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The next in our Finding Solutions series explores arts in education. Watch the Oregon Art Beat special "Teaching Creativity: Is Art the Answer?" on OPB TV Thursday May 27th at 8 pm, or check out the video and a collection of art resources here on the web anytime. Then continue the conversation with Think Out Loud.
Public schools in Oregon — and the rest of the nation — have been dealing with shrinking budgets and the simultaneous burden of focusing on government-mandated testing. Many schools have had little choice over time but to cut back or eliminate classes in visual art, music, theatre and dance. Arts education advocates say art is not just extra budget fat, but an integral part of the human experience that helps kids' brains develop, stimulates critical thinking and can be an effective way to help students engage with academic subjects as well. We'll hear about different approaches to getting K-12 students access to arts, and we'd also like to hear your experience.
Did you have visual art classes, music, dance or theatre when you were going to school? How did exposure to the arts - or the lack of it - influence you, then and now? Do children you know experience art in school now? What about outside school? Is important is it for all Oregon students to be able access the arts? Why? Is it possible? How?
Photo credit: Mike Rosati Photography / Creative Commons
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Having participated in four years of marching band and orchestra in high school I can vouch for the fact that it isn't "serious music". Those kids who truly took their music seriously took private lessons... class was for the rest of us that liked to play music.
As to music's influence on math and science scores... there are acknowledged links between math, code-breaking and musical apptitude... but what finally brought me from a 'C' math student to an 'A' math student was the amazing calculus instructor I had freshman year in college.
I'd like my son to have the option to pursue interests in the arts while in public school... but I wouldn't prioritize it over a core curriculm heavy in math, science, reading/writing.
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A thought as you prepare for your art ed broadcast:
I predict you will be deluged by claims of benefits (all true in the eyes of the beholder) yet highly situational and often not replicable... and complaints about lackluster or non-existent social, economic, political or institutional support for the arts in education. That is the climate in which our real work takes place.
It it of no benefit for us to whine. Today, as I prepare to help an arts education organzation grow here in Central Oregon, I am reading ARTS SURVIVE: A study of sustainability in arts education partnerships from a Harvard Project Zero research team. Their study reveals what goes on when an arts education partnership survives and thrives. Not every effort can or will survive. Their major findings serve as reminder that survival involves deep passion, relentless personal drive, expert leadership among all the other variables .
I hope your conversations will help listeners connect to research, projects, people and ideas they can use right now one person at a time to support the belief that all children, all people have a right to full development and access to the benefits and joys of the arts. One relationship at a time regardless of how much ISN'T happening.
Annie Painter
Former Principal and Multnomah County ESD arts specialist
Recently and Currently, national/regional art consultant/PSU grad instructor and proud OPB cornerstone member.
NOTE. THIS NOTE IS NOT INTENDED AS SOMETHING TO BE READ ON THE PROGRAM...JUST A RESOURCE SUGGESTION.
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Any thoughts on the impact of the "Maker" movement? Those of us that find creative outlet for ourselves and our kids through creative, fun and hopefully functional projects/activities at home?
I have a hard time making it a requirement to institutionalize the Arts and asserting that access is a right as once it's been processed and normed by any number of bureacracies as well as political reviews it often ends up a pale reflection of the spirit in which it was proposed.
Thank you... but I think that I'd like to take the development of my child's creative side and his engagement with the Arts as a personal challenge rather than a public one.
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All the discoveries, developments, and transformations throughout human history, are, really, what we could call 'art.' Even among the sciences, the revolutions result from creative thinking. The best mathematician, or physicist, is the one who is the most creative---the one who invents, and constructs new worlds. I don't know how important the teaching of 'art', as a discipline is, but, it certainly helps to compensate for the lack of creative discovery in other classes.
Art is, in a way, the actual doing or culmination of all the other fields. It is where the student gets to tinker and build upon the foundations of their education. The core educational basics of all the other classes are really a toolbox to give the student what he/she needs to create a life. Art is using that toolbox to create a new domain, a new cosmos. It is where the student moves from pawn to player. For instance, you can of course learn English, but the real doing, the meat of it, occurs when you write creatively. It is when you take the foundations, the tools, and begin to compose with the language yourself. This process becomes your footprint and essence. The 'arts' are where the students get to realize what their education is all for. It is the part where they are able to leave something personal behind, an expression of who they are as a person. Art is the hopeful teaching of our human possibilities.
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I'm the Writers in the Schools program director for Literary Arts in Portland. Each year we place local professional writers in all the Portland Public High Schools and several of the alternative programs to serve approximately 1200 high school students with semester-long creative writing residencies. The residencies culminate in readings at bookstores, cafes and libraries around the city, and a variety of publications: print and digital.
We also bring well-known writers to schools for Q&As with students; this year we brought Wally Lamb, Edwidge Danticat, Greg Mortensen, Jon Raymond, Lydia Davis, Phil Margolin, Gerardo Calderon, Michele Glazer, Ruth Reichl and Rigoberto Gonzalez to PPS high schools, serving approximately 1400 students. We're providing complimentary tickets and transportation for 100 bilingual students (from SEIS on the Roosevelt campus) to attend tonight's lecture by Isabelle Allende.
WITS models the writing life. In our evauations we hear again and again from teachers that working with a professional writer weekly for an entire semester helps students become more confident, willing and competent writers, and that students are better prepared to engage in the full process of writing: brainstorming, writing, revising, editing and publication.
Our writers teach writing across the disciplines; this year we worked in English, English Language Learning, Global Studies, Creative Writing, Modern World History, Art History, Digital Publishing, US History, Multicultural Literature, Spanish for Native Speakers, Linguistics/Social Studies, Freshman Success, and Study Skills classes. We often work in science, math and art classes as well. We see this work as essential for preparing students for college, where they will be asked to write in every class they take.
