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This report complements An unfinished canvas. Arts education in California: Taking stock of policy and practices (Woodworth et al., 2007). The research supporting An Unfinished Canvas was undertaken to document the status of arts education in California schools and assess the extent to which schools were meeting state goals for arts education -- namely a sequential, standards-based course of study in music, visual arts, theatre, and dance. As part of that research effort, we included a sufficient number of schools in the nine Bay Area counties to enable us to report comparable data for each of the Bay Area counties as well as to draw comparisons between the Bay Area and the rest of the state.

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Questions about district leadership and capacity -- particularly in light of the new funding -- served as the impetus for this study. Through a survey of leaders in 385 districts, we assessed districts' capacity with respect to arts education, explored early spending choices, and examined the relationship between the two. We also studied changes in arts education since the new resources became available and worked to understand the barriers that continue to stand in the way of comprehensive arts education for all California students.
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In 2006, at the request of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, SRI International conducted a study aimed at assessing the status of arts education in California relative to state goals. The final report, An Unfinished Canvas. Arts Education in California: Taking Stock of Policy and Practice, revealed a substantial gap between policy and practice. The study found that elementary schools in particular are failing to meet state goals for arts education. In light of these findings, The Hewlett Foundation commissioned a series of follow-up studies to identify policy mechanisms or other means of increasing student access to arts education. This study, focusing on the ability of school districts to leverage support for arts education through partnerships with local arts organizations, is one of the follow-up studies.

Partnerships may allow for the pooling of resources and lend support to schools in a variety of ways including artists-in-residency programs, professional development for teachers, exposing students to the arts through the provision of one-time performances at school sites, and organizing field trips to performances and exhibits. According to the California Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools, partnerships among districts, schools, and arts organizations are most successful when they are embedded within a comprehensive, articulated program of arts education. Questions about the nature of partnerships that California districts and schools have been able to form with arts organizations, and the success of these partnerships to increase students' access to a sequential standards-based course of study in the four arts disciplines, served as the impetus for this study.

A team of SRI researchers conducted case studies of partnerships between districts and arts organizations in six diverse California communities in spring 2008. The case study sites were selected for their particular arts education activities and diverse contexts and, as a result, do not offer generalizable data about partnerships between school districts and arts organizations in California. Instead, we highlight the ways that a sample of partnerships promotes arts education in California elementary schools to inform others who may be interested in building partnerships between school districts and arts organizations.
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The objective of this mapping review is to provide a 'snapshot' of the impacts of a variety of ArtsSmarts projects on teachers, students, and communities in 15 off-reserve Aboriginal communities. Research was conducted between April 1 and August 30, 2006 using surveys, interviews, focus groups, document review and selected site visits. The projects themselves were undertaken at both the elementary and secondary school levels and varied considerably in numbers of participants (8 -- 185), length of project (1 day -- 6 months), number of teachers involved (1 -- 8), and art forms explored. All projects received ArtsSmarts funding, averaging $4,405 (excluding one large grant of $89,000). These projects have taught a number of important lessons about ArtsSmarts as an intervention. They are centred around four broad questions:

1. What works for schools?
2. What are the indicators of and contributing factors to success?
3. What are the components of successful classroom partnerships?
4. What can be done to transfer or expand success to other schools?

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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 »

Since 1996, private and public funders in San Francisco have supported a city-wide Beacons Initiative. Eight Beacon Centers, located in public schools, serve 7500 youth and adults each year, providing a rich array of developmental activities in the non-school hours. This report looks at how the centers were created; it describes the centers' operation; and investigates the role of the initiative's "theory of change" in organizing and guiding the effort. Complete listing and access info »

The guide is a direct result of the Workshop's After School for All (AFA) project, and was funded by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families. In the guide, Lead Writer (and former Associate Artistic Director) Anne-E Wood offers a thorough examination of arts engagement during after school time and in community centers. The Workshop Out of School provides a clear process for quality performing arts instruction that negotiates the specific challenges of after-school programs. The guide is divided by discipline into five chapters in which AFA artists outline the character of their disciplines: creative movement, world dance, theater arts, creative writing, and music. Each chapter includes an overview of the discipline, instructions on how to plan a quality curriculum, and how to negotiate behavior and content management within the class. Also included are a sample curriculum and a breakdown of individual lesson plans. Complete listing and access info »

The report features provocative testimony to youth centered and youth directed arts programs that are creating powerful and supportive communities among young people. It highlights five youth arts programs from across the country brought together at an AEP forum in September, 2003. Youth and adult representatives engaged participants in activities that reflect the role of the arts in building positive learning communities.

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