Programs

Arts|Learning transforms learning experiences for children through the arts by:

Strategies to accomplish the Arts|Learning Mission and Vision, with the arts central to every activity, are accomplished through the work of three divisions.

1.    Leadership & Policy Group is an agent for education reform.  Check current thinking and strategies by this Group's Senior Partner, Eric Oddleifson:

2.    Networking & Advocacy Group is a resource center and arts-advocacy umbrella for Massachusetts parents, teachers, administrators, associations of professional arts educators, museums and cultural organizations, higher education, and private education.

3.    Teaching & Learning Group disseminates information on best practices of model programs of teaching in and through the arts.

Learn more about how Arts|Learning realizes its mission through our various programs and services.

Arts Learning Program for Schools

Arts|Learning has created the Arts Learning Program for Schools (ALP) model to support public elementary school efforts to build an instructional focus on learning in and through the arts.  Goals include improvement of student literacy, engagement in learning, and achievement academically, socially, and personally. The model serves schools by addressing and integrating with district Whole-School Improvement Plans, arts and non-arts curricula, school-based priorities, and state/national arts-education standards.

The model is a unique partnership with public and private institutions including Boston Public Schools, Lesley University, independent high schools with strong arts programs and commitments to public-service programming, and the Performance Evaluation Research Group.

The model has two complementary parts:

ALP Program Overview

Read about A|L's Arts & School Reform Programs.

Arts & School Reform Program

Arts|Learning is keenly interested in assisting schools involved with educational reform through transformation to any one of various arts-infused models.

A prime example is the Charles Sumner Elementary School located in Boston.  Arts|Learning has been supporting and advising the school how to provide both (1) sequential arts-focused and (2) arts-integrated learning opportunities for all students to improve achievement levels, especially for English Language Learners and special-needs students.  The program includes partnering with organizations such as Lesley University and VSA Arts of Massachusetts.

The Arts Learning Program (ALP) model is nationally recognized as one of 11 exemplary partnerships by the Arts Education Partnership in Working Partnerships (Feb/2007). The program has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, EdVestors, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston Public Schools, and others.

Nominate an Arts Advocate!

The Arts|Learning's Champions of Arts Education Awards honor individuals and organizations that have made exceptional contributions to arts education advocacy and continue to make strides toward the goal of high quality arts education for every student in Massachusetts.

From 1984 through to the present, the Champion of Arts Education Awards have recognized over 195 teachers and arts advocates in our schools and communities for their accomplishments educating students and for supporting arts education.  Arts|Learning continues this tradition of recognizing excellence in arts education programs and advocacy. Nominations may be submitted by any Massachusetts resident and current A|L members.  Self-nominations are encouraged. 

Please note that nominations for 2011 are now closed.  You are welcome to view the nominations materials to start planning for next year!

Get the 2011 Arts Education Nominations Packet.

Get the 2011 Cover Pages and Narrative Form (required with each nomination).

Kennedy Center Awards for 2011:

School Board Application Steps
School Board Guidelines
School Board Application

Schools of Distinction Guidelines
Schools of Distinction Application

Networking and Advocacy Group

Arts|Learning engages in statewide arts education advocacy in Massachusetts and new England through its Networking and Advocacy Group.  These efforts strive to ensure that the arts are a core component of a well-rounded education for all K-12 students throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

In 2007, the National Arts and Learning Collaborative merged with the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education, leading to the creation of Arts|Leearning and its three divisions.  A leadership team of A|L affiliates and members of the Massachusetts arts teaching workforce lead Arts|Learning's advocacy activities.

Arts|Learning is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, a coalition of statewide Alliances working in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to support policies, practices, programs, and partnerships that ensure the arts are an essential part of American K-12 education.

Advocacy Group Mission & Vision

Mission
The mission of the Arts|Learning Networking and Advocacy Group is to educate about, advocate for, and support the importance of lifelong learning in and through the arts by building an alliance and creating a network among individuals, organizations, and institutions.

