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This particular monograph will focus on one unique arts community located in rural southeastern Utah. This community is comprised of a group of extraordinary individuals - known as Inside Images - presently incarcerated at the San Juan County (SJC) jail in Monticello, a county-owned facility which contracts with the state of Utah to house state prisoners. Complete listing and access info »

Many people become confused about the definition of a local arts agency because no two local arts agencies are just alike. The best explanation is that a local arts agency meets the needs of the community it serves - whether its arts education, public art, grantsmaking, festivals, facility management, etc. The four programs outlined in this issue of Monographs are responding to needs of disadvantaged youth, arts education, and job training within their communities. The programs challenge youth to use creative thought in problem solving, incorporating math, science and language arts in a summer job training program that uses arts education to teach marketable job skills. In each case the community has responded with enthusiastic support.




Each of these programs reach inner city and/or rural communities in collaborations that are multi-layered. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Collaborative Inner-City/Rural Initiative Program restricts application to state arts agencies. A survey of state arts agencies advocated opening this program to application by local arts agencies. The importance of this recognition by the NEA would be to duplicate the success of similar programs throughout the country.




Each community is unique so it should be no surprise to local arts agencies that these four programs provide differing approaches to summer job training in the arts that corresponds to the distinct character of the local community - urban or rural. What is consistent is that JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act) funding is available for youth salaries during a summer job training. Any arts agency could develop a similar program - whether for 10 youth or 500 youth, it's a matter of scale. The principle - and the need of youth in the communities - is the same.
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If the national arts education landscape has you confused, you are not alone. There are more AIE policy committees and task forces than ever before. This is also an exciting time, with new resources and increased attention to the arts as a catalyst for improving the country's schools.




Doug Herbert, Director of the Arts in Education Program at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) begins this monograph with a guided tour of the national arts education scene. He describes the initiatives and partnerships that are shaping the policy and agenda for the arts in our children's education. He brings into focus the current momentum for supporting the arts as essential to education reform.




Tip O'Neil said, All politics is local. All change is local, too. Local communities bring to life the national AIE policy with the excellent work already in progress across the country. To help bridge the gap between the national scene and the local level, the Monograph profiles five communities that are making the arts central in their local schools. Schools, together with local arts agencies and arts organizations, are transforming teaching and learning, and redefining the role of the arts community in education, with a variety of funding and partnership strategies. These local initiatives are described in the second part of the Monograph.




There are many challenges for local arts agencies that plan to invest in arts education partnerships. Nancy Welch, Senior Research Specialist for the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, and Paul Fisher, Director of the Arts in Education Program of the Tucson/Pima Arts Council, conclude this Monograph by considering these challenges and the decisions that must be made at the local level to create a vital cycle of local arts education partnerships making the arts a part of the core curriculum.




The Monograph ends with a bibliography and resource guide that includes a glossary of the national arts and education agencies, organizations and task forces discussed by Doug Herbert.
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No time like the present! This is the phrase that most readily comes to mind in the world of education these days - especially for the arts. The Goals 2000 Educate America Act signed into law in March 1994 makes resources available for states and local education agencies to plan their education reform efforts based on challenging content and performance standards - which include the arts. Without a doubt, Goals 2000 is opening doors of opportunity for arts education that were previously closed.





This is the first of two Monographs devoted to the timely issue of community-based planning in arts education. Local arts agencies over the past decade have been leaders and change agents for their communities in the area of cultural planning and local arts development. It is not surprising that this expertise is being called upon as more communities take a hard look at the challenging issue of education reform.




This country is historically rooted in local determination for education. While national and state policies can serve as catalyst to education and reform efforts, true change will take place on the local level. The Goals 2000 legislation underscores this: in the first year, local education agencies will receive up to 60 percent of the funds granted to State Education Agencies to be used for local reform plan development, pre-service and professional development programs. This amount increases to 90 per cent for these activities in the second and subsequent years.




The communities featured in this Monograph series offer an array of local arts education planning strategies, circumstances and outcomes. In this first Monograph we take a look at the large city approaches used in Richmond, Virginia and Boston, Massachusetts and see similar strategies which yield very different outcomes. We also travel to the rural community of Mount Orab, Ohio, for an example of the types of planning strategies that are feasible for smaller communities with limited financial resources.