Finally, WITS strives to connect high school writers to Portland's larger literary and arts community, through our work with TriMet/Poetry in Motion, Powell's, Wordstock, Glimmer Train, Tin House, The Burnside Review, the IPRC, the Portland Art Museum, and Marylhurst's summer art and writing program for teens, show:tell.
Find out more about WITS at www.literary-arts.org
The WITS blog w.o.o.t.s can be found at www.witspdx.com
Best,
Mary Rechner
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Why does Writers in the Schools stop at the Portland border?
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Writers in the Schools (WITS) does not end at the Portland border, though we do have a long term relationship with Portland Public Schools, which has often struggled to fund arts programming.
Three years ago Literary Arts developed the "WITS Summit" which convened literary organizations from around the state (such as the Young Writers Association in Eugene, the Gorge Writiing Project, and Salem Art Association) to help them develop and grow their own writers in the schools program specifically designed to serve their communities.
The WITS Summit convenes yearly; for more information, please feel free to email me at mary@literary-arts.org.
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The necessity of the arts resides in their unique capacity to encourage recognition of collective identity by disclosing shared human values through renewed acts of communication. As such they enable us to represent community, over and over; they embody it and keep our sense of it alive.
Unlike mathematical and empirical forms of knowledge that engage with explicit number and explicit fact, respectively, the arts employ metaphorical thinking. Metaphor addresses what human experience 'is like', in order to share that revelation with others. We fashion these likeness in the stuff of the world, material, matter, and gather around the artifacts we make as communities. We learn human values by the combination of action and representation, doing the right thing and telling others about it.
Metaphorical thinking (art) is a vital component in sustaining any sense of the common good. The notion that art would not be a central dimension of the education of kids, alongside the other forms of learning (not instead of), does damage to these kids' potential to contribute meaningfully to collective identity, leading, inevitably, to alienation.
Art is not a luxury. It offers nourishment unobtainable from the presumed staples of math and science. I applaud Buckman and da Vinci for their perseverance and for insisting on the arts in a context of academic achievement.
Thanks for hosting the discussion of this important issue.
Clive Knights, Professor of Architecture, PSU
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I think those of us who were lucky enough to grow up acting, singing, playing instruments, dancing and painting as part of early school cirriculum are taught after high school to seek degrees in things that "matter" (accounting, business, etc.). I can't think of many parents who encouraged their children to get a liberal arts degree, even my own parents!
Into our later years, even if the arts is a passion, we may not have time due to work obligations or family. And in our advanced years, chances are good we left the arts long ago never to return ... even if the arts was once a passion.
Reseach shows the arts is actually good for us even into our advanced adult years. For example, studies have been done that prove (without question) that acting -- rememberring lines -- staves off the affects of dementia. More than that, the arts gives us a sense of purpose after we retire; it makes us feel good. And that sense of purpose also increases our longevity and that "feeling good" increases our health (including our mental health).
Tami Matthews, Life by Design NW (BA in English)
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I work for a local arts NPO that focuses on creating access to the arts of children. A lot of our work is focused on bringing the arts in schools that have been forced to cut funding for arts programs and materials.
Before I say a few words on the importance of the arts in education and the current predicament we find ourselves in, it's worth noting that the arts facing a crisis in funding and proving their worth is pretty par for the course in the arts world. Growing up in the Midwest 10 years ago, our high school arts programs were all threatened with cuts (one relatively difficult year the orchestra program was suspended while the high school spend >$100k in automated garbage cans for the cafeteria). Arts education is tough and robust - it is very used to going with the ups and downs of the economy, as it always seems the first to be in peril. This is because art is so deeply embedded in who we are as humans and a society that it can weather the most perfect of storms. With that caveat, however, there are things unique about the current situation we face.
What a great deal of the population doesn't realize is that art is really what drives our culture and our economy. Not necessarily art as an esoteric medium of expression, such as the symphony or the ballet, but as the urge to innovate and to create that manifests itself in everything from innovative policy to novel urban planning solutions to major advances in technology. We have an unfortunate tendency in this culture to think of "arts education" as some sort of isolated track in our school systems; hence the cyclical cuts to arts ed funding. In reality, the arts are a way, a means of learning subjects and mastering skills across the curriculum. Research showing the benefits of the arts in literacy and mathematics competency is ubiquitous and definitive - but the arts go far beyond simply aiding in learning the systems, processes and facts of math, english and science. The arts help children to discover and understand - and to then internalize and express their ideas about subjects across the curriculum. Practicing the arts is as much about acquiring critical and abstract thinking skills, learning to express yourself, solving problems and working together as it is about making aesthetic objects. Through art we learn what learning is and how to learn.
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Language, science and art share a common origin. The ancestor of Cuneiform and Native American petroglyphs is art. Speaking and the phonetics of language emerged from ancient singing. Many Greek philosophers ascribed to the idea that the beauty - indeed the aesthetic beauty - of the earth was based in mathematical elegance. Greek statues reflect this. As Hegel posits, these statues weren't created as the museum prisoners they are today: they embodied a certain worldview and played an important role in religious, public and scientific life. The correlation between the evolution of science and human knowledge and the evolution of art is not mere coincidence; art and science, in learning, in practice, in research are intricately and symbiotically connected. It's become something of (unfortunately) a platitude - but music is a manifestation of complex mathematics, physics and acoustics. Painting and sculpture are expressions of optics, chemistry. That these mediums also have the ability to elicit and express complex human emotions, comment on difficult cultural issues and reveal mysteries of the human condition is simply a beautiful icing on a very academic cake.
