CAA News Today
CAA Protests Rose Art Museum Closing and Art Collection Sale
posted by Christopher Howard — January 29, 2009
The College Art Association (CAA) was shocked and dismayed to learn of the decision by Brandeis University to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its entire art collection for operating revenue.
CAA supports the Codes of Ethics of the American Association of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors, which clearly state that works of art in museum collections are held as a public trust and that any proceeds of sales must only support the acquisition of new works. However, perceiving an entire art collection as a disposable financial asset and then dismantling that collection wholesale to cover other university expenses is deeply troubling for all college and university collections.
The closing of the museum at Brandeis will be devastating to the academic community, not only affecting our colleagues at the museum and students and faculty in the Department of Fine Arts, which offers programs in both studio art and art history, but also depriving the entire arts-loving public in New England and around the world. The teaching of art and art history in higher education is untenable without the direct study of physical works of art, and it appears the Brandeis Board of Trustees has disregarded the kind of scholarship and creativity that have been the hallmark of CAA members for nearly one hundred years.
According to news reports, neither Brandeis University nor the Rose Art Museum is on the brink of economic collapse, nor are they unable to maintain the collections. Given that no clear explanation has been offered on the school’s financial exigencies, the closure of the Rose Art Museum and the sale of its collection appear to be in violation of professional museum standards and of academic transparency and due process; the decision also demonstrates a lack of academic responsibility and fiduciary foresight. We appeal to the Trustees of Brandeis to revisit and reverse their decision.
Paul B. Jaskot
President, College Art Association
Professor of Art History
Department of the History of Art and Architecture
DePaul University
Linda Downs
Executive Director, College Art Association
Download a PDF of this letter from the CAA website.
CAA Letter to Barack Obama
posted by Christopher Howard — January 15, 2009
On January 14, 2009, CAA President Paul Jaskot and CAA Executive Director Linda Downs sent a letter to Bill Ivey of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, discussing the needs of artists and scholars in the coming years.
CAA has signed onto letters with many other nonprofit organizations urging full funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute for Library and Museum Services (IMLS). However, CAA felt that it was necessary to have a separate voice on issues of importance to its members.
CAA will have a presence in Washington, DC, in March 2009 at the Humanities Advocacy Day and Arts Advocacy Day. Jaskot and Downs will be making separate appointments to visit the new chairs of the NEA, NEH and IMLS once they have been appointed.
CAA Letter to President-elect Barack Obama
January 14, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama
President-elect Transition Team
Dear President-elect Barack Obama:
College Art Association, representing over 16,000 artists, art historians, scholars, curators, collectors, art publishers, universities, and libraries, looks forward to working with you and your administration to ensure the revitalization of support for professional artists and art historians in America.
College Art Association:
- Promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts and in creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practices of art;
- Facilitates the exchange of ideas and information among all people interested in art and the history of art;
- Advocates comprehensive and inclusive education in the visual arts;
- Speaks for its membership on issues affecting the visual arts and humanities;
- Publishes scholarly journals, art criticism, and artists’ writings;
- Fosters career development and professional advancement;
- Identifies and develops sources of funding for the practice of art and for scholarship in the arts and humanities;
- Supports and honors the accomplishments of artists, art historians, and critics; and
- Articulates and affirms the highest ethical standards in the conduct of the profession.
As the leading association in the world that represents professional visual-arts practitioners, CAA endorses your campaign platform’s support of the arts. We strongly agree that in order to remain competitive in the global economy America must reinvigorate the creativity and innovation that has made this country great.
CAA would like your Administration to include not only community arts organizations in its arts program of support but, also, to give greater focus to professional artists and art historians in academia, art museums, and independent professional visual-arts practitioners. Visual art must be reinstated as a respected and esteemed profession in America.
CAA advocates that professionally educated artists and art historians teach K–16 students. To meet this end we must offer all students, K–16, equal access to visual-arts education taught by professionally trained instructors in studio art and art history.
