May News from IAAE

May 2019

Advancing the heART of Iowans

a monthly newsletter about Fine Arts in Iowa

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Thanks for joining us this year for our inaugural monthly newsletter which has outlined current happenings, achievements and projects of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education. Hard to believe another school year in almost done! We will take a break during the summer, look for us again in September!

Coming Soon - Still Time to Register - Don't Miss this Event

June 20, 2019

9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

FFA Enrichment Center

Des Moines Area Community College

1055 S.W. Prairie Trail Parkway, Ankeny

Registration open now!

Iowa Fine Arts Education Summit set for June 20 in Ankeny

Sponsored by the Iowa Department of Education in association with the Iowa Arts Council, as well as the Iowa Alliance for Education and Des Moines Area Community College, the summit marks the first time a professional learning event will feature all five of the Iowa Fine Arts Standards' disciplines – dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts. Attendees will attend breakout sessions that focus on the standards, school-community partnerships and other topics. Teachers will also be able to network with peers and colleagues, discuss curriculum and best practices and earn a license renewal or graduate credit.

The keynote speaker will be Olivia Gude, the chair of art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as a professor emerita at the University of Illinois of Chicago. She has created many award-winning collaborative mural and mosaic projects and is the author of the Americans for the Arts white paper “Intertwining Practices of Public Art and Art Education.”

Her educational research focuses on generating new projects and paradigms for art education in school and community settings. In 2009, she received the National Art Education Association's Viktor Lowenfeld Award for significant contributions to the field of art education and, in 2014, she received the organization's Manuel Barkan “article of the year” award.

If you go:

What: Iowa Fine Arts Education Summit

Where: FFA Enrichment Center, Des Moines Area Community College, 1055 S.W. Prairie Trail Parkway in Ankeny

When: 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 20

Registration: Regular registration is $35 from May 1 through June 17.

IAAE Mentor Webinar Program

You can also find ALL of our webinar recording on our website.

https://iowaalliance4artsed.org/mentor/webinars/

We will be continuing the webinars next year, look for our schedule in September.

Legislative Update

The Iowa General Assembly faced financial challenges in the 2019 Legislative Session, as a result of financial commitments made last year with tax cuts and a need to maintain balances in light of severe flooding in western Iowa and then eventually as the session ended. The result was a brief session as the Iowa Senate was about $50 million below spending levels of the Iowa House and about $30 million below that proposed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. As a result, any efforts to get increased spending was a futile run uphill. With that in mind, the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education experienced a successful legislative

session in 2019.

Despite a classic Iowa blizzard, our Fine Arts Advocacy Day drew attention, not because of size of turnout, but the enthusiasm with which the handful of advocates covered the General Assembly. Student Artwork was again delivered to new legislators and testimony was again given to the Iowa Senate Education Committee and Governor Reynolds’ education liaison Linda Fandel. The remarkable successes in improved test scores, literacy and parental involvement in what used to be the lowest performing school building in the state of Iowa continues to garner attention about the importance of infusing fine arts into the daily curriculum.

Again, the General Assembly continued the line item in the Education Budget for a $25,000 appropriation for fine arts teacher mentoring. This line item was passed by both chambers with partisan support, and is now awaiting the Governor’s approval.

We were also successful in getting support from legislators for a resolution to review the State of Arts Education. That resolution is to get a snap shot of the Condition of Arts Education in Iowa as the state moves forward after implementation of Arts into the State Academic Standards and coordinates with the Federal Requirements of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The State of Iowa, because of the retraction of Fine Arts offerings over the past few decades, needs to see where the gaps are in Iowa schools and, with the assistance of the Arts Alliance and other organizations, work to upgrade staffing and provide professional development.

Help us Match our Funds for 2020 ~ Donate to the Mentor Program

Join us! Renew or Become a Member of IAAE

Need more information about the Alliance and our programs?

Contact our Executive Director: Leon Kuehner 641-425-0959 leongkuehner@gmail.com