Workshops from Seattle Public Schools’ School and Community Partnership department

October 2, 2015 by Erika Lindsay Leave a Comment

The Seattle Public Schools’ School and Community Partnership department, which is committed to building the capacity of community based organizations partnership with schools, has launched a Professional Development calendar for Education Partners.

First graders in Christine Patrick’s class at Bailey-Gatzert Elementary School study isopods – the ones known as potato bugs.

Events on the calendar are designed for community-based organization staff and volunteers, and other partners to help them align their work and authentically partner with Seattle Public Schools.

Please visit for more information, a detailed calendar and registration.

The next upcoming event:

Data Stewardship and Introduction to Analysis Tuesday, October 6, 10 a.m. John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence 2445 3rd Ave S (at Lander St), Seattle, WA 98134

If you weren’t able to attend the September training, fear not – you have another opportunity! This training is for anyone who is planning to or interested in receiving student-level data from SPS. It will cover FERPA regulations, SPS data stewardship best practices and scenarios, and the basics regarding analyzing data

SALT: Shaking Up the Arts Community

August 18, 2015 by Erika Lindsay Leave a Comment

On Monday, July 27, 80 artists, arts administrators, and arts admirers found refuge from the heat in the Frye Art Museum for the kick-off mixer of a new group – the Seattle Arts Leadership Team (SALT). I walked into the Frye café and joined the group of people circling around guest speakers Nancy Chang, director of Reel Grrls, and Lara Davis, Arts Education Manager at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

The program featured a series of stories from local arts leaders. Elisheba Johnson took us back to a time when she owned a small art gallery, years before she had considered herself an arts administrator. She spoke to the importance and power that lies in the hands of artists, and our opportunity to become change agents in our community – specifically in regards to social justice. Nancy’s words were a sigh of relief – quirky and full of female empowerment; they were a reminder to young artists that we are powerful, we are strange, and that we deserve to be heard. Lara’s audio piece featured several young children, one of whom really stuck with me – a young boy, maybe five years old, who talked about his experiences flying in his dreams. As his voice spilled through the room, I could feel that lightness in my stomach, and suddenly I wasn’t an arts administrator. I was a five year old girl wearing my favorite black wig and black tights – a silly feeling of childhood déjà vu that reminded me of my creative freedom. The nods that trickled around the circle, and the brightness and attention of the group, vividly captured the community and the resource that SALT can become.

After the program, folks divided up into three groups based on years of experience: 0-5, 5-10, and 10+. I joined the newbies, where about 30 of us began introductions by stating our names, organizations, and the flavor of ice cream that best describes us as people (the biggest challenge of my week). Green tea, salted caramel and cookies and cream began to tell stories about the personality of each arts leader in the room. For me, the “name game” usually triggers immediate and uncontrollable memory loss, but I wanted to listen to these people, and I wanted to know them. Writers, painters, musicians, art students; people working at small nonprofits, small arts orgs, large arts orgs– there was such an interesting pool of people I wanted to engage. Honestly, I felt intimidated, but as soon as the group dispersed, three people immediately rushed over to me to ask more about my position, and how they could collaborate with me in my work.

In the café, large sheets of paper were spread on the tables, and folks were encouraged to write their current art projects in need of support or volunteers. Projects like Girl Gods, Seattle Turkish Short Film Festival, Voices of the Aquarium, and Espacio de Arte were spread all over, and each had a spattering of blue and pink sticky notes of support. By the end of the mixer, every project had at least one volunteer (and some had 10+). I left the event feeling empowered and excited to join such a talented network of people within the Seattle arts community.

The mixer was the first of many SALT events this year. All emerging arts leaders are encouraged to join us Monday, September 28 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Frye Art Museum for the first program in the SALT speaker series. The book club will meet on October 19 from 6-7:30 p.m. We will be discussing “What We Made” by Tom Finkelpearl. RSVP for the book club here. For more information, visit the SALT website: SaltSeattle.org.

E-mail payton.bordley@seattle.gov if you would like to be added to the SALT mailing list.

Photos by Sunita Martini

The Creative Advantage School Partnership Summer Institute

August 11, 2015 by Erika Lindsay 1 Comment

Seattle Art Museum (Downtown)
1300 First Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
August 20, 2015; 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Register Now! http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/calendar/events?EventId=35411

We are excited to announce Gilda Sheppard as keynote speaker for the upcoming Creative Advantage School Partnership Summer Institute! This interactive one-day workshop invites participants to gain skills and knowledge applicable to their work with school partnerships. They will learn from local experts, see best practices in action, collaborate with their peers and get creative! This day will inspire and empower participants to help transform student learning through the arts.

