional designation young audiences week
aep spring forum
college board award
us dept ed aemdd grants open
ascd teacher evaluation
vsa opportunities
abt national training
aepr call for papers technology arts ed
free webinars
march college prep guide
yale hamlet paul giamatti
www.wengercorp.com/stagetek
membership survey closes april 1
take survey and win a free conference registration!

We invite any recipient of ASN's e-news, both members and non-members alike, to take a brief moment to complete a simple four-question survey. As we launch our annual membership drive, this information will prove to be invaluable. You will find the survey instrument here.

After you take your membership survey, we will enter your email address into a lottery for the chance of winning one free conference registration.
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Principal

Barbara Ingram School for the Arts

Hagerstown, MD

 

Principal

Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts

Dallas, TX

 

Theatre Operations Manager

Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington DC 

 

Principal
Folwell School Performing Arts Magnet, K-8
S. Minneapolis, MN 

 

Visual Arts Department Chair

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, CA

 

Seattle Academy for Arts and Sciences, Seattle, WA

check all job listings on artsschoolsnetork.org/jobs 

 

free postings for member schools, 

email [email protected] 

to have your vacancies listed here!

 
Share what you know

A big part of getting it together is participation. The more you engage and contribute, the more we all benefit. Please share your expertise and experience and register to serve on one of the many ASN committees. You'll be instrumental in shaping our organization, our power, and the next generation of artists.
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college net price calculator correction & recommendation
aicad
deb
Deborah Obalil, Executive Director, Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design


"I recommend U-CAN (University & Colleges Accountability Network).  It was specifically developed to address concerns over cost comparability by the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities, and includes much more current and useful information than the College Scorecard web site on these points. The only downside is that it doesn't allow users to search by major or area of interest, but given that College Scorecard does such a poor job on this front regarding the arts, it isn't much of a comparative loss. Additionally, all colleges are now required to have a net price calculator on their own web sites, so that potential students can get a better picture of the actual costs of attending that school."

Learn more, aicad.
Learn more, u-can.

asn calendar of events and gatherings

March and June 2013 
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL CAMPAIGN
FY13 membership expires June 30, 21013

Spring/Summer/Fall 2013 
WEBINAR SERIES
Animating the Core, 3 episodes
Sponsor Toon Boom 
Teacher Evaluation and Arts Education, 4 episodes    
Partner, Arts Education Policy Review Journal, Special Issue 

May 2-3, 2013 
ARTS EDUCATION SUMMIT & 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING 
Host, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New York City, NY  
 
October 22 - 25, 2013 
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
New York City, NY 
Hosts: Juilliard, LaGuardia, New School, NYU Tisch

October/November, 2014
CONFERENCE
Denver, CO
Denver School of the Arts, Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy

superstar sponsors! 

Our sponsors empower our schools to create tomorrow's artists and patrons! Click here to review our sponsor benefits, visibility options, and opportunities with ASN. 

 

$110,000 and higher

Columbia College Chicago, IL

 

$15,000

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, FL

 

$10,000

Earth, Wind, & Fire 

 

Lincoln Center Institute

New School, NYC

 

NYU Tisch School of the Arts, NYC

 

$6,000

Toon Boom Animation, Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 

$5,000

Webster University Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts, St. Louis, MO

 

Wenger Corporation, Minneapolis, MN

 

$2,500

Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington, DC

 

Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Friends, Houston, TX

 

$2,000

CalArts, Valencia, CA

 

$1,500

Booker T. Washington School for the Visual & Performing Arts, Dallas, TX

 

Oakland School for the Arts, CA

 

$1,000

Denise Davis Cotton, EdD, Sarasota, FL

 

Interlochen Center for the Arts, MI

 

NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY

 

Orange County School of the Arts, Santa Ana, CA

 

$250

Sally Gaskill, Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, Bloomington, IN

Audrey Tanner, CalArts, Valencia, CA 

 

$100

David Flatley, Chicago, IL

 

Tim & Vicki Wade, Interlochen, MI 

thanks for your early bird membership renewals!

