With this declaration, the House is recognizing  that arts education, including the disciplines of dance, music, theater, media arts, literature, design and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.

This is the first time the U.S. legislature has formally recognized the intrinsic value of all art forms in education.

Maria Van Laanen, vice president of communication and external relations for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, believes the announcement comes at a crucial time as students return to the classroom. 

In a press release posted on BroadwayWorld.com this week, Van Laanen says, “One of the really interesting things this resolution does is recognize trends that educators already know, that arts education enables students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, imagination and creativity, discipline and alternative ways to communicate. All of these traits support academic success and help students grow as individuals and as members of our community.”

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center supports this key element in a child’s development through its many programs.

To read more regarding National Arts Week and Fox Cities Performing Arts Center please follow the below link:

National Arts Week

Julia and Mathew Carter volunteer at North Coast Youth Correctional Facility in Astoria, Oregon. They have developed an art program for troubled youths within the correctional facility run by the Warrenton-Hammond School District.  Students are selected with certain criteria to participate. The result is often a way for these young men to look at mistakes made, time served and a future – waiting to be lived.

Please follow the link below to learn about this theraputic program written by Deeda Schroeder for the Daily Astorian…again art has purpose in everyone’s life.

Troubled Youth Speak Through Art

The program wants to use artists and students to spread the message  that arts are important to American schools. Read more on the contest that corporate sponsors HP and AMD are participating in.

Make Art Save Art

Visit  MakeArtSaveArt.org to get  details on how you can participate in the contest:

dosomething.org

http://Neighborhood Big Draw

Also, available at the site is an eBook that helps you plan and organize your own event.

The largest Arts program in the southeast, Young Audiences, Woodruff Art Center (YAWAC) is part of a national 31 – chapter Young Artists program in Atlanta.  Started in 1983 with nine artists it now has grown to 64 artists. YAWAC is involved in the lives and learning of children and teens in multiple ways. The artists run a variety of learning programs such as smART stART and Arts for Learning Lessons targeting specific learning skills of children from kindergarten and up. It is best known for its programs in which the artists from the Young Audiences put on shows for children. With over 60 different programs the artists’ can present a variety of art forms to the students and provide an education in various cultures here and abroad.

Read more about this interesting program by Martha Barksdale

Young Audiences

Beginning  next week, the White House will be will be hosting events celebrating the arts, innovation and creativity. In conjunction with this they will be promoting the importance of arts for students and the community.

On Monday, July 19th, the President and First Lady will begin the weeklong celebration with a music series honoring the arts and demonstrating the importance of arts education. Later in the week First Lady Obama will be hosting a luncheon to honor Recipients of the National Design Awards which are handed out to artists in various disciplines from architecture to product design.  

To read more about this celebration follow this link:

White House Celebrates the Arts

Technology is constantly reshaping the way we interact with each other and the way we learn. The Never-Ending Drawing Machine is proof in point.

Developed by MIT’s Media Lab, this collaborative art tool allows for real-time content sharing between users and enables digital artworks to be co-created. Although still in its prototype phase, these types of creative technologies may give us a glimpse into the future of education.

To learn more about this incredible technology, click here.

Artists of all skill levels have been congregating at the Women Centered Art Co-op in Charlotte, North Carolina since it opened earlier this year in March. The center, founded by two artists, focuses its programs on the experience of creating art rather than the finished product itself. Members can participate in painting, sculpture, photography, film, music, yoga classes, and more.

Said member Jessica Copeland, “We all have regular jobs. Sometimes we lose that ability to be creative. This offers you an opportunity to find that piece of you again.”

To learn more about this growing program, read the full story written by Karen Sullivan for the Charlotte Observer:

Nurturing the art of creativity

What are you doing this summer? In Anne Arundel County, Maryland teachers will be learning art, songwriting, mime and dance  in efforts to better teach students in math, science and other subjects in the fall.

These teachers will be attending a summer development program that allows county elementary and middle school teachers to take art lessons and create ways to integrate the disciplines learned into all subjects.

To read more about this creative program, click on the link to  the article written by Joe Burris for the Baltimore Sun :

Intergrating Art into Other Subjects

 The Blue Star Museums program is being offered for active duty military personnel and their families. To read more about the “Blue Star Museums” program, click on the link to the story below written by by Brett Zongker for the Associated Press.

Military families offered Free Museum Visits