October 7, 2009 • 10:52 pm 0
Our Spring Conference will be held on Friday, March 12, at the Vermont College for the Fine Arts in Montpelier, and we will start the conference with a night of networking on Thursday evening, March 11. More details to follow, but please SAVE THE DATE!
Filed under: Conference
• 2:55 pm 0
Frank Curkovic is an art teacher who lives in Japan and posts to his blog, Learning IT. I found it this morning via a post on Facebook, and have added his blog to our links page. He has also posted this video on YouTube, and it is a cogent and clean explanation of why the teaching of the arts in schools is not only beneficial, but necessary.
Filed under: Advocacy, All Disciplines, Education
• 2:40 pm 0
Another interesting article from the NY Times from October 5.
A study published in Psychological Science by Dr. Travis Proulx of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Prof. Stephen Heine of the University of British Columbia, suggests that, paradoxically, a sensation of absurdity or nonsense derived from artwork, literature or even every day life, may prime the brain to sense patterns it would otherwise miss — in mathematical equations, in language, in the world at large.
Proulx and Heine argue that the brain evolved to predict, and it does so by identifying patterns. When those patterns break down. . .the brain gropes for something, anything that makes sense. It may retreat to a familiar ritual. . .but it may also turn its attention outward, the researchers argue, and notice, say, a pattern in animal tracks that was previously hidden. The urge to find a coherent pattern makes it more likely that the brain will find one.
This theory of using absurdity or nonsense (think Jabberwocky) to realign pattern-oriented thinking “supports what many experimental artists . . . have always insisted: at least some of the time, disorientation begets creative thinking.”
• 2:14 pm 0
via Learning IT…
An October 1, 2009 NY Times article discusses the incorporation of art not in the classroom, but in new schools being built across the country, from New Haven, CT to Los Angeles. The artwork is built into the design of the schools, or room is left both in the building and the budget to provide artwork throughout the school, in order to provide students and teachers opportunities to learn while walking the halls. In New Haven:
The Columbus school incorporates sculpture and other art into nearly every corner of its year-old building with the hope that it will inspire students in this working-class Hispanic neighborhood to learn. It is one of a growing number of newly built or renovated public schools across the country that look more like cultural centers than the austere, utilitarian houses of learning of the past, displaying museum-worthy pieces commissioned from artists alongside more traditional finger paintings and statues of school mascots.
The schools can be expensive to build, but they are replacing buildings that are 40 to 50 years old, some older, and the artwork being installed is a mere pittance compared to the rest of the budget.
Administrators are happy with the response, as are teachers, parents and children. By surrounding students with “Art”, art begins to lose its feeling of separation from the other core subjects, and it is used to enhance and support that learning.
This article is a pleasant report about the power of arts in education.
Filed under: All Disciplines, Education
October 6, 2009 • 6:24 pm 0
Every summer, approximately 70 students (ages 15-20) from all over the nation meet in Washington, D.C., to attend the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute (SMI). The Institute offers four weeks of private lessons, rehearsals, coaching by National Symphony Orchestra members, classes, and lectures to prepare aspiring musicians for their futures in music. VAAE is happy to partner with the NSO in distributing applications and to recruit talented and deserving students.
Several of the students are graduates or current participants of the NSO Youth Fellowship Program, an orchestral training program for talented young musicians. Also included are students participating in the Young Artists of Color National Training Initiative of the Kennedy Center. In addition to their many lessons and training sessions, the students also perform a series of free Kennedy Center Millennium Stage concerts that are open to the public.
The Summer Music Institute is coordinated by the National Symphony Orchestra Education Program, which is a component of the Kennedy Center Education Department. Young people, teachers, and families take part in innovative and effective education programs initiated by the Center, including performances, lectures, demonstrations, open rehearsals, dance and music residencies, master classes, competitions for young actors and musicians, backstage tours, and workshops. These programs have become models for communities across the country, as educators and government leaders recognize what the Center has known for years: that the arts can unlock the door to learning for young people, fostering creativity, teaching discipline, improving self-esteem, and challenging students to think in new ways, as well as offering them experiences in the joy of the performing arts.
An application will be available the week of 10/12
Filed under: Grant Opportunity, Kennedy Center, Music
September 25, 2009 • 3:16 am 0
It is not difficult for arts educators to claim that the utilization of the arts in a school’s curriculum benefits learning across the spectrum, for it is an intuitive truth. It is encouraging to know that studies continue to show this truth to have tangible, scientific proofs that will, we all hope, lead to greater support within the K-12 academic world or, more specifically, by the school boards that fund it.
The Dana Foundation, which sponsors research on the brain and how it’s ability to learn better through art, and which is a great supporter of arts education, has published an article on its website well worth reading: How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition by Michael I. Posner, Ph.D., and Brenda Patoine.
Michael Posner argues that when children find an art form that sustains their interest, the subsequent strengthening of their brains’ attention networks can improve cognition more broadly.
