Arts Academy Revitalization Action Team

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 28, 2006

Summary:

Next meeting: Monday, October 2nd in the Music room.

The Visioning Night format has not been set. We’d like to make a very brief statement about the work we’re doing and ask interested people to talk to us.

We need to work on "selling" art as an important part of learning as part of our visioning. We need to:

• document our curriculum-sharing
• get kids’ views on having more inter-curricular classes/choices.
• start figuring out what courses we should offer and how kids will move through the curricula.

We’d like more info on these schools:

• Many Flags
• The MET School

Elizabeth is working on fundraising and on a contact database.

Continue reading Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 28, 2006…

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 25, 2006

Summary:

Next meeting: Thursday, September 28th in the Music room.

Summary coming soon.

Continue reading Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 25, 2006…

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 21, 2006

Summary:

Next meeting: Monday, September 25th in the Music room.

Meeting with David Ruff will be [we hope] on 9/25 or 10/10.

Logistical items: Vicky will get Elizabeth the contact info for the Boston Arts Academy so that she can have a meeting with them (if possible) to discuss how they formed, and get a feeling for whether they could help us in our process.

Importance of vocational piece of the Arts Academy: We can reach more kids if we have a combined curriculum, expose kids to more artistic opportunities than they might get otherwise, and give artistic kids the skills to sell themselves as artists, network, and support themselves while doing their art.

"Selling" the Academy to parents: We’re giving parents and their children another educational choice. This could be a big selling point. It might help to be comprehensive..

"Selling" the students to colleges and employers: we need to work on what a diploma would look like (probably one with a "major" or "minor", or endorsements in specific areas of curriculum), so that our students can be successful when they graduate.

Continue reading Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 21, 2006…

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 18, 2006

Summary:

Meetings are now Mondays and Thursdays at 1:40 in the Music room, until the visioning work is done. Next meeting: Thursday, September 21st.

Immediate goals for Elizabeth:

• build up a parent volunteer base for Music and Dance programs
• get volunteers for PATHSFest — let’s make it a big deal this year
  • Visiting dance troupes or local bands to work with students?
  • Fundraising/bake sales/craft fair?
• explore academy models and report to the group to help with the visioning process.

Discussions:

• "Art + vocation" academy model: we have the opportunity to create an exciting experience for students, and we need to make sure that "performing arts" and "allied arts" have equal billing. We need to discuss exactly what that will look like, how the pieces will fit together, and how we will talk about it and sell it to others. We’ll work on crafting a clear, consistent message that we can all use when we talk about the work we’re doing (whether for fundraising or for other purposes).
• Funding questions: how much do we have to look like a "fine arts" academy? Does that matter? We would like to hear more details from David Ruff.

Continue reading Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 18, 2006…

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 11, 2006

Summary:

Next meeting: Monday, September 18 @ 1:40 in the new Music room.

Elizabeth’s new title, "Arts Academy Program Development Coordinator", was selected by the group. This week she will be working on the Arts in Education grant ($500) and beginning fundraising efforts. Vicky will give her Nick Nadzo’s contact info.

Areas for further work and discussion:

• infrastructure development (Elizabeth will be working primarily on this), including:
  • advisory board
  • fundraising (grants, donations), with detailed documentation about
  • artist-in-residence and visiting artist programs as part of a formal program with an advisory board
  • rebuilding volunteer network
• [new] space
• development to include more programs

Questions:

• What do we want to see at the end of the year?
• What does an Academy look like?

Subcommittees will be formed around these areas. Vicky will send e-mail.

Continue reading Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Sept. 11, 2006…