We also believe that public/private partnerships should expand not only between schools and communities but also among the academic community within colleges, universities, and art schools.
We endorse the creation of an art corps comprised of professionally educated artists and art historians who will work with students in urban schools on community-based projects that raise the awareness of the importance of creativity and professional artists. CAA would also like to see an emphasis on visual arts in government-sponsored projects such as AmeriCorps, in both urban and rural areas that address job preparation as well as environmental issues. Professional artists are eager to work on environmental programs that involve community-organized design projects.
CAA would like to emphasize that, in order to publicly champion the importance of arts education, America needs to support the proper preparation and training of artists and art historians who teach at the primary, secondary, and college/university levels. Visual arts need to become part of the core curriculum in each grade and at every stage of education.
CAA fully supports increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Library and Museum Services. Specifically, professional artists need to be supported on an individual basis, and we strongly recommend reinstatement of the Individual Artist Fellowship program to enable our best artists to pursue and develop their work. We have found that grants to other areas of the arts and humanities far exceed federal and private foundation grants to professional visual artists. It would be an outstanding legacy of this administration to again make federal support of the arts a priority in defending the promotion of our nation’s cultural heritage.
CAA supports legislation that will allow scholars to publish so-called orphan works, which are copyrighted works—such as books, pictures, music, recordings, or films—whose copyright owners cannot be identified or located. This legislation has been introduced in prior Congresses, and we hope it will be passed during the new Congress. Due to the risks of publishing copyrighted material without obtaining permission, many art historians and scholars are unable to publish orphan works, thereby causing great detriment to scholarly publishing, research and public access to these works. At the same time, orphan works legislation must be carefully crafted in respect to the legitimate interests and concerns of visual artists, including photographers.
CAA supports your platform for cultural diplomacy by enhancing international opportunities offered through agencies, such as the United States Information Agency, for exhibitions, teaching, research, and lecture tours by professional visual artists and art historians. CAA’s international membership testifies to the promotion of cultural understanding that occurs through international cultural exchange. Every year CAA seeks funding to support travel of international artists and art historians to its Annual Conference. Current Homeland Security laws and a lack of government funding make it difficult for foreign artists and scholars to present their work and research at conferences of their peers. CAA endorses streamlining the visa process and providing government support for international exchanges of graduate students and professional artists and art historians.
CAA supports providing health care to professional artists and art historians. This is a major concern for professional artists and art historians who are not associated with a college, university, or art museum and attempt to work independently to support themselves. As you are aware, each state has its own laws on insurance. Professional organizations such as CAA would like to offer national healthcare coverage for artists but are prohibited from offering insurance to its members due to differences in state laws. CAA endorses the creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange as one step in the direction of coverage for artists. In the meantime, we encourage you to press for government reforms of insurance laws so that professional organizations such as CAA will be in a position to assist its members to obtain universal coverage.
CAA endorses tax fairness for artists. We have worked hard—and will continue to work hard—to support the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, which was introduced in the prior Congress by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions of that work. Not only has the current tax law been harmful to artists, the creative legacy of a whole generation of professional visual artists has not been donated to our great public institutions because of disincentives to donate created by the current tax laws.
CAA realizes that change takes the support and involvement of every member of society. CAA is committed to promoting the support of professional visual artists and art historians in all areas of American society. We stand ready to help provide information on visual arts professionals, suggestions for specific programs, or any other aid that you may find helpful in promoting a better world for artists and art historians in America.
With your leadership and the groundswell of support for activism, we can reestablish the professional visual-arts practitioner as a contributor to positive cultural change in America.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Jaskot, President, CAA, and Professor of Art and Art History, DePaul University; and Linda Downs, Executive Director, CAA
CAA Letter to Barack Obama
posted by Christopher Howard — January 15, 2009
On January 14, 2009, CAA President Paul Jaskot and CAA Executive Director Linda Downs sent a letter to Bill Ivey of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, discussing the needs of artists and scholars in the coming years.
