VOLUME 50 | ISSUE 12
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE
ARIZONA COMMISSION ON THE ARTS
FEATURED NEWS
Community Conversations: Arts Education in Arizona Schools
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is partnering with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to engage communities in conversations about arts education in Arizona schools during a statewide tour this Winter.  
 
These community conversations are free and open to the public. We particularly encourage students, teachers, teaching artists, community arts workers, administrators, parents, and policymakers to attend. We want to hear your insights, questions, and concerns and learn about the challenges and opportunities you see for arts education in your community's schools. Data collected through these community conversations will be reviewed by the Arts Advisory & Action Committee's leadership team and communicated to education and civic leaders throughout the state.
Remaining Community Conversations
Tucson
Tuesday, December 12
5:15 pm – 7:15 pm
Temple of Music and Arts
Coolidge
Wednesday, December 13
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Artisan Village
Scottsdale
Thursday, December 14
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
Senate Bill Maintains Funding for NEA
On November 20, 2017 the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee released their bill to fund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The bill proposes level-funding ($150 million) for both the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Congress has until December 8th to agree on funding levels for the entire federal government. Current funding for the NEA ($150 million) will remain in place until that deadline.
AZArts Best of 2017 (as decided by you!)
Share yours by Friday, December 15
On December 18, 2017, the Arizona Commission on the Arts will publish the AZArts Best of 2017 list, but we need your help to pull it together!

Click below to share your personal favorite or most memorable Arizona arts experience for 2017! Gotta a picture or video? You can share those too!
Photos (left to right): art by artist Brent Q, courtesy Arts for All, inc; Tucson International Mariachi Conference 2017, courtesy La Frontera; All Souls Proces-sion, Rick Meinecke, 2015; artists Leonor Aispuro and Oliverio Balcells, photo by Alonso Parra; Amanda Rambert at the 2017 Poetry Out Loud State Finals.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
AATE Best Practices: Inclusive and Accessible Theatre Symposium
February 2-4, 2018 | Louisville, KY
Join theatre educators, artists, and scholars from near and far for this exciting gathering. Hosted by the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, this weekend intensive will offer keynote speakers, hands-on workshops, and a sensory-friendly performance including a pre-show touch tour. Come explore one of the country’s most arts-rich communities, and leave with practical tools you can use at home, in your classroom, or theatre.
Winter 2018 Arts Integration and STEAM Online Conference  
February 3, 2018 | 10am-4pm ET
Education Closet is hosting the largest arts integration and STEAM conference for educators. The conference will take place over the course of one day, as educators from across the nation collectively learn strategies to implement Arts Integration and/or STEAM in the classroom. Participants will receive professional development credit, and lifetime access to conference materials and digital content.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Arts Education: A Look Ahead
Arts education is a discipline in transition. How the arts should be taught in schools—and the scientific evidence of their impact—remains divisive. While some advocate for arts integration, others caution that maintaining a separate space for arts education is key to its survival. In this collection, Education Week has convened a range of researchers, professors, and practitioners to argue their case for arts education’s path forward. Despite their many contrasting opinions, these experts all agree on one thing: Arts instruction is key to American schooling and is worth supporting, researching, and protecting.
ArtsConnection's Digital DELLTA Program
In a new success story, Digital DELLTA – Linking Learning and the Arts , ArtsConnection shares more about how its organization is working to support English-language acquisition and the future success of English-language learners through arts-based curricula. Through curricula aligned with the National Core Arts Standards in dance and theater, ArtsConnection engages students in arts-integrated lessons that help them to work and think like artists and prepare them for college and the workforce.

Image courtesy of ArtsConnection.
OPPORTUNITIES
2018 Call for Proposals for EdTA National Conference
Deadline: March 1, 2018
The Educational Theatre Association National Conference, (September 13-16, 2018) in Denver, CO, attracts approximately 400 theatre educators for state-of-the-art presentations by national thought leaders. In 2018 the Conference theme is ‘We are All Artists’, an examination of the intersection of classroom teaching and theatrical artistry, in sessions that focus on how teachers and teaching artists can collaborate and complement one another’s strengths to enrich students’ theatre experiences.
Centennial Art Contest "The Next 100 Years"
Deadline: December 31, 2017  
NASA Langley Research Center’s Office of Strategic Analysis, Communication and Business Development invites children, grades K-12, to create original artwork for The Next 100 Years . The art contest will illustrate how NASA research and innovation is propelling science forward to new discoveries; and to highlight how NASA discoveries help build a better world, full of new opportunities, technologies, and ways to understand ourselves and protect and conserve our planet.

