Visual and Performing Arts Workshops
Arts Education Professional Development Opportunities State/National Report December 2005 Status of Arts Education Professional development in MississippiThe Mississippi Visual and Performing Arts Framework 2003 (VAPA) is implemented. To date, 477 + teachers from 67% of the districts have received training to implement the K-12 VAPA frameworks. Trainings were offered in various areas of the state. Supplemental offerings were made in partnership with the MAAE, Delta State, Mississippi College, and University of Southern Mississippi. A training DVD for the VAPA Framework 2003 has been created, published, and mailed to district superintendents and curriculum coordinators to assist in additional VAPA Framework training. Future plans are to make this format available in the streaming media training to be accessible on the web. Music and Visual Arts teachers are eligible to obtain certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; currently, over 68 music and art teachers are NBCT. Statewide professional organizations exist to support k-12 music, visual art, and theatre teachers, offering professional development at state conferences and regional workshops. The Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) offers professional development in addition to its role of promoting arts education awareness, advocacy in Mississippi and monitoring state and national issues in arts education with state and national partners. In June 2005, the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education worked in partnership with the MDE to host an Arts Education Professional Development Track at the MEGA Conference in Biloxi. More than 4,000 teachers and school administrators attended the state’s largest education conference. Thirty-eight arts education sessions were offered. The MAAE granted more than 75 registration scholarships to individuals who agreed to participate in the Arts Track. The Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Initiative (WSI) supports the need for certified arts teachers and arts programs that include music, dance, theatre, and visual art instruction for all students in the school. WSI is a nationally recognized model school reform program promoting systemic change within a school through teaching methods and learning strategies for the students that include arts infused lessons throughout the curriculum to promote learning in all subject areas. Since 1992, schools that receive funding participate in professional development training in arts infusion for selected staff, who return to the school to share training with their faculty colleagues, In 2002, a new program, Arts in the Classroom extended an invitation to K-12 Mississippi schools to apply for professional development opportunities in the arts. Since 2003, teachers from schools within Mississippi and outside the state are eligible to register for the Whole Schools Initiative Summer Institute. In July 2004, the Whole Schools Initiative 5–year research evaluation, “The Arts are an R, Too,”documented the academic successes of Mississippi Schools in the initiative that systematically infused the arts into classroom instruction. http://www.mswholeschools.org/index.php?=research&c=The-Arts-are-an-R-too University of Southern Mississippi Consortium for Creative Learning under the direction of Dr. Anita Davis has been planning a scope of professional development for teachers to include all disciplines with the arts included in the focus. The Greenville Arts Council in the Delta partners with the Greenville Public School District to provide arts professional development for its teachers as well as free arts experiences for the students. Kathryn Cascio Lewis, Executive Director of the Greenville Arts Council, can be reached at 662-332-2246. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) presented the Arts Track at MEGA Conference June 6-9. 2005. The MEGA Conference has been the largest professional development conference held in Mississippi. Hosted by the Mississippi Department of Education, the conference theme was "From At-Risk to Excellence: Promoting Academic Success for All Students." In 2005, the Mississippi Department of Education worked in partnership with the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) who in turn received additional funding from the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education to make possible the production of the Arts Education Professional Development Track. Additional arts education training and off-site events were sponsored by the MAAE. Summary: 38 arts education professional development sessions were offered on site and 6 workshops were presented off site. The MAAE hosted an Arts Education General Session and presented Arts Education Awards, held a reception + silent auction, set up, manned, and dismantled an exhibit booth, and led a gallery tour. All this in the space of three days! Midwest Clinic 2007 Midwest Clinic Future Conference Dates: Mississippi Theatre Association (MTA) January 10-13, 2008 The National Art Educators Association (NAEA) Annual Convention March 26-30, 2008 Future Conference Dates: Mississippi Music Teachers Association (MTNA) Mississippi Music Teachers Association November 2-3, 2007 at the University of Southern Mississipi. A gathering of membership with lecture/recitals, workshops, master classes, reading sessions, and the MTNA State Competition and the MMTA Pre-College concerto competition. www.msmusicteachers.org http://www.mtna.org/ Mississippi Music Educators MMEA/ADCA Convention and In-Service Conference. For more information visit website www.msmea.org MENC, Music Educators National Conference April 9-12, 2008 Milwaukee, WI http://www.menc.org/. Educational Theatre Association Thespians June 25-30, 2007 Next year: June 23-28, 2008 The Whole Schools Summer Institute (WSI) For more information and to register go to http://www.mswholeschools.org/ or contact Whole Schools Initiative Director Judi Holifield at (601) 359-6040, (601) 577-1553, jholifield@arts.state.ms.us. American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) July 30-August 5, 2007 AATE 2007 Conference Sea to Sky: Swimming Upstream July 30 th – August 5 th , 2007 Vancouver , B.C., Canada www.aate.com. American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Mississippi Arts Commission Judi Holifield and Kim Whitt offer Arts in Education, professional development on Arts Integration. Contact Judi, 601-359-6040, jholifield@arts.state.ms.us, or Kim, 601-359-6037, kwhitt@arts.state.ms.us. Visual and Performing Arts Home Page Revised 6/22/2007
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