Vision
A|L envisions a society which embraces the arts as an essential component of all aspects of living: culture, family life, work and leisure.

This vision is embodied in the following principles, which assert that the arts play a central role in the development of human potential, community life and society:

  • The arts are core academic curricular subjects which are skill-based, sequential, multi-cultural, interdisciplinary and rigorous.
  • Quality arts instruction and programming is planned and executed by arts specialists in collaboration with artist/teachers, classroom teachers and community arts and cultural institutions.
  • Successful arts programs have parity with other academic subjects and are supported in regards to funding, philosophy, and policy making.
  • The arts are essential vehicles of communication, reflecting and recording cross-cultural and cross-generational understanding through knowledge of civilizations past and present.
  • The arts play a central role in teaching higher-order thinking and creative problem-solving skills, providing models of interdisciplinary exploration and multiple intelligences learning.
  • An essential component of arts learning includes authentic assessment (portfolios, videos, performances, exhibits, auditions, visiting judges and critics, competitions, and contests) which complements traditional norm- referenced and paper-and-pencil tests.
  • The arts nurture, enrich and improve the quality of life, encouraging life-long learning.

Advocacy Priorities & Accomplishments

The Advocacy Leadership Team has identified these priorities for the 2009-10 year.

  • Host the Massachusetts Arts Education Leadership Symposium (to be held in  Pittsfield, MA, April, 2010) to bring arts leaders from across the state together to learn about national arts advocacy initiatives, research, and tools to support arts in education programs in schools and communities.
  • Present at Superintendent, School Committee, and Principals conferences to relay the important message about the role of the Arts in 21st Century Skills and development of the whole child.
  • Convene a summit of Arts Education Professional Education Association leaders.
  • Convene a summit of leaders from various local community parent support groups for the arts
  • Enhance web site with advocacy resources and online community building opportunities.
  • Create a 10-minute documentary film showing the results of significant arts education research occurring in the New England Region to be used as a powerful arts advocacy tool.
  • Recognize excellence in arts education advocacy at the Champions of Arts Education Advocacy Awards Ceremony, May 2010, Massachusetts Statehouse.

The Arts|Learning Advocacy Group has accomplished the following advocacy activities in 2007-09:

Networking and Advocacy Leadership Team


The Arts|Learning Advocacy Group is led by a Leadership Team of individuals from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that represent the arts-teaching workforce.  This includes K-12 art educators and administrators, teaching artists, arts education and cultural organization representatives, those in higher education and research, legislators, business leaders, and funders.

Advocacy Leadership Symposium

In partnership with Kennedy Center's Partners in Education Team, Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, and New Bedford Public Schools.

On October 28, 2008, more than 100 arts advocates from across the state gathered at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford to:

  • learn about national arts-advocacy initiatives and the latest arts-education research,
  • receive updates on statewide arts and education initiatives,
  • learn about and share new and well-tested strategies to develop support for arts education in schools and communities including the Kennedy Center's Community Arts Audit and MAEC's Arts Leadership Advocacy Toolkit, and
  • develop advocacy action plans and forge strategic alliances to accomplish them.

Keynote speaker Karen L. Erickson, long-time Professional Teaching Artist with the Kennedy Center's professional development programs including Changing Education Through the Arts (C.E.T.A.), alongside MAEC Leadership Team members, led the day's activities.

Read a summary of the symposium.

Become a Arts|Learning Advocacy Member

Let Arts|Learning's advocacy group work for you to support arts in education programs in schools and communities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and New England.

Annual membership includes:

Learn more about benefits and levels of membership.

Programs

Arts|Learning offers a variety of advocacy-oriented programs including recognition awards, professional development trainings and events, and opportunities for students. Please click onto an area of interest on the panel to the left.

Kennedy Center's Community Arts Audit

Kennedy Center's Community Arts Audit

In 2006, the Arts|Learning Advocacy Group (formerly the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education--MAAE) and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) participated in the Partnership Project to assist several school districts (Attleboro, Bridgewater-Raynham, Fitchburg, and New Bedford) in conducting the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) Community Audit for Arts Education.