We no longer live in a society of artists and non-artists. Art and creativity plays a vital role in professions ranging from law to politics to business to technology. Creating smart phone applications or designing eco-efficient transportation are creative endeavors - they just require a different set of technical skills to create than, say, the technique needed to play a piano concerto or write a novel. The world is changing at an exponential rate; the future and the myriad problems and challenges it surely holds will require creativity, ingenuity and a capacity to think beyond spread sheets. Global warming, the economic crisis, military violence, third world development - all of these problems will require extremely creative solutions. A great deal of insight can be gained from information - but what to do with information, how to use to improve civilization and leave the world better than one finds it requires a deeply-rooted (cognitively) capacity for creativity. Leaving art out of the public school system would be leaving the generations that will inherit this city would be a tremendous tragedy for the future and sustainability of Portland.
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Ok, so I've said a lot about how important creativity and the arts are to the mechanics of a functioning society. And indeed this is the focus when attention turns towards funding for the arts. But there is something to be said for the importance of l'art pour l'art. Part of what makes Portland so awesome is the ubiquitous art culture here. From the walls of every coffee shop, to the stages of every hipster bar, to the stages of the big theatres, Portland enjoys a rich culture of quality art by local artists. It's part not only of what makes Portland the unique municipality it is but also what gives an otherwise monotonous existence meaning, intrigue, interest. In addition to public figures and the like having the cognitive capacity for solving problems in creative and novel ways, we're also going to want our fair share of beauty makers.
So the question remains - why leave art in the schools? Well, unfortunately for most students it's simply the only place they have access to it. Art has been shown to dramatically lessen the academic achievement gap between children of different socio-economic groups, and so it is so often that the children who would benefit most from arts education in school are often the first to be forced to go without, while students in private schools enjoy the arts activities that will inevitably enable them to succeed academically, attend good colleges, become involved and self sustaining citizens. Ubiquitous arts education - arts integration into the curricula of every public school - is one major step to ending this cycle of correlative inherited wealth and success in life. There are groups in town, including the NPO I work for, that try to bring arts education to schools that have removed the arts from curricula, that try to create access to the arts for children who otherwise don't have access to creative experiences. But our resources are limited.
Sorry, this was a bit rambling. But this is a very important and misunderstood issue - and I'm grateful that it is being addressed. Thank you.
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It is very important for art and music classes like that in school. It helps children to dream and have creativity. If there is no art in school then we might not have all the great artists, singers, song that we know and love today. These classes let kids get their "feet wet" to see if they want to continue doing art in their life. I learned how to write poems in one of my art class and I think it made it so that I love the writen word and it helped me in all my future studies and help my grades in school. Plus it has helped my jobs that I have chosen to do.
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I encourage parents to help their kids be creative especially if formal art classes aren't available. Art is an important means of self discovery and it shouldn't be taught as if it were mathematics. I've taken art and music classes in college and privately, but I've gotten even more mileage when I'm creative because I'm internally compelled.
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There are several community music groups (that I know about) - The Beaverton Community Band, the Tualatin Valley Community band, the Get a Life Marching Band, the One More Time Around Marching Band. There are also the Portland Area Casual Jams meetup, and the Portland Area Blues Jam meetup, which are less formal than the other groups I mentioned.
Some of these groups are open to all ages. I expect that if/when music programs are cut in the schools, community organizations will form to fill in the need.
In the meantime, let's not forget that parents are still the biggest influence on the things their kids do. Even if you can't afford pro music lessons, don't you know someone (yourself perhsp) who can teach the basics of music on an instrument? Can you get several families together to pitch in and pay for group lessons with a teacher? Maybe throw in with some homeschoolers?
There are lots of good books, CDs, and online videos to help beginners, even if you can't find a teacher.
It's great that we have institutions to make these kinds of things available to students, but it isn't all or nothing - we can support the arts outside of the institutions. Portland (and surrounding areas) has a lot of talent and skill - why can't we come together as community and support the things we value?
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This show asks an important question. Is Art the Answer?
I believe that children need the outlit art can provide. I especially see the benefits of the performing arts in that students have the experience of being in the art and putting themselves "out there" and in the picture.
Music classes are important opportunities for children to learn self expression and find a potential lifelong activity. Many individuals continue performing well into their old age (subjective I know)
Music keeps the brain active. Singing, or playing an instrument can keep the elderly more socially functional. Starting early such as elementary age children can give them a head start toward living a longer and mentally healither life.
A huge part of the puzzle here is the creativeness of the teacher. For example when I was a child in elementary school the music specialist that came to my home room was not creative or interesting. Kids were actually turned off to music by his teaching. I did not try singing until I was in 8th grade and only because I was allowed to take a choir class and earn an Enghish credit. I then discovered how much fun singing can be when the teacher was good at relating to kids and making the experience enjoyable. A teacher can make the class work.
I can also share that entering middle school, I was one of the top math students and was assigned to the top math class. This teacher did not relate well to students. She had bad breath and leaned over our shoulders to talk to us. She was never able to explain to me how a letter can substitute for a number. I lost interst in math because I was unable to "get it."
I believe the teacher makes the difference in most all teaching situations. At least they have the ability to help the learner think in a critical way and perhaps cause more questions than answers. But this is good teaching.
I believe we need more of our brilliant, creative minds to choose music/art education rather than a major in math or science etc. The pay is not near the same as a doctor or engineer, but it is very fullfilling.
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There is a huge amount of value in encouraging children to take advantage of the opportunity to learn an artistic discipline. Our schools need to diversity and creativity that a certified arts specialist brings to a school building.
But another critical leg of the arts education tripod (which also includes arts specialists employed by schools and professional artists who proivide discreet residency opportunities by visiting classrooms) is the way teachers approach teaching.
How often do we hear "I don't have time to teach art?" This is a valid statement, with testing pressure and reduced contact hours per year. However, with training in arts integration, teachers have the opportunity to engage students in their own learning physically, emotionally, creativity and neurologically.
