Arts Academy Revitalization Action Team

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, Jan. 25, 2007

January 25, 2007 at 2:40 pm | In Minutes |

Summary:

Nat’l Standards for Arts Education – Elizabeth will photocopy pp. 52-83 for reference.

LIT request for staff meeting time – Informational meeting of AARAT

Alert: Casco Bay may be looking to corporate sponsors for $ to fund expansion – at the same time we may looking for same.

Look at area theatres and community spaces for ideas when we plan our glorious Arts Academy Space.

Lisa Defranza: Co-Curricular HOME project scaled down, include Bo Hewey.

LIT request for Professional Development funds to pay for HOME project.

Track the hours spent on this work – Contact Hours toward fulfilling the contract, and toward lane changing pay scale. Use a chart.

Present:

• Phil Divinsky
• Vicky Stubbs
• Tom LaFavore
• Dave Beane
• Dave Nichols
• Lisa Hicks

Full Notes (paraphrased):

Phil brought the National Standards for Arts Education book with him and asked that Elizabeth photocopy pp. 52-83, which correspond to the grades 9-12 Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts sections. We will use the photocopy as reference for curriculum planning.

The team updated Tom about our Staff Presentation on Wednesday (1/17). Tom suggested that we ask LIT for some staff time to make a presentation about our MET visit, and possibly include our visit to the Boston Arts Academy as a comparison. Tom pointed out that it is important to build capacity with the staff, and keep them informed about our direction and our work.

Vicky will ask LIT on Tuesday (1/30) for staff meeting time – probably a 30 min. Informational meeting with time for questions and clarification from the staff.

We discussed that this is probably our best first step – as opposed to a written feedback form to the staff. Tom’s suggestion of steps was:

STEP ONE
Information out to the staff to bring everyone up to speed. Let the staff know of our meeting notes site.

STEP TWO
Offer an opportunity for the staff to ask any questions or clarifications – and offer any info they have to assist our work.

STEP THREE
Pose a question to the staff around their support of our work. This may look something like the following:
I support the work, and will help in any way I can.
I support the work, but cannot offer help at this time.
I don’t support the work, but won’t derail the project.
Comments.

Tom wanted us to be aware that Casco Bay will probably be asking for corporate sponsors soon to build an addition or new school space at Baxter. We should stay ahead of the game if we can, and get specific about the sponsors we will be going after, etc.

Dave Beane talked about the Baptist Church on Canco Road. He was recently in the space, and noticed how well it was constructed for media – a very impressive setup. He suggested that we take a look at it as we plan for our new space.

Dave Nichols agreed that there are many spaces we should look at. He referred to the old Keystone Theatre on Congress St., and the church that holds services at the new cinemagic.

Tom and Phil spoke of the Grange Hall in North Deering.

Tom mentioned that Best Buy would soon be closing and moving across the street. Since we already have a relationship with the Maine Mall, maybe there will be some equipment that would be donated to us, similar to the closing of Filenes.

Vicky informed everyone of a short 10 minute meeting that happened on Thursday at 10:50 with Lisa Hicks, Lisa Defranza, and Vicky regarding a scaled down HOME project. Lisa would like to work with Bo Hewey on a smaller scaled project that has three steps.
STEP ONE – meeting with students and teachers and Bo Hewey in a creative writing workshop.
STEP TWO – meeting with teachers and Bo Hewey only to review writings and make next step connections
STEP THREE – meeting with students, teachers and Bo to shape the work.
Approximate cost of this might run us $1500.

Lisa Hicks said she would ask Lisa Defranza to write up a detailed proposal of this project ASAP. We will give this to LIT to request some grant funds to help cover the cost.

The proposal should include the words “Professional Development”. In this way, Tom said he would try to find other funds to aid in the project – because it will be considered professional development.

Elizabeth needs to contact Portland Stage regarding the possibility of matching funds for Lisa’s project.

Suggestion of keeping track of our hours spent on this work – for two reasons.
Contact Hours, 10 hours to fulfill this year – per contract
Contact Hours collected to go toward “lane shifting” on pay scale.

A chart was suggested as a way to keep track of each person – that can be posted at our meetings.