It's Happening: Community Advocacy Teams

Hello Arts Advocates,

It's happening.  We are organizing community advocacy teams in school districts, and people are excited about it.

My college campus organizing experience has definitely come in handy, but couldn't be more different that organizing in school districts.  I am learning so much about the unique challenges and opportunities each district has in maintaining and expanding support for arts education at the district level.

Each school district is unique and each has its own protocols, committees, plans, education providers, and leadership styles.  Across the board, each Team shares a fierce passion for using advocacy to move arts plans forward so that all students will have access to meaningful, quality, sequential arts education. 

Of course, I am in the fortunate position of building on the success of an already successful effort spearheaded by committed groups who worked for over a year to develop a policy and plan to restore arts education. 

Our primary goal is to create a sustainable outside advocacy effort to ensure the great work that has been done in these districts does not lose traction. 

Seeing people from the teams begin to use the website group pages as an organizing tool is one of the most exciting elements to this process. Team members are creating log-ins on ArtsforLA.org, posting comments on meeting notes, and generating ideas on how their team can most effectively advocate for the implementation of arts education plans. 

The site is designed for the very purpose and we encourage you to register and join the discussion.

If you haven't already, check out the team pages and learn about this exciting new pilot program.  You can find notes from previous meetings, as well as details and RSVP links for upcoming meetings. If you live or work in one of the 5 districts (Burbank, Culver City, Montebello, Paramount, Santa Monica-Malibu), join your group, share your ideas, and RSVP for the next meeting!

At the end of this pilot year, we'll be closer to having a sustainable model of community organizing in school districts in place, and have proudly made tangible strides moving us closer to quality, K-12 sequential arts education for all students in LA County.