For a great portrait of the value of all three legs of the tripod, I recommend the Oregon Art Beat special airing on OPB tomorrow night at 8 pm, but available online now.
http://www.opb.org/teachingcreativity/
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Funding for Arts Education has always been a goal for me. Unfortunately, I've discovered that schools are not really interested in earning any $$ for it. I started the Sand in the City® contest in Portland 15 years ago. I thought this would be a great fund raiser for arts education in schools. I can't tell you how many schools I tried to talk with about hosting a fund raiser that would net $100,000+ on a weekend, and they are flat out NOT INTERESTED.
Some schools around the country have told me that its "Illegal" for them to do fund raising, or if they do it, it has to be through the Boosters Club, and all the $$ goes to Football.
They will sell cookie dough to milk $$ out of parents, but have no interest in actually doing an event that would expand their funding base.
Supposedly, Schools are to prepare students to be productive citizens. I.E. well fitting cogs in corporate machines. In other words JOBS.
Currently there is a system to take a kid from kindergarden to pro in sports. There are leagues, coaches, scholarships, etc.
There is nothing like that for arts. There are a few things for HS performance arts, (Music and Drama). Nothing for visual arts or design.(San Jose CA last year awarded more sports scholarships than the total number of visual arts scholarships in the country).
Now I'm not knocking sports. Sports keep a lot of kids in schools. But if you look at jobs and job skills, there are far more jobs that need Arts Skills that Sports Skills. And "Team Work" is not a sports skill, ask anyone thats done a play.
We've all suffered through bad design. Art skills are needed for everything from the car you drive to the menu at the restaurant. Tons of jobs need arts skills.
Maybe it's time for the schools to be open to earning some $$, and spending it on the skills that actually help the students get jobs.
Bert Adams
Sand in the City®
360-907-3658 cell
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After years of drastic cuts in funding, parents throughout Portland Public and Lake Oswego School Districts began the "Art Literacy Program", an arts education program developed and taught by parents.
How it works...the program manager(s) for each school creates art lessons and then provides all of the necessary supplies for the projects. There are lessons/kits (created in previous school years) that can be utilized that are stored at several of the local schools or new lessons can be created to fit the curriculum at the particular school. Our school PTA has a small budget to cover supply costs for our students.
All that is required of parents is to show up for an hour training by the program manager to experience how the children will be taught, and then lead the art lesson in the classroom as a parent-teacher. The program provides the kids an opportunity to experience art and learn about a variety of artists, and parents can see their child (and their classmates) come alive through art.
With all the necessary testing, rules and regulations that come with school, the Art Literacy Program provides a vital component in a child's personal growth--enabling them to learn how to "think outside the box" and the freedom to create. The children always smile when I cheerfully pronounce, "There are no rules!"
Feel free to contact me with any questions about the program,
Laura Taylor
Art Literacy Program Manager, Odyssey Program, Hayhurst Elementary, PPSD
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The Arts = creative problem solving and education from alternative perspectives. They teach us to think, make new connections, and new friends. Those classes are where we get to shout about who we are as teens (in a somewhat socially acceptable way). Where we learn to use color and tools with most impact as little kids. Where we literally hear our own voice. And where we get to use parts of ourselves, at all ages, that don’t often get tapped in other classes. The arts keep us connected and should be built in to the DNA of every school.
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I am an artist and a mother so I am pretty passionate about this topic ~ I think the arts are an indispensable part of a child's education and should be in the schools. My children are in public schools and I cringe every time I hear of more cuts to the arts. I have heard the many arguments of why it needs to be done, however I believe the arts offers so much to a child that is both tangible and intangible. Besides the proven facts that it helps math and science, I believe it helps the development of the whole child. The arts offers a place where a child can explore their imagination and find their passion, and not to be dramatic, this could save their life. I worked with troubled teens this past summer, teens that were struggling with drugs, high suicide rates and gang violence. I worked in a community center that involved them in creative projects ~ visual arts, poetry and dance. Besides just witnessing the positive effects that this environment had on the kids, one of the boys emphasized it. He explained that the ability to come and create something had replaced the desire to destroy ~ himself and his environment. It was a striking testimony in tough circumstances but it made me see the power of the arts. And I have observed many times how the arts has strengthened an elementary child’s sense of self. Lastly, I have been watching our school system become more and more test score focused and the children become more and more numb. The arts offer a place where the students can come back to life and think out of the box for awhile. peace
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Two summers ago I returned to China for a three-week visit to the city where my husband and I taught English in the late 1980s. Most of our Chinese friends are fellow educators and, over celebratory dishes of Sichuan-pepper fish, spicy mushroom soup, and platters of potstickers swimming in sauce, the conversation often turned to education in the United States. A number of our Chinese friends said they wished they could crack the secret of American ingenuity and creativity. Several of them had even traveled to the States in order to study our educational systems. Most of our friends had come to the conclusion that American freedom in the arts has a great deal to do with our exceptional ability to be creative as a people. They contrasted the Chinese system, in which students spend any art time they get--throughout their school years and even into college--copying the masters. The closer a Chinese student can get to cookie-cutter proximity to an original work of art, the better. Americans teach more freedom in art, even to children, my friends explained. They, as teachers, wanted to learn about this and understand it, and incorporate it into their lessons in Chinese schools.
What fools we would be to continue to chip away at our K-12 art, since it very likely is a wellspring of one of our greatest assets as a nation. People outside our country see the visual art, music, dance and drama still present in US schools as a valuable treasure. Why can't we?
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I am interested in ideas for HOW we keep the arts in schools, if we recognize that some schools have very active parent support with high capacity for fundraising, while other schools do not. Some buildings have principals with a personal committment to the arts, others do not. Some schools are located in areas rich in artistic oportunities, others are not. There is both a financial consideration (How do we sustainably fund arts programs in our schools) and an equity/access consideration (how do we make sure that all children have access to quality experiences?) Thoughts?
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Make it requirement that students take music-art PreK-12 and play an instrument all 12 yrs. Make it part of the teaching certificate so that the teacher in the classroom can teach the curriculum therefore you can't cut the arts.
