Today, The National Endowment for the Arts issues a statement about arts and the economic stimulus package.It's most interesting as it positions the Arts Endowment well as a mechanism for distributing funds. As most of you know, the House version of the package, which has already been passed, includes $50 million for the NEA over and above its baseline of funding.For the moment, this funding is not in the Senate version. … [Read more...]

If you believe that past is present, and that severe cuts to school budgets, combined with cuts from private funders, would deal a terrible blow to arts education, well then, it's important to take a look at the education portion of the stimulus plan, which I hear is changing by the day.At the moment, it appears that the education portion of the package will help save arts and other teachers from layoffs. The stimulus package on the education side may help save district arts administration positions, created arts spaces, pay for technology, and … [Read more...]

My friend Diane Ravitch, offers some advice for Arne Duncan in last week's Washington Post.No beating about the bush, Diane offers some straight up advice on what works and what doesn't, particularly in regards to NCLB and the USDOE.A refreshing opinion. Here's a little teaser: "You have a chance to make a historic difference by abolishing the No Child Left Behind legislation. Signed into law in 2002, this law has turned our schools into testing factories, narrowed the curriculum to the detriment of everything other than reading and math, and … [Read more...]

It's a bit tough to profess ambivalence at best, skepticism at worst, when so many people are clamoring for the creation of a cabinet-level position for the arts. A Secretary of the Arts, or a Secretary of Arts and Culture, etc., along with a new Federal Department to match the position.Historically, the creation of a new executive department within the Cabinet is a very, very big deal. It was a long time coming, for instance, for the creation of a Department of Education (1980). Not to mention a sizable number of people who fought it, and the … [Read more...]

On election day, I tapped Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring as my soundtrack for that moment.Today, without question, it's Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. And, as it turns out Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen felt the same way, performing it at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.This was a song they taught us in grade school. The schools taught it along with America The Beautiful, and all sorts of others.The version they taught us was not the original. The real heart of the song, the meaning of the song had been censored, and it wasn't … [Read more...]

I am a Mac Geek. I even have a t-shirt to prove it. And, naturally, along with that territory goes my disdain for PCs.Yesterday at a workshop presented by Chamber Music America, I heard from a woman at Wellesley College about a group of female students who compose music, either using Apple's Garage Band, or having learned to compose using Apple's Garage Band.I know, many will say that Garage Band can't teach you to compose. Depends on your definition of music composition. At any rate, a group of 15 woman composers is is something to take note … [Read more...]

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is a highly influential charter school operator, whose leaders have the ears of many key policy makers in education. The faculty of charter schools do not ordinarily belong to either the local AFT or NEA chapters, and of course, there are some exceptions, including charter schools created by local teachers unions. The absence of organized labor in the charter schools is one of the things that make them so very attractive to those who believe that the unions are the main problems with schools today. So, the … [Read more...]

There was an interesting piece in Education Week yesterday offering a dissenting viewpoint on the nomination of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. I guess it's becoming an old saw: those who believe in the free market as the solution to the challenges in public education, versus those who choose to approach change through a more traditional lens of teaching and learning. Nevertheless, the piece is worth the read, just to get a different opinion from the majority of what we're hearing about Duncan.Click here for the article.There's a piece … [Read more...]

If you're in the arts education field, then you know or know about my dear friend and colleague, Rob Horowitz. Rob's father, who was had a formidable career in music, passed away on December 26th. Here is a lovely obituary in The New York Times. Izzy was an record producer and classical music columnist for Billboard. He was head of A&R at Decca during the golden years. He produced the recordings that got the early music movement off the ground in the United States. He had the sort of career that doesn't exist anymore, when one considers … [Read more...]

In today's Wall Street Journal, NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and the Reverend Al Sharpton offer advice for President Elect Barack Obama.Their perscription:1. More charter schools2. National Standards3. Take Federal K-12 funding and put it towards merit pay. (Wave goodbye to Arts Education funding at USDOE.)4. Drop Union work rules.5. Expand and ensure arts education for all students (just kidding!! there's no number five--it was a Monday morning test!)What do you think?Click here for the article. … [Read more...]