FEATURED BLOG
A California Teaching Artist in Oz: The 2nd International Teaching Artist Conference
This July, TASC Advisory Council member Sabrina Klein headed off to Australia to participate as one of 200 delegates from around the world at the ITAC2 Conference engaging with issues in our field.
She is blogging for TASC and the Teaching Artist Journal during the convening. Check out her latest blog posting here!
Your comments will be shared at the conference, so let her know what you think.
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Kennedy Center teaching artist Stuart Stotts leads a workshop on "Lyric Writing in the Classroom" for Sacramento-based teaching artists, arts specialists, and classroom teachers.
Teaching Artists Help a School District
Restore Arts Education
By Erika Boardman Kraft and Laura Norman
Can the work teaching artists do in school districts impact a district’s long- term arts programming? Absolutely!, as illustrated by the Twin Rivers Unified School District in northern Sacramento, California.
Founded in 2008 when four districts merged, Twin Rivers Unified School District saw more than $100 million in state cuts during its first three years of existence. This exacerbated an already difficult situation for arts education in the district composed of primarily Title I schools. Most elementary schools had no credentialed arts specialists in any of the disciplines. Middle schools had a few arts education offerings, often available only as electives, and the arts programming in the high schools varied by school, but did not come close to matching what more affluent districts in the region could offer or what the state mandates.
In spite of this, the District’s arts education leadership was determined to provide what arts education programming they could, using resources from the local arts community. They brought in programming from the region’s arts organizations, found grants to take students to arts events, and contracted with regional teaching artists for residencies and workshops.
Under the leadership of Arts Curriculum Facilitator Jacqueline White, the district leveraged its collaboration with local teaching artists to set a course for re-instating arts education programming in all of its 50 schools. The District engaged teaching artists through independent relationships nurtured in the community, through Federal Department of Education grants utilizing teaching artists, and through its role as a founding partner of the Kennedy Center’s initiative, Any Given Child Sacramento. Read more here.
Erika Boardman Kraft is Education Director for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, and a member of the governing board of Teaching Artists Support Collaborative of California. Laura Norman is Arts Program Associate for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.
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Ten California Schools Part of Obama's
"Turnaround Arts" Partnership
 Terry Lenihan (on left) shares details about Turnaround Arts CA with TASC Advisor Jean Johnstone (right) and other members of the TASC Advisory Council.
Essential Role Seen for Teaching Artists
By Belinda Taylor, TASC Advisor
Terry Lenihan stopped by the recent TASC board meeting in L.A. to share details about a groundbreaking new education partnership being modeled in 10 underperforming schools in California. Turnaround Arts CA places the arts as the key methodology for learning and a proven tool for improving failing schools. Lenihan, a recently retired member of the California Arts Council, serves as lead advisor to Turnaround Arts CA.
The idea of using the arts as a tool to turn around failing schools has gained traction in California, which has been accepted as a state partner in President Obama’s Turnaround Arts program. Acclaimed architect Frank Gehry and Malisa Feruzzi Shriver, former chair of the California Arts Council, took part in the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Washington launch, hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. Feruzzi Shriver serves as Executive Director of Turnaround Arts CA.
A handful of states have been accepted into Turnaround Arts, with California having the largest affiliate program to date. Turnaround Arts is a public-private partnership launched by the White House in 2012 to help failing schools develop and implement high quality arts education that will be used specifically to turnaround pervasive and persistent problems found in high-poverty, chronically underperforming schools. Read more here.
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I Am a Teaching Artist
Discovering a Common Language and Making
"Life-to-Life" Connections through Performing Arts
By Kate Randolph
I am a Teaching Artist who works independently, as well as being on the roster of both the Los Angeles Music Center and The Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Last summer I had a tremendous opportunity to expand my skills. On July 26, I departed for Serbia to participate in the 8th International Youth Media Summit, being held in Belgrade, August 1 - 12.
Jet-lagged and in a bit of a stupor from the 2-day journey, I arrived at midnight. As I debarked, the midsummer heat and humidity of the Balkans hung heavy in the air. Handsome and gracious Nikola, cigarette in hand, met me outside baggage claim and immediately took my bag. We were soon speeding north to Novi Sad, a lovely little town an hour and half’s drive from Belgrade.
For the next few days before the Summit’s start, I led theater workshops for children who were part of an ongoing multicultural project among France, Germany, and Serbia, for kids ages 11 to 14. Few of them spoke any English, so my challenge was to design exercises that would be both enjoyable and educational, and could be understood by all. Read more here.
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28 Jul 2014 9:00 AM • Prescott College Granite Performing Arts Center, Prescott, AZ
05 Aug 2014 9:30 AM • Room 102, USF School of Education, 2350 Turk Blvd. SF
06 Aug 2014 8:30 AM • 1720 Broadway, 4th Floor. Oakland CA
12 Aug 2014 8:00 AM • Chabot Space and Science Center, Oakland CA
06 Nov 2014 7:00 AM • San Diego Hilton Bayfront
Want to share your event? Email event information to tascofcalifornia.info@gmail.com
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Submit Your Blog
TASC is in search of blog submissions that focus on teaching artistry and arts learning from a variety of perspectives. We invite teaching artist, arts administrators, educators, researchers and more to contribute to the ongoing conversation. Learn More.
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I am a Teaching Artist
The field of teaching artistry is a continuously growing field that can be as diverse as each individual artist. It encompasses many arts forms, teaching methodologies, learning settings and so much more. TASC wants to know your story as a teaching artist! Learn More.
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Share your videos & photos
TASC invites photos and videos that show the work of teaching artists. Do you have a video or photo that you feel is representative of your work as a teaching artist or what your organization does? Send video links and photos to tascofcalifornia.info@gmail.com.
Include names of individuals in the photo.
Please note that you must have full permission to use any photos or videos you share with TASC.
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