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This report features case studies and profiles of 91 school districts throughout the United States that are recognized for offering arts education throughout their schools. It identifies the critical factors that must be in place to implement and sustain comprehensive arts education and stresses the essential role of community involvement and partnerships.

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A report from an October 2000 meeting in which 32 school districts from 19 states discussed the current status of arts education in their districts. These districts were profiled in AEP's 1999 report, Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education. Complete listing and access info »

Learning in and with the arts has been linked with increased student achievement, but the means by which the arts may support cognitive growth in students is relatively undocumented. Thirty students across ten classes in veteran teacher-artist partnerships were selected to help explore the processes and outcomes associated with arts-integrated learning units versus learning processes and outcomes in comparable non-arts units. Complete listing and access info »

For over 15 years, Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theater Company have been creating theater productions that explore issues of race and prejudice. Members of the ensemble travel to communities throughout the country. They engage community members from all walks of life to help create and perform plays that reflect their local experiences and build bridges. The Company produces commissioned and contemporary works as well as classics. Complete listing and access info »

In 1995, under the artistic leadership of Judith Marcuse, DanceArts (now JMP) began a remarkable project, one that eventually brought together thousands of teenagers, professonal artists and community resource people in national collaboration.

The ICE Project started with two years of small group workshops that involved some three hundred 15 to 18 old young people. These workshops were designed for teenagers to explore and express the pressures in their lives using the languages of art practice. Complete listing and access info »

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 »

This report is based on user research on the Joy2Learn website. This effort includes surveys and interviews with teachers in New York City and Los Angeles and LA-based teaching artists. This report provides a summary of their responses.



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ArtsSmarts is a national program that promotes the teaching of arts infused curricula and the invaluable lessons that artistic practices can contribute to self-awareness, creativity, empathy, and community. The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation funds the ArtsSmarts program, and the Canadian Conference of the Arts acts as the ArtsSmarts Secretariat. Organizations from across Canada have been chosen as ArtsSmarts Partners to oversee projects that meld the program objectives with localized needs, resources, and visions for learning through the arts. More than 125,000 young people, 2,500 artists, and 4,500 teachers and community members have participated in Phase I (1998-2001) of the ArtsSmarts program. The evaluative research into Phase I of ArtsSmarts has shown that the program is meeting its goal of promoting collaborative efforts that bring the arts to schools and communities. Artists are bringing new insights and skills to learning, while passing on their passion for the arts. Teachers and administrators are expressing gratitude for the infusion of the arts into their teaching, their schools, and their community centres. Young people are enthusiastically engaging in art making and showing consistent signs of gaining new understandings of curriculum subjects, of themselves, and of their communities. Parents are volunteering time to the implementation and support of the projects. Whole communities are beginning to recognize the benefits of having the ArtsSmarts program in their midst and are providing venues, media coverage, collaboration, and, in some case, additional funding for the projects. ArtsSmarts is embarking on Phase II of its programming, in which it will continue to support existing projects, expand the reach of ArtsSmarts to other Partners and communities, and identify strategies that will ultimately allow localized projects to become self-sustaining. The ArtsSmarts program is providing both leadership and opportunities to ensure that the arts remain a vital component of the lives and learning of Canadian young people. Complete listing and access info »

Developed by the Workshop's Associate Artistic Director, Anne-E Wood, the Best Practices Guide is a hands-on tool for school administrators, teachers, artists, parents or arts organizations facilitating an artist residency program. The guide explains arts education within the framework of educational policy and practice in California, but the model can be adapted for many communities. In this guide, you will learn about the residency model, the history of Performing Arts Workshop's residency model and what 40 years of experience has shown to be the best practices for artists and teachers. Complete listing and access info »

Part of the Volume on Youth, Identity, and Digital Media

How do youth use media and technology as they learn to be participants in civic and democratic practices? We share two case studies -- one from a media arts production organization and one from a school board youth group -- that revolve around youth-adult interactions in learning environments that offer youth real opportunities to be influential in their respective communities. The cases feature youth and their involvements with digital media, pedagogical approaches, and engagements that enhance their participatory capacities. There are multiple channels through which these interactions happen, some with and facilitated by adults and others created and negotiated by youth. We describe how youth and adults establish learning environments for each other, negotiate the grounds for participation, and explore the possibilities and limitations of social and digital technologies in these processes, supporting the idea that this learning is something that young people do as agents in their development.
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