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Where does your school or district stand on the arts?

March is Arts Education Month and from now until the end of March our friends at Create CA are sharing small weekly actions we can all take to support the movement for arts education. Here’s this week’s action:

Look up your data and see where your district or school stands!

The California Arts Education Data Project has been updated with new branding, tools, and data!  

The new data shows that California went from a 39% average participation rate to 40%. That means more students are taking at least one arts class. Which is great! But progress is still way too slow.

It is our belief that in order to expand access to arts education in our schools and communities we absolutely have to know where we stand. So please check out the Interactive Dashboard and learn about the growth and gaps in arts education equity across the state!

Take Action

Learn to be an Arts Advocate at the National Arts Action Summit

The National Arts Action Summit is a multi-day event, March 30-31, 2020 in Washington, D.C., giving you the opportunity to receive crucial advocacy training from experts in the field and then put that training into practice on Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. Hosted by Americans for the Arts in partnership with over 85 national arts organizations, Arts Advocacy Day is the largest gathering of its kind, bringing together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations. Grassroots advocates from across the country come to Washington, DC to meet with their Members of Congress to garner support for issues like arts education policy, the charitable tax deduction, and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Why should I attend the National Arts Action Summit?

  1. Networking with your fellow arts advocates from across the country and go on congressional visits led by State Captains.
  2. Learning the latest research facts and figures on the arts to help make your case.
  3. Strategizing with experienced advocates during an interactive role play session on how to make the case for the arts and arts education to your Members of Congress.

More info & registration.

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AB5 Roundtable March 4

Our friends at the Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area are hosting a FREE community roundtable conversation about AB5. Check it out!

Wednesday, March 4, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Museum of Children’s Arts
1221 Broadway LL-49, Oakland
Register here.

Childcare will be available.

Refreshments will be provided.

Arts Education Policy Roundtables are bi-monthly gatherings to collectively address issues in arts education.

For this session we will discuss the impact of California’s AB5 labor law on arts education organizations and teaching artists – and what our community is going to do about it.

Reports from Jean Johnstone, Executive Director of Teaching Artists Guild, about interesting developments on the national and state level for arts education workers.

A panel discussion with

  • Jill Dineen, Executive Director of Leap Arts in Education
  • Nina Woodruff-Walker, Executive Director of the Museum of Children’s Art
  • Teaching artists from each of these organizations

How can AEABA support our members and stakeholders about these employment issues?

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Calling for your input! What do you think about the new Arts Framework?

An update from the CA Department of Education:

The draft Arts Framework is available for a second round of public review and comment. Please visit the Arts Framework web page to access the revised chapters. Please note that for the second round of public comment, we ask that you submit comments via email to Vapa@cde.ca.gov.

Comments may be submitted in any format. However, it is highly recommended that comments include the chapter, page, and line number(s) of the text as it is currently written in the draft, and the exact language of the suggested change. The deadline to submit public comment for the second public review is March 30, 2020.

Curious about the timeline for reviewing and adopting these documents? See here.

Take Action

How is AB 5 affecting you?

Are you a teaching artist, studio owner, company director, or arts leader affected by AB 5? Tell your story! Legislators need to better understand the impacts of this far-reaching bill on our field.

A follow-up bill AB 1850 is being drafted now to address the ambiguities and unintended consequences of AB 5. Sacramento needs to hear from the dance sector to consider our perspectives!

What you can do: Email or write your state Assembly Member and Senator to share your story about how AB 5 is affecting you.

See here or here to find and contact your state representative and assembly member.

Take Action

Get updated on CA’s new dance standards with a webinar

The CDE, the CCSESA, and TCAP are presenting a six-part webinar series on the newly-adopted California Arts Standards, with webinars on each of the arts subject areas. These webinars will feature county office of education Arts Leads and TCAP Teacher Leaders, addressing what’s new and challenging in the disciplines and providing examples of the new standards in action.

Register here for the Dance Standards Webinar on March 5, 3-4pm.

Take Action

Do your research about AB 5

In September 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed State Bill AB 5 making it more challenging for employers to classify workers as independent contractors. Have you been working as a freelancer in CA? Have you been hiring freelancers?

An excerpt from Chloe Veltman’s article below:

“The new law, which will reclassify many former freelancers as employees when it takes effect on Jan. 1 next year, will grant more benefits such as paid sick leave, overtime and expense reimbursement to workers across the state. Yet it’s still unclear how the law will affect artists and entertainers …, who do all kinds of gigs for all kinds of clients, and whose practices don’t always align with the legal requirements of an employer-employee relationship.”

It’s still unclear how artists – particularly teaching artists and dancers – will be affected by AB 5. The following documents give you some background and provide you with resources to protect and advocate for yourself. Stay engaged with the conversation! There may be opportunities to take action!

Making Teaching Artists Employees by Jean Johnstone

Gig Economy Regulations Leave Artists’ Futures Unclear by Chloe Veltman

AB5 Updates and Resources by Californians for the Arts

Theatre Bay Area AB5 Resources

Arts Career Cafe AB5 Resources

Arts Ed Contractor or Employee? What You Need to Know webinar with Jean Johnstone, Kyle Kate, and Nancy Ng (Luna’s Executive Director of Creativity & Policy)

Employing Teaching Artists: Luna Dance Institute Strives to Professionalize the Field by Cherie Hill (Luna’s Director of Community & Culture)

California Assembly Bill 5 and Worker Misclassification: Their Effects on Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations by Victoria Plettner-Saunders, Principal, WolfBrown and Arlene Yang, Esq., Partner, Brown Law Group

Read Bill AB-5

Take Action

California’s draft Arts Education Framework is open for public comment. Five reasons why you should read it.

by Mary Beth Barber, reposted from Create CA

California public school students have learned visual and performing arts under a series of standards and a framework that is 20 years old. That’s about to change. The State Board of Education adopted a new series of California Arts Standards for dance, media arts, theatre, music and visual arts in January 2019, and is poised to pair that up with a new Arts Framework as well.
Professional education writers worked diligently with a team of 20 arts education advisors for months from January to August this year. The draft Arts Framework is available for a first round of public review until December 1. Here are excerpts from the five reasons why you should read the draft Arts Framework and comment before the deadline. To read the whole article, go here. 
  1. The Arts Framework will likely be in place past 2030. . The Arts Framework will be the leading guide for dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts in California public schools… CDE published the last arts framework in 2004. This one will likely be in place for at least a decade, likely more. This is the time to have input.
  2. How schools teach the arts shifts with the new Arts Standards. The previous Visual and Performing Arts standards had a focus on content. The newly adopted Arts Standards are grounded in arts processes with anchor standards based on these processes. This represents a significant shift…
  3.  Media Arts now stands alone. Media arts was not considered its own VAPA discipline previously…. That has changed…
  4. Prevent unintended consequences. While instructional frameworks are advisory, most schools abide by frameworks to the letter, and the language in a framework can have far-reaching consequences….
  5. Advocate for more arts education. The Arts Framework is not just for those who teach the arts in the classroom…The document directly addresses how to implement robust arts education in schools to further educational goals and positive school climate.
To read the various chapters, download the chapters from the California Arts Framework page from the Department of Education. Send comments to the Instructional Quality Commission through the Arts Framework Online Survey or by email to vapa@cde.ca.gov. When providing direct editorial edits or recommendations, utilize the line numbering as much as possible for straightforward consideration by the Commission.