Alabama School of  Fine Arts
Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Arts and Academics.com
ASIA North Poplar Elementary
Baldwin Arts & Academics Magnet School
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts
Council of Arts Accrediting Associations
Design Architecture Senior High
Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Edwin S. Richards Elementary School
Fine Arts Center
Germantown High School
Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts
Idaho Arts Charter School
Idyllwild Arts Academy
Interlochen Center for the Arts
Kalamazoo RESA Education for the Arts
Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
Mary Palmer & Associates, LLC, Consultants in Education and the Arts
McLaughlin Middle School
Metropolitan Arts Institute
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
New Mexico School for the Arts
North Ft. Myers Academy for the Arts
Orange County School of the Arts
Overton High School School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Oxbow School
Perpich Center for Arts Education
Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12
Recording, Radio and Film Connection (RRF)
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts
San Francisco Art Institute
School District of Palm Beach County
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
School of the Arts Foundation, Inc.
School of the Arts, College of Charleston
Strategic National Arts Alumni Project
Swarthmore College
Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts
Youth Performing Arts School
americans for the arts march blog salon:
the role of the arts in early childhood education

artsblog follow these blog posts, retweet, share!

Learning and participation in music, dance, theater, and the visual arts are vital to the development of our children and our communities. Through advocacy, research, partnerships, and professional development, Americans for the Arts strives to provide and secure more resources and support for arts education through the Arts Education Network.  

 

BLOG POSTS & AUTHORS 

  • Celebrating Early Arts Education by Kristen Engebretsen
  • Universal Preschool: The Science (and Magic) in Preschool for All by Kaya Chwals
  • Old Songs, New Opportunities by Erin Gough
  • The Arts: Promoting Language & Literacy of Young Children by Louise Corwin
  • Wolf Trap Early STEM Learning Through the Arts Propels Science Learning by Akua Kouyate
  • Filled with Wonder: 5 Attributes of Quality Theatre for the Very Young by Lynne Kingsley
  • Adding Arts to the Equation by Susan Harris MacKay
  • Process Over Product: Building Creative Thinkers with Art by Rachelle Doorley
  • Quickly Making a Difference in Early Childhood Arts Education by Ron Jones
  • Concept-based Creative Dance for Babies & Toddlers by Rachael Carnes
  • Getting Parents On Board With Creative Development by Bridget Matros
  • Lizard Brains & Other Learnings from the Preschool Classroom by Korbi Adams
  • Play to Make Art by Lesley Romanoff
  • Can the Arts Plant Seeds for a Brighter Future? by Carol Bogash
  • Art as a Process, Not Just a Product for Young Children by Judy Witmer
  • Singing & Moving into Kindergarten with ArtsBridge & Reading in Motion by Kerri Hopkins
  • Research & Red Flags in Child Development by Kristy Callaway
  • Shiny Happy Kids: The End of Our Early Arts Ed Blog Salon by Kristen Engebretsen

 Learn more. 

$10,000 for 500 words
elevate the arts with american girl doll
agd
Art teachers, inspire your students with a chance to win an uplifting prize for your school!

Is your classroom filled with artists on the rise? Let your students take art class to new heights with a project that could win your school up to $10,000! This extra-special assignment includes two components: a digital image of artwork created by the class and a written essay of 500 words or less.

ELEMENT 1: Get creative and let your imaginations take flight as your class collaborates on a unique design to portray their passion for art. The masterpiece should incorporate a hot air balloon in some way, and be artistic in every way!

ELEMENT 2: Compose a literary work of art! In 500 words or less, tell us why art is valuable at your school, the impact art has on your students, and specific plans for how the grant would be used to further the arts at your school.

Teachers, submit the class project and the essay before May 31, 2013, and your school could be one of 13 lucky winners!

Learn more.
at ford's theatre, costume designer dresses 'dolly!' with an updated, period flair
dolly
 - Jessica Goldstein, Washington Post, 
March 26, 2013

When Wade Laboissonniere, Ford's Theatre's costume designer, moved from Rhode Island to New York City he wanted to be a dancer. He'd been dancing since he was 8; the then-just out of high school kid went on to dance on Broadway until his early 30s.

