Seattle Public Schools Arts Newsletter   | January, 2020
January Focus: Educator Opportunities
This issue includes:
  • Seahawks Donate to Creative Advantage
  • Feb 6th Southwest Regional Arts Festival
  • For Community Arts Partners: Roster opens this Monday
  • For Teachers: More arts integration workshops, free membership to Town Hall, meet the artists at the Frye
Seahawks donate to
The Creative Advantage and Visual Arts
This month, the Seattle Seahawks generously donated $53,000 to The Creative Advantage, the city-wide initiative to expand equitable access to arts learning for every Seattle Public Schools student, and district visual arts.

This donation came directly from the proceeds for eight gameday posters that the Seahawks commissioned local artists to create this football season and was presented at the Gameday Poster Celebration at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).

These funds will purchase school arts materials for consumable items like paper, pencils, and paints, as well as non-consumables and equipment — things such as pottery wheels and kilns.

The Creative Advantage Roster Reopens Feb 3- March 11 
Spread the WORD to teaching artists, community artists and arts ed organizations you know! 

Register for the Arts Integration Workshops
SPS Staff can now register for the workshops in the Arts Integration Professional Development Series that will run January-May, 2020. We are offering courses open to all SPS staff in integrating various arts disciplines into a variety of content areas. 
The courses are:

Ethnic Studies + Theatre of the Oppressed for 6-12 Educators with Rachel Atkins & Jennifer Dunn - Jan 30 , 4:15-7:30 @ King Street Station, 3rd Floor ( Rescheduled from Jan 1/14 due to snow )

Literacy & Theater for PK-3 Educators with Book-It and Jacuelyn Flaherty
with Book-It - Feb 27th , 4:15-7:30 at Thurgood Marshall Elementary, room 108

Language Arts/Social Studies + Film with SIFF for 6-12 Educators - Mar 3 , 5-8pm at SIFF - 305 Harrison Street

Visual Arts + STEM for K-5 Educators with Arts Impact - March 10, 4:15-7:30 @ Coe Elementary, room 207 ( Rescheduled from Jan 1/14 due to snow )

Language Arts/Social Studies + Radio/Podcasting with KUOW RadioActive - March 28, 9am-1pm at KUOW

Cultural Representation and Appropriation for K-12 Educators with Naho Shioya - April 4 (Sat), 10 am-4pm @ King Street Station
303 S. Jackson St, Top Floor

Literacy + Visual Arts: Visual Thinking Strategies for PK-3 Educators with Seattle Asian Art Museum - May 9, 10:30am-4:30 pm at Seattle Asian Art Museum

To register on the ESS training center, search for "Arts" and specify a period of "one year. If you have questions, please contact Audrey Querns . There are also a few spots reserved for Creative Advantage Roster teaching artists. Teaching artists can contact Tina LaPadula to reserve a spot.

More Educator Opportunities
Free Town Hall Memberships for Teachers

For a limited time, Town Hall is offering free Supporter level memberships to teachers!
Enjoy benefits like presales, reception invites, ticket discounts, and priority seating. 

To claim: 
  1. Visit https://townhallseattle.org/membership/
  2. Add a Supporter level membership to your cart.
  3. Use the code teacher2019 to apply the voucher during checkout.
  4. Sign up for our 22 and Under newsletter for updates about FREE youth tickets and other special offers.

Also at Town Hall:
Special Educators Reception before Diane Ravitch's 2/4 Town Hall event.

Please join Town Hall Seattle on Tuesday, 2/4 for a special all educators pre-event reception in the Reading Room before our Great Hall talk with Diane Ravitch.

Reception: 6:30PM / Event: 7:30PM. 

RSVP here. Tickets to the Great Hall program are included with reception. Reception space is limited to two per reservation. 
Frye Art Museum

Educator Workshop: Art & Forces of Nature

We are particularly excited about this one because the Frye will have the two artists from their new Subspontaneous: Francesca Lohmann and Rob Rhee exhibition on hand to work with teachers directly. 

Saturday, March 21, 2020
10:00am – 1:00 pm

Location: Art Studio + Galleries


Student Arts Showcase Opportunities
Regional Arts Festivals
this winter, 2020
The Regional Arts Festivals are an opportunity to celebrate the arts learning taking place in Seattle Public Schools, highlighting visual and performing arts from activated schools in K-12 Creative Advantage Pathways in the Central, Southeast and Southwest K-12 Pathways.

Southwest Festival:
Thursday, February 6th at Chief Sealth High School

Southeast Festival:
Thursday, March 19th at Rainier Beach High School

Central Festival:
Wednesday, April 22nd at TBD

General format: Festival-style celebrations open to all grades in the school pathway and arts disciplines. While a full slate of performances will happen in an auditorium, there will also be displays, hands-on activities and smaller ensembles or individual performances in other spaces. Adult and student emcees will manage the flow of the evening.

You can be involved by:
  • Bringing students for a 4 minute performance (performances can be choral/singing, instrumental, dance, theatre, spoken word, poetry, story-telling, visual art, projected visual art, short films or documentaries)
  • Bringing students 

Creative Advantage will support with: 
  • Pre-festival planning and prep
  • Day of event logistics + running order
  • Tech and stage management (general mics, lighting and sound) - with support from high school students
  • Parent letter templates
  • Event marketing + communication / flier templates
  • Transportation
  • Stipends for teachers and adult mentors supporting participating youth.

If you would like your students to be celebrated in the Regional Art Festivals or know of students who would be interested in joining the student youth committee please contact our RAF Manager, Masao Yamada, via email at masao.yamada-c@seattle.gov
Show Student Art at University Heights Center
The Art Hub at University Heights Center in the U-District would like to partner with schools to display student art on a rotational basis. If you would like to share your students; art, please contact their Outreach and Program Coordinator, Shirin Subhani.
Resources
As you work to expand the arts in your school community, here are a few websites and people you can look to for help:


The Creative Advantage Page on the SPS website
Resources and tools for arts teams, Creative Advantage news and archived newsletters.

The Community Arts Partner Roster is a vetted list of teaching artists and community arts and culture organizations approved to work in Seattle Public Schools through the Creative Advantage.

The Creative Advantage Website Provides an overview of The Creative Advantage and the value of arts education.

If you can't find what you need on-line, contact the Creative Advantage staff:
 
Audrey Querns -SPS project manager for Creative Advantage (for questions about arts teams and planning, arts partner logistics like contracts and funding)
 
Tina LaPadula - Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Arts Education Manager (for questions about the Arts Partner Roster and working with teaching artists and arts organizations) 

Gail Sehlhorst -SPS Visual and Performing Arts Manager (for questions about arts staffing, curriculum and assessment, and supports for arts teachers)

Ashraf Hasham -Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Youth Arts Manager

Pam Ivezic - SPS Music Specialist (for questions about supports for music teachers and programs)

Masao Yamada - Regional Arts Festival Event Manager (for questions about participating in the 2019-20 Southwest, Southeast or Central Regional Arts Festivals this Winter)