The California Alliance for Arts Education and Create CA have Merged

February 10, 2021

 

The California Alliance for Arts Education and Create CA have become one organization under the Create CA name.

From their announcement: “We know that arts education helps students heal from trauma and build resilience. This moment requires us to put student’s mental health and well-being at the forefront. That’s why when we saw an opportunity to become stronger in the fight for every student’s right to receive an arts education, we had to take it.

Building on the longstanding partnership between the California Alliance for Arts Education (the Alliance) and Create CA and our shared mission to make sure that a quality arts education is part of every student’s life, we are merging into a new, united organization.”

Read the full announcement here. 

The Arts and Cultural Sector: Federal Policy Actions

February 2, 2021

 

A diverse range of national, regional, and state level organizations, including the Guild, signed on to a statement of arts federal policy recommendations to the Biden-Harris Administration titled “The Arts and Cultural Sector: Federal Policy Actions”. The purpose of the statement is to demonstrate to the new Biden-Harris Administration the important role of the arts within the broad context of economic recovery and how the arts can be of service in addressing federal priorities. The statement lays the framework for more robust and detailed policy recommendations on engaging the arts at the federal level.

The statement includes recommendations for how the arts and culture sector should be leveraged to address racial equity, economic recovery, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the statement: "The arts are the nation’s most indelible instrument to 'forge a union with purpose; to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.' A vibrant arts community that is truly reflective of society is essential to the full belonging of people of all races, ethnicities, religions, social class, abilities, and orientation. Full, fair, and equitable funding for the arts and artists is likewise requisite for the economic health of our national community. The Biden-Harris Administration and Congress can accelerate the process of mending America’s social fabric, ending systemic racism, and creating equitable economic growth by promoting and investing in the arts and its intersecting public policies such as health, education, pay equity, parental leave, and gig worker protections."

Read the full statement here. 

Recording: A Conversation with NYC Public Artists in Residence Yazmany Arboleda and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

February 1st, 2021

 

The Department of Cultural Affairs’ Public Artist in Residence (PAIR) program is a municipal residency that embeds artists in city government to develop creative solutions for pressing civic challenges.

In this conversation, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals and Chief of Staff Shirley Levy speaks with two of the City's current PAIR artists – Yazmany Arboleda and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya – about their work with the NYC Civic Engagement Commission and the NYC Commission on Human Rights.

Watch the recording on NYC Department of Cultural Affairs' Youtube channel.

Art Museums Are Creating 3D Versions of Paintings for Visually Impaired People To Touch

January 22nd, 2021

 

A recent article on My Modern Met highlights art museums across the world that are making it possible for people with visual impairments to enjoy the collections they house. Through innovative, tactile versions of well-known paintings, those who are blind or have low vision can experience the work with touch. This allows them to “see” how the figures of a piece are composed and the artistic style, and, in a larger sense, it's an opportunity for them to participate in an activity that was previously reserved only for sighted people.

Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is one of the world’s most famous paintings and is a sight to behold as the heavenly figure of Venus radiates from the center of the artwork. Housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, this is one example of work that has been translated into a three-dimensional version. 

Read the full article on My Modern Met. 

We would be delighted to see how community arts educators might employ this idea, or ideas inspired by it!

National Teaching Artist Listening Tour

The Teaching Artists Guild, the National Guild for Community Arts Education, and other teaching artist organizations need your support to host a listening tour in every locality or community in the nation! 

A listening tour is a facilitated open conversation to gather information, insight, values, context and new ideas from teaching artists on the ground doing the work. The goal of the tour is to center teaching artists and further the field of teaching artistry. By bringing teaching artists of local communities to the table, the teaching artist organizations can understand the nuances of teaching artists’ values, how they define their assets and what they identify as their challenges and needs. 

Sessions are for persons who identify as teaching artists. Participants should attend the session as an individual and be prepared to share their personal experience about their practice and career, letting go of their specific roles within organizations. 

The Guild is grateful for the opportunity to co-create projects like this with organizations that share our commitment to centering teaching artists and honoring their invaluable contributions to the community arts education field, including TAG and Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic (TAMA).

Visit TAG’s website to get further information and tools to promote, organize, implement and increase the benefits to teaching artists, including a Listening Tour Overview and a Facilitation Alignment Guide.  

