Newsroom

The press contact for Arts for All is Amy Phillips, Senior Communications Manager, Arts for All, (213) 202-5944, aphillips@arts.lacounty.gov.

School Districts Committed to Arts Education: Covina Valley Unified, Duarte Unified, Hawthorne, Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary School Districts and LAUSD’S Green Dot Charter join Arts for All

October 18, 2012 - Arts for All, the only Los Angeles County-wide collaborative working to ensure the inclusion of the arts as part of the curriculum in all public schools, announced today that four new districts and one charter school group have joined the initiative. Covina Valley Unified, Duarte Unified, Hawthorne School District, Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary School Districts and LAUSD’s Charter Green Dot Public Schools have all made the commitment to arts education by becoming part of Arts for All. Currently, 54 out of Los Angeles County’s 81 public school districts participate in Arts for All, which will serve more than 582K students during the 2012-13 school year.

Full press release here.

Arts for All Expand Programs for Students Online Directory with Addition of 16 New Programs from 14 Providers

September 27, 2012 - The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has announced that Arts for All has selected 16 new programs from 14 Los Angeles non-profit education service providers for inclusion in Arts for All’s Programs for Students Directory at www.lacountyartsforall.org. The directory is an online resource for educators looking for quality arts education residencies, performances, field trips and workshops that meet the California state standards. Users can strategically search for arts education programs by arts discipline, subject area, grade level, program type and cultural origin. For artists and organizations, this directory offers a free marketing opportunity to reach the 84,000 teachers and administrators in Los Angeles County. The directory now holds 272 programs from 112 providers.

Full press release here.

13 Arts for All School Districts Receive $121,729 to Bring Artists into Classrooms

September 10, 2012 - Arts for All will provide matching funds totaling $121,729 to 13 Los Angeles County school districts for artist residencies during the 2012-13 school year. Under the Residency Grant Program, Arts for All partner-districts are eligible to apply for grants that bring artists into the classrooms. The artist residencies with the students dovetail with the goals of the districts’ arts education plans, helping to restore arts education to the core curriculum in L.A. County schools. Support for this program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, Biller Family Foundation and Dwight Stuart Youth Fund.

Under the umbrella of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Arts for All is L.A. County’s arts education collaborative seeking systemic educational reform. Now in its 10th year, Arts for All is working to bring creativity to every L.A. County classroom by restoring the arts to the curriculum and empowering school districts to prepare all students for the workforce of tomorrow. Currently, there are 49 school districts reaching 560,465 students, which have joined Arts for All with a commitment to arts education reform.

Full press release here.

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Arts for All Selects 12 School Districts to Participate in Training in the Arts: $674,200 Supports Program for 169 Schools

June 7, 2012 - Arts for All has selected 12 school districts from across Los Angeles County to participate in a professional development program that will strengthen the arts education skills and knowledge for teachers in 169 schools. Through a competitive application process Beverly Hills, Burbank, East Whittier, Glendale, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Las Virgenes, Los Nietos, Manhattan Beach, Pomona, Rosemead and Whittier Union school districts, serving over 185,000 students, were selected to take part in this multi-year program.

“Arts for All is able to be responsive to the needs of each individual school district,” says Los Angeles County Arts Commission Executive Director Laura Zucker. “Recipient districts will develop customized strategies to foster creativity in their classrooms by giving their teachers the tools to deliver quality arts education.”

Full press release here.

The National Endowment for the Arts Recognizes Arts for All Model for Arts Education with a $100,000 Grant

April 25, 2012 - For the seventh consecutive year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has funded the Residency Grant Program of Arts for All, L.A County’s nationally recognized collaboration to restore all arts disciplines into the core curriculum for all K-12 public school students. This year’s NEA award is for $100,000, an increase of 25 percent over last year’s grant, and will bring teaching artists into classrooms. Last year the program benefitted more than 8,000 students.

