Sharing the Arts Through Distance Education

March 20, 2003 - ESU 11 Holdrege Nebraska
9 am - 3 pm

On Friday, February 28, Cutting-edge Art Education vs. Budget Cuts was published in the Omaha World Herald. The article tells how school districts such as Kearney Central Elementary and Tara Heights Elementary in Papillion are proactive in seeing that the arts are emphasized in the classroom.

As noted in the following comment to this article, there are those who question the value of the arts.

"I read the first line of this article and I am appalled. Why would you WANT art to be taught with the same rigor as math and science? There is no need to even teach our kids art. Art class is a completely useless concept. You can't teach someone to be artistic, it comes naturally. As you can probably guess, it doesn't come naturally to me. But taking art class certainly didn't help at all. Art class is the dumbest thing going right now."

  • Why should arts programs be emphasized within K-12 curriculums?
  • What type of art program is being created at Kearney Central Elementary?
  • How can art museums such as MONA and Joslyn support art education?
  • How can distance education bring professional artists into your classroom?
  • What types of grants are available to support art education?
  • What is happening at the state level to promote the arts?

These and other questions will be discussed at an arts instructor workshop entitled "Sharing the Arts Through Distance Education". This workshop is for K-12 art instructors and will be held on Thursday, March 20 at ESU 11, Holdrege. The one day workshop will be from 9 am to 3 pm

For the first eleven teachers who register for this workshop, a $100 grant will be sent to your school district to pay for substitute or related expenses incurred by attending this workshop. To register for the workshop, email John Stritt - Tri-Valley Distance Education Consortium Director - jstritt@esu10.org
Please register by Friday, March 20.

This program is sponsored by the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Department of Education, and Tri-Valley Distance Education Consortium.

Meeting Agenda:

9:00 Introductions
9:15 Cutting-edge Art Education vs Budget Cuts - 'Impact of fiscal deficits to the arts' (Sheila Brown)
(9:45 Central and Kenwood Elementary - Integrating Arts into the Curriculum (Tim Hanson & Mary Bell)
10:30 MONA - Your local art museum (Audrey Kauders & Sue Reiber)
11:15 Introduction to Sharing the Arts Enrichment Program (John Stritt)
12:00 Lunch at ESU 11
12:45 Getting your students ready for enrichment lessons (John Stritt)
1:30 NAC Grant Application process (??)
2:30 Advocacy for the Arts at the state level - Prairie Visions & Nebraska Alliance for Arts Education (Sheila Brown)
3:00 Closing