tools & resources
Here are just some of the local tools needed to develop strong local leadership, cultivate adequate resources, and strengthen connections and partnerships among schools, businesses, artists, and community leaders.
Convenings
Americans for the Arts hosts arts education professional development sessions and discussions at the Americans for the Arts annual convention. In addition, members of the Arts Education Network are able to meet and learn more about the activities of the Arts Education Council during the annual convention.
Webinars
Americans for the Arts hosts numerous webinars on a variety of professional development topics, including arts education.
In 2012, a series of seven webinars will focus on the illuminating the complex network of stakeholders that influence arts education from the school house to White House and from the living room to the board room.
Technical Assistance
We're here to help. Contact us for guidance, information, and resources. If we don't have the answer, we'll find it.
Speakers/Writers Bureau
Americans for the Arts staff members serve as guest lecturers, keynotes, panelists, conveners, session leaders, reviewers, policy experts, and writers throughout the country. Contact our Arts Education Program Coordinator for more information on potential Americans for the Arts speakers and/or writers.
Arts in Public Schools Online Resource Center
In conjunction with the National School Boards Association (NSBA), Americans for the Arts has created an online resource center to provide local education decision-makers with the necessary tools to effect positive change for arts education in their schools. Here, PTA members and school board members can find information about what they can do to support arts education.
Arts Ed 101 Articles
Just getting started with arts education? Need materials or a must-read list? Here are several articles that outline the important role of arts in our educational system and ways to support arts education.
- Top 10 Ways to Support Arts Education
- The Benefits of Arts Education
- Defining High Quality Arts Education
- The Arts Education Field Guide
- Field of Education and ESEA Primer
Evaluation
This brief webpage offers a snapshot of what evaluation is and how it can help nonprofit organizations in their work.
What is Evaluation? by Sarah del Tufo [PDF, 468KB]
Funding
There are a host of grants both small and large available to fund arts education work. Below is a list arts ed funders. You can find granting information at the following sources. These are national. Your state or local arts council can offer you more information about grants only provided at the state or local level. Arts Education Funding Resources [PDF, 167KB].
Starting and Managing an Arts Education Program
Created in 2003, our archival YouthARTS Toolkit remains seminal in at-risk youth development through the arts. It covers fundraising, budgeting, program design, and partnerships.
Advocacy
Americans for the Arts leverages its broad network of more than 5,000 members across the country to generate grassroots support for national policy change, as well as to prepare local communities to respond effectively to pressing local issues, such as arts education. To take action or lean about advocacy, please visit our "Get Involved" page.
Research
Americans for the Arts' research agenda is designed to develop new research and collect and disseminate existing research that helps make the case for the value of arts education. To read more, please visit our research page.
Publications
Americans for the Arts has several publications available that include the topic of arts education. Learn more.
Photos: (Top) Education Through Music’s opening of a music lab at MS 180 in the Bronx. Photo courtesy of Chris Marolf, (Bottom) Actors performing in a staged reading of the play Naïveté Nativity written by Young Playwrights Program participant Ben Lawson at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle. Photo courtesy of Paul Butzi.