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Stand Up for Arts Ed in Sacramento!

Did you know:

  • Dance represents only 2% of all arts courses in middle and high schools in the state of California.
  • Only 40% of the state’s middle and high school students are enrolled in arts courses.
It’s time for a change. Creativity is not optional!

Are you ready to stand for dance education in California? April 30 will be an exciting day in Sacramento! It will include student performances and legislative visits, and we want you and your students to be represented.

Click here to submit an interest form before February 21! Please fill out the form about your group if you are interested in bringing your students to Sacramento to perform as part of this year’s Stand Up 4 Arts Education event on April 30.

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Advocacy resource: A Pedagogy of Play

A moving body is a learning body, and a playing body is a learning body.

Play is central to how children learn—the way they form and explore friendships, the way they shape and test hypotheses, and the way they make sense of their world. Much is known about how play supports learning, yet little empirical research has explored what it might mean to put play at the center of formal schooling.

In 2015, Harvard’s Project Zero Pedagogy of Play (PoP) research project began investigating the nature of playful learning in schools. Their new publication, A Pedagogy of Play (free PDF available) shares their findings from asking three questions: Why do educators need a pedagogy of play? What does playful learning look and feel like in classrooms and schools? How do educators set up the conditions where playful learning thrives?

Read here.

 

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California advocacy resources: dance teachers in schools & network communities

California’s Prop 28 ensures more public school access to the arts, and 80% of Prop 28 funds will go towards hiring arts teachers. But because the dance credential is still new, there are not enough credentialed teachers to fill the positions that will open. How can we bridge the gap? What are the pathways to being credentialed in dance?

Check out these two new resources to understand your options, and share with your administrators:

Prop 28: What We Know (So Far) from Create CA

School Districts Need Arts Teachers from California County Superintendents Arts Initiative

TCAP’s (The California Arts Project) statewide and regional arts education network communities support TK–12 through post-secondary dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts educators. Their every-other-month, free virtual network sessions provide opportunities for teachers and administrators to stay informed of statewide and regional arts education news, issues, and to engage in dialogue with others on critical arts education topics. Join to expand your advocacy network! First session is September 28, more details here.

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What’s moving us: Unpacking Trauma-Informed Teaching

“Effective, trauma-informed education is a full ecosystem, not a list of strategies. While it is tempting to just look for the most effective strategies … strategies without adequate trust-building and context can easily fail.”

Jennifer Gonzalez

Trauma-informed teaching has become a hot topic these days. Cult of Pedagogy‘s recent podcast digs into it via an equity lens in its latest podcast. No surprise, connecting with students is a big part of it. Listen here and consider how these practices can exist in the dance classroom.

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Fund arts in the classroom – visiting artist & excursion grants

Want to bring more dance into your classroom, or your classroom to more dance? Teachers in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and San Francisco counties can apply for a Philanthropic Ventures Foundation Visiting Artist Grant of up to $500 to cover artist and material fees for TK-12 Title 1 school classrooms, or an Excursion Grant to cover up to $1,000 of expenses for field trips. Rolling deadline but apply ASAP.

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Pledge in support of The Declaration of Student Rights

CreateCA is gathering pledges to fight for every student’s right to access a comprehensive arts education, as mandated by the California Education Code. Students have already gone too long without the creative curriculum they deserve.

Take the arts education pledge! By signing the pledge you are stating that you believe in and stand for the principles outlined in The Declaration of Student Rights.

Join and sign here!

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Advocacy Spotlight – Prop 28

With Prop 28 bringing more funding to California, lots of conversations are happening about how that money could and should be spent to grow the arts in schools. Join in to learn more about this funding, and to advocate to ensure that dance is considered in the planning. As a dance educator, your voice is vital so that dance is not overlooked.

Here are some resources to discover more:

“Can $1 billion fix the problem?” article about Prop 28 and teaching artists by Elissa Miolene

Helpful info about Prop 28 from LA County Arts Collaborative

Advocacy 101 webinar – learn how to advocate for the arts to elected officials

Hosted by Americans for the Arts & Arts Action Fund

March 29, 12pm Pacific

And save the dates for:

CA Arts & Culture Summit

Hosted by Create CA & Californians for the Arts

April 17 & 18 in Sacramento

Prop 28 Mini Conference – free

Hosted by Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area

May 11 at Oakland Museum of CA

Inspired to try some small advocacy actions?

Share your story of the impact of dance education or spread the word about arts education inequity with Create CA