Responding to word of the NEA grant, Laura Zucker, Executive Director of the Arts Commission, which leads the Arts for All collaborative, said, "The NEA’s grant will support vitally important services --- teaching artists partnering with school districts to bring creativity to the classroom. It’s wonderful to see national leadership funding these partnerships, which are critical to teaching 21st century skills."

The Residency Grant Program provides funding that must be matched by County school districts that have committed to the goal of Arts for All by adopting an arts education policy and a long-range plan to provide sequential K-12 arts education based on the California state standards for visual and performing arts. School districts collaborate with residency artists from the Programs for Students database on Arts for All’s Web site (www.lacountyartsforall.org) to support key priorities in their long range plans. These artists and arts organizations are well-versed in their artistic discipline, provide standards-based curriculum and partner effectively with classroom teachers; all have been vetted by a panel of arts education experts. Examples of collaboration through the Residency Grant Program happening during the current school year include:

• Symphonic Jazz Orchestra at Culver City USD – 1st and 2nd graders are learning the fundamentals of music through year-long weekly classes

• Robin Kiss at Paramount USD – 4th graders are exploring the elements of art through creating original art works

• 24th St Theatre at Burbank USD - 4th graders are developing theatre skills such as character development, improvisation and text analysis. 　

• Robert Gilliam at Manhattan Beach USD – 5th graders are learning, practicing and performing urban contemporary dance.

To further ensure students receive the highest standards of arts instruction through the program, Arts for All will now provide participating school districts and artists with professional development and coaching on best practices in assessing student learning.

National Endowment for the Arts Welcomes New Director of Arts Education: Ayanna Hudson joins NEA from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission

Washington, DC—In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded more than $13 million in funding through its arts education program. Beginning on July 2, that significant level of support will be guided by Ayanna Hudson, the agency’s new director of arts education. Hudson joins the NEA from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission where she led the commission’s lauded Arts for All regional collaborative designed to return arts to the core curriculum. Chairman Landesman made the announcement today at a national forum sponsored by the Arts Education Partnership.

"I am pleased to welcome Ayanna Hudson to the National Endowment for the Arts," said Chairman Rocco Landesman. "Ayanna has built and led an extraordinary program at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. That pioneering work will be a tremendous asset to the NEA as we seek to strengthen our investment in the creative lives of our nation’s young people."

Full press release here.

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Programs for Educators, Arts for All's Online Directory of Professional Development, Expands

March 22, 2012 - Arts for All, L.A. County’s arts education collaborative, has selected 12 new programs from 10 providers for its Programs for Educators online directory. “These training programs are designed to build the skills, knowledge and confidence of teachers —generalists, arts specialists and teaching artists — who provide arts instruction,” said L.A. County Arts Commission Director of Arts Education Ayanna Hudson. All 45 programs in the directory have been vetted by a panel comprised of arts and education professionals. The new programs use animation, dance, visual arts, world music, digital media, singing and songwriting and improvisational theatre not only to help instructors teach the arts but subjects such as science, math, English and social studies.

Providers added to the online directory Programs for Educators are:

AnimAction, Inc. 

Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education 

Full Press Release here.

Search the full directory

Arts for All Launches New Teacher Professional Development Grant Program

February 23, 2012 - Arts for All is now able to offer professional development in arts education customized to the needs of Los Angeles County school districts. The new Teacher Professional Development Grant Program is supported by a trio of gifts totaling $674,200. The Boeing Company contributed $270,000 and the W.M. Keck Foundation $250,000 to underwrite professional development in 11 school districts to be determined by competitive application. The Carl & Roberta Deutsch Foundation’s gift of $154,200 is specifically for the Rosemead School District and includes the re-establishment of the district arts coordinator position in addition to professional development.

Full press release here.  

Full program details can be found here.

