Saturday, December 3, 2011

Questions for Candidates and Sample Platform Statement


1. What kinds of federal initiatives would you develop in order to support public/private partnerships to help cities and states expand creative economies and create new jobs—from music, arts, and architecture to computer software, games, and film?
 
2. What specific federal education policies would you promote to ensure our children receive a well-rounded education with comprehensive arts education in their local schools?
 
Go to your Caucuses and get support for the following:

Sample Platform Statement:
   “The Arts: Investment in the arts is an investment in our creativity and cultural heritage, in our diversity, in our communities, and in our humanity. We support art in schools and increased public funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. We support the cultural exchange of artists around the world, spreading democracy and renewing America’s status as a cultural and artistic center.”

Exploring the Past: Archaeology in the Upper Mississippi River Valley


Walking beside thousand-year-old burial mounds, flaking raw stone into tools, learning how potsherds tell us about human behavior, and understanding how humans adapt to complex, ever-changing environments­the 2012 NEH Summer Institute features all this and more. Read more about this professional development opportunity...

AP HIstory Petition


As an Arts Educator, you might be interested in signing a petition concerning AP Art History and college admissions scores in Iowa. The petition states, in part:

    ...All AP (Advanced Placement) classes deserve to be included in the RAI (Regents Admission Index). We understand that the  RAI Score is a formula which determines automatic acceptance to Iowa's State Universities.  It is also a factor in determining scholarships for our students. The index combines four factors deemed most valid in predicting success at regent universities: ACT or SAT test score, high school rank, high school cumulative grade-point average, and the number of completed high school core courses.
     Almost all AP classes are included in this formula. However, AP Art History, AP studio classes, AP Music classes and AP Computer Sciences classes are excluded because they are not "core" courses....

If you would like to read the full petition and have an opportunity to sign it, go to
http://tinyurl.com/rai-petitio. You are welcome to forward this link to friends of the arts. For more information, contact AP Art History at Linn-Mar High School, Gloria Zmolek at gloria.zmolek@gmail.com.