This is your opportunity! The Board of Directors of the Vermont Alliance for Arts Education seeks nominations for Excellence in Arts Education at the teacher, principal and superintendent level. Nominees will have demonstrated leadership and dedication to the teaching of music, visual art, theatre and dance to Vermont students.

Awards will be presented at a dinner celebration at ArtSpa – The VAAE Spring Conference – on Thursday March 11, 2010 at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. Deadline for nominations is Friday, February 26, 2010.

Submit your nomination on-line! Three easy steps to nominate:

1. A requirement of the nomination is that your submission is supported by the principal or superintendent of the person being nominated. Please make sure the administrator endorses your nomination before you complete the form.
2. Go to the Excellence in Arts Education Nomination Form. Complete the form and click “Submit”.
3. Follow up your nomination with a 200 word or less statement of why your nominee should receive the 2009-2010 Excellence in Arts Education Award. Send this statement in a separate email attachment to conference@vaae.org by Friday, February 26, 2010.

The VAAE Award Committee will choose up to 10 nominees to receive the award. Awards will be announced by March 5, 2010.

Questions? Email these to conference@vaae.org or call (802) 828-6560.

It’s official. Our ArtSpa brochure is getting mailed out presently and you should be seeing it land in your mailbox early next week! Keep a look out for it, but in the meantime, head on over to the registration website to register and see all of the workshop offerings.

“ArtSpa “
A Conference to Renew Your Arts Education Spirit
Thursday evening and Friday, March 11-12, 2010
at the Vermont College for Fine Arts
with support from the Vermont Arts Council

Find out more about:

The ArtSpa Conference Agenda
“Death by Laughter” Keynote by Harry Bliss
Workshop Descriptions

Join your friends and colleagues at the VAAE ArtSpa; a time to renew your body, soul and arts education spirit. This conference is designed with you in mind. Arrive on Thursday to enjoy an evening reception that begins with a complimentary beverage of your choice, gourmet hors d’oeuvres followed by dinner. Listen to “Death by Laughter”, a hilarious talk by cartoonist and New Yorker Magazine cover artist and South Burlington resident Harry Bliss. During dinner enjoy the much anticipated VAAE Arts Educator Recognition Awards.

Friday morning begins with an inspirational welcome followed by three workshop sessions of solid professional development in your art form. Or, if you prefer, take a session in a different art form and expand your artistic horizons.

Begin the new decade with a renewed Vermont Alliance of Arts Education. Join us for a new conference design and a chance to renew your arts education spirit.

Tell your friends!

Need more information or have a question?
Email conference@vaae.org or call (802) 828-6560.

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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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.