Upcoming advocacy events and workshops at NYSATA convention!

Today's post is especially for readers from NY state, and is written by Donnalyn Shuster, a frequent contributer to this blog.  Thanks, Donnalyn!

NYSATA’s 68^th annual conference is just days away!  
With over 100 workshops being offered, it is a good idea to develop your game plan of interests before arriving on site.  Advocacy and community interaction with the arts is a popular workshop topic this year and for your benefit – here is a collection of my favorite picks of advocacy oriented and advocacy related events for you:

Put The Power of Art to Work for You With Youth Art Month 

Become a powerful advocate for your program by participating in Youth Art Month events. Learn how YAM can build visibility for your art classes, plus see other successful programs around the state. Become a part of the award winning YAM team in New York! Donnalyn Shuster, Heather McCutcheon, Julia Lang-Shapiro (4 – 4:40 Friday – Town Hall Amphitheater)  AND…stop by our booth to meet your State Chairs and learn more about our new theme UNITY THROUGH ART!!

Art and Advocacy: Service Learning In Action 

How can you engage students in meaningful service learning projects? Learn how graduate art education students from SUNY Oswego collaborated with ARISE, a local nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities, to create a painted and (portable!) mural. Gigina Long, Jacquelyn Kibbey, Kelly Allen, Kathryn Alonso-Bergevin

Become an Art Ed Advocate 

This workshop will show you how to become an art education advocate. My NAEA Webinar www.artedguru.com/ home/naea-webinar-recap. Eric Gibbons, Dongkui Lin

And some more workshops with a strong focus on community interaction, classroom collaboration, that lend themselves to great advocacy projects.

Full Steam To The Olympics... of The Visual Arts – NYSATA Style

The Olympics of the Visual Arts NYSATA Program will be celebrating its 35th anniversary year this fall. Be a part of the excitement! Learn about the many ways to involve your teachers and students in this creative problem solving design-thinking program. Category examples will be shared, and networking across the state is encouraged. Anne Manzella, Roger Hyndman

“Reimagining The Four Freedoms”: Explore The Meaning of Freedom In The 21st Century

 This is a perfect example of tradition meeting innovation. Celebrate the 75th anniversary of FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech, by examining a regional effort connecting a Studio Art lesson to the Norman Rockwell Museum and iconic works by the commercial illustrator. Anne Manzella, Sheila Elario

Connecting to Community: Art Education and Community Engagement

 The Carnegie Foundation recognizes SUNY Buffalo State as a Community Engagement Campus. This session highlights how art education pre-service teachers, graduate students, alumni, and faculty are actively engaged in longterm and meaningful community-based projects. Teacher candidates and teachers foster a sense of agency that is passed along to PK-12 students. Candace Masters, Alice Pennisi

Creating Community Based, Arts Focused Partnerships with Urban Schools: Redhouse Arts Center and Syracuse City School District.

 At Redhouse Arts Center, we believe art has the power to build community and change lives. Come and learn about our collaborative partnership with the Syracuse City School District. In our model, teaching artists from Redhouse push into five SCSD elementary schools daily. Teaching artists provide instruction in curriculum that uses the arts to teach math, science, social studies, and English. We currently engage over 2,200 SCSD students from diverse backgrounds in theater, music, and the visual arts. Our model provides exemplars on program development, facilitating and sustaining community partnerships, and working with diverse populations of students and families. Participants at our session can expect to hear first-hand accounts from SCSD teachers and teaching fellows about what participation is like for them. We will also share helpful information including lessons learned along the way. Additionally, participants will receive curricular resources (aligned with NYS CCLS and NYS Arts Standards) and ideas/ suggestions for program replication. Hannah Samara

The Power of Art

The Lab School of Washington and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation collaborated to provide a highly successful approach to teaching students with learning differences through an arts-based curriculum that is transferable to all classrooms of diverse learners. Learn how this organization empowers arts educators and school leaders to be persuasive voices in the national conversation about the critical relevance of the arts in the education for all children in all subjects. Dr. Susan Lane

Creative Cure for The Common Core – Go Urban

Take your observational drawing lessons to the next level. Get your students out into the community with Urban Sketching. Drawing, painting, architecture, perspective, math, ELA, history, science, and even community service are infused into this unit that starts with observational drawing in your own community. In the tradition of the French plein air artists, take the learning experiences outdoors. Jody Wilmarth, Donnalyn Shuster

For information about specific workshop times and locations, you can download the convention app onto your phone or tablet by clicking on this link, or peruse your convention booklet when you arrive at the conference.  

See you all next Friday at The Desmond!

Donnalyn Shuster – Region 3

NYSATA YAM Co Chairperson