It's National Arts in Education Week!

National Arts in Education Week is September 8th-14th!

Here's a message from Sandra Ruppert, Arts Education Partnership (AEP) Director, in regard to National Arts in Education Week:

In July 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution #275 designating the second week of September as “Arts in Education Week.” The resolution states, in part: "[...] Arts education, comprising a rich array of disciplines including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject." 

Since that time, arts education has been the subject of news stories across the nation featuring both the opportunities and the obstacles to ensuring the arts are an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.

AEP recently asked a group of leaders in arts and education to share their thoughts on "What story about the arts in education still needs to be told?" You’ll find their candid, insightful, and eloquent responses on AEP's National Arts in Education Week Webpage.

It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story, according to an ancient Native American saying. Let’s make our collective voices heard. Add your voice to the stories that still need to be told about the arts in education and post it to our Facebook page or share it in an email.

Thank you for the extraordinary work that you all do every day on behalf of our nation’s young people. We join you in celebrating the power of the arts in education.

More Arts Education Resources from the AEP :

• What School Leaders Can do to Increase Arts Education (2011): As the top building-level leaders, school principals play a key role in ensuring every student receives a high-quality arts education as part of a complete education. This brochure-length guide, prepared by AEP with support from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) offers three concrete actions—supported by low-cost or no-cost strategies—school principals can take to increase arts education in their schools. (Download the PDF)
• Preparing Students for the Next America (2013): AEP’s latest research bulletin offers a snapshot of how the arts support achievement in school, bolster skills demanded of a 21st century workforce, and enrich the lives of young people and communities. It draws on the research in AEP’s ArtsEdSearch.org, the nation’s first clearinghouse of research on the impact of arts education on students and their school communities. (Download the PDF)
• New Opportunities for Interest-Driven Arts Learning in a Digital Age, The Wallace Foundation (2013): This report delves into “interest-driven arts learning,” that is, exploration of the arts that emerges from children’s and teens’ own creative passions. The report identifies challenges and offers suggestions for future research, practice, and policy that build on current knowledge about interest-driven arts learning to enable more youth, particularly disadvantaged youth, to participate in the arts. (Download the full report)
• Six Reasons That the Arts are the Ideal Vehicle to Teach 21st Century Skills (2013): Americans for the Arts (AFTA) Artsblog post by Lisa Phillips, CEO of Canada's Academy of Stage and Studio Arts shares how the arts offer an untapped opportunity to catapult 21st century students toward achieving their goals in life.