Write

ARTS North Carolina encourages all arts advocates to write personal letters to all winners in the 2010 elections.  William Lewis, Executive Director of Pinecone, got right on it.  To follow is an excellent sample letter:

On behalf of PineCone - the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, Inc., and its Board of Directors, I would like to express my sincerest congratulations to you for winning your district! I am writing to pledge my support and share with you my belief that the arts are a viable solution for economic recovery. Simply put, arts = jobs!

According to a study in 2009 by the NC Department of Commerce’s Policy, Research, and Strategic Planning Division, the cultural industries contribute about 5% of North Carolina’s economy. This is evident in the following findings:

• Cultural industries create and sustain more than 293,000 jobs in North Carolina, or 5.54% of total state employment.

• The market value of goods and services produced and sustained by North Carolina cultural industries is more than $41.4 billion, or 5.86% of North Carolina’s total production.

• North Carolina’s cultural industries directly and indirectly account for 5.31% of the state’s gross domestic product with a contribution of more than $19.5 billion.

• Cultural industries sustain over $10 billion of employee compensation, greater than 4.9% of the state’s total wages and benefits.

A full report is enclosed.

Funding from the North Carolina Arts Council has been critical to the development of many of the state’s cultural organizations, helping to bring stability to our state’s arts community and providing leverage for groups to seek business, foundation, and other agency matching grants. Funding from the NC Arts Council is essential to PineCone’s general operations, as it helps pay for salaries for our two full-time and one part-time staff. Consequently, we are able to produce more than 150 music programs annually – serving more than 24,000 North Carolinians, plus an additional 4.5 million radio listeners.

We realize the difficulties facing the NC General Assembly in this next session. Thus, we ask you to consider those of us in the cultural industries as partners in finding creative solutions to job growth. As the numbers above bear out, the cultural industries make a significant contribution to North Carolina’s overall economy and employment. We are ready and willing to work with you to help provide solutions to several of your key challenges.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Bravo, William!

in other words...

in other words…

ARTS North Carolina has a lot to say about arts education. But we’re turning over the mic to our Board members who are Task Force members and others who attended the third Arts Education Comprehensive Plan Task Force on October 21. The draft work of the Task Force will be presented at the North Carolina State Board of Education meeting on November 3. You can and should attend the State Board meeting and the next Task Force meeting scheduled for November 10. Now read on for the reflections of arts leaders in North Carolina about the Task Force work…

As a neophyte about the complexities of the issues on the table, and as someone observing a limited portion of the process for the first time, I was impressed by how well task force members seemed to be working together to achieve results; by the breadth and depth of the task force’s inquiries (as demonstrated by reporting on additional requested information); and by the support of the North Carolina Arts Council’s staff. The imperative for success has certainly never been more clear in my own mind after listening to the passion, concerns, and aspirations of individuals representing educators, educational administrators, our communities, and the arts.
Merritt Vale, President and CEO, Winston Salem Symphony


I was very impressed with the work of the group. They arrived at a lot of consensus about the need for major changes in our schools, in order to do what's right for the children in our state. It was clear to me, and seemed to be clear to many of the task force members, that legislation will need to be introduced to implement these changes. I am hopeful that the members of Arts NC and NCTC will have an exciting bill to support in the next session.
Angie Hays, Executive Director, North Carolina Theatre Conference


What a daunting task and important task. I was only able to stay through the early portion of the meeting, but in that time was impressed with the careful thought of the members of the task force and encouraged by the dialogue that I was present to hear.
Sharon Moore, Director, Center Stage


It was great to see legislative work in progress. There were teachers, administrators, lawyers, legislators and others working together on the common goal of developing an arts education plan for all North Carolina students. Although they didn't always agree on 'how' an arts education plan will be implemented, they were in total agreement on 'why' the plan is essential and that vision keeps the Arts Education Task Force moving forward. Our state is blessed to have this level of leadership committed to our children's overall education.
Debbie Lumpkin, Executive Director, High Point Area Arts Council


I applaud the work of the Arts Education Task Force.  It was so encouraging to see this group, made up of professionals representing all sectors of the education community, unified behind the vision that the arts are essential to an education that will prepare our students for the new global, knowledge-based economy.
Catherine Heitz New, Director of Corporate and Workplace Giving at The Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County

I am impressed by the thoughtful questions the committee is asking but mostly I am absolutely thrilled that there is a room full of legislators, superintendents, principals and citizens who are seriously working to insure that every student in NC has high quality arts education in his/her school!

Judy Osborne, Theatre Arts Educator, Union Pines High School

From ARTS North Carolina's President...

The Arts Education Task Force met on October 5th for our second meeting, which included a presentation on A+ Schools programs. Committee member and Guilford County Schools principal Alan Parker stated, "In all my twenty-plus years of teaching and administrating, the three years I spent at Parkview A+ School were my most rewarding." 

Representative Becky Carney, a true champion for arts education in North Carolina's public schools, inspired the group when she said, "It is not the job of this Committee to determine whether we have arts education policy, it is our job to determine how we serve the children of North Carolina through arts education." 

The Task Force is working on a mission statement and will meet again on October 21. A report is due to the North Carolina General Assembly by December 1.

Pierce Egerton

ARTS North Carolina President and Arts Education Task Force Member

Counting the Days

The arts are an election issue.  At this critical moment in time, candidates are talking about jobs, the economy, values, and how to transform education.  North Carolina's creative industry is responsible for 300,000 jobs and $40+ billion in goods and services.  http://www.ncarts.org/elements/docs/NCCreativeIndustryContributionOverview.pdf. It's up to us to connect the dots.