However: "For me as a performer, I always felt like the magic happened in the costume shop," he said. "As a dancer, one is always told where to go and what to do, in a sense, I wanted to help create shows, and I didn't necessarily want to be a choreographer or an actor. Being in costumes was a way to help me create shows.

"It was always sort of fascinating to me what people could do with fabric or other craft elements, how they could put something together from what appeared to be just a pile of fabric. To me it was like, how did you do that? It just seemed so incredibly magical to me. They give so much of themselves to bring these clothes alive."

Laboissonniere is Ford's MVP, having recently done the costumes for "1776," "Parade," "Liberty Smith," "Sabrina Fair" and "Little Shop of Horrors." He says he doesn't miss dancing - well, "I miss the sense of soaring, of being able to fly through the air," he said. "But that's about it."

Learn more.
dolly2
tv writing dominated by white males,
but minorities, women gain

 - Richard Verrier, 
Los Angeles Times,  
March 26, 2013

single girls

Minority and women writers have made modest job gains in the television industry but have a long way to go before the playing field is level.

So concludes the latest analysis from the Writers Guild of America, West, which reviewed employment patterns for 1,722 writers working on 190 broadcast and cable television shows during the 2011-2012 season.

The study focuses on three groups that have traditionally been underemployed in the TV industry: women, minority and older writers.

Minority writers nearly doubled their share of staffing positions in the last decade. Between the 1999-2000 and 2011-2012 TV seasons, minority writers' share of TV employment increased from 7.5% to 15.6%, with much of the gains occurring among Asian and Latino writers. The report attributes part of the shift to the growth in multicultural dramas.

TV shows employing the highest percentage of minority writers include "Criminal Minds," "Grey's Anatomy," "Single Ladies," "Raising Hope", "Reed Between the Lines" and "The Game."

Learn more.

executive director's message

Greetings Members and Friends,

March has been an exciting month-long celebration for arts education. It is the official month for naea's youth art, month nafme's music in our schools month, and ndeo's dance in our schools month. We also celebrate National Young Audiences Arts for Learning Week, and many more. These resources and organizations are worth bookmarking for use all year round. 


Americans for the Arts held a blog salon last week on the topic of arts in early childhood education. I encourage you to view the salon, engage in the conversation, and share the resources through your social media channels.   

We're looking forward to events in Washington DC in April. Arts Education Partnership is hosting their National ForumArts, Education, and the Next America and Arts Advocacy Day ,the 2013 National Arts Action Summit, organized by Americas for the Arts.  

Arts Schools Network is dedicated to serving leaders of arts schools. Currently, our working committees are adjudicating the award nominations, and our best practices committee is reviewing the applications and renewals for exemplary school designation. All schools will be notified of their status on May 15th.

In other news, we're gearing up for the third annual On Your Way, our talent scholarship program, we have issued our call for proposals for the NYC Conference, which will be October 22-25, 2013. 

 

As always, we not only welcome, but we need your input for our Board of Directors Meeting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts May 3rd.

We invite all recipients of ASN's e-news, both members and non-members, to complete a brief, four-question survey. As thanks for your participation, we will enter you in a monthly lottery for the chance to winning one free conference registration to NYC. Congratulations to our February and March survey winners, Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts and UNC School of the Arts!

We're also entering early bird membership renewals in a monthly lottery for one free conference registration to NYC. Our February winner was The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and our March winner is Kalamazoo RESA Education for the Arts!

Tonight is the first round of NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Sweet Sixteen. Have you heard of this LSU tuba player's defection to their basketball team? Did you check out Arne Duncan's bracket? Wishing you good luck and Godspeed to the end of March Madness.

kristy head shot  

Sincerely,
Kristy Callaway
Executive Director
Arts Schools Network  

  

For the best NYC Conference rates, book hotel rooms now! 
Our national conference is October 22-25 in NYC and our hotel room block rates cut off early. So, check out the options at our website and book your rooms soon!
new member spotlight
vsaVSA (Very Special Arts)
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC

About VSA
VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, was founded more than 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities and increase access to the arts for all.

