With all the advocacy campaigns we have launched in recent weeks, I think it’s safe to assume that anyone reading this blog has probably taken action on one of our recent campaigns, whether it be for your school district, municipality, or the County.  Thanks to your efforts, we have made quite an impact so far, but we still have far to go as school boards, city councils, and the Board of Supervisors hammer out their budgets for the next fiscal year.

Keep reading to learn about some recent arts ed advocacy highlights...

One of Arts for LA's programs this year, in partnership with Arts for All, has been piloting an advocacy training program in five Arts for All school districts: Burbank, Culver City, Paramount, Montebello, and Santa Monica-Malibu.

Over the last few weeks, school districts across the state have begun releasing their proposed budget cuts, and unfortunately but not surprisingly, the arts are in danger.  The advocacy teams are moving fast to mobilize their communities to demonstrate their support for arts education, and to make the case that in our creative economy arts education is a way out of this fiscal crisis. 

Read on for more details on what the teams are doing...

Close your eyes and envision a quality arts education experience.  What do you see? 

This is the question posed last week by Steve Seidel from Harvard's Project Zero and Lynn Waldorf of the Griffin Center for Inspired Instruction, who together led a discussion on the qualities of quality arts education. Read further to learn more about the new tools being developed for measuring quality in arts education.

Last night I attended a plan-of-action meeting addressing the proposed devastating cuts to elementary art and music programs for LAUSD’s 2010-11 arts education branch budget.  The proposed cuts will eliminate 50% of elementary arts teacher positions, equaling roughly 173 of 345 teachers.   If enacted, these cuts will decimate arts education in LAUSD.   

If you care about preserving arts education in LAUSD, keep reading.