Gilda Sheppard is an award winning filmmaker who has screened her documentary films throughout USA and internationally at the Berlin Germany International Black Film Festival and Fest Afrique 360 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Section. Gilda is a professor of sociology, cultural and media studies at The Evergreen State College in Tacoma, Washington. She has taught internationally in colleges and universities in Ghana, West Africa and is a volunteer Professor at Washington State Reformatory for Men and Women’s Correctional Center for Women. Her present documentary Swinging With No Hands is based on provocative and transformative stories from men and women in these two facilities. Gilda is co-editor for the anthology, Culturally Relevant Arts Education for Social Justice: A Way Out of No Way.

The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with Seattle Art Museum presents The Creative Advantage School Partnership Institute. The institute includes learning opportunities focused on – arts integration, equity in your practice, arts and socioemotional learning, growth mindset, and effective community building in the classroom.

If you are a current or aspiring teaching artist, arts or school administrator, certified teacher, or youth development worker, we invite you to attend. If you represent an organization, please also share with your teaching artist faculty and program staff.

Arts education focus: investment in the field

July 15, 2015 by Erika Lindsay Leave a Comment

“Change, true change, is a collective tidal wave made of many voices and multiple approaches.” Excerpted from Justice in Education.

Community Arts Partner Roster is growing

Chris Daigre dances with 1st and 4th grade students in the gym at Greenwood Elementary as part of physical education

This year the Creative Advantage Community Arts Partner Roster added 25 more teaching artists and organizations to our list growing list which encompasses 77 Seattle artists and arts organizations. The roster is a vetted list of teaching artists and community arts and culture organizations that have been approved to work in Seattle Public Schools through the Creative Advantage. The roster is also a community resource that is available for schools, community agencies and other public and private entities which use it to seek partners to lead creative learning opportunities for their programs.

Creative Youth Development Summit a success

Something to Say: Creative Youth Development Summit was a powerful convening of youth arts and community program leaders that took place at the Seattle Central Library on June 5, 2015. Youth development directors, teachers, managers and supervisors gathered for a day of interactive exploration led by Denise Montgomery, a national expert on creative youth development. The summit lived up to its creative name with teaching artists leading a variety of activities in in visual art, theatre arts, and creative writing. The activities allowed participants to experientially and creatively reflect and engage in art making practices to expand their perspectives on how to incorporate creativity in their own practice and programs. The summit planning committee included staff from – Arts Corps, Office of Arts & Culture, School’s Out Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Public Library, YMCA Powerful Schools, Youth Development Executives of King County.

Teaching Artist Guild launches national quarterly

The Creative Advantage is a member of the The National Guild for Community Arts Education. Here is a highlight from their most recent bulletin.

Teaching Artist Guild Launches National Quarterly

Teaching Artists Guild (TAG) – a professional membership-based organization dedicated to supporting teaching artistry – has released the first issue of a quarterly publication that will include interviews, in-depth features, business advice, upcoming events, field developments, and job opportunities. http://nationalguild.org/About/NewsEvents/News/Field-News/Teaching-Artists-Guild-Launches-TAG-Quarterly-Publ.aspx

Creative Advantage School Partnership Summer Institute
Seattle Art Museum
Aug 20, 2015; 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Register here!

Creative Advantage Workshop, Photo by Catherine Anstett

This interactive one-day workshop invites participants to gain skills and knowledge applicable to their work with Seattle Public School partnerships. Learn from local experts, see best practices in action, collaborate with your peers and get creative! This day will inspire and empower you to help transform student learning through the arts.

This workshop is free to participants and includes lunch and eight Washington State Clock Hours. Teaching artists, K-12 teachers, and arts education administrators are welcome to attend.

If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact: educatorprograms@seattleartmuseum.org.

The Creative Advantage out and about this summer:

Catch us if you can at on Saturday, July 18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Jubilee Days, between SW Roxbury St. and SW 112th St. on 16th Ave. SW and 17th Ave. SW.

or on Saturday, August 1 at Umoja Fest from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Judkins Park, 2150 S Norman St, Seattle.

Come say hi and learn more about the Creative Advantage.

Photo credits: Creative Youth Development Summit, by Jenny Crooks; Teaching Artist Guild publication; the Creative Advantage teacher workshop, photo by: Catherine Anstett; Jubilee Days.