The primary goal of the audit process was to give these communities the tools to meet their needs to develop active community support for arts education.

Project objectives included:

  1. Building a network of support for arts education in Massachusetts,
  2. Providing a model for district reform,
  3. Developing detailed 5-year strategic plans for placing arts education at the core of the curriculum in each participating district, and
  4. Shaping a strategy for implementation of the plans and create community arts education advisory committees in each community to help implement the plan.

Results for audit districts and communities has included:

  • Strengthened networks of support for arts education;
  • Deeper engagement of school administrators and the broader community in a data-driven examination of the state of arts education;
  • Better informed advisory committee members and administrators on arts education challenges and successes;
  • More focused attention on arts education programming and resources in schools by community members, including students and parents.

Learn about A|L's Arts Education Leadership Toolkit.

2. Organize Your People

Identify a group of stakeholders who should be at the table to set and frame advocacy goals. Consider who should be part of this core group and make sure that they represent your constituency. Consider forming an advisory board with this core group.

Hold a focus group or a series of informal interviews with members of this group to refine your goals. Analyze your situation to get at the heart of your issue and to gain an understanding about relevant current and past circumstances.

Do your homework!

Determine who your allies who can support your case and are help you enact change such as:

  • Parents: Booster Club and PTO/PTA Presidents
  • Local Businesses: Chamber of Commerce, Arts-related businesses
  • Local Elected Officials: Mayor, City Councilors
  • State and Federal Elected Officials: Representatives, Senators
  • School Committee Members
  • Superintendent
  • School Administrators: Principals, Fine Arts Director, Arts Coordinator
  • Teachers: Arts, General, Retired
  • Students
  • Arts Organizations Leadership
  • Artists/Performers
  • Higher Education Representatives
  • Print and Broadcast Media
  • Community/Civic Groups
  • Religious Leaders
  • Youth Organizations

Assess the strengths of the group and decide who should join you.
Create a Network of Support

Organize a core group of decision makers and select a coordinator.
KCAAEN Leadership Kit

Recruit other members with various talents.
Volunteer Information Form
Sample Discussion Questions

Define and Delegate Tasks.

Tips for Running a Good Volunteer Meeting

Assess who has the power to help you.
Target Decision Makers List

Find others who can help you (Browse our Links)

Note: Steps 2 and 3 may be happening simultaneously or in cycles until you get ready to implement your plan.

Also: It is important to Organize your Message with a core group of people prior to recruiting a large base of volunteers.

 

Events

Fall 2010 Symposium

Creating Leaders for Arts Advocacy:
The Arts, The Common Core Curriculum, and 21st-Century Skills

Worcester Technical High School, 1 Skyline Drive, Worcester Massachusetts
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM

Click here to register for this event.

For schedule and more information about this symposium, please click here.

About Our Presenters and Guests…
Belle Halpern, Founding Partner, The Ariel Group
Belle Linda Halpern, Ariel Group Founding Partner and Co-author of Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire, brings the skills of a professional consultant, speaker, educator, and singer/actress to her work. Belle has developed and delivered leadership programs for executives in the US, Europe, and Asia for the past 15 years. Her clients include Boston Consulting Group, General Electric, and American Express. She has been featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, the Boston Globe,
Harvard Management Communication Letter, and on CNBC.

As a cabaret singer, Belle has performed in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Paris, Munich, and the hill towns of Northern Italy. Belle has designed an innovative methodology for teaching singing to non-singers and has worked with students at Harvard University, Longy School of Music, and the Roy Hart Theatre in France. Combining her singing talent with her work in leadership, she has delivered combination cabaret/lectures on leadership at the annual meetings for organizations such as INSEAD, Instructional Services Association, Johnson & Johnson, Capital One, and Ericsson. A Harvard University graduate, Belle lives in Boston with her husband, Mitch, and two children.

