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.