A fascinating “Debate on Arts Education”, hosted by ArtsJournal’s Douglas McLennan took place on an artsjournal blog from Dec 1st-5th. The entire dialogue is archived on the blog. It is especially interesting to get a sense of where each contributor is coming from and consider their perspectives within the context of the roles they play in the arts. Unfortunately it does not seem that any public school arts educators or students were involved as invited bloggers. Of course, since everything is archived and comments are still enabled the dialogue can still continue through each of the individual posts, and the blogosphere in general. Why not continue the debate with our own students?
Here is the post that started the “Debate”:
By Douglas McLennan
For decades, as teaching of the arts has been cut back in our public schools, alarms have been raised about the dire consequences for American culture. Artists and arts organizations stepped in to try to…take up some of the slack. Foundations funded programs to take art into the schools. But producers of art aren’t primarily in the education business. Schools increasingly focused on meeting basic skills benchmarks have less and less time to make room for study of the arts. And technology has spawned a vast, crowded, and alluring marketplace of creativity competing for attention. New research Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy by RAND and sponsored by The Wallace Foundation [abstract here] suggests that a generation of Americans has not developed the knowledge or skills to engage with our cultural heritage. Without that engagement, the arts as we know them are unsustainable over the long run. Can anything be done?
The invited bloggers included:
Sam Hope, executive director, The National Office for Arts Accreditation (NOAA);
Jack Lew, Global University Relations Manager for Art Talent at EA;
Laura Zakaras, RAND;
James Cuno, Director, Art Institute of Chicago;
Richard Kessler, Executive Director, Center for Arts Education;
Eric Booth, Actor;
Midori, Violinist;
Bau Graves, Executive director, Old Town School of Folk Music;
Kiff Gallagher, Founder & CEO of the Music National Service Initiative and MusicianCorps
Bennett Reimer, Founder of the Center for the Study of Education and the Musical Experience, author of A Philosophy of Music Education;
Edward Pauly, the director of research and evaluation at The Wallace Foundation;
Moy Eng, Program Director of the Performing Arts Program at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation;
John Rockwell, critic;
Susan Sclafani, Managing Director, Chartwell Education Group;
Jane Remer, Author, Educator, Researcher
Michael Hinojosa, General Superintendent, Dallas Independent School District
Peter Sellars, director
(Richard Kessler, one of the contributors, writes an arts education blog titled “Dewey21C”, also hosted on ArtsJournal.)
It’s worth the time to read through the various debate posts. After reflecting on the debate or any of the individual posts why not continue the dialogue, here, there, on your own blog, or in your own schools/classrooms?