please make some noise about arts education
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Amanda Wood
Apr 6, 2016, 3:41:59 PM4/6/16
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Hello everyone,
I’m sorry to group you all together but this is so important that I wanted to make sure I captured enough dedicated artists, educators, parents together to draw attention to something that is happening to kids in BC. No matter what our politics I think we all agree that children need to be exposed to art in elementary and high school. And some of us have experienced first hand what it feels like to have an arts education pulled out from under us. Please take a few minutes to read to the bottom of this email and think about how your experiences with art have shaped you and what you would be like without them. Then think about how you can support arts education for kids now.
I know we sometimes hear parents complaining about funding and teachers going on strike and it’s easy to tune it out. But over the last 25 years we’ve experienced truly chronic underfunding. And since we all tax payers and live in this beautiful city (province) we all have a responsibility to make sure that we don’t see a generation (or two) of people that don’t get a chance to learn to think creatively or critically through hands on learning and art.
Here’s a bit more context from artist, parent, educator Madeline Sauve:
There is a void in arts education in our schools and we want to remind the VSB to prioritize the art curriculum that has just been introduced.
Currently there are 2 art specialists working with 59,000 children in the VSB. This means that teachers with little to no art experience are teaching our children about creative processes, self expression and articulation; material and skilled discovery in art; creative development and process; cultural wisdom in the arts; visualizing identity, imagining the future, honoring our history, understanding difference, creative problem solving...this is the new arts curriculum https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum. How is someone with scant arts training going to deliver this rich experience? Art Education Specialist Teachers are an essential part of our children's education.
There are a number of ways to make your voice heard:
Use this email tool from FACE (Families to Cuts Against Education) and talk about the importance of arts education in the comments.
Let the VSB trustees know how you feel:
Write to your MLA, the Minister of Education and the Education Critic directly:
If you can, attend an upcoming VSB meeting. The VSB has given PAN (Parents Advocacy Network) a brief window to present regarding prioritizing this vital piece of the BC public school curriculum.
5pm sharp
Wed April 13
1580 West Broadway (VSB Headquarters)
Thanks so much for reading and thinking about this important issue.
Amanda
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