Gail Zarren, Project Director, Healing Arts for Kids, Young Audiences of Massachusetts
Gail Zarren is a long-standing advocate of the arts and arts education. A senior arts program director, she has developed numerous art programs, workshops and events for prek-12 schools and community organizations throughout the state of Massachusetts. Gail is the founder of the Young Audiences of Massachusetts Healing Arts for Kids, a program that provides teaching artist residencies and performances for physically and emotionally challenged children and other special education populations in hospital schools, hospitals
and homeless shelters.

In 2010 Healing Arts of Kids was one of ten programs in the nation to receive the “Arts Connect All” grant from MetLife Foundation and VSA Arts.

Sonia Chang-Diaz is the first Latina woman elected to the Massachusetts State Senate, serving her first term representing various Boston neighborhoods. Currently, Sonia serves as the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business committee, as a member of the Education, Elder Affairs, Housing and the Municipalities and Regional Government committees, and is Co-Chair of the newly formed Cultural Caucus. Prior to attaining elected office, Sonia served as public school teacher in the Lynn and
Boston school systems, where she learned first-hand the challenges facing our public school students, teachers, and parents and the role our state government can play in improving our educational system.

Kay Khan is the State Representative for the 11th Middlesex District in Newton
serving her eighth term. She has been a leading voice for affordable and compassionate
health care, public education, housing and human services. Kay strongly promotes better transportation and a healthier environment. She has also been the legislature’s leading advocate for progressive policies for incarcerated individuals, including women and their children. Kay co-founded the Newton cultural Alliance, a coalition of non-profit arts and cultural organizations. She is the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children,
Families and Persons with Disabilities, Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and a member of the Joint Committee on Health Care Finance and the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. She is a member of numerous caucuses, including the Cultural Caucus in the MA Legislature.

Marianne O’Connor, Superintendent of Schools, Westborough, Massachusetts, just recently assumed her position as superintendent after serving 18 years in the Westborough
Schools as teacher, principal, director of curriculum, and deputy superintendent.

Brian A O’Connell is currently serving his 14th two-year term on the Worcester School Committee; he is also business manager for the Winchendon public schools, and is an attorney.

Publications & E-News

Arts|Learning provides a variety of communications and research publications to offer up-to-date resources and information for constituents in support of arts in education.

Resources include Arts & Learning Review, Arts Ed E--News and E-Alerts, research including several books for purchase, and an Arts in Education library.

Arts|Learning's Arts & Learning Review

Arts|Learning publishes the Arts & Learning Review, an annual arts in education journal that is working to bridge the gap between national initiatives and directives, policy, resources, and local practices by highlighting local and national efforts.

Borrowed from the Education Commission of the States Initiative on Arts in Education, the Arts & Learning Review seeks to raise awareness of the many benefits of student involvement in the arts, to develop better state level research, to equip constituents with tools to analyze and interpret information about the status of arts education in schools, and to support leadership in developing policies and practices to improve educational outcomes through the arts.

Past Issues:

Arts & Learning Review, Winter 2008

Arts & Learning Review, Winter 2007

Arts & Learning Review, Winter 2006

Arts & Learning Review, Winter 2004

E-News & E-Alerts

Arts|Learning distributes e-news and e-alerts with local and national arts education resources and information such as professional development, funding opportunities, policy information, curriculum resources, and more.

View our Archive

Research

With support from Arts|Learning, Professor Jessica Hoffman Davis of Harvard Graduate School of Education's Arts in Education Program conducted research on the commonalities and unique characteristics of schools that focus on learning in the arts.

• Passion & Industry: Schools that Focus on the Arts, Harvard University

To order the report, click here.

Read more about the Passion & Industry work in Jessica Hoffmann Davis's book, Framing Education as Art:  The Octopus Has a Good Day. 

Purchase a discounted copy of Why Our Schools Need the Arts, Davis' most recent publication. The book discusses what the arts uniquely provide to students, includes useful resources for advocates, and weaves personal narrative throughout to bring the topic to life.

Arts in Education Library

Arts|Learning houses articles on the efficacy of education through the arts, such as those listed below. These arts education articles and many more are available at New Horizons for Learning.