With 52 international affiliates and a network of nationwide affiliates, VSA is providing arts and education programming for youth and adults with disabilities around the world.

Each year, 7 million people of all ages and abilities participate in VSA programs in every aspect of the arts - from visual and performing arts to the literary arts.

Four principles guide VSA programs and affiliates: 
  • Every young person with a disability deserves access to high quality arts learning experiences.
  • All artists in schools and art educators should be prepared to include students with disabilities in their instruction.
  • All children, youth, and adults with disabilities should have complete access to cultural facilities and activities.
  • All individuals with disabilities who aspire to careers in the arts should have the opportunity to develop appropriate skills.

About VSA's Name
When founded in 1974, the organization was named the National Committee - Arts for the Handicapped. In 1985 the name changed to Very Special Arts and in 2010 it became VSA. In 2011, VSA merged with the Kennedy Center's Office on Accessibility to become the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

 

Learn more.  

school spotlight

baldwinBaldwin Arts and Academics Magnet
Montgomery, Alabama
Jannette Wright, Principal  

 
Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet School's mission is to foster academic success, nurture artistic talent, and encourage social development by providing middle school students with a challenging curriculum, while producing motivated, conscientious, and well-rounded citizens.
 
About the school: Baldwin Magnet houses two separate magnet schools--Baldwin Arts and Baldwin Academics.  Baldwin Academics is designed to provide opportunities for middle school students to pursue challenging academic work in the areas of computer technology, research experiences,  foreign languages, and intensified classroom and community engagements.  Baldwin Arts offers a middle school experience infused with the arts.  Practicing artists provide instruction in the areas of band, strings, choral music, classical guitar, creative writing, dance, drama, piano, and visual arts.

Learn more.  
teacher spotlight

blackwellJohn Blackwell, drummer for Prince and Justin Timberlake, joins Berklee faculty  

- Nick Balkin, March 2013

 

 

Premier funk, pop, and R&B drummer John Blackwell, best known for his work with Prince, Justin Timberlake, and Patti LaBelle, has been named associate professor of percussion at his alma matter, Berklee College of Music. He began teaching this semester.

Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Blackwell started learning drums at age 3 from his father, John Blackwell Sr., a drummer who played with Mary Wells, King Curtis, the Drifters, the Spinners, and others. He played jazz clubs regularly as a teen, and at 17, he landed his first high profile show with swing bandleader Billy Eckstine. After high school, he enrolled at Berklee College of Music.

"John studied with me just about his entire time at Berklee," recalls John Ramsay, chair of the college's Percussion Department. "I knew he was good, but it wasn't until some time after he graduated, when I caught him playing on TV with Patti LaBelle, that I realized the full spectrum of his abilities and talent. I remember thinking, 'Man, this must be one of those old Motown session guys,' then the camera went to the drummer and, to my surprise, it was John Blackwell."  

 

Learn more.  


Conventions, collaborations, and celebration  

 At ASN's conferences and other events, members are truly getting it... together. 

ASN's annual national conference and other events bring together the innovative, the informative, and the inquisitive to network, share, learn, and recognize excellence.

Summits and other meetings and gatherings refresh and reinforce our expertise and efforts. 
renewjoin
special discount offers!
$100 off discount for first timer schools | pay 2 or 3 years at current rate to lock in savings

asn membership rates
us house resolution and senate proclamation designates national young audiences arts for learning week
young audiences
Senator Sherrod Brown's Statement for the Record recognizes march 24-30 as National Young Audiences Arts for Learning Week

New York, NY (March 25, 2013) - Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) addressed the United States Senate this week by making a Statement for the Record recognizing National Young Audiences Arts for Learning Week. In his Statement, Senator Brown announced that "the Young Audiences organization was founded with a mission to promote arts-integrated education... In honor of its commendable work... through its 30 affiliates across the United States, I am pleased to recognize the week of March 24, 2013 as National Young Audiences Arts for Learning Week."