The time to make a friend with people who hold the power to affect the arts is BEFORE the election.  With less than 28 days remaining, get engaged and act on your passion for the arts.

     Individuals can send contributions to their choice of candidates.
     Individuals can volunteer for the campaigns.
     Organizations and individuals can inform and engage
          Attend a rally or a forum
          Submit questions to websites conducting forums and to candidate websites.
          Write a letter to the editor

Most importantly, VOTE on NOVEMBER 2.  If you run an organization, give your staff an hour off and make a big deal to people around you encouraging them to vote. 

Arts Education Task Force Update

The Arts Education Comprehensive Plan Task Force met today in Raleigh for their first meeting and began the arduous task of creating a plan to address arts education needs in public schools K-12... by December 1. 

This message is being sent as a personal reflection from ARTS North Carolina staff and should not be read as formal minutes or as a definitive direction of the Committee. Any responses to this listserv message will be compiled and passed on to Committee leadership.

The five-hour meeting began with an overview of the Basic Education Plan, which was actually adopted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1984 with final revision in 1995. The BEP, if it had been funded, would have created a dynamic platform of creativity and progressive education in North Carolina. Arts education language is clear and directive in the BEP, which still remains a law in North Carolina. 

NCDPI also provided information on funding formulas and how money is allocated based on number of students and types of instruction.

The work of the Committee began in earnest in break-out sessions, and several themes emerged that will be addressed at future meetings: 

• Restoring and funding art education
• What exactly is a mandate?
• How would arts education be accountable?
• Who is teaching arts education: highly qualified licensed arts educators or classrooms teachers? What does this mean in actuality, and why is this question relevant?
• How can a comprehensive plan be sustained throughout a child's entire education, K-12?
• What is the role of our higher education system in training teachers and supporting arts education?
• How are different learning styles addressed through arts integration, specifically the A+ Schools program and any other national models?
• What are models of implementation, and how are districts that have requirements managing in today's economy?
• What are the benefits of arts education specifically related to drop-out rates and workforce preparedness, and how can they be articulated?
• How can arts education partner with STEM initiatives (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)? (One visionary Committee member clearly stated, "one will not work without the other".)

If you would like to see how these questions and powerful issues will be addressed by the Task Force, you can attend any of the meetings as an observer:

• October 5 – NC Archives and History – 10am - 3pm
• October 21 – NC Archives and History – 10am - 3pm
• November 10 – NCDPI – 10am - 3pm

Also, if you have not encouraged your candidates for North Carolina Senate and House to complete ARTS North Carolina's survey, please do so by directing candidates to: http://tiny.cc/election_survey.

85% of the 58 responses so far answered "yes" to this question: Will you support funding and legislation that make the arts part of the core curriculum and after-school learning opportunities?

The Old-Fashioned Way

Last Friday, ARTS North Carolina sent a Call to Action to activate our electronic program, Capwiz, so you could quickly e-mail candidates a request to complete our election survey. It didn't work. We learned with the first call about a problem that the data they use is from the 2000 Census.

On that same day, ARTS North Carolina staff and Board met with a high ranking Legislator who told us that our survey was very, very important. Not only will the candidates' responses be important in your decision to vote, but how they respond serves as a base line to begin conversations after the election.

We believe that your membership demonstrates an understanding of the importance of arts advocacy and that you will go the extra mile on this important survey initiative. PLEASE:

• Know your candidates running for North Carolina House, Senate, US Senate, and US House If in doubt, go to the State Board of Elections website (http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/)
• Check this page to see if your candidates have responded (http://www.artsnc.org/advocacy/election2010/responses.shtml)
• Use your web browser to search for the candidate's web page, which should give you an e-mail address or a "contact" form
• If the candidate doesn't have a web page, contact your local Board of Elections
• Send a brief message that says:
  • As a voter in your district, I encourage you to complete a short three-question arts survey at http://tiny.cc/election_survey. Your position on the arts is an important factor in my decision on November 2nd. I look forward to seeing your response on this website: http://www.artsnc.org/advocacy/election2010/responses.shtml. Thank you for your time and willingness to serve the people of North Carolina.

Be sure and include your name and address so the candidate can verify that you are a voter in their district.

With your help, we can get this done. Thank you.

Take Action for Arts Education

ARTS EDUCATION

 

September 12 - 18 is proclaimed Arts in Education Week by US Congress Resolution 275 (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.CON.RES.275:).
 

Publicly recognizing the value of arts education is an opportunity and a privilege. Please take these actions in service to our educators, our children, our economy, and our civic interests.

• Write a short opinion letter and send to your local internet and print media.
• Follow the example of Pitt County:
  Get on the agendas of the County Commissioners, City Council, and Local School Board for five minutes. Bring a student artist or two. Make a short presentation on the value of arts education.
• Focus all your social media communications in support of arts education for the entire week.
• Invite a legislator (and local elected officials) to go with you to an arts class or program in your school (good idea to check with the school first).

Imagine for one moment that all 100 counties had activists who followed these suggestions. Just imagine.

 

ELECTION 2010

 

ARTS North Carolina snail-mailed over 300 letters today to candidates running for statewide and national positions. We asked them to complete a very short survey about their positions on public funding for the arts and funding and policy for arts education. In one week, we will send you a Call to Action and give you the links to your district's statewide candidates, and if your candidate has not responded, we will give you instructions about urging their response. You can check out our Election 2010 information as it goes up on our web at www.artsnc.org/advocacy.