As mentioned in a prior post, this week is Arts in Education Week. At the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood Arts in Education is celebrated everyday. Through a variety of programs the Center reaches many children who otherwise might not have the opportunity to participate in visual and performing arts. The Center runs  programs in three downtown Hollywood facilities, summer camps and through video conferencing sessions connected with  Broward Education Communication Network (BECON).

As written in the Hollywood Gazette read about this successful program which reaches numerous children, supporting the belief that participating in an arts curriculum helps academically.

Art and Culture Center celebrates Arts in Education Week

Did you know that the United States House of Representatives has declared the week of September 12-18, 2010 as National Arts in Education Week?

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

 Found on the National Art Education Association’s web site are E. Eisner’s 10 Lessons the Arts Teach Children. Now that we are back in school I thought it would be a good idea to revisit them. What do you think?

“1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.
Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it
is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution
and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.
One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.”

To read the rest of these click on the link below

10-lessons-the-arts-teach

For years the Torrance Creativity tasks have been used as the standard for creativity assessment. In May Kyung Hee Kim, from William & Mary, found that creativity scores continually rose as did IQ scores until 1990. In the following years there has been a continuous decline in creativity scores. What is disturbing is the decrease is significant in the younger children in America. Children in kindergarten through sixth grade show the decline to be “most serious.”  What can we do?

Follow the below link to read this interesting article written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman for Newsweek.

The Creative Crisis

DoSomething.org knows you care about arts education and wants you to participate in their new initiative Make Art Save 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

The Neighborhood Big Draw takes place Saturday October 9th. This fun event is a wonderful activity to get neighbors together-drawing (a great way to get children interested in art),  promote community and learn more about where you live. Go to the below link to get the details and get started in organizing your “big draw”.

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

The Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum believes  art plays an important part in a child’s develpment. In a June 2005 Harris Poll, “93 percent of Americans think that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded education.”  Additional research supports that getting an early start in the arts can make a real difference in the lives of children.  Art education not only plays an important part in a child’s creative development but can play a major role in a child’s academic and social development.

Read more from Katy Matthai’s column in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.

Arts can play a roll in a child’s development

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