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I was raised in New York City, where the Big A as well as my schools offered a plethora of art and music experiences . . . opera was a once-a-year field trip for me, grades 6-12. The Met. Imagine an experience like that in today's financially pressed schools. In Colorado, where I lived for many years before moving to Portland, my friends' children had what I would call adequate arts education in public schools. But, when I moved to Portland in the early 90s I was surprised at the almost total lack of arts education, unless offered in special magnet schools. When I asked about what I considered an incomplete curriculum, I was told that we were in a major tech-oriented corridor, with companies like Microsoft and Apple giving support to curricula that would supply future workers. Granted, the shrinking dollar has a lot to do with the trimming of arts courses and opportunities, but the business environment surely has its influence.
This is a sadness to me—the thought of proficient engineers and other tech grads who may never have been exposed to or inspired by various artists' and authors' expressions of reality. And, how sad, they may never become aware of their own proclivities for artistic expression. Without giving them a grounding in the arts and humanities, we are depriving our children of a full education, enriched and stimulated by the thoughts and experiences and dreams of others. And this will translate in how they perceive and deal with others throughout their lifetimes.
I think it is not just creativity we seek in a school curriculum, but the wisdom to apply it in all areas of life; a diverse education that includes the arts and humanities is vital. When the budgets get slashed, again and again . . . when not just a few states are considering cutting short our kids' pre-college educations by two or three years (!), a loud cry should go up to retain what is left of arts and humanities exposure in our public schools' curricula.
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There is too much of a dogmatic line separating the arts, not only in the curriculum of schools, but also in the world at large, from everything else. In many ways this line is held in check by both sides. Perhaps blurring this line would make the arts more palatable to the public at large. I am not talking about dumbing things down really, but, perhaps, making the arts a bit more accountable to our intelligence, and, a lot less accountable to our egos. It is not a surprise that many people think artists are arrogant, and the art world obnoxious, really, most are. Read many of the posts on this page, my own included, we really do elevate the arts, particularly the visual arts, to the level of a deity, in many ways we worship the arts. I think we should remove 'art' (particularly the fine arts) from its pedestal, because it doesn't entirely deserve to be on one, and expand its umbrella by teaching a more diverse curriculum that focuses less on art as human egoistic expression, and more on art and its principals of intellectual, not just aesthetic, creativity. And, really the only art that is generally taught, or that is perhaps even possible to teach, is craft. Art really is craft, craft we like---craft we've labeled with a gold star---even if it is far out and conceptual, it is still craft. You can read as many works on aesthetics as you like, but at the end of the day art is nothing more then human creations that we think are great! ----->
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Ok let's make the arts relevant.
I am a recently retired engineer and just comitted to tutor local high school students in next year's physics class.
Maybe we could make the arts more relevant if we could use musical teaching techniques to more efficiently teach wave concepts in high school physics.
I would like to express the physical laws of light, sound, and electricity using the musical concepts of music, and to do so in a creative way that entertains both musician and scientist.
Anyone got any ideas?
Dennis
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<---- The divide between design and art is bothersome, because design is 'art,' it just has a clear function, so its 'metaphysical' mystery is lost to practicality. It loses its mystique because you can actually use it, rather then just observe it. Art remains on its pedestal because it has few ties and no accountability, and its value is derived from the 'faith' people have in it. You can't argue aesthetics, it is always your word against mine, your level of taste versus my level of taste. So how can you teach art? What you actually end up teaching is technique, history and practicalities. Art class is often a workshop---and, how do you grade aesthetics? Often you just grade the effort or participation. You could say the same about physical education---how do you grade it, and really why would you? I think the objections to the funding of arts education lie around questions like these, even if they aren't verbalized. There is an inherent and perhaps valid objection to the teaching of something that can't be taught, and at the same time can't be graded, because the outcome is always a matter of opinion.
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I was a member of Mr. Baker's choir in the 1980's. I was also involved in orchestra in the from fourth grade until my freshman year in high school as well as some drama.
The education I received from the North Clackamas School district was excellent on all counts. I struggled with many of the traditional academic subjects during my schooling. Things improved during the last couple years of high school. Having orchestra and choir during those difficult times was wonderful.
I have sang in church choirs as an adult and even sang in a community choir while living in Japan (in Japanese) The training I recieved in Mr. Baker's Choir allowed me to enjoy the choirs and the directors saw the skills that I had and were impressed.
I homeschool my two children and try to allow space for the arts in their daily lives. I think it is so sad that kids today do not get the opprotunites my generation enjoyed. I am an avid reader, do enough math to function and love history and poltics. I recieved a great education even though I did spend almost five hours a week in choir and not in academic classes. I probably did much better in the academic classes because of the time in choir.
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Excellent show on teaching creativity!
I am a retired art teacher--and classroom teacher--. Hopefully your presentation will help to foster more "seeds" for art in all its forms.
The private schools still have their art/music teachers for the most part, but I feel for those children who are missing out on educating the right side of their brains.
Children are naturally motivated when it comes to art and I'm speaking to the visual arts but it may be true for all the others. In other subjects, I had to come up with a motivator, some involvement to draw in the student. Not so for art. They were always ready to pile in to whatever the task at hand was that day.
Keep up the good work.
sml
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I feel so thankful to have had the arts in my school growing up, due to the personal nature in which it affected me as a child. The 'arts' were my thing. I struggled with math, science, and reading, and I was certainly no good at sports. It was music and art class where I had fun, tried new things, and left feeling good about myself. Had I not had this outlet, I would've been entirely lost and discouraged at school. To have arts in an academic setting made me realize that my skills and talents were valued. This kept me confident and motivated at school.
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People who know more about this, probably have a term... but, there must be a difference between (and perhaps the value of) performance versus creation. Many 'arts' being taught are really performance, with the creativity occurring in your interpretation or 'expression' of what has already been created, designed, or composed. As much as it sounds elitist, and well it is, it is still important and relevant particularly when discussing education. Not sure what this difference means exactly, but it is there. Teaching a student the tools to compose music versus playing it, or to write a play versus acting in one, has to mean something, as far as educational value is concerned.
