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

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

The Creative Crisis

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

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

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.