May is Arts Education Month in Washington state. Together with ArtsEd Washington, we invite you to join the statewide campaign celebrating and promoting arts education. Read Mayor Mike McGinn’s proclamation in support of Arts Education Month. And check out ArtsEd Washington’s suggestions on how you can get involved and their Arts Education Month toolkit to learn more about the issues.
Through our Arts Education Partnership with Seattle Public Schools, we are working to give students in all schools an arts education that prepares them for success in school and in life. In March, we hosted a series of five community meetings in partnership with the school district with the goal of creating a comprehensive, multi-year, district-wide K-12 Arts Plan. More than 250 people attended and gave input on the Arts Plan. The school district will compile the results in a report to be released later this month. We will partner with the district to host follow-up meetings in the fall and continue to provide updates on the status of the Arts Plan. Stay tuned.
We’re also partnering with the Washington State Arts Commission (WSAC) on their Roster of Teaching Artists. The roster identifies and promotes experienced teaching artists in all disciplines who are qualified to work in K-12 public schools in Washington state. The roster is open to artists residing in Washington state, or who reside in Oregon or Idaho but live within 60 miles of a Washington-state public school.
Applications for the roster are now open with a deadline of June 11. Applicants will be notified of their application status by September. Download the roster application guidelines and forms. For more information, contact Lisa Jaret, WSAC Arts in Education program manager, (360) 586-2418.
Check out WSAC’s current roster. We will link to the updated roster, once available, on our website.
And finally, at the 2012 Arts Education Forum in February, hosted by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Seattle Arts Commission and the school district, community members spoke about what arts education means to them. Watch this video to hear what they had to say.