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Interesting that they NEVER cut sports programs or coaching positions. Why are sports programs immune from these cuts?
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Actually, P.E. is being cut from Beaverton schools. And in my college, several sports teams were cut as well. They are not immune. Sports are important, but IMHO not as important as the arts. People keep asking, "Okay, then what should we cut?" Education is one of those things that needs to be funded. I am happy to pay whatever it costs in taxes for a well-educated public. Nothing is optional when it comes to our future. We might need to re-think the structure, look at salaries of administration positions, but I'm not convinced that there's much waste going on even there. Education may be expensive, but ignorance is even more costly.
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In my district they are not immune. In the district where my children attend sports and activities have a heavy pay-to-play fee, $150 per sport $60 per activity. In the district where I teach the pay-to-play is lower, but the coaches volunteer.
It does not benefit us to point at each others' programs. It would better serve us to restructure our funding in such a way that we CAN have it all. Don't know what that would be.
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We have to have a paradigm shift when thinking about the arts in schools. We have to stop thinking about it as such a seperate curriculum. We need to train teachers to use the arts to enhance the "more academic" areas of the curriculum, like literacy and science. When children use the arts to learn, they develop important skills that go far beyond knowing facts.
We have a lot of problems that lie ahead for Portland and Oregon as a whole, and we're going to need creative people to solve them (to say nothing of creating beautiful artworks that help us transcend those problems).
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I find it interesting that Oregon chooses to promote skills in music over drawing, painting, and sculpture in the elementary schools. Our school district offers a music specialist k-6, but doesn't offer an "art" specialist, and I'm told this is the standard in Oregon. My children's elementary school teachers have done a fair job teaching "art" to my children, but it has been varied in content by and quality. I think a paid "art" teacher would unify early art curriculum and many, many children would thrive and have a very meaningful experience if offered art by a specialist once a week.
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What's really great about this conversation is that no one disagrees that art and art education is important to the lives of our children and our communities. This is a great place to start towards finding solutions to the problem.
Jerry Ketel
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Oregon Art Beat's "Teaching Creativity" program on May 27 was the best edition of the show I have watched. Highlighting the decline in arts curricula and use of creative teaching techniques in our era of standardized testing is an incredibly important topic. I was impressed that the teachers were forthright in their views, while the narration left the topic open for debate. In my view, arts and creativity (as well as physical education) should be on a par with all other disciplines. My participation in these areas as a child and young adult helped develop critical thinking skills and self esteem. Too often, there is an emphasis on competing with other countries in demonstrating our intellectual prowess. We should always emphasize a well-rounded development of our students, which will result in improved reading, writing, math and science performance.
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The evidence connecting arts to success in academics is unequivocal. It is ridiculous that we are still having that debate. A wonderful summary of the evidence can be found on the Americans for the Arts website.
A great resource for teachers interested in integrating more arts into their classroom curricula is ArtsEdge, a project of the Kennedy Center. Portland would also be a great pilot city for the Any Given Child program, a program that assesses a community's arts needs and how artists and arts groups can collaborate to deliver comprehensive arts education for the whole community.
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As a music education major, one of the ideals that drives me to teach music despite the lack of economic incentive is how the arts teaches children empathy. This is something that no other subject offers with the same substantial emotional connection.
Having grown up in the musically flourishing Salem-Keizer area, I received a unique perspective on how the arts can thrive with the right district and parent support. I am now student teaching in the drastically different environment of N. Portland, and I am more than ever convinced that arts education is something that needs to be preserved.
We must offer kids as many ways to express themselves as possible. -
My children attended Baker High School in rural Eastern Oregon. The theater arts program was amazing thanks to an awesome teacher, who is now retired, and has helped to create Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre in Baker City. My son took full advantage of the availability of the theater opportunities in Baker City, and grew beyond our wildest expectations. He will graduate from the University of Oregon June 13 with BA in theater. He is one of only 22 in the country that has been selected to intern with the Tony Award winning Actors Theatre of Louisville Kentucky.
The Arts are an avenue for success for many that do not fit in a left brained world. Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre is focusing on bringing acting opportunities to the youth in Baker City and beyond. The Elgin Opera House has experienced huge success in musical theater venues in the small town of Elgin, population approximately 1,900! Most of the small schools over there have no drama program. You should have had Lynne Burroughs from Baker City, or Terry Hale from the Elgin Opera House on your program. These are two people are really keeping the arts alive on the east side of the mountains in the face of huge cuts.
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There is a HUGE difference between arts integration (which many good and great teachers do anyway) and arts education, which is a prolonged, sequential study of an art. Arts integration allows children to demonstrate what they know in a creative way, or learn in a way that plays to their strengths. Arts education requires a specialist, and it is arts education: music lessons, art lessons, theater, dance, that studies show improve performance in academic curriculum. Arts integration should be in every school and classroom, as a way to create a differentiated classroom which can serve the needs of all children, but it is a FAR cry from true arts education, the discipline of which should be accessible to all children, just as physical education and sports should be available.
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Every year at my daughter's N.E. Portland K-8, the parents and community rely heavely on our auction to fund arts for the following year. We have been lucky the last couple of years, despite the recession to bring in large auction numbers. A large portion of the PTA budget goes toward the hiring of local "artists in residence" to come in to the school to teach short stints of anything from African Dance to Comic Book Illustration.
While I am thankful that my kids have been able to benifit from these programs, "fundraising" is not and should not be a viable and sustainable way to fund arts education. And on some level it should not be in the hands of a PTA.
There are studies that show that children who are exposed to music and arts regulurly score higher on standardized tests. The arts are not just important for "creativity"...music and the arts are good for the brain!