Senator Brown stated, "including arts and music in a student's curriculum can also greatly improve his or her grasp of math and scientific problems... Students' ability to innovate and utilize new technologies through arts activities will not only better prepare students for 21st century jobs, but is also key to our nation's competiveness in the global economy."

Learn more.
arts education partnership national forum:
arts, education, and the next america
aep april 4-5 2013 washington dc

The status quo in American public education will no longer do. Seismic shifts in student demographics are creating more culturally and linguistically diverse populations, emerging academic standards and technologies are setting the bar for higher achievement, and the changing priorities of our country's leadership are making way for the next America. The America of the future should be one in which all students have equal access and opportunity to a high quality public education that includes the arts as an essential component.

 

Learn more.

college board award for excellence and innovation in the arts
 deadline april 5 2013 college board award

The College Board is now accepting applications for the 2013 College Board Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts. This annual award recognizes and celebrates the achievements of six member institutions that have implemented an arts program that promotes student learning and creativity in exemplary and innovative ways. One school from each of the College Board's six regions will be awarded $3,500 to support the continuation and growth of their arts programs. Of the six finalists, one school will be named the national winner and will be awarded an additional $1,500. Regional winners will be honored at their respective College Board Regional Forums; the national winner will also be honored at the College Board National Forum.

Learn more. 

us dept of ed now accepting applications for arts in education grant program 
doe The U.S. Department of Education's Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant program (AEMDD) is accepting applications for fiscal year 2013.

The AEMDD program supports the enhancement, expansion, documentation, evaluation, and dissemination of innovative, cohesive, research-based models. These models must effectively demonstrate: (1) integration of standards-based arts education into core elementary and middle school curriculum; (2) strengthening of standards-based arts instruction; and (3) improvement of students' academic performance.

More information can be found at the program website. Please contact Diane Austin at (202) 260-1280 or email the program at [email protected] with any questions.
association of supervision and curriculum development
issues policy priority, quantifying teacher effectiveness

policy

spring 2013 volume 19  number 1 pages 8-8

 


Executive Summary on Quantifying Teacher Effectiveness

 

Can you quantify the effectiveness of a good teacher? How much of that can be determined from student test scores? These are among the questions the nation must face as its teacher evaluation systems undergo a major transformation.

Traditional teacher observations have been criticized for being infrequent and indiscriminate, failing to identify even one percent of teachers in some districts as ineffective. These concerns prompted the U.S. Department of Education to include revamping teacher evaluation as a priority in its Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waiver initiatives.


Learn more.
vsa happenings
vsa banner
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Office of VSA & Accessibility has a number of national programs for performing and visual arts students in grades K-12 and college. These programs either directly serve students with disabilities or work to raise awareness about disabilities and the disability community. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities" of an individual. Using this definition, a disability may be visible (e.g., a person who is blind or uses a wheelchair) or invisible (e.g., a person with a learning disability or psychological disorder). This definition encompasses a large number of students that would be eligible for our programs, but they or their teachers may not realize this. As the administrators and educators working with our emerging performing and visual artists we hope that you will help spread the word about these long-standing programs with your students. More information on the individual programs is included below. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Sonya Robbins-Hoffmann, VSA Programs Manager, at 202-416-8822 or [email protected].
 
VSA Playwright Discovery Competition: Middle and high school students are invited to explore the disability experience--in their own life, the lives of others, or by creating fictional characters--through the art of scriptwriting. Young writers with and without disabilities are encouraged to submit a one-act script for stage or screen. Entries may be the work of an individual student or a collaboration by a group of up to five students. Application Deadline: June 1, 2013

VSA Playwright Discovery Script Writing Intensive: New! High school student-writers with disabilities are invited to the first annual Script Writing Intensive! The event will bring a select group to Washington, D.C. in September for a weekend of pre-professional activities, including script workshops, roundtable discussions, staged readings, and more. Application Deadline: May 15, 2013 (High school students may apply to both the Competition and Script Writing Intensive).