Pasadena Unified School District Awarded Federal Grant

Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Superintendent Jon R. Gundry announced that the district, in partnership with Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts, the Pasadena Educational Foundation (PEF), and UCLA, has been awarded a three-year $1 million U.S. Department of Education grant to fund a program that connects arts education with math. Both PUSD and the Armory are partners in Arts for All. PUSD’s grant is one of only 13 federal Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) grants awarded across the country this year. School districts must partner with local non-profit agencies to qualify. Full release here.

Five LA County Districts Join Arts for All

Arcadia Unified School District joins Sulphur Springs, Rowland, West Covina and Inner City Education Foundation ( a charter school management organization) as the newest Arts for All districts for 2011-12. The Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF), Sulphur Springs Union, Rowland Unified, West Covina Unified and Arcadia Unified Join Arts for All

$100,800 Provided to School Districts to Support Artists in Classrooms

Thirteen Arts For All districts receive Residency Grants for the 2011-12 school year. Teaching artists in all of the four arts disciplines, visual arts, music, theatre and dance, will present high quality, standards based arts instruction to more than 8,000 student in Los Angeles County.
13 Arts For All Districts Receive $100,800 For Artist Residencies.

Arts for All and Arts for LA are both featured in the fall issue of artsLink, Americans for the Arts (AFTA) national magazine (see pp. 9 & 17). The article summarizes the presentation made jointly by Arts for All and Big Thought (Dallas, TX) for the Arts Education Council at the 2011 National AFTA Convention in San Diego. The focus of the discussion was on successful strategies for coordinated delivery of arts education.

Pomona Unified School District Approves Arts Education Plan

On April 16, 2011, the Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) School Board approved a district-wide arts education plan. PUSD joined the L. A. County arts education collaborative, Arts for All, in 2007 and approved the District’s visual and performing arts policy in 2008. During the 2010-11 school year the District worked with an Arts for All coach to re-visit the plan previously developed in 2008. The plan outlines specific phases of implementation of a standards-based, sequential arts curriculum. Full release here. View photo.

Additional coverage: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Pomona school board approves visual and performing arts plan

L.A. County Arts Education Collaborative Singled Out as Best in the Nation

Arts for All, Los Angeles County’s dynamic, countywide collaboration to restore standards-based arts education into the public school core curriculum, was awarded the 2011 Arts Education Award by the nation’s leading arts advocacy organization, Americans for the Arts (AFTA). The announcement was made June 16 at AFTA’s annual convention, this year held in San Diego, CA. Full release here. Photo gallery here.

Additional coverage:
LA Times: L.A. County arts education program wins national award
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: "San Gabriel Valley, Whittier schools embrace arts education"
"Americans for the Arts: Americans for the Arts Presents the 2011 Arts Education Award to Los Angeles County’s Arts for All 

Announcements

Applications Open For Arts Education Service Providers To Be Included In Arts For All's Programs for Student Directory.

December 9, 2011 - The Los Angeles County Arts Commission invites arts education service providers to apply to be included in Arts for All’s Programs for Students Directory on www.lacountyartsforall.org. The directory is an online resource for educators looking for quality arts education field trips, performances, residencies and workshops that meet the California state standards; users can strategically search for arts education programs by arts discipline, subject area, grade level, program type and cultural origin. For artists and organizations, this directory offers a free marketing opportunity to reach the 97,000 teachers and administrators in Los Angeles County.

To be listed in the directory, individuals and organizations must submit an electronic application form, required supplemental materials and be approved by a peer panel comprised of educators, artists, arts professionals and community members. Before opening an application, prospective applicants should first read the program's guidelines. Both the guidelines and application are available at http://www.laartsed.org/application.

The deadline to apply is January 25, 2012 using the online application.

Arts Education Four-Part Online Intensive Dialogue and Discussion

August 15, 2011 - At the beginning of August, Barry Hessenius, former Director of the California Arts Council, and Julie Fry, Program Officer with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation moderated a Four-Part Intensive Dialogue and Discussion on Arts Education on Barry’s Blog, a service of the Western States Arts Federation (http://blog.westaf.org/ ).  The series anticipates National Arts in Education Week, September 11-17, as mandated by Congress in July 2010.