Symposia and Events

Arts: The Creative Core
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Gardner Auditorium, Massachusetts State House
24 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02133

Congratulations to our 17 Champions of Arts Education award winners for 2011 (see below)!

On May 25, 2011, at the MA State House's Gardner Auditorium, Arts|Learning hosted a day-long celebration of the arts in education through its 25th Annual Champion of Arts Education Awards plus Arts: The Creative Core conversations about the role of the arts in education.

OUR PROGRAM INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING:

Arts Education Assessment presented by Scott Shuler, Arts Education specialist in the Connecticut State Department of Education and President of MENC: The National Association of Music Education, and Rebecca Fay Squire, music teacher at the Saugatuck Elementary School, Westport, CT. 
The presenters shared information about their ground-breaking Connecticut optional statewide arts assessments for grades 2, 5, and 8 that have been developed over the past three years.

Panel Discussion with Paul Reville, MA Secretary of Education, Anita Walker, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MA Representative and House Education Committee Chair Alice Peisch, and Martha McKenna, Provost of Lesley University.  The panel discussed the implications of the pioneering arts assessment work in Connecticut from the previous session.  Scott Shuler's presentation posited questions regarding arts
education policy in Massachusetts schools, including the following:

Creating the Roadmap Part I:  The Arts and Common Core Learning Standards, 21st-Century Skills, MassCore, CT Arts Assessments, and the Creative Challenge Index with Lurline Muñoz-Bennett, MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Arts|Learning Team Members.

What is Literacy in the Arts?  Can Massachusetts develop literacy standards in the arts in alignment with the national Common Core Literacy Standards?  Discussion and brainstorming session regarding arts education and the newly adopted national “core” standards, the Creative Challenge Index, MassCore graduation requirements, 21st-Century Skills, and the Connecticut arts assessments. 
•    1:45 to 2:05.  Introduction and Overview
•    2:05 to 2:30.  Attendees divided into 4 or 5 break-out groups, each group was assigned to discuss one of these five topics and make policy recommendations for consideration by the MA Legislature, the MA Cultural Council, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Creating the Roadmap Part II:  The Arts and...
Groups convened together and each group gave a 5-minute summary
report on their discussion and possible policy recommendations.


Our Outstanding Champions of Arts Education Award Winners
•    Legislative Leadership Award:  MA State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, Boston
•    Legislative Leadership Award:  MA State Representative Sarah Peake, Provincetown
•    A|L Arts in Education Award:  Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Hunt Alternatives, Cambridge
•    Corporate Support of Arts Education:  Target Corporation
•    Outstanding Arts Collaborative in Theatre:  Enchanted Circle Theatre, Holyoke
•    Outstanding Arts Collaborative in Visual Arts:  RAISE, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
•    Outstanding Parent Arts Advocate:  Nancy Dougherty, Friends of Performing Arts, Dover-Sherborn School District
•    Irene Buck Service to Arts Education:  Stephanie Perrin, Head emeritus, Walnut Hill School, Natick
•    Media Support of Arts Education:  Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield
•    School of Excellence 2010 National Winner, Kennedy Center:  Boston Arts Academy
•    School of Excellence 2011 State Winner:  Worcester Arts Magnet School, Worcester
•    School of Excellence 2011 State Winner:  Neighborhood House Charter School, Dorchester
•    Special Recognition—Good Neighbor:  Trinity Methodist Church, Springfield
•    Outstanding Student Advocate:  Richard Dinsmore, Bunker Hill Community College
•    Distinguished Arts Educator in Dance:  Nancy Moses, Bridgewater State University
•    Distinguished Arts Educator in Dance:  Rita O’Shea, O’Shea-Chaplin Academy of Irish Dance, Melrose
•    Distinguished Arts Educator in Visual Arts:  Martha Kempe, Mather School, Dorchester
•    Excellence in School Adminsitration:  Jeanne M. Bonneau, Principal, Normandin Middle School, New Bedford