VSA International Art Program for Children with Disabilities: Also known as Yo Soy...Je Suis...I Am...My Family, this program invites student-artists with disabilities, ages 5-18, to create a portrait of themselves with their families. Artwork entries will illustrate the idea that family - no matter how big or how small - helps shape who we are and provide the foundation for who we will be. A selection of artwork from the online entries will be chosen for a live exhibition at the United States Department of Education in Washington D.C. to take place in November 2013. Deadline to submit: May 1, 2013
 
VSA/Volkswagon Group of America Emerging Artists Program: Sponsored by Volkswagen Group of America, In/finite Earth, the 2013 theme, aims to showcase artwork that illuminates innovative viewpoints at the intersection of environmentalism, creativity, and disability. This call for art asks artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, to engage in the creative ties we share across our planet, and present their artistic perspectives regarding the natural world, sustainability, and our collective future. Fifteen artists will be selected for an exhibition in Fall 2013 in Washington, DC and will share $60,000 in cash awards. Deadline: June 9, 2013 at midnight
 
VSA International Young Soloists Competition: This program annually selects up to four outstanding musicians from the United States and the international arena, and supports and encourages them in their pursuit of a career. These emerging musicians receive $2,500, professional development opportunities, and a performance at the Kennedy Center. We invite entries from instrumentalists and vocalists ages 14 to 25 with a disability. The competition is open to international and domestic applicants, individuals and ensembles of two to five members, and musicians of all genres. The 2014 Call for Entries will launch this fall.

Learn more.
american ballet theatre national training  curriculum
abtABT's National Training Curriculum is a program for the development and training of young students that embraces sound ballet principles and incorporates elements of the French, Italian and Russian schools of training. 
 
Under the direction of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, ABT's National Training Curriculum was designed and written by Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens in collaboration with ABT's Artistic Advisors and the Medical Advisory Board. 
 
ABT's National Training Curriculum aims to assist beginning through advanced teachers in training dance students to use their bodies correctly, focusing on kinetics and coordination, as well as anatomy and proper body alignment. 
 
Artistically, the National Training Curriculum strives to provide dance students with a rich knowledge of classical ballet technique and the ability to adapt to all styles and techniques of dance.

ABT Certified Teachers have completed intensive training in the ABT National Training Curriculum and successfully passed comprehensive examination(s). For more detailed information on becoming an ABT Certified Teacher, click here.
call for papers: technology, policy, and arts education
aepr call tech
free webinars from florida alliance for arts education
professional development and arts integration
Dr. Mary Palmer, Program Host  
faae
Since 1981, Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE) has united educators, artists, community leaders, concerned citizens, arts education organizations, arts institutions and corporate partners to ensure Florida's students a complete education that includes the arts. Through the arts, the quality of life for all Floridians is improved and enhanced. Programs and opportunities of Florida Alliance for Arts Education reach all corners of the state and touch thousands of lives each year as they bring schools and communities together to improve, enhance and promote arts education.

mary palmerWebinar I
Overview of Arts Integration and Developing a Supportive Community for Arts Integration in Schools and Communities with Dr. Scott Rudes, Principal, Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts, Hillsborough County; and Andy Rafalski, Florida Virtual School, Seminole County

Webinar II
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS) and the Integration of the Common Core State Standards with John LeTellier, Fine Arts Content Specialist, Florida Department of Education

Webinar III
Engagement: Successful strategies for connecting and keeping students engaged with Marilyn Farber, Professional Development Coordinator, VSA Florida; and VSA Florida Teaching Artists

Webinar IV
Make it last! Building connections with schools and communities through assessment with Arnold Aprill, Founder and Lead Consultant, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE).

Webinar V
Putting It Together:  Planning Arts Integrated Lessons - Part 1 with Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts:  Dr. Scott Rudes, Principal; Sharon Phillips, Lead Arts Teacher for Curriculum Integration; Shana Perkins, Director of Dance; Debbie Seto, Science Teacher; and Maureen McKloski, Arts Grants Management, Florida Department of State/Division of Cultural Affairs.