None of these communities entered into a local education planning process specifically to meet the needs of the Goals 2000 effort; they first and foremost are meeting the needs of their community. And yet, through the engagement of the community planning process, they are well positioned to take advantage of the continually unfolding opportunities.




The reader will notice that there are many common themes that run through each of the articles: the emphasis on a quality process; the inclusion of many voices at the table; as well as the strong partnerships developed between the arts community and the school leadership. There is also unmistakably the instinctive yet elusive ability to recognize and take advantage of an unexpected opportunity - even if it takes the form of a crisis.
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This document profiles 11 examples of arts and education institutions across the country that are working to solve community problems. Programs, which reflect a number of purposes, are organized by category. Large Urban Profiles, include: (1) "Bridgemaking" in Chicago: Chicago Arts Partnership in Education; (2) Learning by Working: Young Artists at Work, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo; (3) Arts Education: Local Priority: Arts Integration Program, Tucson/Pima Arts Council; and (4) Communications and Vocations: Arts Talk/Arts Workers, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Small Urban Profiles, look at (5) SPECTRA Plus: Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County; and (6) Art for Science's Sake in Fairbanks, Alaska: Arts & Science Collaboration, Denali Elementary School and Visual Enterprises. The Suburban Profile is: (7) "Strategy for Economic Development and Education: Blue Springs Arts 2000 Partnership. Rural Profiles present (8) Big Ideas in Small Places: Artists in Minnesota Schools & Communities, Minnesota Rural Arts Initiative COMPAS; (9) Parent Power for the Arts: Moms for Fun, Silver City, New Mexico; (10) Art for Every Student: Art in Education Special Project, Idaho's Salmon Arts Council and Brooklyn School; and (11) Theater Development Through Arts Education: Dell'Arte, Blue Lake, California. Common keys to program effectiveness are shown to be: leadership, vision, planning, community involvement, professional development, cooperative relationships, innovation, evaluation, and high quality services. Appendices list additional programs and contacts for the profiled programs. Complete listing and access info »

A selection of available applied and academic research, this publication is designed as a tool that can help address the kinds of questions local government, business, and community leaders might ask about arts education. It provides concrete information on topics from student achievement and perceptions to the status of arts education.

Of the 49 reports, articles, and dissertations described in the following pages:

• Six are evaluation studies of broad-based arts programs.
• Seventeen are smaller-scale targeted studies.
• Nine present compilations, or overviews, of research.
• Twelve describe attitudes among students and parents and public opinion.
• Five highlight the status of arts education and the arts' economic impact at the local level.

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This issue of Monographs provides profiles of how local arts agencies, arts organizations, and educators are incorporating new technologies into their already-existing programming and curriculum. The Arts, Education and Technology: A Winning Combination highlights examples of how locally, the arts community and schools are forging new collaborations with patterns such as libraries, universities, public access television stations, cooperative education agencies, and businesses to link arts and technology to the classroom. Funding trends are discussed by Arlene Krebs, author of The Distance Learning Funding Sourcebook. In the resource section is a list of publications and online websites. Believe it or not, this braver new world of technology can be demystified. Complete listing and access info »

Violent crime, youth and gang crime, unemployment, quality of education, family instability, and racial and ethnic relations continue to rank among the top ten key concerns for our nation's civic leaders. As community leaders seek solutions to these problems, they are increasingly turning to the arts to provide answers. This compendium presents a diverse collection of 130 arts programs from across the country that address community development issues. The Institute for Community Development and the Arts has completed its second year of a three-year pilot effort to research arts programs designed to contribute to community development and to addressing some of the social problems that plague our nation. In its first two years the Institute has already examined more than 850 programs nationwide. Arts programs addressing social issues exist in small rural communities [and in] our largest urban centers that are home to millions. Research shows that more than 80 percent of the nation's 3,800 local arts agencies has developed or provides funding to arts programs that address social issues. In the 50 largest U.S. cities, a full 100 percent is involved in such programming, up from 88 percent just two years ago, and only a handful a decade ago. Complete listing and access info »

Profiles components of the After School Arts program within the School District of Philadelphia that have helped provide students with integrated, rich learning experiences.

More information about this publication is available at PubHub.
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This pamphlet explores how an increasing number of communities are realizing that art programs for at-risk youth offer an effective and more affordable alternative to detention and police-centered crime prevention. Complete listing and access info »