Arts and Juvenile Justice Report & Upcoming Policy Briefing from AEP

The Expanding the Arts Across the Juvenile Justice System Policy Brief from the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) and the Education Commission of the States captures the discussion, insights and policy considerations that came out of a Thinkers Meeting with 11 experts in the arts education and juvenile justice fields. It builds on the report, “Engaging the Arts Across the Juvenile Justice System,” by providing examples for building sustainable, arts-based programming. Read the report on the Education Commission of the States website.

AEP is also holding a virtual Arts & Juvenile Justice Policy Briefing on Thursday, January 21 from 2pm–3:30pm ET. Learn more and register on AEP’s website.

Calls Across the Field For Accountability at AFTA

January 19, 2021

Last month, the Arts Education Advisory Council of Americans for the Arts (AFTA) published a statement calling for AFTA’s leadership to address long-standing racial inequities and lack of transparency in its role as a national leader in the arts and culture sector, as well as a hostile work environment within the organization. This statement follows a series of articles detailing these issues published by members of the Council and by former/current AFTA staff members.  We encourage those not yet familiar with this situation to read the statements and correspondence published on this matter (you can find links at the bottom of this page), and for those in alignment with the Arts Education Council’s demands to sign on to their petition. 

 

The National Guild for Community Arts Education is committed to standing in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and supporting the dismantling of institutional inequity in our field, as stated in the Guild’s Racial Equity Guiding Principles and Policies under Principle #1: Prioritization Of Those Most Impacted By Racial Injustice:

In order to create true equity, we must center the experiences and interests of those who have been marginalized. If not, we will continue to perpetuate inequity and systems that exclude those who have been left out. 

We stand and advocate for equity in the Arts and Arts Education for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color’s families, communities, leaders, and  teachers of all ages. We are committed to redressing the unequal power relations and stereotypes that structure mainstream cultural institutions. We model anti-racist policies in the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

And here under Principle 3: Direct Confrontation:

We are committed to maintaining honest and authentic relationships with those who are aligned with our values and principles. We are willing to let go of any relationships that do not align with our values. 

In accordance with these principles, the Guild has met with the Arts Education Council, and is currently coordinating meetings with AFTA’s board leadership and other arts advocacy organizations to discuss how these issues will be addressed and how we can support.

You can read the statement that we sent to the chair of AFTA’s Cultural Equity Committee, Abel López, here.

We will follow up with members about the outcomes of these meetings.

 

Background and context:

Creative Aging Videos from Aroha Philanthropies

January 13th, 2021

 

Aroha Philanthropies has released five beautiful new short videos on creative aging. In these videos you’ll see firsthand the camaraderie and joy that creative aging programs bring to participants, discover what makes them successful, and learn how organizations have brought in-person programs online, as they did during the production of the video series.

The videos are titled “The Essentials”,” Untapped Opportunity”, “Isolation to Connection”, “In-Person to Online”, and “Why Teaching Artists?”.

You can watch them all on the Aroha Philanthropies Vimeo page. 

Recipients of the $500,000 Lewis Prize for Music Have Been Announced

The Lewis Prize for Music, a philanthropic music arts organization advancing systems change through creative youth development, has announced its 2021 awards. Over $2 million in funding will give young people access to music education, strengthen the well-being of their communities and put music at the center of efforts to establish equity. From Louisville, Kentucky to San Francisco, California, all of the 2021 Lewis Prize for Music awardees are doing extraordinary work to build community and foster engaged citizens and support the holistic growth of young people. 

We are thrilled that two Guild members, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and Hyde Square Task Force in Boston, are recipients of the $500,000 Accelerator Award! 

Learn more on The Lewis Prize for Music’s website.

Analysis: COVID-19’s Impacts on Arts and Culture from the NEA

January 4th, 2021

 

The National Endowment for the Arts released ANALYSIS: COVID-19’s Impacts on Arts and Culture in January. This analysis, a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Argonne National Laboratory, provides a summary of the economic damage the pandemic has caused to the arts sector, with a particular focus on the performing arts. It also explores some of the adaptations and resources that are helping arts organizations and artists to survive financially during the pandemic.

From the conclusion of the analysis: "Since March, assistance from federal, state, and local government programs, foundations, and the public at large have provided an important lifeline to help sustain arts organizations and artists throughout the course of the pandemic. These emergent means of support are by no means adequate to offset projected losses for the arts and cultural sector. The amount of relief awarded, to date, is disproportionately small when compared with the sector’s economic footprint."

You can read the full analysis here.