New Iowa Education Blog from The Office of the Governor

Linda Fandel, the Governor's Special Assistant for Education, has invited Iowans to weigh in on how to give every Iowa student a world-class education. 

Go to the site http://iowaeducation.iowa.gov/ and respond to her posts in support of the arts in education in Iowa. Keep the IAAE point of view in mind when responding. 

The focus of a quality education for all Iowa students must include areas of rigorous study through which every student is actively engaged in an inclusive curriculum that will lead them toward becoming well rounded global citizens.  Toward that goal, a "curriculum based" arts education will be a crucial component. Through the arts, students learn to become active problem solvers, comprehensive and creative thinkers, who become enlightened participants in the workplace and society.

 

Actor Tim Robbin's Letter to Congress

In 1976, when I was 17 years old, I received a check for 50 dollars from
the National Endowment for the Arts.

I was a member of a touring theater company that performed free shows in
low-income neighborhoods throughout New York City. We rehearsed for five
weeks and performed for eight so my per hour income was paltry if not
pathetic, but I remember a great sense of pride when I cashed that check.

I was being paid by my government for entertaining people. I was proud
to live in a country where that could happen. It also gave me great
confidence in my talent. I continued to pursue this profession.

Within ten years the investment by my government of fifty dollars in
1976 was returning hundreds of thousands of dollars back to them in
taxes.

Within the next decade the government received an even sweeter bounty on
their fifty-dollar investment. And I was proud to pay these taxes. As I
have been proud to invest back into the arts with The Actors' Gang, a
30-year-old organization that provides free educational programs to
public school children and at risk teens and offers affordable and
accessible theatrical and musical events to the citizens of Los Angeles.


I am one story amongst many Americans who have benefited greatly from
the arts programs the NEA has supported over the 46 years of its
existence.

Best,

Tim


http://blog.artsusa.org/2011/04/07/an-open-letter-to-the-united-states-c
ongress-from-tim-robbins/