CAA has signed onto letters with many other nonprofit organizations urging full funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute for Library and Museum Services (IMLS). However, CAA felt that it was necessary to have a separate voice on issues of importance to its members.
CAA will have a presence in Washington, DC, in March 2009 at the Humanities Advocacy Day and Arts Advocacy Day. Jaskot and Downs will be making separate appointments to visit the new chairs of the NEA, NEH and IMLS once they have been appointed.
CAA Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama
January 14, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama
President-elect Transition Team
Dear President-elect Barack Obama:
College Art Association, representing over 16,000 artists, art historians, scholars, curators, collectors, art publishers, universities, and libraries, looks forward to working with you and your administration to ensure the revitalization of support for professional artists and art historians in America.
College Art Association:
- Promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts and in creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practices of art;
- Facilitates the exchange of ideas and information among all people interested in art and the history of art;
- Advocates comprehensive and inclusive education in the visual arts;
- Speaks for its membership on issues affecting the visual arts and humanities;
- Publishes scholarly journals, art criticism, and artists’ writings;
- Fosters career development and professional advancement;
- Identifies and develops sources of funding for the practice of art and for scholarship in the arts and humanities;
- Supports and honors the accomplishments of artists, art historians, and critics; and
- Articulates and affirms the highest ethical standards in the conduct of the profession.
As the leading association in the world that represents professional visual-arts practitioners, CAA endorses your campaign platform’s support of the arts. We strongly agree that in order to remain competitive in the global economy America must reinvigorate the creativity and innovation that has made this country great.
CAA would like your Administration to include not only community arts organizations in its arts program of support but, also, to give greater focus to professional artists and art historians in academia, art museums, and independent professional visual-arts practitioners. Visual art must be reinstated as a respected and esteemed profession in America.
CAA advocates that professionally educated artists and art historians teach K–16 students. To meet this end we must offer all students, K–16, equal access to visual-arts education taught by professionally trained instructors in studio art and art history.
We also believe that public/private partnerships should expand not only between schools and communities but also among the academic community within colleges, universities, and art schools.
We endorse the creation of an art corps comprised of professionally educated artists and art historians who will work with students in urban schools on community-based projects that raise the awareness of the importance of creativity and professional artists. CAA would also like to see an emphasis on visual arts in government-sponsored projects such as AmeriCorps, in both urban and rural areas that address job preparation as well as environmental issues. Professional artists are eager to work on environmental programs that involve community-organized design projects.
CAA would like to emphasize that, in order to publicly champion the importance of arts education, America needs to support the proper preparation and training of artists and art historians who teach at the primary, secondary, and college/university levels. Visual arts need to become part of the core curriculum in each grade and at every stage of education.
CAA fully supports increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Library and Museum Services. Specifically, professional artists need to be supported on an individual basis, and we strongly recommend reinstatement of the Individual Artist Fellowship program to enable our best artists to pursue and develop their work. We have found that grants to other areas of the arts and humanities far exceed federal and private foundation grants to professional visual artists. It would be an outstanding legacy of this administration to again make federal support of the arts a priority in defending the promotion of our nation’s cultural heritage.
CAA supports legislation that will allow scholars to publish so-called orphan works, which are copyrighted works—such as books, pictures, music, recordings, or films—whose copyright owners cannot be identified or located. This legislation has been introduced in prior Congresses, and we hope it will be passed during the new Congress. Due to the risks of publishing copyrighted material without obtaining permission, many art historians and scholars are unable to publish orphan works, thereby causing great detriment to scholarly publishing, research and public access to these works. At the same time, orphan works legislation must be carefully crafted in respect to the legitimate interests and concerns of visual artists, including photographers.
