Arts to Grow

Arts to Grow works with schools and community organizations in the NY/NJ metro area to provide art programs that change children's lives, inspiring them to love to learn and helping them discover their personal, intrinsic motivation.

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    Arts education: The key to workforce preparation and performance

    By Stevie Ann Rinehart for University of Phoenix 

    Move over, math and science. It’s time to make room for art.

    Employers and government alike have long advocated math and science as the primary subject areas for those who want to excel in today’s knowledge-based careers. But now art is earning its rightful place alongside its more popular and heavily promoted sister subjects. And its biggest support is coming from employers.

    But the value for employers isn’t in the actual learning of how to play an instrument, draw the human figure or compose poetry. The real benefit from employers’ standpoint is the skill set that seems to come primarily from studying the arts.

    Read full article here … 

    The Creative Process…

    We find this posts by Susan Manbeian, monthly mentor at the National Art Education Association fascinating and very interesting to anyone in the arts education field. 

    Shapes and Textures

    “To create” simply means to bring something into being. To be creative, means to come up with something new and original and not necessarily from a logical thought process but more of a melding of many concepts. “Something resulting from originality of thought, expression and imagination. The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships and the like and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods and interpretations. (Random House Dictionary)

    My question is: Where in our “test driven” education today are we encouraging students to creatively flourish?

    I think that we all can agree that we owe the quality of our lives to creative individuals throughout history. Where would be without automobiles, airplanes, and electricity?

    Once a student has caught on to a basic art concept, they are often asked to explore that concept and to discover what other new ideas or theme variations they can come up with. Students are asked to first look closely at the world, then reexamine different aspects of that world, while gaining an understanding of what they are observing. Finally, they are asked to step back and find a different point of view from the origin alone presented. Creativity happens when students are allowed to experiment, manipulate, and explore while reserving judgement.

    Click here to read the full post…

    Looking for more interesting school fundraisers?

    gjmueller:

    A local school has used the Halloween holiday to give themselves a jolt of cash. They created a haunted maze, running for 12 nights and staffed by 1,000 volunteers. With tickets at $15, they’re hoping to raise $100,000 this year for the district’s special projects.

    I thought this was an interesting idea, though I don’t think it would work in my environment. Would this kind of event work for your school?

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