New York State Alliance for Arts Education
|
Empire State Plaza |
Carol Brown |
|
Tel.: 1-800-ARTS NED or (518) 474-4589 |
Organizational Profile:
Founded in 1973 and headquartered in the Cultural Education Center in Albany, N.Y., NYSAAE is dedicated to ensuring that the arts become an integral part of every person's education in New York State, believing that children who do not receive a comprehensive, quality education in the arts will be at a disadvantage in school and in life.
To this end, the organization disseminates information about model programs, funding and standards of excellence; it develops training models for constituent organizations and advocates for arts education at the local, state and national levels.
|
Full-time Staff: 3 |
 |
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
New York Alliance for Arts Education is supported by The New York State Council on the Arts; The New York State Education Department; The Dana Foundation; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; The Golub Foundation; its membership and private donations
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
Artist Residency Program
The Teaching Artist residency program grows out of the findings of a statewide survey that was conducted by NYSAAE to assess the quality and availability of opportunities in schools and communities for students with special needs to participate in all the arts. Overall, the survey found that students with special needs in grades K-12 in New York State have limited access to in-school programs in the arts. NYSAAE is seeking to improve access at the participating sites by identifying and partnering with cultural/educational organizations to extend and further develop artist residency programs that reflect the field’s best practices.
The Artist Residency program is intended to demonstrate methods to improve access to arts learning for the participating students, keeping with NYSAAE’s fundamental conviction that arts education benefits every individual by fostering self-expression, communication skills, self-esteem, and teamwork while addressing the basic human impulse toward creativity.
NYSAAE will draw on its statewide constituency to support innovative Teaching Artist residencies in New York State communities during the 2006-2007 school year. The residency program will provide extended residencies (ten to twelve days in length) that integrated the arts into the curriculum. Additionally, the residencies will address state arts education standards and meet the IEP Goals of individual students.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Professional Development for Educators and Teaching Artists
The professional development initiative will be directed towards a broad constituency of individuals who work with youths with disabilities in school and community settings. This includes teachers, teaching artists, professional and paraprofessional staff at residency sites, as well as a broader constituency that will be reach through presentations at New York State conferences, connecting with a large portion of the arts education field. The professional development initiative will provide specialized disability awareness training for teaching artists and teachers, in addition to providing a broad understanding of issues and methods of teaching the arts in an inclusive setting.
Each workshop will examine key issues such as: increasing awareness of disability; kinds of disabilities; the importance of “people first” language; strategies for using the arts in an inclusive setting; differentiated instruction; possible modifications in various arts disciplines; finding resources; maintaining the integrity of the art forms while providing quality experiences for all students; hands-on practice in creating accommodations; and take-away resources and materials.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
The Cultural Access Initiative will address two needs that NYSAAE has identified in consultation with New York State cultural institutions. The initiative will provide free tickets to cultural performances, as well as equipment to expand programming for the hearing impaired.
First, NYSAAE will collaborate with presenting organizations across the state and a range of service providers in a model project designed to increase access to cultural performances for people with disabilities. In this model, NYSAAE will oversee the distribution of 200 tickets, working with service providers to identify appropriate recipients and distribute the tickets. NYSAAE will further promote the project through its website and monthly e-newsletter to reach the broadest pool of potential participants possible. It is hoped that this demonstration project will lay the groundwork for continuing efforts to formalize reduced price ticket programs for people with disabilities, in addition to providing an effective network for outreach.
Secondly, NYSAAE will assist performing arts venues in enhancing access to programming for the hearing impaired through the purchase or updating of existing Assisting Listening Systems.
Public Awareness
NYSAAE is seeking to create a virtual community for people with special needs and those who serve them. The virtual community will enable people to form connections on the web that will bring them into direct contact with the resources and opportunities available to them. In addition, NYSAAE is expanding awareness of disabilities through direct presentations to parents, teachers, and educators involved in arts in education; the populations will gain increased awareness of disabilities and inclusive practices.
NYSAAE will develop and maintain a website devoted to VSA arts programs, opportunities and issues in New York State, working with a web design consultant. The site will be broadly inclusive, serving as an information source for people with disabilities, parents and family members, educators, artists, and the general public. It will include resources such as descriptions of and links to programs and resources; opportunities to subscribe to and participate in listservs and online communities devoted to disability issues; arts education practices, opportunities, and other related topics. The site will be developed and designed in accordance with accessibility standards by a web consultant and will be maintained on an ongoing basis by NYSAAE, using a dedicated staff webmaster position. The target date for completion and launch of the site is Spring 2007.
Secondarily, NYSAAE will increase public awareness and outreach of disability issues and needs through a series of workshops delivered at conferences throughout the state. These presentations, focused on disability awareness, will be directed to parents through parent-teacher organization conferences and further delivered through an existing network of Arts in Education Roundtables, which are active throughout the state.
(F) 202-429-0868