CAA supports your platform for cultural diplomacy by enhancing international opportunities offered through agencies, such as the United States Information Agency, for exhibitions, teaching, research, and lecture tours by professional visual artists and art historians. CAA’s international membership testifies to the promotion of cultural understanding that occurs through international cultural exchange. Every year CAA seeks funding to support travel of international artists and art historians to its Annual Conference. Current Homeland Security laws and a lack of government funding make it difficult for foreign artists and scholars to present their work and research at conferences of their peers. CAA endorses streamlining the visa process and providing government support for international exchanges of graduate students and professional artists and art historians.
CAA supports providing health care to professional artists and art historians. This is a major concern for professional artists and art historians who are not associated with a college, university, or art museum and attempt to work independently to support themselves. As you are aware, each state has its own laws on insurance. Professional organizations such as CAA would like to offer national healthcare coverage for artists but are prohibited from offering insurance to its members due to differences in state laws. CAA endorses the creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange as one step in the direction of coverage for artists. In the meantime, we encourage you to press for government reforms of insurance laws so that professional organizations such as CAA will be in a position to assist its members to obtain universal coverage.
CAA endorses tax fairness for artists. We have worked hard—and will continue to work hard—to support the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, which was introduced in the prior Congress by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions of that work. Not only has the current tax law been harmful to artists, the creative legacy of a whole generation of professional visual artists has not been donated to our great public institutions because of disincentives to donate created by the current tax laws.
CAA realizes that change takes the support and involvement of every member of society. CAA is committed to promoting the support of professional visual artists and art historians in all areas of American society. We stand ready to help provide information on visual arts professionals, suggestions for specific programs, or any other aid that you may find helpful in promoting a better world for artists and art historians in America.
With your leadership and the groundswell of support for activism, we can reestablish the professional visual-arts practitioner as a contributor to positive cultural change in America.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Jaskot, President, CAA, and Professor of Art and Art History, DePaul University; and Linda Downs, Executive Director, CAA
Academy of Arts and Sciences Launches Humanities Indicators Prototype
posted by Christopher Howard — January 07, 2009
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems, has unveiled the Humanities Indicators, a prototype set of statistical data about the humanities in the United States that is organized in collaboration with a consortium of national humanities organizations.
“Until now the nation has lacked a broad-based, quantitative analysis of the status of the humanities in the United States,” said Leslie Berlowitz, chief executive officer of the American Academy and project codirector. “We need more reliable empirical data about what is being taught in the humanities, how they are funded, the size of the workforce, and public attitudes toward the field. The Humanities Indicators are an important step in closing that fundamental knowledge gap. They will help researchers and policymakers, universities, foundations, museums, libraries, humanities councils, and others answer basic questions about the humanities, track trends, diagnose problems, and formulate appropriate interventions.”
CAA worked closely on the Humanities Indicators project since its inception and eagerly looks forward to the essays that will interpret the first set of statistical information. CAA provided information on hundreds of art-history departments at colleges, universities, and art schools that were then contacted to participate in filling out questionnaires to add to the statistics. For the first time, statistical information on academic art history and art museums will be represented in separate categories instead of being summarized (as in the US Department of Education and US Department of Labor statistics) in the general arts category.
Visual art in higher education and elsewhere, however, was not considered. Linda Downs, CAA executive director, notes that “the visual arts are only represented by art history in the indicators because the American Academy chose to follow the current definition of the humanities used by the National Endowment of the Humanities. I have argued for the inclusion of statistical information on artists, and the academy has promised that they will include visual artists in next year’s collection of statistics. Visual-arts statistics are not kept separate from performing-arts statistics by the Education or Labor Departments. So, any step in this direction will be useful for CAA.”