The arts should be federally funded in all public schools accross the country!
While I also love the "Run for the Arts" program in Oregon and S.W Washington which is another form of community fundraising for the arts.....my daughter asked a great question the other day...(she kinda hates running).."But Mommy, why do we have to RUN for the arts??!!"
She has a point!
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I live in the Hillsboro school district. Arts funding in the school has been minimized for more than a decade. Here are things that have worked:
Art literacy programs run by parent volunteers in the elementary schools. (This is great at certain schools, but not all. It depends on the level of parent involvement.)
Coordination between the part-time music and P.E. teachers for elementary school 'concerts'. I've seen those teachers work their hearts out to make great programs out of thin air.
Parent/Booster clubs that run fundraisers that pay for artist-in-residence programs or arts assemblies. (Again, this depends on the level of parent involvement for the schools. Examples are Lenox, Jackson, Imlay.)
Flexibility at the middle school level that allows occasional trade-off of P.E. for other 'art' electives for individual students.
Century HS music director Jim Dunlop runs an amazing evening music program for middle school band students all over the district. It's low-cost and involves high school students as mentors.
Things that need improvement:
Access to more art for all elementary students. Some teachers incorporate it as well as they can, but not all teachers have the apptitude to teach art as well as ALL the core elem. subjects, and none of them have enough time in the school day.
I have gained a deep appreciation for Oregon's elementary teachers while I volunteered for Art Literacy. Teaching a lesson (and getting it cleaned up) in one hour is very hard. It's even harder with large classes (25-32 kids). Every time we scheduled art literacy lessons, the teachers had to reschedule regular lessons. That's not easy with pressure to get all the kids performing at or above academic benchmarks.
Sandy
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"Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another's view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing a single world, our own, we see it multiply until we have before us as many worlds as there are original artists...And many centuries after their core, whether we call it Rembrandt or Vermeer, is extinguished, they continue to send us their special rays."
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French writer.
As a professional artist and educator, I know that art broadens and expands our understanding of the world. As a child who painfully struggled with math, it was art that helped me grasp the concepts. All children deserve and have a right to an rich art experience and education.
Rebecca Shapiro
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I think we need to be really careful using the argument that an arts education improves academic performance. This can't be the leading argument for keeping the arts in our public schools, because it perpetuates the idea that academics are more important than art, and art is only there as a support. The arts need to be valued on their own merits, and gain an equal footing with academics. Without art in our schools we are building the foundations for intellectually unhealthy citizens and communities.
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Our parents are our first teachers as artists, musicians and life learning of the arts-
Our father was an art major in the Portland Art Museum School in 1950 taking painting lessons from Louis Bunce and art history from Michael Russo, known famous Oregon Artists, a few years before we were born. Both of our parents performed, if only in subtle ways as artists daily in the house. My brother, sister and I were obviously influenced by our father sketching and painting and his historical scale model aviation hobby of building many of these models, so we too became art majors in some ways. He also played harmonica in the home. Our parents are our first teachers. I wanted to participate in more art classes in high school but a shortage of art teachers already in 1971 limited my art studies then at Parkrose High School.
Our father passed away a little over a week ago. As the eldest sibling who majored in art, photography after high school and self taught the science of astronomy, yet another influence of our father, I spoke of this at his eulogy a few days ago at the funeral. I went on to teach astronomy as a public outreach program that I initiated, yet my most recent endeavor is that of having my astronomy large sketch artwork shown in online venues such as NASA for the past several years. I receive emails from around the world from random viewers online asking me how I accomplish producing this realistic art. * See markseibold.com
As I hear Emily read a message from one about an example of bad school teachers, we cannot forget that our parents may have been our best teachers in life. Mark Seibold, Retired IT Tech, artist-astronomy educator, Portland, OR
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I may have forgotten to mention that I too sat for hours with our daughter, when only age 3 or 4 in showing her how to sketch, also allowing her much time for both her and my wife to observe celestial objects in the night through my telescopes. We kept our daughter engaged in meaningful activities, she was also quite diversified in many sports activities and other extra curricular interests aside from school- We never condoned television watching, actually avoiding it as much as possible. I have a broad interest in music, self taught in many instruments aside from taking clarinet in the 5th grade. As many commented here on air today, a concerted interest in music improves a student in many unforeseen ways.
My wife and I had our daughter privately tutored in classical violin for nearly ten years. She also had great grade school and high school orchestra teachers that inspired her. Many neighbors in our local neighborhood asked our daughter when she was only 14, to teach their children to play violin. She became a great asset to other children in the neighborhood, and she eventually went on to counsel troubled children and worked as a special education teacher at a local high school.
I believe that teaching may be mostly influenced by the schools and especially for those parents that may not have the schedules or abilities to teach academics well to their children, yet many children may also still learn as much from the parents if those parents use their best skills to influence their children from an early age.
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As long as the arts are thought of as something extra that is nice to add, we will have to fight for funding. My daughter said more than once that what she learned in band helped her get through her tough classes. She learned leadership, time management, discipline, and she learned that she does not live in a world of one. She has been a part of a winning program, and yes, it's fun to win. But it's even more fun to be a part of an effort that creates something that goes beyond human understanding. Our high school is looking for its third band director in as many years, because the job is too big for one person to do well. Until the football program, which serves a fraction of the numer of students served by the music programs, cuts all of its coaches except one, I will not be convinced that the arts are valued as much as sports in our district.
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The show hasn't even begun to touch on discussing the value of arts education. There were some fairly in-depth comments on this page from several people and they didn't really enter the discussion. It seems to focus primarily on 'expression'---which seems like a bothersome term, it implies kids clowning around in masks. Now apparently sports are also just as important. There has to be some distinction, doesn't there? Some hierarchy? Some discussion of what kind of arts might be useful and why? Is it the act of drawing something? Writing something? Playing something? Performing something? Creating something? Is it the thinking involved in creation? Is that thinking different from learning the practice and technique of performance? From the show I mostly get, and from some comments, that the arts are 'fun,' they seem like an escape from the rest of school. Is that why we value them? Not saying that use is entirely pointless---but, I feel like we don't even have a handle on what we are talking about, the conversation is so loose---I can't imagine a public bureaucracy will ever be able to get it 'right.'
