National Guild of Community Schools for the Arts

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“One of the
most intense
and motivating experiences for me
as a director of a community school.”

—Susanne Baker,
DePaul Community
Music Division

69th Annual Conference in Phoenix, AZ
71st ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN PHILADELPHIA, PA, OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 1, 2008
REGISTRATION

Pre-Conference Institutes
Wednesday, October 29

The Conference for Community Arts Education will feature three Pre-Conference Institutes on Wednesday, October 29. Led by master trainers and expert practitioners in the field, these full day sessions provide participants opportunities to increase their understanding of critical issues in community arts education and to develop and practice new skills. Pre-Conference Institutes sell-out fast. Register Today!

2008 Pre-Conference Institutes:

 

Outcome-Based Evaluation (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)

Community arts education organizations must demonstrate the impact of their programs on both students and communities in measurable ways in order to secure government, foundation and community support. To that end, outcome-based evaluation (OBE) methods are far and away the tools of choice.

OBE—a systematic method of determining whether a program is achieving its intended results—has other pragmatic benefits as well. Most importantly, it enables you to assess the effects of an arts education program on students and to improve program planning and implementation.OBE provides precise answers to critical questions including:

During the institute, you’ll learn how to apply a logic model to develop a program evaluation plan, identify appropriate instruments to collect measurable outcome data, and develop methods for responding to evaluation results. You’ll also receive a comprehensive manual on the principles of outcome-based evaluation as well as tools and templates to use back home.

 Faculty: Claudia B. Horn, President and CEO, Performance Results, Inc.

 

 

Partners in Excellence: The Arts Education Partnership Institute (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)

True partnerships, characterized by mutual understanding and commitment, collaborative planning, and joint curriculum and professional development, have powerful, long-term effects on students, faculty, institutions and communities.

The Partners in Excellence Institute will provide you with the tools and training needed to develop successful arts education partnerships with K-12 schools. This series of hands-on workshops explore the value of partnering and addresses best practices in structuring, managing and sustaining these relationships.

As an Institute participant, you will:

 You’ll also receive a complimentary copy of the National Guild’s Partners in Excellence: A Guide to Community School of the Arts/Public School Partnerships from Inspiration to Implementation and Profiles in Excellence: Case Studies of Exemplary Arts Education Partnerships.

The Partners in Excellence Institute is appropriate for executive directors, program directors, and development directors of community arts education organizations and their public school partners.

Faculty: David O’Fallon, President, MacPhail Center for Music; and Beth Vogel, Consultant, Partners in Arts Education Program, National Guild

 

 

Creative Lives: Building a Career as a Teaching Artist (10:00 AM – 5:00 PM)

Registration and Financial Aid Deadline: September 30, 2008

A teaching artist wears many hats: artist, educator and entrepreneur. Creating a meaningful balance between these roles and building a sustainable career can be challenging. How do you continue to develop your artistic and teaching skills while negotiating for fair compensation and benefits?

Designed for professional teaching artists, this highly interactive institute will engage you in hands-on activities and collective dialogue to deepen your awareness of what brings you to this work, how best to integrate your artistic and educational excellence, and how to communicate the value of your work in order to secure the support you need to be successful.

As a participant, you will:

Click here for full session descriptions

This Institute is appropriate for professional teaching artists and is being offered in partnership with Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, and the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation. Registration includes lunch and a casual end-of-day reception to foster peer-to-peer networking and exchange.

Faculty: Arlene Goldbard, writer, speaker and consultant;
Jan Norman, National Director of Education, Research and Professional Development, Young Audiences;
Magda Martinez, program director, Community Partnerships in the Arts, for the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial;
Andrew Simonet, Founder & Director, Artist U

Registration for the Teaching Artist Institute is $75 and includes lunch and a casual end-of-day reception to foster peer-to-peer networking and exchange.

Limited Financial aid scholarships are still available for professional teaching artists. If you are applying for financial aid, fax the registration form without payment along with the financial aid application form to (212) 268-3995. Scholarships will be given on a first come-first served basis.

