Happy Spring!
Lots of things have been going on in the SCAEA in just the first few months of 2016. Firstly, a heart-felt thank you to Meg Skow for doing such a wonderful job as President these past two years. She did an amazing job with our conferences and has been such a strong and positive advocate for the arts in South Carolina. She is truly a hard act to follow! As well, a big thank you to all of our outgoing board members and hello to our new ones! We are looking forward to working with them and serving the membership.
We had a great turn out for the Arts Advocacy Day at the State House in February. We had arts leaders and students from all of the arts areas and around the state to meet and greet with the legislators has they were coming into session. As well, we had about forty-five legislators who joined us for lunch that day. It was quite impressive meeting with supporters of the visual and performing arts in South Carolina and in our schools!
March is Youth Art Month. Thank you to the regional coordinators who have been organizing their Youth Art Month exhibits in their areas. We will be doing an on-line state exhibit this year to showcase all of the winners from each region. Be on the lookout for this!
Meg, Cynthia Hudson and I (along with several board members and state members) attended the NAEA conference in Chicago March 15-19th. A fantastic flag representing the SCAEA was created by J'da Jefferson of WIlliam J. Clark Middle School (art teacher Malissa Wright) and was on display at the Convention Center (take a look at it on the SCAEA Facebook page to see her work!). There were so many incredible speakers, sessions, events and vendors! If you can, make plans to go next year. It is such an incredible experience to be able to mingle and learn from other arts educators from across the nation and next year's National Conference will be held in NYC!
Speaking of conferences, we are busy planning the Fall Conference. Mark your calendars for November 18th through 20th. We will be in beautiful Greenville at the Hyatt Regency! If you are interested in presenting, want to nominate someone who you think should be recognized for an award, or want to know more about the conference, be on the lookout for information that will be coming out soon!
As Spring Break approaches, I wish that each and every one of you has a happy, healthy and relaxing one!
Catherine Campbell