InsideOut

Tue, 10/21/2008 - 13:04 — dia.penning The October 15, 2008 Arts Education Resource Fair was a wonderful success, giving rise to a number of thoughts about the state of teaching artist resources in bay area schools.

Held at the African American Art and Culture Complex, the fair was attended by over 200 teachers and arts coordinators of the San Francisco Unified school district, 67 Arts Provider Alliance members, 7 volunteers, 8 families, and a handful of teachers from other bay area locations. Going forward it is the intention of the Arts Providers Alliance to strengthen this event and broaden the attendance to include teachers and families from Alameda, Marin and Santa Clara counties. As Arts Providers and Teaching Artists takes a central role in redefining the role that the Arts Play in public education we find ourselves in need of multiple outlets for networking, resource sharing and the dissemination of best practices. The Arts Education Resource Fair has proven that it meets this and other purposes in a condensed way, as the kick off event for the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco (APASF) each school year, it gives our membership an opportunity to share with the public all that our network has to offer.

As we continue in this role, we develop our skills to host the resource fair; send out weekly communications with access to grants, job opportunities and events; organize professional development opportunities; advocate for increased funding, and play connector to state and national trend in community arts and arts education. Moving forward we are joining forces with state organizations and national research. Through these relationships we can glean the national policy directions and meet them with local events and trainings. As the field changes we will be ready with adequate professional development, advocacy and a solid network. The research to be gleaned from the Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP) of University of Chicago's NORC will give us a diversity of information to begin to make local policies around the definition and necessary training to further professionalize our field.. The state network being headed by the California Arts Council (CAC) and Alameda County's Teaching Artist Organized (TAO) will support additional efforts to this end. And, while TARP, CAC and TAO work towards developing policy recommendations and strategies, in our own backyard the California College of the Arts has developed the first Arts Education Institute in the nation.

This program is comprehensive and designed to support credentialed teachers and artists in creating holistic arts programs while sustaining the amazing work that is already happening in so many places. Primarily it gives us a common language and skill set, making assessment of our programs visible and in line with many shifts and reforms happening in our school districts.

As Sabrina Klein of TAO likes to say "it is important that we develop guidelines for ourselves before they are developed for us." The success of the annual resource fair is an indication that school districts already accept what we have to offer and if we meet them with increased skills that have been vetted by our master level peers it gives them increased security in our ability to help shape changes in the educational system. We have an opportunity to sit at the table and support reform rather than being clairvoyant cheerleaders at the sidelines. It is now time for us to take the resources that are being made available to us and find solutions for how we can support the educational system in their reform while keeping the arts at the center of the work that we do.

http://www.norc.org/projects/teaching+artists+research+project.htm

http://www.teachingartistsorganized.org/7501.html

http://www.cca.edu/academics/aie/

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