Webinar VI
Putting it All Together:  Planning Arts Integrated Instruction  -  Part 2
with Davenport School of the Arts, Polk County Principal: Briar Kier Assistant Principal: Tammy Farrens Kyle Guira, Music Teacher Sandy Cain, Drama Teacher Tracy Miller, Math Teacher Lisa Armstrong, Math Teacher A School of the Arts since 2002, Davenport's K-8 programs are often cited as among Florida's BEST! Find out how they continue to emphasize all of the arts and also engage classroom/subject area teachers in arts integrated teaching. Learn how they work with Teaching Artists to enhance their program offerings and inspire teachers and students alike. They'll share their commitment to the arts and arts integration - even during "testing season."

Webinar VII Tuesday, Apr. 16 from 5-6pm EST
Hot Topics in Florida schools and communities

Webinar VIII Tuesday, May 14 from 5-6pm EST         
Arts Integration Success Stories: Your turn to share!  Be a part of the Pecha Kucha (Japanese presentation format in which multiple speakers share ideas in a short period of time:  20 slides to describe your work with 7 minutes to tell your story.)  Interested?  

Learn more.
artsbridge provides a monthly college prep timeline & planning guide for performing and visual arts students
artsbridge2
March is a month of transition. While the seasons are changing, students are growing. Our goal is to help foster that growth with easy-to-follow, monthly advice regarding college preparation for students and parents. As winter turns to spring, simple steps can help budding performing and visual arts students blossom.

Senior Arts Students - Watch your mail for college notifications. You should receive an admissions decision by March or April if you applied under the regular application process, and notifications of financial aid awards should arrive by the end of April. If you're put on a waitlist, examine your options. Being put on a waitlist is not an acceptance or a rejection, so keep your options open in case you don't get in. Check out schools with late or rolling application deadlines.

Senior Parents - Now, all you have to do is wait. It's not always easy to display patience, but high school is almost over, and so is the wait. Some decision letters may be arriving this month and, hopefully, they will bring the news that you and your student have been waiting for!

Junior Arts Students - Organize and begin to narrow college options. To help you easily locate the information you need, set up a filing system with individual folders for college correspondence and printed materials. Make sure you have all of the key data for the colleges that you are considering (entrance requirements, tuition, room and board costs, course offerings, student activities, financial aid, etc.). Then you can begin to compare the schools by the factors that are most relevant to you. This is also a good time to review your resume, and for performing arts students, review your repertoire list as well.

Junior Parents - Help plan and prepare. Spring vacation is a good time to visit colleges, so plan for it. Encourage your son, or daughter, to start a college binder with a list of target schools. He or she should begin to contact colleges to request materials and set aside an area where they can be easily referenced. Also, if you didn't do it last month, check upcoming SAT or ACT registration deadlines for tests your child still needs to take. Make note of the test and registration dates on your calendar.
 
Sophomore Arts Students - Check in with your counselor for advice. Meet with your guidance counselor to make sure you're on track and planning ahead. You can also talk about your PSAT scores and ask about postsecondary enrollment options and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Remember to read. Developing reading skills will help prepare you for tests and make you a well-rounded individual, so strengthen your routine for reading.

Sophomore Parents - Consider additional testing. You and your child, along with the school counselor, should discuss SAT Subject Tests and APs, although many students wait until their junior year. The typical test period is May and June.
 
Freshman Arts Students - Start your achievement file. Keep track of academic, extracurricular, and arts awards, community service achievements, and anything else you participate in. It will come in handy when you want to highlight your accomplishments on college applications or your resume.

Freshman Parents - Support student participation. Help your child begin keeping an activities record that lists participation in activities as well as accomplishments, awards, and leadership positions. Be sure to keep up regular conversations with your child about his or her academic progress.