The Humanities Indicators reveal that:
- The picture of adult literacy in the US is one of polarization. Among Western industrialized nations, we rank near the top in the percentage of highly literate adults (21 percent) but also near the top in the proportion who are functionally illiterate (also 21 percent)
- Public debate about teacher qualifications has focused mainly on math and science, but data reveal that the humanities fields suffer an even more glaring dearth of well-prepared teachers. In 2000, the percentage of middle (29 percent) and high school (37.5 percent) students taught by a highly qualified history teacher was lower than for any other major subject area. The definition of “highly qualified” is a teacher who has certification and a postsecondary degree in the subject they teach
- Humanities faculty are the most poorly paid. They also have a higher proportion of part-time, nontenured positions compared to their counterparts in the sciences and engineering. But almost half of humanities faculty indicate that they are “very satisfied” with their jobs overall
- Since the early 1970s, the number of Americans who support the banning of books from the public library because they espouse atheism, extreme militarism, communism, or homosexuality decreased by at least 11 percentage points, although from 26 percent to 34 percent of the public would support banning some type of book. In the case of books advocating homosexuality, the decline was a particularly significant 20 percentage points
- Recent federal legislation identifies certain languages as “critical need languages” (Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Bengali, Turkish, and Uzbek, among others), but the data show these languages are rarely studied in colleges and universities. At the same time, there has been a substantial increase in the number of students studying Chinese
- Charitable giving to arts and cultural organizations grew between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s before leveling off. But little public- or private-sector funding for the humanities goes to academic research. This trend undermines both academia and the public since public institutions rely on humanities scholars to provide much of the knowledge on which these activities are based
- The number of American adults who read at least one book in the previous twelve months decreased from 61 percent to 57 percent in the decade between the early 1990s and the early 2000s. The greatest rate of decline (approximately 15 percent) occurred among 18-to-24-year-olds
The project collected and analyzed data from existing sources to compile a prototype set of seventy-four indicators and more than two hundred tables and charts, accompanied by interpretive essays covering five broad subject areas. The indicators will be updated as new information becomes available, including data from a survey administered last year to approximately 1,500 college and university humanities departments. The academy views the indicators as a prototype for a much-needed national system of humanities data collection.
Among the organizations collaborating with the academy on the effort are the the College Art Association, American Council of Learned Societies, the American Academy of Religion, the American Historical Association, the American Political Science Association, the Association of American Universities, the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the Linguistic Society of America, the Modern Language Association, and the National Humanities Alliance.
Update: Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed has the first review of the Humanities Indicators, with comments from readers.
Academy of Arts and Sciences Launches Humanities Indicators Prototype
posted by Christopher Howard — January 07, 2009
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems, has unveiled the Humanities Indicators, a prototype set of statistical data about the humanities in the United States that is organized in collaboration with a consortium of national humanities organizations.
“Until now the nation has lacked a broad-based, quantitative analysis of the status of the humanities in the United States,” said Leslie Berlowitz, chief executive officer of the American Academy and project codirector. “We need more reliable empirical data about what is being taught in the humanities, how they are funded, the size of the workforce, and public attitudes toward the field. The Humanities Indicators are an important step in closing that fundamental knowledge gap. They will help researchers and policymakers, universities, foundations, museums, libraries, humanities councils, and others answer basic questions about the humanities, track trends, diagnose problems, and formulate appropriate interventions.”
CAA worked closely on the Humanities Indicators project since its inception and eagerly looks forward to the essays that will interpret the first set of statistical information. CAA provided information on hundreds of art-history departments at colleges, universities, and art schools that were then contacted to participate in filling out questionnaires to add to the statistics. For the first time, statistical information on academic art history and art museums will be represented in separate categories instead of being summarized (as in the US Department of Education and US Department of Labor statistics) in the general arts category.
Visual art in higher education and elsewhere, however, was not considered. Linda Downs, CAA executive director, notes that “the visual arts are only represented by art history in the indicators because the American Academy chose to follow the current definition of the humanities used by the National Endowment of the Humanities. I have argued for the inclusion of statistical information on artists, and the academy has promised that they will include visual artists in next year’s collection of statistics. Visual-arts statistics are not kept separate from performing-arts statistics by the Education or Labor Departments. So, any step in this direction will be useful for CAA.”
