RIAEA President's Page

Welcome back. I am honored to be the new president of this vital organization and promise to do everything in my power to advocate for visual arts education. My vision is that all school children in the state of Rhode Island will be provided with significant visual arts education from well informed and prepared visual arts teachers.

This year we are facing unprecedented challenges. Arts programs are being cut at an alarming rate and this issue demands our immediate attention. Every one of us must hear the call to action and do whatever we can to preserve and improve arts education. Our voices and actions must continually speak to why arts education is critical for all children.

Every district in Rhode Island is facing a financial crisis. Simply stated, superintendents are struggling to balance increasing costs with decreasing funds. It is against the law for a school district to run in the red. As a result, non-essential programs are being cut. How are programs determined essential or not? The decisions are made based on what the community values and the community values what they understand to be essential. As art teachers it is your responsibility to educate the community through advocacy. Sounds like a daunting task? While it is not easy, it is possible and here are a few things you can do:

Advocate- Join your School Improvement Team and provide evidence of the importance of art education. Present student work and explain how children are expected to work at cognitively rigorous levels at a Parent/Teacher Association meeting. Display student work with annotations describing the levels of depth of knowledge. Create a brochure with the help from music and other arts educators and parents that communicates the importance of arts learning in your town and beyond. Develop and disseminate a calendar of the major themes your students will be studying to other teachers and administrators- and request similar input from your colleagues. Always bring and use student work when you attend a meeting. As a parent, grandparent, or community tax payer, attend town meetings, write letters to the editor, and talk to your neighbors in the market and friends at gatherings about how important it is for our children to express their critical thinking through the arts.

Get Informed- Be proactive! Visit these websites: www.riartslearning.net for information relating to Rhode Island's arts proficiency expectations. http://aep-arts.org for research supporting arts education. www.nasaa-arts.org for Arts & Learning Resources for State Leaders and the research-based communication toolkit.

Together we can change the present course of diminishing arts programming. Please contact me and let me know what you are doing to advocate. I will share your good ideas in this newsletter

Rosemary Burns
President, RIAEA