Amy Kent
I come from a very strong background in marketing; graphic design to be exact. Before
teaching, I spent many years focused on promoting businesses to the public
through advertising and using art to influence buyers. Once I began teaching,
advocating for the art program in my school felt natural. As a matter of fact, I
welcomed the opportunity because it allowed me to use those skills that had been
such a large part of my previous career. Of course, I realize that not everyone
shares in my excitement of advocacy. In a perfect world, it would be understood
that the art programs in our schools offer many opportunities for life skills,
cognitive growth, 21st century skills, and the list goes on and on. Sadly,
for some art teachers this is not the case, and can
leave us uncomfortably trying to justify our programs.
We are teaching professionals with an ever-growing list of “to dos.” However,
advocating for your art program doesn’t need to be time consuming. Use this
summer to make a month-by-month advocacy plan for the next school year. There
are many online articles and ideas that can get you started. Your plans don’t
need to be grandiose every month. Just make some
noise! Here are some online advocacy resources to help get you
moving!
www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/resources/ArtsEducationAdvocacyToolkit.pdf
www.arteducators.org/advocacy/advocacy-made-simple
www.theartofed.com/2013/07/01/free-download-arts-advocacy-images-for-your-classroom
www.americansforthearts.org/advocate
www.youtube.com/watch?v=utRtJbRkyjE
www.arteducators.org/advocacy
www.theartofed.com/2014/03/27/10-awesome-advocacy-resources-for-art-education
www.performingartsconvention.org/advocacy/id=28
www.theteachingpalette.com/2010/09/12/arts-in-education-week-program-communication
I come from a very strong background in marketing; graphic design to be exact. Before
teaching, I spent many years focused on promoting businesses to the public
through advertising and using art to influence buyers. Once I began teaching,
advocating for the art program in my school felt natural. As a matter of fact, I
welcomed the opportunity because it allowed me to use those skills that had been
such a large part of my previous career. Of course, I realize that not everyone
shares in my excitement of advocacy. In a perfect world, it would be understood
that the art programs in our schools offer many opportunities for life skills,
cognitive growth, 21st century skills, and the list goes on and on. Sadly,
for some art teachers this is not the case, and can
leave us uncomfortably trying to justify our programs.
We are teaching professionals with an ever-growing list of “to dos.” However,
advocating for your art program doesn’t need to be time consuming. Use this
summer to make a month-by-month advocacy plan for the next school year. There
are many online articles and ideas that can get you started. Your plans don’t
need to be grandiose every month. Just make some
noise! Here are some online advocacy resources to help get you
moving!
www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/resources/ArtsEducationAdvocacyToolkit.pdf
www.arteducators.org/advocacy/advocacy-made-simple
www.theartofed.com/2013/07/01/free-download-arts-advocacy-images-for-your-classroom
www.americansforthearts.org/advocate
www.youtube.com/watch?v=utRtJbRkyjE
www.arteducators.org/advocacy
www.theartofed.com/2014/03/27/10-awesome-advocacy-resources-for-art-education
www.performingartsconvention.org/advocacy/id=28
www.theteachingpalette.com/2010/09/12/arts-in-education-week-program-communication
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