Last night, I went to a Town Meeting held by Brian Osborne, Superintendent of the School District of South Orange and Maplewood (New Jersey). South Orange and Maplewood are about 40 minutes outside of Manhattan, sort of average suburbs, with unusually diverse demographics. Mr. Osborne was providing his vision for the elementary schools in the district. My daughter Sophie, is three and a half, and will be entering kindergarten the year after next, so I thought it would be a good idea to check out what the superintendent had to say.There were … [Read more...]

Hockey has its Mr. Hockey®: Gordie Howe. Music has its Mr. Rock n Roll: Alan Freed. Television has its Mr. Television: Milton Berle.Arts Education has its Mr. Arts Education: Eric Booth.Eric has really gone and done it now--he's written what is essentially the big book of teaching artistry: The Music Teaching Artist's Bible--Becoming a Virtuoso EducatorClick here to read more about and purchase it.This was a great opportunity to pitch a few questions to my good friend Eric. Five questions plus a bonus question for good behavior: 1. What … [Read more...]

The future of music doesn't need a coalition, thank you, iTunes will do just fine. Actually, it's not just iTunes, it's Garageband (apple again!), YouTube, iVideosongs.com, and even Amazon.com.And, even in a recession, guitar sales are up 3%. Click here to read: Apple Makes Online Music Lessons Easy with GarageBand, USA Today."Apple's high profile -- and heavy promotion of the video lessons within its 250 retail stores -- brings the idea of learning music online to higher prominence. "It's a fantastic idea, and I hope they do more," says … [Read more...]

There is now an official government website for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (complete with a terrible photo of President Obama):Click here to access it.The USDOE has also unvieled a section on its website to explain the education portion of the Act. Click here to access it.The web resources here provide state-by-state estimates on the various allocations by category, such as Title I. Speaking of Title I, that may be another area that can help support arts education in the schools. Use varies by state, but in many places Title I … [Read more...]

Okay, by now, if you haven't heard about the passage and signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, there's no hope for you at all.While the arts field is focused on the $50 million allocated to the National Endowment for the Arts, including the efforts necessary to secure, and subsequent questions about the future of arts advocacy (click here to read Greg Sandow's column in the Wall Street Journal: The Arts Need Better Arguments), I remain focused on the education portion of the stimulus package.Simple math: $50 million for … [Read more...]

In case you haven't already heard, there is a groundbreaking research project underway called the Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP). (Yes, that's correct: TARP! The government clearly saw a good acronym when they created the other TARP, which is not as good a project).TARP is the first national study to examine the world and work of teaching artists. The goal of TARP is to "deepen our understanding of the lives and work of teaching artists through studies in 12 communities, and it will inform policy decisions designed to make their work … [Read more...]

Click here to read the announcement by Rep. George Miller (D-CA)"With the arts and music among the many industries being hit hard in economic downturn, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today announced plans to hold a series of hearings this Spring to examine how the arts benefit the nation's economy and schools - and what can be done to improve support for the arts and music fields. " … [Read more...]

Update as of February 12th: I will try to get you an analysis of the education portion of the stimulus bill which was settled after House, Senate, and Obama administration officials reached agreement last night. This paves the way for Congress to take this up by the end of the week.And the arts sector was worried about a measly $50 million to the NEA.Here ya go, details on what the Senate and House bills contain for the Education portion of the Stimulus Bill. There's a lot here, and hopefully, fingers crossed, a lot that could help arts … [Read more...]

I am thrilled to welcome to Dewey21C my newest guest blogger: Jane Remer. Jane has been a force in arts education for quite some time. Her knowledge, incisive mind, and take no prisoner attitude will undoubtedly make for a great guest blog. Who knows, if Jane likes it, maybe she'll decide to open up her own regular blog on Artsjournal.com.Richard************************************************************************************************************Introduction: This is my first entry as a guest blogger on Richard Kessler's Dewey 21C site at … [Read more...]

Understandably, much of the focus in the arts world is on the "arts" section of the stimulus bill, including the $50 million item for the National Endowment for the Arts. However, there's an whole other side to this, to be found in the education portion of the package, which I am afraid for the moment doesn't look very good. The bad news is this: the Senate version of the "compromise" bill to be voted this week by the Congress slashes $40 billion, or 23% from the funding designed to help states avoid drastic education cuts and teacher layoffs , … [Read more...]