Why an Art Advocacy Blog?

Hello world!  This is the first post of what I hope will be many regular posts, dealing with the topic of advocacy for the arts, and in particular, advocacy for art education.

So who am I, and why am I writing this blog?  Let me introduce myself to you!

My name is Phyl, and I'm a retired art educator living in northeastern New York State.  I retired four years ago after teaching art for 37 years in public schools, but, despite my retirement status, I have remained actively involved in art education.

I'm not new to the blogosphere - I've been blogging for several years at There's a Dragon in my Art Room.  On that blog, I have shared art lessons, my opinions about various topics of art education, and my own personal creative creative pursuits. 

Meanwhile, I recently began serving on an art education advocacy committee, and we've talked about how to share our advocacy tips and ideas with other art educators.  We are aware that art education isn't always valued the way we'd hope.  So to preserve and protect our programs, it is essential, as art educators, that we do everything we can to bring awareness to our communities of the positive benefits of  art education.   A blog seemed like the perfect way to share ideas beyond the framework of our little committee.  Since I already have blog experience, the logical next step was for me to create an art education advocacy blog.  So here I am!

Here's what you should expect to read/see, if you come back regularly to visit this blog:

• Quick tips/ideas for how to advocate for your art programs
• Discussion about WHY advocacy is important
• Posts with stories/anecdotes and images submitted by other art educators about something they've done that successfully advocated for their programs.
• Links to various resources and articles about art advocacy
• Interviews with various art educators about their advocacy successes

It will take a few posts to establish the "rhythm" of this blog, but I hope you'll stop by regularly and find information that will be very useful to you, and heighten your awareness of the importance of being an advocate.  Don't be surprised if the blog looks a little different next time you stop back; this is definitely a "work-in-progress"!