Image courtesy of NASA.
Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge Opens for High School Students  
Submission Deadline: January 5, 2018  
The National Endowment for the Arts is expanding its Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge from last year’s three-city pilot to a national program available to all high school songwriters working in any musical genre. Applicants submit a recording of an original song that could appear in a musical theater show. Partnering with the NEA in the Songwriting Challenge is the American Theatre Wing along with collaborators Playbill, Inc. and Disney Theatrical Productions.
RESOURCES
Resources Available from Americans for the Arts’ SP3
Americans for the Arts recently held its State Policy Pilot Program (SP3) Summit in Denver, CO in November 2017. The summit explored key findings and provided an in-depth look at the three-year pilot program that took place in 10 states to enable the development of leadership in state-level policy-makers advocates, researchers, and grantmakers towards developing achievable policy pursuits and sustainable advocacy infrastructures in arts education. Resources from SP3 are now available online, and include research reports, case studies from participating states and a comprehensive final report.
Teaching Artist Pay-Rate Calculator  
Developed by the Teaching Artist Guild, the Teaching Artist Pay-Rate Calculator has been in development for almost two years and is ready for testing.

This calculator is a guide for an individual to ascertain what a livable wage looks like in their region as they plan for employment, fitting and balancing the pieces of their work as an artist, teaching artist, any other work they may do, and to provide a leg to establish a wage.  
It is also a guide for organizations who hire teaching artists, and funders, to begin to calculate what they should be able to pay teaching artists to maintain and build a field of teaching artist professionals.
ADVOCACY
arts found: A Salon Series 2018
January 18, March 22, April 19, May 24, 2018 | Various Locations
The Arts Foundation for Tuscon and Southern Arizona will explore the intersection of art and ideas in a series of gatherings this spring. The mission of the Arts Foundation for Tuscon and Southern Arizona is to advance artistic expression, civic participation, and equitable economic growth of the community by supporting, promoting, and advocating for arts and culture in the region.
2018 Arts Education Partnership State Policy Symposium  
March 10, 2018 | Washington, D.C.  
This day-long event convenes arts education stakeholders from across the country to explore key education policy issues that impact arts in education. Stay tuned for registration and event details for the 2018 Symposium. 
 
For highlights and resources from the 2017 AEP State Policy Symposium,
Arizona Arts Congress 2018  
Monday, February 19, 2018 | Arizona State Capital   
Sponsored by Arizona Citizens for the Arts, the Arizona Arts Congress offers opportunities for arts educators and students to use civic engagement to promote support for arts and arts education. Stakeholders are invited to join other arts and cultural leaders and supporters to advocate for support for arts funding in the state budget.
FUNDING
NEA accepting applications to develop community-wide reading programs  
Deadline: January 24, 2018  
NEA Big Read is accepting applications from non-profit organizations around the nation to develop community-wide reading programs between September 2018 and June 2019. Organizations selected to participate in the program receive a grant ($5,000-$15,000), access to educational and promotional materials, and online training resources. Approximately 75 organizations from across the country will be selected.
City of Avondale’s Art Sponsorship Program Grants  
Deadline: January 31, 2018  
City of Avondale’s Art Sponsorship Program, offered through the Avondale Municipal Art Committee, provides funding to non-profit or educational organizations to support and enhance arts education and activities in Avondale. Successful applicants could be awarded up to $1,000 for art enrichment programs, special events or community projects that serve the Avondale community.
Arts Learning and Collaboration Grants  
CYCLE C Deadline: 11:59pm Thursday, February 1, 2018  
Arts Learning Collaboration Grants enhance the work of school-based arts teaching and learning programs through collaborative projects taking place in-school (during regular school hours), after-school, or during summer/inter-session and in-services. 
 
Eligible project activities must take place between March 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. 

Lifelong Arts Engagement Grants  
CYCLE C Deadline: 11:59pm Thursday, February 1, 2018  
Lifelong Arts Engagement Grants support partnerships that foster meaningful arts learning experiences in a variety of community settings for learners of any age. Community/social service organizations or governmental entities partnered with arts organizations or professional teaching artists are eligible to apply. 
 
Eligible project activities must take place between March 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. 

Professional Development Grants   
Cycle C Deadline: February 1, 2018  
Professional Development Grants provide funding support for participation in artistic development and skills building activities or opportunities that contribute to professional growth and career development. 
 
Eligible activities must take place between March 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. 

SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK
Feel free to send us your comments, suggestions or a story idea you'd like to see in the next issue. artslearning@azarts.gov  
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about our programs and services at the Arizona Commission on the Arts, visit  www.azarts.gov  
ARTS LEARNING STAFF
Position Vacant
Arts Learning Manager

Anastasia Freyermuth
 Arts Learning and Grants Coordinator

AZArts Learning is published monthly by the Arizona Commission on the Arts

To request this or any other agency publication in an alternative format, contact the Arizona Commission on the Arts at (602) 771-6501 | info@azarts.gov
IMAGINE AN ARIZONA WHERE EVERYONE
CAN PARTICIPATE IN AND EXPERIENCE THE ARTS
Arizona Commission on the Arts | (602) 771-6501 | info@azarts.gov | www.azarts.gov