This is the kind of work that provides hope that we can find the appropriate balance between the teaching of the arts and the other disciplines in order to help form better students.
Filed under: All Disciplines, Resources
• 3:03 am 0
At a board meeting on September 14, the VAAE Board voted to reconfigure its board makeup by accepting changes to its by-laws. This is in line with the results of our sustainability study. Our foray into a potential merger passed without one offered, and our next choice was to reinvigorate the board. By changing its by-laws, the VAAE Board of Directors was able to stabilize its current board and allows it to build a new foundation for the immediate future.
All titles are considered interim for the time being.
Wendy Cohen and Walter Judge, Co-Presidents
Gary Moreau, Treasurer
Stacy Raphael, Secretary
Joe Clifford, our past president, has resigned from the board. Joe led us during a very difficult year. He has received a promotion at the Hopkins Center and we are grateful for his service.
The make up of the rest of the board is: Gail Kilkelly, Dept. of Education; Allyson Ledoux, VMEA; and awaiting approval, Rebecca McGregor, VT State Dance Festival; Dee Christie, VATA; and Cathy Archer, VT Drama Festival.
Filed under: Business
September 16, 2009 • 6:01 pm 0
Hey, Dancers!
Rebecca McGregor sends along this catalogue for the 7th Annual Vermont State Dance Festival, as well as a copy of the sign-up sheet.
From Rebecca’s Introduction:
The Vermont State Dance Festival is an annual event that began in 2003. After touring all of the Vermont high schools that had dance programs in 2002 as part of an independent study in college, I wanted to create an event that allowed teachers and students from all over Vermont to work together, learn from one another, and share knowledge. The Vermont State Dance Festival offers high school aged dancers of all disciplines an opportunity to study new and varied techniques with professional dancers and to showcase their skills before professional artists, teachers, their student peers and the general public.
The event is composed of three elements: a day-long series of workshops led by the professional artists; a closed session for the dancers to perform prepared choreographies for feedback from a professional, student peers and participating dance instructors; and an evening performance open to the general public. The festival is intended to introduce students to new dance styles and techniques that they might not routinely be exposed to in their high school dance programs, or studios to allow students to interact with experienced professionals, and to provide the students an opportunity to perform before a larger audience than they might typically enjoy.
This festival has been a great success over the years, and this one promises to match them all.
Filed under: Conference, Dance
• 5:38 pm 0
Gail Kilkelly from the Department of Education sent this along! It seems like a very interesting possibility!
Dear Vermont Public School Music, Visual Art, Dance and Theatre Teachers – Please share this with your colleagues:
You read the title correctly!
$80,000 of Title IID (Enhancing education through technology) grant money has been reserved for Vermont’s Music, Visual Art, Theatre, and Dance Teachers. This is open to K-12 arts teachers.
This is “one-time money” and this grant will likely not be repeated in this way in the future.
Application Deadline: October 30th
To find information, instructions and the grant application, click HERE and then click on ARTS. For the application only, click HERE.
Here’s the introductory information on Title II D Grants:
One of the essential skills most prevalent in our 21st Century education landscape is collaboration. This grant program represents the department’s work within that realm. Content area specialists are assisting to make this program a success and provide technology to support the acquisition of skills in those specific areas. Many of these content areas have not had an opportunity such as this in the past. The grants are set up for a variety of funding amounts and are targeted specifically at teachers. This is a Title IID program and eligibility requirements are in place for those schools wishing to apply.
Filed under: All Disciplines, Education, Grant Opportunity
September 13, 2009 • 1:31 pm 0
Walter E. Judge Jr, a director and member of the Litigation Practice Group at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, presented a check for $1,000 on behalf of the DRM Community Fund to Thomas Stevens, executive director of the Vermont Alliance for Arts Education, on August 25. VAAE’s mission is to support arts education in the public schools and to contribute to the professional development of arts teachers.
The DRM Community Fund was launched in 2000 to celebrate the firm’s 50th anniversary. Since then, DRM has awarded more than $180,000 in small grants to approximately 180 private, non-profit organizations in Vermont and western New Hampshire to support innovative, grass-roots arts, education, economic development and historic preservation projects that strengthen community.
Judge, the sponsoring director for the grant, has been a member of VAAE’s board of directors for four years. He also has served on several of the organization’s committees and assists with events. “I am very excited about VAAE’s future under the leadership of the new, energetic director, Thomas Stevens. We are pleased to be able to support this valuable organization’s efforts to advocate for arts education programs for all students and to provide professional development opportunities for arts educators.”
DRM is a full-service law firm with more than 60 attorneys and seven offices in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. DRM provides legal services to local, national and international clients in practice areas that include bankruptcy and business restructuring, business law, captive insurance, energy and telecommunications, family law, health law, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, real estate and land use, environmental law, tax law and trusts and estates. The firm represents clients in legislative, regulatory and public affairs through the Government and Public Affairs group. DRM is the law firm member for Vermont of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms.
Filed under: Business, Conference