The Humanities Indicators reveal that:
- The picture of adult literacy in the US is one of polarization. Among Western industrialized nations, we rank near the top in the percentage of highly literate adults (21 percent) but also near the top in the proportion who are functionally illiterate (also 21 percent)
- Public debate about teacher qualifications has focused mainly on math and science, but data reveal that the humanities fields suffer an even more glaring dearth of well-prepared teachers. In 2000, the percentage of middle (29 percent) and high school (37.5 percent) students taught by a highly qualified history teacher was lower than for any other major subject area. The definition of “highly qualified” is a teacher who has certification and a postsecondary degree in the subject they teach
- Humanities faculty are the most poorly paid. They also have a higher proportion of part-time, nontenured positions compared to their counterparts in the sciences and engineering. But almost half of humanities faculty indicate that they are “very satisfied” with their jobs overall
- Since the early 1970s, the number of Americans who support the banning of books from the public library because they espouse atheism, extreme militarism, communism, or homosexuality decreased by at least 11 percentage points, although from 26 percent to 34 percent of the public would support banning some type of book. In the case of books advocating homosexuality, the decline was a particularly significant 20 percentage points
- Recent federal legislation identifies certain languages as “critical need languages” (Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Bengali, Turkish, and Uzbek, among others), but the data show these languages are rarely studied in colleges and universities. At the same time, there has been a substantial increase in the number of students studying Chinese
- Charitable giving to arts and cultural organizations grew between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s before leveling off. But little public- or private-sector funding for the humanities goes to academic research. This trend undermines both academia and the public since public institutions rely on humanities scholars to provide much of the knowledge on which these activities are based
- The number of American adults who read at least one book in the previous twelve months decreased from 61 percent to 57 percent in the decade between the early 1990s and the early 2000s. The greatest rate of decline (approximately 15 percent) occurred among 18-to-24-year-olds
The project collected and analyzed data from existing sources to compile a prototype set of seventy-four indicators and more than two hundred tables and charts, accompanied by interpretive essays covering five broad subject areas. The indicators will be updated as new information becomes available, including data from a survey administered last year to approximately 1,500 college and university humanities departments. The academy views the indicators as a prototype for a much-needed national system of humanities data collection.
Among the organizations collaborating with the academy on the effort are the the College Art Association, American Council of Learned Societies, the American Academy of Religion, the American Historical Association, the American Political Science Association, the Association of American Universities, the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the Linguistic Society of America, the Modern Language Association, and the National Humanities Alliance.
Update: Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed has the first review of the Humanities Indicators, with comments from readers.
CAA Joins Museum Associations in Letter to Obama Transition Team
posted by Christopher Howard — January 05, 2009
CAA has joined a list of twenty-six national organizations, six regional museum associations, and thirty-nine state associations in sending a letter to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The letter, drafted by the American Association of Museums and sent on December 22, 2008, states the case for the importance of US museums of all kinds and recommends $50 million in funding for the Office of Museum Services at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in fiscal year 2010—an increase of $19 million over this year’s budget.
CAA Joins Museum Associations in Letter to Obama Transition Team
posted by Christopher Howard — January 05, 2009
CAA has joined a list of twenty-six national organizations, six regional museum associations, and thirty-nine state associations in sending a letter to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The letter, drafted by the American Association of Museums and sent on December 22, 2008, states the case for the importance of US museums of all kinds and recommends $50 million in funding for the Office of Museum Services at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in fiscal year 2010—an increase of $19 million over this year’s budget.
Arts Policy Brief Sent to Obama Transition Office
posted by Christopher Howard — December 08, 2008
The Arts Education Network Weekly News reports that several national arts and arts education organizations have submitted a policy brief on the arts to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team. The brief covers recommendations for the National Endowment for the Arts; cultural exchange; arts education in school, work, and life; national service and the arts; and the role of the arts in nonprofit communities. The brief also requests that the incoming president appoint a senior-level administration official to coordinate arts and cultural policy.
