Community arts education programs are an important part of the network of educational organizations that provide access to arts experiences for students both during the school day and in out- of-school settings. As policymakers explore ways to improve K-12 education and meet the needs of all students, community arts organizations can help connect them to promising arts in education practices. This article identifies the current landscape of state education policy and opportunities for the arts in education within those policies and shares ideas about how community arts organizations can engage in the policymaking process.

As the field of community arts education continues to deepen its practice of providing innovative, intentional programming for older adults, there are core questions around funding and sustainability. How has the landscape for creative aging funding developed over the last decade? How can organizations create a program model that includes strong funding and community partners? What does sustainability in creative aging work look like? Join the Guild’s Creative Aging Network—including funders, field experts, and practitioners new to the work—for a webinar addressing these crucial questions.

Through discussion and diverse case studies, participants will:

• More fully understand the unique, cross-sector funding opportunities that exist in creative aging;
• Have a clearer sense of what a sustainable creative aging program model looks like; and
• Identify concrete strategies for starting—and growing—programs that effectively serve older adults.

Presenters:

• Eliza Kiser, Director, Pullen Arts Center
• Teresa Bonner, Executive Director, Aroha Philanthropies
• Maura O’Malley, Co-Founder and CEO, Lifetime Arts
• Sylvia Sherman, Program Director, San Francisco Community Music Center
• Vita Litvak, Manager of Adult Programs, Fleisher Art Memorial

This is session one of a three-part series entitled Teaching the Arts to Students with Special Needs: An Interactive Webinar Series.

Tailored for those with established knowledge of the work, this session will delve into advanced teaching strategies in the arts for people with disabilities. After exploring a more robust connection between the fields of special education and arts education, the session will provide in-depth case studies and troubleshooting techniques for specific scenarios. Following the presentation, participants will be invited to collaboratively discuss shared difficulties, successes, and opportunities for collective growth.

This is session one of a three-part series entitled Teaching the Arts to Students with Special Needs: An Interactive Webinar Series. 

Building off the context established in Session 1, this webinar will highlight more specific teaching strategies in the arts while creating time for more interactive discussion. The presentation will introduce two powerful frames for working with students with disabilities—universal design for learning and differentiated instruction—before discussing how they can be effectively operationalized in the arts. Using the interactive video chat format, participants will be invited to engage with and discuss the material.

This is session one of a three-part series entitled Teaching the Arts to Students with Special Needs: An Interactive Webinar Series.

Designed for participants that are new to the work of teaching the arts to students with special needs, this session will set the context by defining key terms and discussing important research. The presentation will include discussion of disabilities and diagnoses, person-first versus identity-first language, and the medical model of disability versus the social model of disability. With this background knowledge, the session will then begin to introduce general teaching strategies.

Facilitated by Rhoda Bernard, Managing Director, Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs.

As emerging leaders in arts education, we have both great potential and an immense responsibility to move the field forward in new, inclusive, and innovative ways. Join the National Guild's Emerging Leaders Network for a generative conversation around how we can continue to align and focus our work, as individuals and as a collective, toward our shared vision for the field of arts education.

Together, we’ll have a facilitated discussion that will:

• Revisit the Network's recently created envision statement for the field, as well as the five major priorities and topics needed to make that vision a reality.
• Allow for individual, small group, and large group work to create space for reflection, connection, and goal setting.

The webinar will be facilitated by the Emerging Leaders Network’s Co-Ambassadors:

• Sabrina Malik, Associate Director of Institutional Giving, Groundswell, Brooklyn, NY
• Tarah Ortiz Durnbaugh, Associate Director of Programs, Urban Gateways, Chicago, IL

At the 2018 Conference for Community Arts Education, the Guild was honored to present two remarkable leaders with our Leadership and Service Awards. Ronnie Brooks, recipient of the 2018 Leadership Award, is the founder of the Shannon P. Leadership Institute and core faculty for the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute. Daniel Windham, recipient of the 2018 Service Award, has served arts education at the Wallace Foundation, Cleveland Music Settlement, New York Philharmonic, and as part of Guild’s board of trustees. The excerpted acceptance speeches reinforce the wisdom, leadership, grace, and humility that both Ronnie and Daniel have brought to our field.

The Guild’s 2018 Conference for Community Arts Education focused on the role of artists as leaders—in neighborhoods, organizations, and communities. Baltimore is a powerful example of how artists are “leading by example”— drawing on local resources to overcome adversity and imagine (and build) bold and beautiful futures.

Several visionary voices shared their stories at the start of the conference:
• Leslie King-Hammond, Founder and Director of the Center for Race and Culture and a nationally renowned artist, curator, and art historian
• Kibibi Ajanku, Founder of Sankofa Dance Theater and Equity and Inclusion Director, Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance
• Loring Cornish, mosaic and mixed media artist
• Brayaira Simms, digital spoken word artist
• Charles Funn, Director, Dunbar Jazz Band
 

This article contains a few excerpts from our conversation with inspiring community artists.

Each year, after wrapping up our annual Conference, the Guild asks a group of delegates to reflect on their experience. During these four days in November we bring together community arts educators from around the country; but it is really what happens next—how the lessons, connections, and moments of inspiration translate into impact for organizations and communities—that defines the Conference’s success. In this article, three delegates with unique perspectives describe what they are taking away from their time in Baltimore, and how it will shape their work in the months to come.

Guild members and Conference attendees have access to the slides, handouts, and resources shared during the 2018 Conference for Community Arts Education in Baltimore, MD.