Arts in Education

	CERAMICS PIECE BY ART STUDENT JULIA RANDOLPH ON DISPLAY AT THE MSAD #11 STUDENT ART SHOW THIS PAST SPRING.

Strengthening Arts Education in Maine

Maine Community Foundation & Maine Alliance for Arts Education Launch Maine Arts Teachers Fellowship Program
Contributed by
Carl Little.

Most of us who love the arts can look back to an early experience — when we were developing a sense of identity and place in the larger world—to someone who sparked our interest.

We may recall a teacher who read Plato with passion or someone who taught new forms of self-expression through musical instruments and voice. Or perhaps it was the person who introduced us to the power of paint through Picasso, Kahlo or Hopper, or one who helped us explore complex human issues or the movements of our bodies on the stage. These teachers—including many who were artists themselves—stand out in our memories as inspiring guides. They helped us develop values, philosophical views and even life choices on our way to adulthood.

The Maine Community Foundation (MCF) believes these artist-educators play important roles in young people’s lives, kindling each new generation’s support for artists and the arts in our society. Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Surdna Foundation in New York City, matching support from four MCF donors and partnership with the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE), this year the foundation is launching the Maine Arts Teachers Fellowship program.

The new program was officially announced in February 2006, at the annual Arts Advocacy Day in the Maine State House Hall of Flags. In his remarks at the ceremony, MCF president Henry Schmelzer said, “Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Alliance for Arts Education believe that providing opportunities for arts teachers to immerse themselves in their particular discipline will lead to an enrichment of arts education throughout Maine.”

AT THE MAINE ARTS ADVOCACY CELEBRATION IN THE HALL OF FLAGS AT THE STATE HOUSE ON MARCH 8, MCF PRESIDENT HENRY SCHMELZER (FAR LEFT) ANNOUNCED THE NEW MAINE ARTS TEACHERS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. HERE HE JOINS (LEFT TO RIGHT, FRONT ROW) REPRESENTATIVE TED KOFFMAN, MDI HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SALLY LEIGHTON, SENATOR DENNIS DAMON AND REPRESENTATIVE HANNAH PINGREE TO HONOR MOUNT DESERT ISLAND ARTS TEACHERS. THE TEACHERS WERE PRESENTED WITH THE MAAE’S CREATIVE TICKET SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE AWARD, GIVEN TO A SCHOOL FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN ARTS EDUCATION. PHOTO BY CAROLINE BUDNEY / MAAE.

The Surdna Foundation has supported a fellowship program for arts teachers in public arts high schools since 2000. Surdna believes arts teachers who are strongly connected to their own art making and who feel valued as individual artists make better teachers. Their research indicates fellowships result in higher quality and more intensive arts experiences for students. These findings support broader research on the importance of teachers’ professional development in their individual fields of learning.
In an effort to expand the program to other parts of the country, the Surdna Foundation approached a handful of community foundations to discuss partnerships. The Maine Community Foundation seized the opportunity.

The Maine Arts Teachers Fellowship offers teachers the opportunity to immerse themselves in their own creative work, interact with other professional artists and stay current with new practices. Fellowships might include attending an international photography institute, dance festival, playwriting program or craft school, personal study with a master musician or participation in an artist’s retreat. Most fellowship activities will take place during the summer, but the work may continue throughout the year.

The Maine Arts Teachers Fellowship will support up to eight fellows annually, beginning in the 2007 school year. Tuition, travel and expenses up to $4,000 are covered by the fellowships. In addition, the recipients’ schools will receive $1,000 for post-fellowship work, restricted for the Fellow’s use with students.

The fellowship program is administered by the MAAE, a statewide organization with a mission to encourage and strengthen educational excellence in the arts. MAAE is a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.

The program encourages applications from public school teacher-artists from the visual arts, theater, music, dance, creative writing, film, video and multi-disciplinary arts. The fellows will be selected through a competitive process. Recruitment will be statewide, with special emphasis on under-served areas.

Guidelines and applications are available on the MAAE website, www.maineallforartsed.org (beginning on July 1, 2006) with the first fellowships awarded in March 2007.

Carl Little is director of communications and marketing at the Maine Community Foundation.

Q&A: Maine Arts Teachers Fellowship Program

Q. Why is it important to support arts teachers as artists?
A. The more arts teachers are connected to their own art-making practice and to developments in their artistic fields, the more passion, energy and discipline-specific knowledge they are able to share with their students. In addition, as they deepen their own artistic experiences, arts teachers naturally bring more creativity, exploration and expression into the curriculum and classroom. This creates a richer, more arts-intensive experience for students. It also provides opportunities for arts teachers who usually are not well supported by their school districts.

Q. How does this help students and student achievement?
A. Research shows teachers who are engaged and up-to-date with their disciplines are better at engaging their students. To measure the program’s impact on students and teachers, the Surdna Foundation commissioned an external evaluation of the program that showed fellowships make a significant positive impact on fellows’ teaching. In fact, respect for and interest in the teacher-artists who received the awards grew among students and administrators. Teachers were perceived as active artists who received national recognition for their accomplishments.

Q. Isn’t it sufficient that we already provide extensive support for guest artists and artist residencies in schools?
A. The students’ classroom arts teachers are the central source of their learning. These teachers are the “unit of change” affecting the ongoing quality of students’ art-making experiences. Both guest artists and regular faculty of high quality are essential. Sadly, the “regular” teachers often get neither recognition nor professional development opportunities.

[Answers provided by the Maine Community Foundation.]

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