Arts Partners in the Trib

After attending the Arts Focus Meeting during Big Thought’s November site visit, Jennifer Anderson of the Portland Tribune reports on the state of the arts in the Portland schools and the role Arts Partners plays in addressing the need in schools across the tri-county area.

Read the Tribune article here.

Community Provides Input

Throughout the fall, a series of community meetings were conducted across the tri-county area as part of the planning process for Arts Partners, a new vision for integrating arts and culture into every classroom in the Portland metropolitan area.

Over 200 area residents attended a series of community conversations held in Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, Milwaukie and Portland which were designed to identify their values and educational priorities. Read the Sellwood Bee article here for a report on the October 29 meeting at the Community Music Center.

Simultaneously, school district leaders were interviewed and arts providers participated in a special session to identify their organizational goals and needs. The results, available in the Stakeholder Feedback Report (pdf), provide the information needed to further define the scope and direction of this initiative.

On November 27th, consultants from Big Thought presented the report and facilitated discussions with partnering school districts and the arts and culture community. Based on these conversations, the Arts Partners Visioning Committee expects to solicit input on a recommended purpose statement by January.

City of Hillsboro Contributes

Following this evening’s community conversation at the Walters Arts and Culture Center, it was announced that the City of Hillsboro has committed $10,000 to Arts Partners. Hillsboro joins the list of public contributors including the City of Portland, Multnomah and Clackamas Counties, and the Oregon Arts Commission in supporting the initial planning of the project.

An Invitation to Arts Organizations

Local artists and cultural organizations are invited to a special Arts and Culture Focus Meeting on Thursday, November 8th, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Room 110, 1241 NW Johnson St.

Come share your perspective on the opportunities and challenges of a building a regional arts education partnership. It is critical that Arts Partners meets the needs of schools and the arts community.

To RSVP, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/80850827 or call Marci Cochran at 503.823.5111.

Arts Partners Seek Community Input

Area residents are invited to participate in a series of community meetings to help plan Arts Partners, a new vision for integrating arts and culture into every classroom in the Portland metropolitan area. Each of these gatherings is designed to identify the educational priorities of the community, essential to the development of a mutually agreed upon agenda for arts education in the region.

Please RSVP for any meeting you'd like to attend by clicking on the appropriate link below, or call Marci Cochran at 503.823.5111.

• October 18, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at Rosa Parks School, Library, 8960 N Woolsey, Portland
  

• October 23, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at Beaverton City Library, Classroom B, 12375 SW 5th Street, Beaverton,

• October 24, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Center for Advanced Learning, Forum, 1484 NW Civic Dr., Gresham

• October 29, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at Community Music Center, Auditorium, 3350 SE Francis St., Portland

• October 30, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at Hollywood Library, 4040 N.E. Tillamook St, Portland

• November 5, 7:00 – 8:30pm at Multnomah Arts Center, Auditorium, 7688 SW Capitol Highway, Portland

• November 7, 7:00 – 8:30pm at Walters Cultural Arts Center, Theater, 527 E Main Street, Hillsboro

• November 8, 7:00 – 8:30pm at Alder Creek Middle School, Library, 13801 SE Webster Road, Milwaukie

For more information, read the press release (pdf).

RACC Welcomes Arts Partners Project Manager

Marna Stalcup has joined the RACC staff as project manager for Arts Partners, a new vision for arts education in the Portland metropolitan region.

Marna Stalcup

Marna brings to the position a 25-year career in arts education. At Portland's Jefferson High School she served as events manager and performing arts magnet program coordinator. She was also part of the founding faculty of Vancouver's award-winning School of Arts and Academics, a grade 6-12 public school where the arts connect with academic subjects in an interdisciplinary setting. Most recently, Marna was managing director of Caldera, a local nonprofit arts organization that supports Portland and Central Oregon students with year-round mentoring in their schools.

RACC is the fiscal agent and lead convener for the vision and planning phases of Arts Partners. This partnership is a collaboration between RACC, NW/BCA, local school districts, arts organizations, Young Audiences, the City of Portland, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, the Oregon Arts Commission, and a variety of other government, business, and foundation partners.