According to the brief, “The arts and cultural community welcomes the opportunity to communicate with President-Elect Obama and his staff in re-imagining how the federal government can inspire and support creativity in communities nationwide through robust policies that advance participation in the arts for all Americans.”
The following are the recommendations proposed for arts education:
- Prevent economic status and geographic location from denying students a comprehensive arts education
- Ensure equitable access to the full benefits of arts education when reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act so that all, not just some, students can learn to their full potential
- Exercise leadership to encourage arts-based and other creative learning environments for academically at-risk students participating in Title I-funded programs
- Retain the arts in the definition of core academic subjects of learning and reauthorize the Arts in Education Programs of the US Department of Education
- Fund after-school arts learning opportunities and support arts-education partnerships between schools and community arts and cultural organizations
- Move federal policy beyond simply declaring the arts as a core academic subject to actually implementing arts education as an essential subject of learning
- Require states to issue annual public reports on the local status and condition of arts education and other core academic subjects
- Improve national data collection and research in arts education
- Invest in professional development opportunities for teachers in the arts
- Deploy arts education as an economic-development strategy
- Authorize and encourage inclusion of arts learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) initiatives in order to foster imagination and innovation. Without the arts, STEM falls short of its potential to advance education and workforce development
- Fully preparing students with the creative skills they will need to advance our nation’s position in the twenty-first-century global economy requires implementing the arts as a core subject of learning and ensuring that all students attain cultural literacy
- Ensure that the full range of federal initiatives that advance workforce development, such as Department of Labor programs, provide training in the skills of creativity and imagination
Among the many joining organizations are Americans for the Arts, the American Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Literary Network, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Council for Traditional Arts, and the National Performance Network.
Arts Policy Brief Sent to Obama Transition Office
posted by Christopher Howard — December 08, 2008
The Arts Education Network Weekly News reports that several national arts and arts education organizations have submitted a policy brief on the arts to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team. The brief covers recommendations for the National Endowment for the Arts; cultural exchange; arts education in school, work, and life; national service and the arts; and the role of the arts in nonprofit communities. The brief also requests that the incoming president appoint a senior-level administration official to coordinate arts and cultural policy.
According to the brief, “The arts and cultural community welcomes the opportunity to communicate with President-Elect Obama and his staff in re-imagining how the federal government can inspire and support creativity in communities nationwide through robust policies that advance participation in the arts for all Americans.”
The following are the recommendations proposed for arts education:
- Prevent economic status and geographic location from denying students a comprehensive arts education
- Ensure equitable access to the full benefits of arts education when reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act so that all, not just some, students can learn to their full potential
- Exercise leadership to encourage arts-based and other creative learning environments for academically at-risk students participating in Title I-funded programs
- Retain the arts in the definition of core academic subjects of learning and reauthorize the Arts in Education Programs of the US Department of Education
- Fund after-school arts learning opportunities and support arts-education partnerships between schools and community arts and cultural organizations
- Move federal policy beyond simply declaring the arts as a core academic subject to actually implementing arts education as an essential subject of learning
- Require states to issue annual public reports on the local status and condition of arts education and other core academic subjects
- Improve national data collection and research in arts education
- Invest in professional development opportunities for teachers in the arts
- Deploy arts education as an economic-development strategy
- Authorize and encourage inclusion of arts learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) initiatives in order to foster imagination and innovation. Without the arts, STEM falls short of its potential to advance education and workforce development
- Fully preparing students with the creative skills they will need to advance our nation’s position in the twenty-first-century global economy requires implementing the arts as a core subject of learning and ensuring that all students attain cultural literacy
- Ensure that the full range of federal initiatives that advance workforce development, such as Department of Labor programs, provide training in the skills of creativity and imagination
Among the many joining organizations are Americans for the Arts, the American Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Literary Network, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Council for Traditional Arts, and the National Performance Network.
