Music Educator Supreme

Dick Oatts, the son of Jack Oatts, who was widely known as "Iowa's patron saint of high school jazz bands," will be playing with The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and tribute to the Oatts Family at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center, Ames. Check out the article in the Des Moines Register.
If you can't make it to Ames on Sunday, you can experience the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at Luther College on Saturday night. Or at Buena Vista University on Monday.
When you look at the Orchestra schedule, it is great to see Ames, Decorah, and Storm Lake in the middle of the column that includes many New York Cities.
And isn't it wonderful that jazz is alive and well in Iowa schools? And aren't you glad that we can call them "Jazz Band" rather than "Stage Band" now?

Voting as an Arts Educator

Larry Brandstetter reminded me tonight that the presidential candidates have statements of position on arts education. You can see a simple chart of positions at ArtsVote.


Here are links to both candidate's positions: Obama and McCain

As an old friend says, "Vote Early! Vote Often!"

More Presidential Election Information

From someone who has done the research: ArtsceneIowa's editor Cathy Wilkins says "Remember — the future of the arts is in your favorite politician’s hands!"

Meet a Board Member: Leon Kuehner

One of the ideas that came from a recent IAAE Board meeting was to introduce you to the members of the Board. So the first man up is Leon Kuehner! We thought he could take the heat! Thanks for all that you do for kids, Leon!

From Diane Franken: Visual Art in the Campaign

Caricature characterizes and criticizes. How does it affect our opinions? Check out The Power of Political Pratfalls an article from the New York Times columnist, Edward Rothstein.
Published: October 12, 2008

ARTSVOTE

When you go to the polls in less than a month, keep the ARTS in mind. Check out Artsvote website.

National Endowment for Humanities Announces Second Picturing America Application Period

K-12 public, private, parochial, and charter schools, as well as home school consortia and public libraries, can receive forty pieces of great American art and an illustrated teachers' resource book to help teach American history and culture....Request for Proposals.
Deadline: October 31, 2008

Latino Conference 2008

You can still register for the Latino Conference at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.


There will be artists workshops such as:
Aztec Dancers from Minnesota
Day of the Dead Altar Making
Mariachis
Latino Dancers from Iowa City Nora and Mark


And many more workshops on issues regarding Latinos. ALL are welcome. The food will be provided by Le Chisme and part of the low cost registration fee!
If you haven’t registered go to: http://www.uiowa.edu/~socialwk/LatinoConference2008.html

The Visual Arts Kiosk at the Wells Fargo Center

One of the newest exhibits at Iowa Hall of Pride highlights the story of Visual Arts Education in Iowa. There are ten content areas that relate to the actions and services of the Art Educators of Iowa. Although this site was created to appeal to a broad audience it is specifically designed to reach art educators, students, art patrons, administrators, teachers, parents, and relatives of students.

Provided at the site are trivia questions about art and architecture in Iowa. An easy to use touch screen format allows one to select from three options and points are given for correct answers. There are also questions about Grant Wood and Art Education in Iowa.

One of the more visual aspects of the exhibit is a category called All-State Art Awards. Here one can look at the artwork of winning All-State art students going back to 1997. Like most of the categories, this area will be updated each year. Visitors are finding that they enjoy looking at the artwork. Each student showcases five works of art and there are many categories.

Student and teacher interviews are also provided. They explore such issues as the nature of creativity and the demands of a “21st Century Creative Workforce”. This site reflects the strength of the people who work together and share ideas, concerns, and enthusiasm for Visual Arts Education in Iowa.

Dave Pratt, All-State Chairperson
Pratt3d@iowatelecom.net

Help Aplington-Parkersburg Schools

Vote for the A-P School and help them win $25,000. You can vote every day!

Followers

To the right, you will now see Followers of the Alliance. This is the place to see who else keeps track of what is going on with The Alliance. Support the Arts Education umbrella organization. Let others know that you are a Leader by being a Follower!

Free PBS Media Resources

Sign Up for Teachers’ Domain to Access Free PBS Media Resources.

Teachers’ Domain is an online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from the best in public television. These classroom resources, featuring media from NOVA, Frontline, Design Squad, American Experience, and other public broadcasting and content partners are easy to use and correlate to state and national standards.
Teachers’ Domain resources include video and audio segments, Flash interactives, images, documents, lesson plans for teachers, and student-oriented activities. Once you register, you can personalize the site using “My Folders” and “My Groups” to save your favorite resources into a folder and share them with your colleagues or students. www.teachersdomain.org