Every Idea Has To Start Somewhere!

The August 23rd public unveiling of Arts Partners provided the opportunity to introduce the Visioning Committee. Members of this committee participated in the first conversations about the regional project and bring the perspective of key stakeholders to the initial planning.

• Big Thought, Dallas, TX: Gigi Antoni, Gina Thorsen
• BodyVox: Una Loughran
• City of Portland: Jesse Beason
• Hillsboro School District: Suzanne Cusick
• MetroArts Inc: Niel DePonte
• North Clackamas School District: Ron Naso
• NW/Business for Culture & the Arts: Paul King, Max Miller
• Oregon Children’s Theatre: Marta Mellinger, Deb Vaughn
• Oregon Symphony: Michael Kosmala
• PGE Foundation: Carole Morse
• Portland Public Schools: John Branam, Jeff Gilpin, David Wynde
• Regional Arts & Culture Council: Eloise Damrosch, Cindy Knapp, Carol Smith
• Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington: Gail Hayes Davis, Brenda MacRoberts, Jane Reid, Jan Robertson

Arts Partners Unveiled

Today, more than 150 advocates for arts education assembled in the Gerding Theatre to learn about Arts Partners, a new vision for bringing arts education to every student in the Portland metropolitan region. Special guests included Gigi Antoni and Gina Thorsen from Big Thought -- a very successful model for integrated arts education in Dallas, TX.

The local initiative, still in the planning phases, is a growing partnership among RACC, NW/BCA, local school districts, arts organizations, Young Audiences, the City of Portland, Multnomah & Clackamas Counties,Oregon Arts Commission and a variety of other government, business, and foundation partners.

The following resources are available to help illustrate the successs of Arts Partners in Dallas:

• Download the BigThought ArtsPartners presentation (PDF, 1mb)
• Visit the Dallas Big Thought website

Unveiling Arts Partners

On Thursday, August 23, the Regional Arts & Culture Council will join Young Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington, Northwest Business for Culture & the Arts, and a variety of public and private partners to present information on the formation of Arts Partners, a new plan for bringing arts education to every student in the Portland metropolitan area. This program is based on a successful model that has accomplished a similar objective in Dallas, Texas.

All events will take place at the Gerding Theatre at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Avenue in Portland’s Pearl District.

7:15 A.M. to 7:45 A.M. – Continental Breakfast in the lobby

7:45 A.M. to 8:45 A.M. – Arts Partners Presentation on the Main Stage – What is it, why is it

For more information, read this media advisory (pdf).

Introducing Arts Partners

RACC and our key partners, Young Audiences and NW Business for Culture and the Arts, are poised to launch an important planning effort, designed to benefit every K-8 student in the tri-county region. Arts Partners is about a collaborative approach for arts learning, based on a proven model of success. The vision: arts resources for every school and integration of arts and culture into every classroom.

We know that kids need the arts to develop their full potential. We know that the arts have been largely stripped from schools and that only certain schools can buy them back. We have talked for years about how to fix this problem that affects not only our kids, but also future arts audiences, a creative and innovative workforce, and a community where people thrive and which visitors flock to experience.

Arts Partners is a consortium of arts education service providers, educators, public and private funders, business and community leaders, and advocates. Using Dallas Texas's highly successful "Big Thought" as a model and benefiting from being the only region to be directly mentored this year by this program's top leadership, we are about to start exploring our own program.

Arts Partners is not designed to usurp regional school districts' responsibilities to provide arts specialists, but it can strengthen the arts as core curriculum, improve student academic performance, and provide teachers with new instructional tools. Students will have direct access to artists' residencies, performances, field trips, and master classes. Arts Partners will provide professional development to educators and to arts organizations which provide services to schools.

This program will take time to plan and develop, and initial funding for this effort has been secured from The City of Portland, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, and the Oregon Arts Commission -- thank you! RACC is serving as fiscal agent during the planning process, and is helping coordinate the first steps in exploring this big vision. You will hear much more soon, including how you can help.