Welcome & Opening Session: 10:00 – 11:30 AM

Networking Lunch: 11:30 AM–12:30 PM

Break: 12:30 – 12:45 PM

Workshop Sessions: 12:45 – 2:15 PM

Break: 2:15 – 2:30 PM

Workshop Sessions (Repeated): 2:30 – 4:00 PM

Networking: 4:00 – 5:00 PM

 

Teaching Artist Institute Sessions

The Path of Integration: Embodying Your Essence as a Teaching Artist 10:00–11:30 AM
Arlene Goldbard, author

You may have become a teaching artist on purpose or by accident, may find yourself working in exactly the place you intended or wondering how you got there, but either way, one key question is the same: how does this work express and embody your essential self as an artist? How can it be a vehicle for your deepest truths, your best ideas, your greatest pleasures? Life rarely goes according to plan: luck, accidents and unforeseen opportunities have as much as intentions to do with our life-paths as artists. Serendipity is one source of our work’s dynamism; learning to be open to surprise is one of the pleasures of the artist’s work, and also of our lives. Even if you think you know the answers, this session will surprise you. After a presentation, we’ll use experiential exercises to contact our deepest selves and enter into a remarkable dialogue about what matters most as artists, teachers and human beings.

 

The following sessions will be presented concurrently from 12:45–2:15 and again from 2:30–4:00. You will be able to attend two most relevant to you.

 

Time and Money for Teaching Artists, or, If I'm so talented, why am I broke, exhausted, and late for my next gig? 12:45– 2:15 & 2:30 – 4:00 PM
Andrew Simonet, Founder, Artists U

In this session we will look at the two Great Mysteries of the teaching artist's life: time and money. We will discuss strategies for creating a life that is balanced, sustainable, and productive. How can we apply the creativity, competence, and resourcefulness of our art practice to planning, budgeting and scheduling? Specific topics include:

* What your life costs
* What you time costs
* Top 5 Limiting Beliefs Artists Hold About Money
* Negotiating Without Becoming a Jerk
* 4 Things You Can Do This Week to Change Your Financial Life

Mission Drift and the Teaching Artist: Doing a Jig for the Gig, or, As Hard as I Try I Seem to Show Up Everywhere I Go 12:45–2:15 & 2:30–4:00 PM
Magda Martinez, Fleisher Art Memorial

In this session we will evaluate the malleable role of the teaching artist. Just as organizations can experience mission drift so can we as individuals. During the session we will evaluate what is important to us as individuals and artists and how these items influence our negotiations, group management, curriculum planning and vision of community arts work. We will end with a draft of a teaching artist statement as we search for balance and sustainability in this field. Specific topics include:

* Who am I as an artist? What is my vision of myself as an artist?
* How do I see community arts work?
* How do I balance my work as an artist with my work as a teaching artist (is this a gig or a personal priority)?
* How do my personal strengths and challenges affect my work as a teaching artist?
* What do others need to know about how I view this work (teaching artist statement)

Assessment for Teaching Artists: Building Accountability, Capacity and Effectiveness 12:45–2:15 & 2:30–4:00 PM
Jan Norman, Ph.D., National Director, Education, Research & Professional Development

Effective assessment helps artists build accountability and credibility with schools, the community and funders, while also building the capacity of the emerging and seasoned artist. This session will share practical and effective assessment strategies and help artists identify, use and create effective tools to support their programs. It will also provide ways of assessing the gap between at-risk students and those from enriched environments and will suggest methods that can support and influence students’ equity and access to an arts education. Most importantly, this session will help teaching artists to think beyond single surveys, rubrics and instruments toward a more comprehensive assessment plan that will positively affect and guide all aspects of their teaching, planning, development and success. You will ‘learn by doing’ using an assortment of tools including the YA Rubric for Teaching Artists and embedded assessments for students that measure student outcomes while they are making their art. Each of these tools can be adapted to a variety of program designs and applications, ranging from the single student to large scale studies. Tips will be given on choosing the appropriate scale and methods of assessment to support an artist’s program, fund-raising and advocacy goals.