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Honey, I Empowered the Kids
As a high school student, the guideline I was given to write this blog post, “operationalizing access and equity in arts education,” sounds inaccessible within itself. I won’t lie, I had to look up what equity means (it means fairness). In my life, access to arts education is something I rarely think of as an idea; it’s something I’m accustomed to. I’ve had it for so long that I often forget that I fought for it.
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3 Steps to Success for Equity and Access
As a nation, we all agree that it is beneficial for every child to receive a comprehensive education, inclusive of the arts. How to operationalize this has been more elusive and challenging. Collective Impact, as shared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review article written by John Kania and Mark Kramer, outlines the conditions for broad, systemic change in social issues, and has been successfully implemented in a variety of communities across the country, including initiatives to support arts education.
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Take Care of the Little Things
Somehow "equity" has become a huge topic of conversation in the arts and in arts education. Huge for consultants, some who are retired educators; others who've never spent a day in the classroom as an instructor. Equity, or the pursuit thereof, is also a huge topic of research. Study after study reveals much of what we knew decades ago—even before federal legislation that mandated that all children learn the same way and therefore let's evaluate them in the same robotic ways.
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Operationalizing Access and Equity in Arts Education
The term equity has been top of mind in the worlds of arts and education for quite some time now. When we talk about access, we divert to equity. We when talk about diversity, we pivot and discuss equity. When we talk about inclusion, we now talk about equity, too.
With all of this talk, our field has begun to take action. We see success stories around the country of programs using their data to identify issues with the equity in access to arts education. We see school districts take serious the deficiencies in equity and correct them with modified defunding models. We also see individuals, programs, and communities taking steps towards their own knowledge building on the issues of equity.
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The Four Minutes That Changed STEM to STEAM
If you were in Washington, DC a few weeks ago, you might have participated in several events surrounding the National Arts Action Summit, now marking its 29th consecutive year of arts advocacy days on Capitol Hill.
One of those events might have been the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy, delivered by John Maeda, designer, technologist, and catalyst behind the national movement to transform STEM to STEAM. He was introduced by co-chair of the Congressional STEAM Caucus, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR).
How did this duo come together before a crowd of over 1,200 to talk about STEAM on the national stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—for a lecture about how STEAM makes STEM taste better?
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The Passion of Arts Advocates Driving Change: Kennedy, U.S. Lawmakers, and You
Earlier this month I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, giving a lecture on arts and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Policy. In lieu of standard hotel accommodations, I was offered the chance to stay in John F. Kennedy's senior year suite in Winthrop House—and of course I jumped at it. Sitting down at Kennedy’s desk—complete with an Underwood portable typewriter—I was profoundly moved. I thought of his inspiring words and they resonated with the event and work of the week to come, Arts Advocacy Day, when citizen advocates take to Capitol Hill to make the case for federal support for the arts and arts education.
I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.
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Acknowledge This History + Then Go to Work
Sometimes the most exciting and memorable speakers at the New Community Visions Initiative regional meetings are—like many magical things in the rest of life—serendipitous and unplanned.
One of those inspiring moments occurred at the meeting in Macon when Reverend James Lawrence Wofford gave us words we needed to hear about equity.
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A Catalyst for Art: Jessica Cusick
Jessica Cusick retired as the Manager of the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Department on March 3, 2016. Starting the job in 2005 she took a staff of three and grew it into a powerhouse of 21 to serve a city of 90,000 residents. She also created municipal programs through planning, policy, creative communities, public art and artist residencies to bring the work of writers and coders, planners and planters, poets and visual artists free to city audiences.
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So, What Do You Do? Americans for the Arts Member Profile of Katherine (Kit) Kough
Kit Kough is one of the newest members of the Emerging Leaders Advisory Council. As Program Director with the Mayo Clinic Center for Humanities in Medicine she oversees arts programming, special events and recurring medical humanities programming for patients, staff, and the community.
What are you looking forward to in your work with the Emerging Leaders (EL) Advisory Council?
The EL Council is a fantastic opportunity to work closely with my peers. We have a tremendous group with varied backgrounds and a lot of experiences to share. I’m really looking forward to connecting with other emerging leaders both regionally and nationally. I’m enthusiastic about building a strong leadership pipeline for arts professionals. I’m also hoping that my specific knowledge in the arts in healthcare field will be helpful for others looking to expand their work.
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No Art is an Island
John Donne coined the phrase "no man is an island," emphasizing no one is self-sufficient—each of us relies on one another. As arts agencies, arts educators, and arts advocates gathered in the nation’s Capital a few weeks ago for the Arts in Education Symposium: States of Change 2016, the strength and realization of our inter connectivity couldn't have been more evident. Confronting the new landscape of the Every Student Succeeds Act, will require impactful collaborations at the state level, and deep conversations among advocates for the Arts.
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Artists & Communities: Marty Pottenger & Jess Solomon in Conversation
What do you get when you place an artist in municipal government to work closely with employees, elected officials, and local artists on urgent issues like racism, immigration, gentrification, and more? The incredible work of Marty Pottenger who, for over 25 years, has been utilizing art as tool for connection, exploration, and understanding—breaking barriers and fostering transformative dialogue around the country and specifically in the city of Portland, ME.
This month, continuing our Artists & Communities series, Marty is in conversation with Art in Praxis Director Jess Solomon, who is uses arts & culture, storytelling, and co-creation to help organizations and communities build their capacity in more intentional, strategic, and creative ways.
