Ballot measure advocacy by arts education organizations is legal, powerful, and fundamental to democracy. With important measures that could impact funding for the arts on the ballot in California this November, it’s critical for nonprofits to be a part of the conversation. This workshop, hosted by The Hewlett Foundation and Alliance for Justice, is open to everyone not just Hewlett grantees. 

Thursday, July 30, 11am-12:30pm Pacific
Free
Register here

Learn the legal rules that impact your advocacy to influence government budgets at every level of government, and how you can work with elected officials, coalition partners, and community members to advocate for arts funding and the arts. Indi McCasey, Executive Director, Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area and Jessica Paz-Cedillos, Executive Director, School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza will be discussing their budget advocacy! This workshop, hosted by The Hewlett Foundation and Alliance for Justice, is open to everyone not just Hewlett grantees. 

Thursday, August 6, 11am-12:30pm
Free
Register here

Advocating for dance can just take a minute – it doesn’t always have to be a big action, and it certainly doesn’t need to feel intimidating.

The National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) has been filming 1 minute advocacy videos as mini pep talks for all of us. Take a peek here for some inspiration!

Check out Create CA’s School Leader Flyer and start a conversation with education leaders in your community and school. It’s a free step-by-step, data-driven guide to help you support the creation of a strategic arts plan.  Print it out and share it with your principal, school board members, and superintendent. 

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 the arts education pledge! By signing the pledge you are stating that you believe in and stand for the principles outlined in The Declaration of Student Rights.

CreateCA is hoping to collect 1,000 signed pledges by the end of Arts Education awareness month in March. So please share this widely!  CreateCA.org/pledge

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.

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.

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.