Troubling Study on US Higher Education
posted by Christopher Howard — December 03, 2008
States are making little or no progress in providing affordable college opportunities or improving college completion rates for their residents, says a report released today by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The findings come as states face massive budget shortfalls that threaten higher-education funding, and the United States continues to lag behind other advanced nations on measures of higher-education performance.
Drawing on nearly two decades of data, the report, Measuring Up 2008, finds that while states have made modest gains in preparing students for college, more students are failing to graduate from high school. While college-enrollment rates for young adults are improving, enrollment rates are declining for older adults. The report also notes that the burden of paying for college is now higher for students in every state, and low college-completion rates have barely improved. Additionally, disparities persist in college access and success by income, race and ethnicity, and state.
According to the study, major gaps include:
- Affordability. The burden of paying for college has increased for all families but has increased substantially more for low- and middle-income families. Nationally, families in the lowest-income group (bottom 20 percent of the population) pay 55 percent of their income to attend public four-year colleges and universities (after accounting for all student financial aid)—a jump from 39 percent in 2000. Families in the middle-income group (middle 20 percent of the population) pay 25 percent of their income (up from 18 percent in 2000), and those in the top income group (top 20 percent of the population) pay 9 percent of their income (up from 7 percent in 2000). (See page 8 of Measuring Up 2008.)
- Additionally, college is more affordable in some states than others. At community colleges, the proportion of family income needed to pay for college expenses, after financial aid, has increased from 18 percent to 25 percent in Florida, and from 20 percent to 25 percent in Washington State. At public four-year institutions, the percentage of income needed to pay costs, after aid, has increased from 17 percent to 20 percent in Minnesota, from 19 percent to 34 percent in New Jersey, and from 29 percent to 41 percent in Pennsylvania. (See page 15.)
- High school completion. In Illinois, 95 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 82 percent of blacks. In Texas, 93 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 74 percent of Hispanics. (See page 14.)
- College attendance. In Connecticut and New York, 50 percent of white young adults are enrolled in college, compared with 34 percent of blacks. In California, 45 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 27 percent of Hispanics. In Arizona, 40 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 18 percent of Native Americans. (See page 14.)
- College graduation. In Delaware, 73 percent of white students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years of enrolling in college, compared with 41 percent of black students. In New York, 63 percent of whites do so, compared with 43 percent of Hispanics. In New Mexico, 47 percent of whites graduate within six years, compared with 25 percent of Native Americans. (See page 16.)
As a result of these inequities, US higher-education performance has been declining compared to other nations in recent years.
- In college completion, which has never been a strength of American higher education, the US falls in the middle of the pack: fifteenth among twenty-nine countries compared
- The US adult population ages thirty-five and older still ranks among the world leaders (second only to their peers in Canada) in the percentage who have college degrees, reflecting the educational progress of earlier times
- Among twenty-five- to thirty-four-year-olds, however, the US has slipped to tenth in the percentage having college degrees. This relative erosion of our national “educational capital” reflects the lack of significant improvement in the rates of college participation and completion in the US in recent years, compared with other countries
Measuring Up 2008 is the fifth in a series of biennial report cards issued by the National Center, based in San Jose, California. Like the earlier reports, this edition measures the performance of the nation and of each state in providing education and training beyond high school. Each state receives an A-to-F grade in each of five performance areas.
In addition to the national report card, detailed individual report cards are available for each of the fifty states. Upon release of Measuring Up 2008, the national and state report cards will be posted on the National Center’s website.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education promotes public policies that enhance Americans’ opportunities to pursue and achieve a quality higher education. Established in 1998 by a consortium of national foundations, the center is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. It is not associated with any institution of higher education, with any political party, or with any government agency. The National Center is solely responsible for Measuring Up 2008.