For all high school performing arts students, both spring and summer are right around the corner. This year ArtsBridge Summer, the one-of-a-kind 2-week intensive for acting, dancing, and musical theatre, will take place in Boston, August 3rd-17th.

Learn more.
coming to houston this summer!
the broadway master class series @ hspva
hspva
This summer, in association with HSPVA, "The Broadway Master Class Series" is coming to Houston, TX, June 10th - June 14th to offer your students the opportunity to work with broadway masters during a week long workshop intensive to be held at HSPVA.
 
Our workshop, "I Hope I Get It!", combines two of our most popular workshops--- our triple threat intensive and our audition workshop intensive.  I'm attaching a flyer to this email with all of the information your students need in order to join us for this exciting workshop opportunity.  Please feel free to post/pass out our flyer to your students and visit our website, as we invite your students to also visit our website, at www.broadwaymcs.com for more information and to see our ever growing list of award winning broadway master faculty.  
 
"The Broadway Master Class Series" is an education through theatre based program giving young aspiring artists the opportunity to work with broadway masters. Please don't let your students miss out on this exciting opportunity for Houston and it's surrounding areas!  
 
We look forward to hearing from you and your students!
 
All my best,
 
Parker Esse
Co-Artistic Director
The Broadway Master Class Series
www.broadwaymcs.com
bwmc
paul giamatti, yale graduate and film star, plays hamlet in yale repertory theater production

- Charles Isherwood, 
New York Times, March 26, 2013
 
pgPaul Giamatti takes the stage on the stage as the title prince in "Hamlet," directed by his fellow Yale graduate, James Bundy, at Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven.

NEW HAVEN - "To be or not to be," Shakespeare's immortal head-scratcher, obviously does not vaporize into irrelevance as you grow older. It may burn with raging persistence when you're a college student philosophizing with your dorm mates late into the night, but the question settles more deeply in the soul as the years pass and life's trials pile up. To hear it posed by Paul Giamatti, in the Yale Repertory Theater production of "Hamlet" here, is to be reminded that slings and arrows can find their mark no matter your age, and that pushing through them may only get tougher.

When Mr. Giamatti's Hamlet asks himself whether bending his will against outrageous fortune is really worth it, he is clad in the garb of the contemporary couch potato: boxers and a T-shirt under a slouchy plaid bathrobe, idly left open and looking as if it hadn't been washed in several months. True, he has traded a trim black suit for this get-up to feign madness, but Mr. Giamatti's doggy-eyed Hamlet seems most naturally at home in the guise of a middle-aged malcontent, sliding into his ineffectual years having made a concerted decision not to make any more decisions.

Learn more.
richard florida concedes  limits of the creative class
newgeo  - Joel Kotkin, March 20, 2013 

Among the most pervasive, and arguably pernicious, notions of the past decade has been that the "creative class" of the skilled, educated and hip would remake and revive American cities. The idea, packaged and peddled by consultant Richard Florida, had been that unlike spending public money to court Wall Street fat cats, corporate executives or other traditional elites, paying to appeal to the creative would truly trickle down, generating a widespread urban revival.

Urbanists, journalists, and academics-not to mention big-city developers- were easily persuaded that shelling out to court "the hip and cool" would benefit everyone else, too. And Florida himself has prospered through books, articles, lectures, and university positions that have helped promote his ideas and brand and grow his Creative Class Group's impressive client list, which in addition to big corporations and developers has included cities as diverse as Detroit and El Paso, Cleveland and Seattle.

Well, oops.

Florida himself, in his role as an editor at The Atlantic, admitted last month what his critics, including myself, have said for a decade: that the benefits of appealing to the creative class accrue largely to its members-and do little to make anyone else any better off. The rewards of the "creative class" strategy, he notes, "flow disproportionately to more highly-skilled knowledge, professional and creative workers," since the wage increases that blue-collar and lower-skilled workers see "disappear when their higher housing costs are taken into account." His reasonable and fairly brave, if belated, takeaway: "On close inspection, talent clustering provides little in the way of trickle-down benefits.

Learn more.