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In fairness, perhaps it is too much to tackle on a show...
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I know this discussion is focused on arts education statewide, but my comment is specific to Portland Public Schools - I hope that's alright.
PPS seems to have history of closing or threatening to close successful schools (Edwards Elementary, Hollyrood Elementary) while throwing money at struggling schools which never seem to regain their footing. They seem to be at it again with their current plan to close Benson High School while allowing Roosevelt and Jefferson to remain open, at enrollment levels well beyond those at the remaining PPS high schools. I don't understand this thinking.
Benson High School, which serves a very diverse student body (a large percentage of which are kids for whom Jefferson and Roosevelt are their neighborhood schools.) Their graduation rate is rivaled only by that of Lincoln High School. The program is clearly working, so why is altering it even a discussion.
To me, what makes most sense is to focus on what schools do well. In the case of Jefferson, what that school is best known for is their Jefferson Dancers program. Why isn't PPS building on that success?
The City of Portland has long claimed to support the arts and crave members of the "creative class" as residents. Why aren't we creating this creative class here at home rather than luring others from out of state.
We have a strong arts curriculum at Buckman Elementary and and DaVinci Middle School - but then where do those kids go?
Close Roosevelt. Take the money that would have gone to Roosevelt and pump it into Jefferson. Make Jefferson an arts-focused high school - fine arts, performing arts and allied arts - art, music, drama, dance, graphic design, interior design, etc. That's the way to make Jefferson thrive.
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Arts education has is unique because it requires the use of personal vioce in a way that math and science do not. According to the National Endowment for the Arts this translates into problem solving skills, decision making and team work skills. Perhaps most importantly, resech shows that performing and visual arts education help to teach critical thinking skills that are essental for creating the free thinkers of our future.
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I was glad to hear the comment from the physicist at the end of the program, talking about linking the arts to other disciplines. Because while the link between the arts and our underserved students (at-risk kids, ELL students, etc) cannot be overstated, the fact that learning through the arts is absolutely relevant in preparing for today's (and tomorrow's) work force was barely touched on.
In my own job with The Right Brain Initiative as well as in my work history with Portland non-profits like the Portland Art Museum, Blue Sky Gallery and Artists Repertory Theater, it's my art training that I call on as much as my reading, writing and math knowledge. This is not unique in our current working culture. The fact is, the work force is requiring creative problem solving and thinking now more than ever. Training our students in the arts gives them the skills to look at problems in new ways and come up with ideas that go beyond the norm. As our world gets more and more complicated, this skill is essential.
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I am a Portland Public School parent and a music educator. At my son's school, Jackson Middle School, the award winning choir program is being cut to half time (slated even before the drastic cuts announced in our State this week). Our community fully supports the arts - we are a Bernstein Artful Learning school which is a philosophy that the arts should be used to teach all subjects. Our teachers are trained and gifted at doing just that. But the Bernstein program relies significantly on the elective arts (choir, band, drama, visual art, shop). This cut in choir threatens our school's ability to maintain not only the choir program, but the after school select ensemble (that continues to bring in National awards) and our spring musical. This is not just a threat to our choir but a threat to all of our arts. Parents have been scrambling in our community and have launched a fundraising campaign to protect the Arts at Jackson and restore the choir program, called "The Beat is On!" We must raise $22,000 to buy back a quarter of the cut. (Fully funding =$45,000), and we are on well on our way. Arts advocacy is so important but the real problem is State funding. We must demand that our State adequately fund education.
Karin Chesnutt
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My name is Angelle Soans. Beth Basile & I have had the pleasure of teaching art at Nehalem Elementary School over the past 2 years.
Due to cuts in funding and increases in "academic/linear" requirements on teachers the arts were lost. A group of dedicated & able volunteers reintroduced an art program with extraordinary results. The children NEED the outlet for their creative expression, ideas & emotions...especially when things might be more stressful at home because of our struggling economy. We were able to hang a stunning 1,000 piece art show. The fifth graders, that will be moving on to a new educational environment next year, were able to help hang the show & see what goes on behind the scenes to put a show together. There is a new appreciation for the thought & effort that goes into organizing a large scale exhibit and the impact that it can have on others. It has been an honor to participate in the creative evolution & revelations within each & every student. -
For those interested in continuing these threads--about the value of the arts in children's education and creative ways to keep them strong--I suggest the Oregon Arts Commission's online forum. These conversations are critical to connecting our statewide community.
www.oregonartscommission.org/oaec
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I totally agree! What is so energizing about this public dialogue is that we are seeing the many approaches to addressing the challenges of maintaining creative learning opportunities for students across Oregon. Thank you OPB!
Let's not allow the discussion die. The Oregon Arts Commission's annual Arts Education Congress held in the fall is another opportunity to keep the conversation going. In the meantime, consider attending Imagine This! - a 3-day summer seminar hosted by The Right Brain Initiative - to gain new insights into the field of arts education.
Imagine This: A Seminar on Bringing Creativity to Classrooms
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Comments are now closed.
Tonight (April 27) there's a meeting in which the Beaverton School District is considering cutting its ENTIRE orchestra program. Obviously, the BPSD believes the value of arts education isn't terribly high, or they wouldn't even put it on the chopping block.
Please tell me what parents who can't afford $500+/year for private lessons are supposed to do if they want their kids to learn serious music?
We've all seen the studies proving that students perform better in math and science if they also study music. (I'm happy to provide links to those who need them.) Good gracious, don't the schools WANT children to succeed?