More than 30 arts education leaders participated, including Los Angeles County Arts Commission Executive Director Laura Zucker (Aug. 3 “Field Building”), and the Commission’s Arts for All Director of Education Ayanna Hudson (Aug. 17 “Research”).  Read More.

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Teaching Creativity with Common Core Standards

Arts for All and L.A. County Department of Education (LACOE) are presenting a joint professional development series, entitled “Teaching Creativity with Common Core Standards." The series is in response to the key findings of Arts for All’s 2009-10 study that revealed the critical role of senior leadership in advancing arts in public schools. Sessions will be held regionally during the 2011-12 school year at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach and at the Huntington Museum and Gardens in Pasadena. Read More.

The National Endowment for the Arts recognizes Arts for All with an $80,000 Grant

May 2011 - Funds will support artists in classrooms in 2011-12 school year. For the sixth consecutive year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has funded the Residency Grant Program of Arts for All, L.A County’s nationally recognized collaboration to restore all arts disciplines into the core curriculum for all K-12 public school students. This year’s NEA award is for $80,000 and will bring teaching artists into classrooms. Last year the program benefitted more than 11,000 students. Full release here.

Arts for All releases monograph on school district leadership in L.A. County

As part of its goal to make quality, sequential arts education a reality in all public K-12 classrooms in Los Angeles County, Arts for All connects school district personnel with the resources to improve arts learning. In 2009-10, leaders – superintendents, assistant superintendents and arts coordinators – from five County school districts took part in Arts for All’s Leadership Fellows Program. Their experience is captured in the monograph Engaging Senior Leadership to Advance Arts in Schools.

In working with school districts, Arts for All continues to learn much about what it takes to achieve sweeping transformation in our schools. Among the findings that surfaced from the Leadership Fellows Program:

1. the pivotal role of the assistant superintendent as key decision-maker in the implementation of arts education across a school district
2. the importance of school district leaders engaging in a powerful dialogue about the elements of quality arts instruction and finding a common language to talk about arts education
3. the tension between school district leaders’ aspirations for more equity across their schools and the tradition of deferring to school-site level decision-making

We hope that Engaging Senior Leadership to Advance Arts in Schools will become a focus for dialogue, and will help you shape your programs as it has helped us shape ours.  The 14-page monograph, which includes an executive summary, has just been released and is available for download here.

If you want to know more about the leadership monograph, please contact artsforall@arts.lacounty.gov.

Arts for All releases summary findings on measuring quality

As part of its goal to make quality, sequential arts education a reality in all public K-12 classrooms in Los Angeles County, Arts for All connects school districts with effective tools and resources to improve arts learning. The latest of these tools to be created is the Arts for All School Arts Survey: Measuring Quality, Access and Equity in Arts Education.

 The survey measures access to and the quality of arts instruction at the school site level as well as developing a system for collecting and reporting this data. The results are useful for schools and school districts to find out what is working, what’s not working, and to point the way toward improvement.

A 10-page summary on the School Arts Survey has just been released and is available for download here.

The summary describes how the survey was built and its first application in five school districts encompassing 100 schools. As a result of this trial-run, some refinements will be made in the survey, but the survey’s strength and utility have been proven. The survey effectively gives Los Angeles County a means of objectively measuring quality and access to arts education and making the results easily accessible.

If you want to know more about the School Arts Survey, please contact artsforall@arts.lacounty.gov.

More information on Arts for All

The Arts Education Roundtable Listserv is an online forum for Los Angeles County-based arts education providers to share information. With over 500 members, this is the place to learn about jobs and events in the Los Angeles arts education community. Subscribe to the Arts Education Roundtable listserv by sending e-mail to: arts_ed_roundtable-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Arts for All and related events