The Bread and Butter of Fine Arts Experience

I had the privilege of listening to two great art educators speak about creativity during the A.E.A.I.'s State Conference this past November 4th and 5th in Indianapolis.

American art education treasure Enid Zimmerman gave a talk at the I.M.A. about educational strategies that promote the development of creativity in her presentation, "Being a Creative Art Teacher."

In addition, my friend and colleague, professor emeritus from Goshen College Marvin Bartel followed up with a compelling presentation for optimizing learning experiences that promote creativity and divergent thinking capacity by striking the right balance between direct instruction and student directed learning. Dr. Bartel discussed the importance of going beyond stimulating the "mirror genes" and teaching for problem posing skills and the ability to develop and generate ideas.

In our schools today, their is no other place like the art room, devoted specifically to creativity development, a critical 21st Century Thinking Skill. While other industrialized countries are investing in creativity development, the U.S. education system is shortchanging children's critical learning opportunities by cutting fine arts programs throughout schools across the Nation.

Please contact the advocacy committee of the Art Education Association of Indiana at campak14@yahoo.com if you know of a fine arts program serving Indiana school children that is being threatened by cuts or marginalization.

Our children's creative capacities are a national resource we cannot afford to waste.

Starving Our Public Schools....

Was going through the internet this morning and came across this:

http://www.ourfuture.org/report/2011104111/starving-america-s-public-schools

Save Our Schools March July 28-31

See you in D.C.!
http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/

Save Our Schools D.C. March July 29-31

If you want to be apart of this huge event, I encourage you to check this link out:
http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/

Indisputable Affects of Poverty Upon Education: When Pictures Speak Louder Than Words

Michael Marder, Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics Education at the University of Texas explains why policy makers need to rethink their reforms based on the data.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/is-poverty-the-key-factor-in-student-outcomes/

Art Advocacy Links

National Art Education Organization: http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy

Art Education Association of Indiana: Here www.aeai.org/advocacy

and here: http://www.aeai.org/sitepage.asp?page=ArtDirectory

Arts Education Partnership: http://www.aep-arts.org/

Dana Foundation: Neuroeducation: Learning, Arts and the Brain http://www.dana.org/news/publications/publication.aspx?id=23964

Americans for the Arts: http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/advocate.asp

Incredible Art Dept: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/artedu.html

Fine Arts Program Status in Indiana Public Schools

I don't want to embarrass Governor Daniels or Dr.Bennett, but I have not read nor heard about any new initiatives from the State Dept. of Education to support or preserve existing fine arts programs in our public schools. This evening I spoke with Dale Chu, Asst. Supt. for Policy, Legal and Communications Operations for the I.D.O.E. I asked him if he knew the extent of fine arts program cuts over the past three years. He answered that he did not and I am certain the I.D.O.E. does not record data on fine arts program cuts.

The I.D.O.E. may say publicly it supports children's public school fine arts programs in Indiana, but where I come from, actions speak louder than words. Significant cuts were made in 2009 and 2010.

The recent cuts in New Albany are very alarming because it represents a pattern of continued degradation and narrowing of the education curricula for 1.1 million children who attend Indiana public schools.

A citizenry prepared to take on the immense challenges of the 21st Century cannot be developed if high quality learning experiences and programs that optimize the refinement of the imagination, capacity for innovation and creative problem solving are cut out of the school curricula.

Our children's creativity is a national resource we cannot afford to waste.

We cannot afford future failures of imagination.

You can contact Dr. Bennett's office here:
http://www.doe.in.gov/superintendent/

Contact Governor Daniels here:
http://www.in.gov/gov/2631.htm