Advocacy

MARKETING ART

Art Teacher Checklist for Promoting the Visual Arts
By Emma Lea Mayton, Texas Art Education Association Modified by Catherine Ross, Washington Art Education Association

Advocacy requires that we continually teach the public in deliberate, sustained ways what students have learned in the process of creating original artworks!

____ Plan and implement a quality art program based on the EALRs and National Standards.
____ Have high expectations for student work and behavior. ____ Cooperate and plan with other art teachers/fine arts teachers in your building.
____ Display high-quality student artwork everywhere and often—school, superintendent’s office, school board meeting room, branch libraries, business partners’ offices, etc. In the exhibit, wall text should state the goals of the lesson, including EALRs/criteria charts/procedures which remind others that the works provide evidence of understanding.
____ Neatly mount work and label appropriately.
____ Create an art space/lab that is visually stimulating, organized and LOOKS like an art room—not messy and chaotic, but colorful with student work, study prints of the masters, vocabulary, etc. Does your room visually say, “Art is important and what we do matters here?”
____ Post quotes regarding the importance of art at school, in the art room, in exhibits.
____ Teach every minute of every period. Love art and show it!
____ Know students’ names and get to know them as individuals.
____ Return phone calls, respond to notes/emails from administrators / parents / colleagues the same day.
____ Let school staff, custodians and secretaries know you appreciate them.
____ When elementary classroom teachers pick up children, verbally close the lesson with key questions to students or summary statements about what students learned that day so that you are educating your colleagues, too.
____ Invite your principal to the art room for a special project…or for no reason!
____ Treat visitors like VIPs in your classroom. Be welcoming and receptive no matter how busy you are. One unconcerned or angry art teacher can do permanent damage to art programs everywhere!
____ Send “good” notes home with students who deserve special recognition, one each day from each class.
____ Write your own fall/spring art newsletters to parents and/or write art articles for PTA/PTO newsletters that regularly go home. Highlight different levels and include what you are teaching/EALRs, any needed materials, student honors, exhibits, local museum exhibits for families to enjoy, etc. Include photos.
____ Make a brief presentation on the importance of art to your PTA/PTO.
____ High school students can write regular “art happenings” for school publications, interview local artists, cover exhibitions and gallery openings.
____ Use an empty classroom to create a student gallery. ____ Be pro-active in promoting good things about art.
____ Get a current media list from your Chamber of Commerce for newspaper, TV & radio contacts, etc. and personally call them for special events/recognitions/exhibits, fine arts festivals, etc. Also send a written press release listing you as the contact person.
____ Plan special events with your fine arts team—Fine Arts Night with student demonstrations and performances—art, music, dance, drama. Ask your public access channel to cover the event.
____ Design a visual arts or fine arts brochure to share with parents/others; include goals, rationale for why the arts are important, TEKS/National Standards, quotes, etc.
____ Brainstorm pro-art slogans and involve students in designing original bumper stickers, laminate and distribute to parents and business partners (ARTsmART, Art: Ask for More, Art Matters, heART & soul, Art Adds Color to Life, etc.).
____ Involve students in designing billboards for Youth Art Month and/or art t-shirts (art teachers sell t-shirts / bags / aprons as their fundraiser).
____ Make a strong case in writing for an adequate art budget to meet student needs—be specific, refer to number of students served, the fact that many art materials are consumable, etc.--less emotion and more specifics with rationale build budgets!
____ Focus on solutions to cutbacks, finding ways to make your principal, school and district look good!
____ Check the internet for specific research (brain research, multiple intelligences, etc.) which supports art—NAEA, Getty Institute, Elliot Eisner, etc. “Students who studied the visual arts in high school scored an average of 76 points higher on the SAT than students who did not take art courses.” (College Board Report, 2002). We must make educationally sound arguments, not emotional pleas. Developing political skills among art educators who give systematic, continuous dialogue with decision makers is crucial for reform.
____ Personally ask 2 or 3 of your most supportive parents if they would be willing to speak at school board meetings should art become a target for cuts. Parents and community leaders are the KEY to getting and keeping quality art programs. School board members listen to taxpayers and superintendents listen to the board members who hire them.
____ Be willing to speak up yourself and justify the visual arts to administrators, school board members, community leaders, etc. Know the names/addresses of your city council members, local school board members, Washington House rep, Washington Senator and State Board of Ed rep. Send student art work to them with a letter from the student during Youth Art Month or at any time during the year. You are the future of your program!
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“For hundreds of years it has been known that teaching the arts, along with history and math and biology, helps to create the ‘well-rounded mind’ that western civilization and America have been grounded upon. We need that ‘well-rounded mind’ now, for it is from creativity and imagination that the solutions to our political and social problems will come.” Richard Dreyfuss, star of Mr. Holland’s Opus.

“The highest purpose of art is to inspire.” Bob Dylan, singer

“I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keeffe, artist

“Art teachers who go the extra mile are appreciated by parents who then spread the word about them and… the art program!” Tom Hatfield, NAEA Executive Director

“Problem solving. Critical reasoning. Curiosity. Higher Test Scores. Creative thinking. Interpersonal skills. Resourcefulness. Self-esteem. Risk taking. The power of arts in education is anything but frivolous.” The Getty Center ********************
Teaching…the profession which creates all others! Few of our students will become artists, but all will be consumers and custodians of our futures…we had better train sensitive children…art helps do that! The more art teachers communicate what art teaches and why it is important, the better art programs will be understood, accepted and supported. WE HAVE TO LEAD…it is up to the over-worked art teacher to take the leadership role in convincing others that art is essential, not fluff or frill. No one else will do it for us!

For advocacy materials from NAEA, visit http://www.naea-reston.org