“Art is essential to learning and living,” said Baltimore high school student Alicia Thomas.

Thomas is a high school student devoted to art. She heard about the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) Annual Conference in Baltimore on September 15, contacted event organizers, and spoke with arts educators, policy makers, and advocates in attendance. eager to share their voices.

Her enthusiasm was shared throughout the two-day conference, assessing the current state of arts education, highlighting best practices, and looking at the future role of arts in the lives of students.

What is an Arts Education Partnership?

AEP is located within the State Commissions of Education (ECS) and was established with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the US Department of Education. AEP connects leaders across the spectrum of arts education in hopes of relying on research, reporting, and collaboration to advance quality arts education for all.

This year’s convening of the AEP brought together participants from across the country representing a range of arts education leaders, from Department of Education researchers to middle school art teachers. The wide range of participants created an opportunity to discuss best practices in both teaching and advocating for the arts.

The AEP Annual Conference is just one way the organization works towards its mission. Leaders in the field use research to inform teaching and advocacy techniques in arts education. For example, the ArtScan tool provides a national picture of arts education policy that can be used to understand how North Carolina is improving the arts of its students.

EdNC became an AEP Affiliate in April 2022, making it the first year to represent North Carolina at the AEP Annual Conference.

A national view of arts education

ECS President Jeremy Anderson emphasized the critical role data can play in informing advocacy efforts. “You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where you are,” he said.

So where are we?

Anderson’s presentation contextualized the state of arts education in the nation to frame where the nation could go from here. ECS tracks arts education policies passing through state legislatures and analyzes trends in these policies. The presentation highlighted the policies the state has implemented to date to promote arts education.

North Carolina is one of 23 states with grant programs and art schools, and one of 31 states that recognize the arts as a major academic subject. However, the state does not currently provide art diploma seals to graduate high school students who successfully complete consecutive instruction in any of the arts.

This data is just a snapshot of the policies ECS tracks, but it can guide North Carolina’s next steps.

Benefits of data in art education

“Better decisions require better information,” says Kenneth Elpus, Ph.D., associate director of the University of Maryland’s College Park School of Music, on how to leverage the state’s longitudinal data system for arts education research. said in the presentation.

To best prepare North Carolina to make policy decisions that improve the accessibility and quality of arts education, the state must first work together to collect and maintain robust data on students and their long-term outcomes. must make a concerted effort. The next step is for art advocates to use that data to test their “art education wonders,” or research questions related to the arts that interest them.

Elpus encouraged me to use the state longitudinal data system to reveal answers to my research questions. This data tracks students from entry into the school system to entry into the workforce and can be used, for example, to determine the long-term impact of access to quality arts education. The results of this kind of research can be used to persuade policy makers of the need for the arts or to inform best practices for integrating the arts into the classroom.

All you need to know about North Carolina’s longitudinal data system is what ECS put together for each state.

The Legislative Future of Arts Education

Instead of discussing the visual arts, theater, music, or dance, Anderson focused his presentation on the “art of politics”. emphasized.

Nearly 27% of all school boards nationwide will be replaced this year, along with many other state and local school officials, he explained. This degree of rotation may create opportunities for expanded arts education, but newly elected or appointed officials may have time to become familiar with the role before picking up where their predecessors left off. This may hinder the progress of policy making. This shows participants to be patient and persistent in their advocacy efforts during this transition.

NEA Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson also discussed the future of arts education in a discussion of her vision for the role of an independent federal agency in promoting the arts. The NEA is the nation’s largest funder of arts and arts education, but Jackson said she wants to reconfigure the organization as both a funder and a national resource for private and public supporters of the arts. she said.

Jackson explained how the NEA is working to reduce existing barriers to access to art through equitable initiatives aimed at increasing the diversity of art students and their teachers.

“Art is most powerful when it doesn’t exist in a bubble,” Jackson said.

She acknowledged that art is most inaccessible to underserved schools and students of color. But she hopes the NEA can play a role in changing that.

Jackson also identified challenges to the NEA’s work. Promoting and enhancing arts education is not a feat that anyone can accomplish alone, she explained. As noted throughout the conference, success requires collaboration from within the arts education ecosystem. The AEP convening served as a stepping stone to advance the NEA’s goals and overcome its challenges, as participants connected and explored innovative solutions to looming problems in the world of arts education.

Student hopes for the future of art

The conference centered the voices of art students in discussions about the future of art education. The AEP recognized the importance of having them seated at the table to reflect on their experiences with the arts and explain the change they wanted.

Baltimore art students were an important part of the conference. They shared a variety of art forms with attendees, playing music, exhibiting artwork, and performing spoken word between sessions.

But more than that, they participated in the important conversations being held and were critical of the presenters on what steps were being taken to improve the state of arts education in the next five or ten years. Eager to ask questions.

“Art is us,” said Baltimore art students Shane Sullivan and Trellis Forrester in the original spoken word poem that kicked off the conference. They envision a future where every student can be involved in the arts and have the opportunity to use their voice to influence arts education policy.

AEP hopes to make that dream a reality by leveraging its network of leaders in arts education.