Seattle Arts Leadership Team (SALT): Encouraging a community of collaboration

July 14, 2015 by Erika Lindsay 1 Comment

What is arts administration? I mean, I know what it is, but it’s more exciting than it sounds. Leaving art school I wanted to figure out how to make my art and make a living at the same time. Along the way I found that supporting artists and their work was just as fulfilling as it was to be a practicing artist.

To be an arts administrator you have to understand artists and be their advocate. You have to see the value of their practice reaching a broad audience and you have to be open to being moved by the creative and responsive things artists are doing. You are a bridge, a conduit, and a hustler.

Oh, by the way, did I say I am an artist? I say this because so many arts administrators are gallery owners who are artists, musicians who are promoters, dancers who have ballet schools and actors who run performance halls. Artists balance the creative aspect of their artistic practice while balancing a check book and writing grants. I want us to start talking about arts administration in a different way. To quote my friend Lara Davis, “It is really art facilitation.” Arts facilitators, whether new to the field, mid-career, or established could benefit from an incubator of sorts to learn how to better and grow the field. We also need to collectively decide what the Seattle “arts facilitation” field looks like. I joined the Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council because I was craving professional development that is engaging, responsive and collaborative. It is an incredible program that connects emerging and established leaders in the arts field all across the country so we can learn from each other, create connections and advance the arts in all of our communities.

It works on a national level and Seattle has one of the largest arts communities in this country. But we don’t have a place, program or organization that nurtures our arts advocates, which includes for-profit, non-profit, artists, administrators, leaders, you name it. There is a thirst for this kind of opportunity, which is why a small group of dedicated arts lovers are coming together to create SALT, Seattle Arts Leadership Team. We are just getting started, but we know we will grow. Everyone who is interested is welcome. SALT will be an amazing resource for Seattle art facilitators and it will also connect us more strongly to the regional and national emerging leaders communities in Portland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

At the first meeting Lara Davis, from the Office of Arts & Culture and Nancy Chang from Reel Grrls will invite us to answer the question “Why we do the work” on Monday, July 27, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Frye Art Museum, RSVP here. Come and enjoy some interesting conversation and help us create SALT from the ground up. The possibilities are endless.

Message from the director: Ringing in 2013

January 8, 2013 by Tamara Childress Leave a Comment

Randy Engstrom

As our office begins the new year, we are excited about our work plan for 2013. In October we launched a survey for all of our constituents. With more than 600 responses, our areas of focus were clearly defined. One of the top issues was a desire for an increased concentration on arts education. We have been working with Seattle Public Schools and dozens of community partners on an arts plan funded by the Wallace Foundation. Building on our partnership of more than five years with the district, the K-12 Arts Plan seeks to ensure two hours of arts education instruction for every student in every school—all 48,000 of them. We’ll begin implementing part of the plan in 2013, with our office acting as the connector between schools and community-based organizations, making partnerships more streamlined for both. We’re excited to be expanding our work in arts education, an area so crucial to the future of our industry.

Another area of focus that emerged was the issue of affordable cultural space. From the sale of the Oddfellows building in 2008 to loss of 619 Western last winter, Seattle’s cultural community has long sought a program that could help to preserve affordable spaces for artists and arts organizations. In 2013 we will be hiring a cultural space liaison, and working with the Seattle Arts Commission and 4Culture, will develop a cultural facilities program that can meet the needs of our community. Two specific areas of focus will be on match-making between available spaces and those who need it and technical assistance around land use, code, zoning and incentive polices. Stay tuned for the job opening coming this spring.

A third area of focus will be on professional development and capacity building for the arts and culture community. While our funding programs will continue (check out our 2013 funding deadlines here), we are also seeking new ways to support our community beyond grant-making. This could include supporting emerging leadership, finding ways to help mid-sized organizations, reaching out to rising public artists, and offering workshops on race and social justice, among other things. We will focus on technical assistance in 2013. Do you have ideas on what would be most useful? We’d love to hear it. Please drop me a line.

We are also excited to welcome a new branch of our office—the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI). This new name (formerly the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center) and new home are the beginning of a new movement. We look forward to supporting and amplifying LHPAI’s important programming, and also look forward to partnering with Langston Hughes staff, Seattle Arts Commissioners, and community stakeholders to develop an action plan that will ensure long-term sustainability. In the near-term, look for LHPAI’s new website to launch later this month.

It is sure to be a busy and exciting 2013, and we look forward to working with all of you! Thank you for your continued support and please stay in touch.

Best,

Randy Engstrom
Interim Director

Art Beat Blog Office of Arts & Culture