News
Arts in Education Week: National School of Distinction in Arts Education
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recently announced that Phoenix’s Mountain Pointe High School would receive one of four national awards for schools of distinction in arts education. This Kennedy Center award honors schools that “have done an outstanding job of making the arts essential to the education of their students.”
Mountain Pointe was among schools nominated by the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education. Selection criteria included a review of the ways in which arts education is an essential component of a school’s curriculum and the process involved submission of work samples by each area of arts curriculum in the school – Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Theatre.
Arizona is home to numerous outstanding arts programs. As a professional pianist, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in the music and theatre classrooms of Arizona schools. I have gotten to see firsthand how the arts change the lives of young people. Mountain Pointe High School exemplifies this sentiment and represents the impact a comprehensive arts curriculum can have on a community.
National Arts in Education Week is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on programs like these, and we’d love to hear from you about the programs you’re connected to or involved with. Visit this post on the Arizona Citizens for the Arts’ blog and share your success stories in the comments section.
Read the full press release from Mountain Pointe High School here and a news article about the award here.
Arts in Education Week: Call to Action
If you follow our blog, you most likely know that the 2009 Arizona Arts Education Census was a statewide survey of access to arts education in Arizona public and charter schools. What you may not know, is that by providing state level data for the first time in Arizona, the results of the census have played a large part in guiding the work of arts education practitioners, supporters and advocates over the past year.
Included in the census publication were calls to action for members of the community, whose voice and contribution are vital to ensuring that we continue building upon existing arts education programs in our state to increase access for all of Arizona’s students.
What better time than National Arts in Education Week to remind ourselves of the part we all can play. (more…)
Artist Project Grants: Grantwriting Tips
Artists start your engines! There is a project funding opportunity on the horizon that is not to be missed. The deadline for the Arizona Artist Project Grant is just around the bend. Maximize your time and project ideas by submitting a thoughtful application to the Arizona Commission on the Arts. The following paragraphs outline techniques and resources to help develop strong applications. There is no time like the present to research new opportunities, update your artist application materials and sharpen your grant-writing skills. On your marks… (more…)
PAVE Workshop: Social Media and Marketing for Artists
Two weeks from today, the P.A.V.E program at Arizona State University will host a workshop on Social Media and Marketing for Artists. The workshops is free and open to the public.
P.a.v.e. Fall Speakers Series: Social Media and Marketing for Artists
Devon Smith, Director of Social Media for Threespot Consulting to address ASU audience
Sept. 26, 2011, 4:30-6 p.m.
Campus Memorial Union Pima Room, Arizona State University
Social Media and Marketing for Artists will be discussed by Devon Smith, Director of Social Media for Threespot Consulting in Washington DC. Event opens the p.a.v.e. fall lecture series. P.a.v.e., the performing arts venture experience, is funded by part of a $5 million grant to ASU by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to further cross-campus entrepreneurship education. All are welcome.
September 11-17 is Arts in Education Week
This week marks the second annual Arts in Education Week. In July of 2010 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating the second week of September as “Arts in Education Week” to promote and showcase the immense role arts education has in producing engaged, successful, and college and career-ready students.
Throughout the week, the Arizona Commission on the Arts will highlight current arts learning news and resources on the AZarts417 blog; we hope you’ll tune in to learn more.
For more information on Arts in Education Week and how you can get involved, see the Arts Education Partnership blog, reposted below. (more…)
2012 Poetry Out Loud Registration Now Open
In 2011, over 365,000 high school students nationwide participated in Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. More than 11,000 of those students were from Arizona high schools. Over the past six years, Arizona Poetry Out Loud has grown steadily as more and more teachers find surprising success “making poetry matter” for students. Registration for the 2011-2012 season of Poetry Out Loud opened last week and I’d like to take a moment to share a little bit more about the program.
If you aren’t familiar, Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a national recitation competition for high school students that provides free classroom materials for teachers and scholarship opportunities for students. Designed to capitalize on the latest trends in poetry – recitation and performance – POL fits easily into the English, Theatre or Forensics class. The curriculum satisfies most NCTE English Language Arts Standards, and the program takes place over the span of just two to three weeks, according to each teacher’s interest and agenda. Each participating teacher receives a free toolkit, including a program guide to help teach recitation and performance, a guide to holding their school contest, an audio guide and print anthologies for students to select their poems.
In addition, the Arts Commission is pleased to be working with regional partners (Young Writers Program at Arizona State University, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center) to provide additional program support and in-school opportunities for teachers and students. These incredible organizations are strongly tied to their local literary and school communities, and are dedicated to creating opportunities for increased student and school involvement in poetry and literary arts.
The competition portion of the Poetry Out Loud program is structured like a spelling bee, beginning with classroom and school level contests. School winners advance to a Regional Competition, and regional finalists advance to the State Finals, where students compete for the title of Arizona State Champion and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., (with an adult chaperone) to compete at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals and the chance to win a $20,000 college scholarship award. Each winner at the state level receives $200 and the state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. One runner-up in each state receives $100; his or her school receives $200 for the purchase of poetry books.
Free classroom materials, cash and scholarship prizes, state and national competitions; these components make POL a great program, but the teachers and students who participate are what make it extraordinary. The real magic of Poetry Out Loud is the shared experience it creates across classrooms, schools, cities and states, and the life long love of poetry it instills in our nation’s youth. As Erik Hollis, the 2008 and 2009 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Champion said, “The top three things I took away from competing in Poetry Out Loud were never set limits for myself regarding goals that I am passionate about; a greater love of poetry and being exposed to so many different writers; an experience that I will remember for a lifetime.”
For more information about Poetry Out Loud, visit www.azarts.gov/pol or www.poetryoutloud.org. Contact Arizona Poetry Out Loud Coordinator, Patrick Fanning, at pfanning@azarts.gov with specific questions.
Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation. Arizona Poetry Out Loud is a program of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, administered in collaboration with its regional partners, Arizona State University’s Young Writers Program and the University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Poetry Out Loud is open to all Arizona high schools. Register your school for the 2011-2012 season, here. Registration closes on October 31, 2011.
Fall Internships Available at the Arizona Commission on the Arts
Through a combination of learning experiences, work projects and group collaborations, interns become integral members of the Arts Commission team. Volunteer interns receive personal career mentoring from Arts Commission staff, and may be eligible for university credit for their internship (course/credit must be identified and arranged by intern with counsel from his/her university advisor).
Recent interns of the Arts Commission have gone on to work in arts education, marketing, development, documentation and conservation, among other things. Many of the former Arts Commission interns currently hold positions around the country. Some examples include box office manager, program coordinator (in a variety of disciplines and types of organizations), production manager, development associate, teacher, director of an arts organization and more. In fact, at least four of the current Arts Commission staff members started their careers as interns in arts organizations, including Executive Director Bob Booker. (more…)
Latino Arts and Culture in Arizona: It’s happening
At its core, international artistic collaborations are investments that stimulate local economies, bolster innovation, enhance relationships and strengthen multicultural understanding. In the spirit of mobilizing such efforts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is an active member of the Arizona Mexico Commission (AMC). Through work with fifteen bi-national committees, the AMC pursues its mission to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for the residents of Arizona through a strong cooperative relationship with Mexico and Latin America through advocacy, trade, networking and information. (more…)
