If you were able to attend the virtual plenary sessions on February 17 in recognition of Arts Education Advocacy Day you are aware of the outstanding opportunity the 2 hour session provided. If you were not there, you’re in luck. All of the sessions were recorded and embedded below. The day was organized by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) in collaboration with the leaders of the ABC – Arts Are Basic Coalition.
The first one below actually took place during the last part of Arts Education Advocacy Day, the ABC Student Advocacy Initiatives. We know at the heart of providing quality arts education programs and access to it are students! I salute all the Maine students who care deeply for the arts and are afforded an excellent curriculum. And, to all the arts educators striving to provide access to these programs, thank you!
ABC Student Advocacy Initiative
Governor Janet T. Mills Arts Ed Advocacy Message
Remarks from Maine Arts Commission Arts Education Director Martha Piscuskas
Conversation with Maine Art Education Association President Lynda Leonas and Argy Nestor
Visual Art Advocacy Video Maine Minds
Conversation with Maine Educational Theatre Association leader Kailey Smith and Beth Lambert
Maine Department of Education – Kellie Bailey, Social/Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices Specialist, Commissioner Pender Makin, and Jason Anderson, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist
Conversation with Maine Dance Educator representative Thornton Academy Dance Educator Emma Campbell and MaryEllen Schaper
Conversation with Maine Music Educators Association President Sandra Barry and Kaitlin Young
Music Advocacy Video
Thank you to Susan Potters, Executive Director of MAAEand Melissa Birkhold MAAE Advocacy Coordinator for the plenary session for Maine Arts Ed Advocacy Day and making these individual videos available. The videos are also available on the MAAE website at THIS LINK.
Maine Music Educators Association is accepting nominations for their recognition program. Below are the following categories with links to the nomination form. Consider nominating a deserving colleague.
In addition, if you are a music teacher who is retiring or have a milestone last or this year complete the form to be recognized and send the form to the MMEA Executive Director Beth LaBrie at execdirector@mainemea.org. Likewise, if you have questions, please contact Beth.
Please join us May 10-15 for this exciting and informative professional development conference which will include over sixty live and pre-recorded offerings applicable to all areas of music education. Live sessions will take place via Zoom between 6-8PM on weeknights and 9-noon on Saturday. Both the in-person and pre-recorded sessions will be archived on a password protected website and will be available for viewing at a later date. For questions regarding registration, please email Jon Simonoff at conferenceregistrar@mainemea.org.
If you missed the plenary session provided by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education(MAAE) for Arts Education Advocacy Day you are in luck! The session was recorded and available below. A HUGE THANK YOU to the MAAE partners in the ABC Arts are Basic Coalition MAEA – the Maine Art Education Association, MMEA – Maine Music Educators Association, MaineEdTA – Maine Educational Theatre Association, and the Maine dance educators. It is the first time they’ve presented together and they sent a collective message about the importance of quality arts education programming for every Maine student. Along with the leaders of the state professional organizations Governor Mills recorded message was included in the program. Others who spoke in addition to the professional organization leaders were: Commissioner of Education Pender Makin, Martha Piscuskas, Maine Arts Commission Education Director Martha Piscuskas, Maine Department of Education (MDOE) VPA Specialist Jason Anderson, and MDOE Social/Emotional Learning and Trauma Informed Practices Kellie Bailey.
Most importantly students voices were an integral part of the day. Be sure and catch them towards the end of the video. From the MAAE website:
What we may remember most vividly about Advocacy Day this year was the voices of the students – not only the individual students expressing their feelings about the arts in the videos accompanying the ABC reports, but also the live panel of arts students who are forming advocacy teams in their schools, part of a statewide new ABC initiative directed by MAAE. Coming at the end of the program, the students’ rich discussion about local advocacy and what their teams could mean for the arts in their schools not only brought together the separate themes of the four earlier reports, but made it very clear that Maine arts students can and should be a part of any future efforts to advance the cause of arts education in our state.
Sponsored by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education and the Arts are Basic Coalition, and supported by the Maine Department of Education, this 90-minute plenary session, featuring reports by Governor Janet T. Mills, Education Commissioner Pender Makin, and state arts education association leaders, will report on the impact of this year’s pandemic on arts education. The plenary will kick-off a week of meetings between high school arts advocacy student teams and their state legislators.
Maine Music Educators Association president Sandra Barry and president elect Andy Forster speak to News Center Maine about the work they are doing encouraging the rules to change around singing with students in schools across the state.
You can view the News Center Maine coverage at THIS LINK.
Maine Music Educators Association (MMEA) unequivocally affirms that Black Lives Matter and that the horror of systemic racism and violence perpetrated against Black people must end.
The mission of the Maine Music Educators Association is to promote and advance music education for all students. Affirming that Black Lives Matter everywhere—in our classrooms and communities—is fundamental to our mission as an organization. MMEA has not done enough to address systemic racism and to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Our practices and curricula must elevate the lives, voices, experiences, cultures, and histories of Black and other marginalized people. We must begin by addressing gaps in our knowledge. We are called to fundamentally transform the school experiences of our students, shifting from non-racist to true anti-racist teaching. This requires continuous and deliberate reflection and change within MMEA, as well as at an individual, school, and district level.
Effecting change is going to be long term, challenging and sometimes uncomfortable, but it is necessary. MMEA is committed to supporting music educators, students, performing artists, and community members as we begin this work.
We must listen to and amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We must do it together. In the coming weeks, the MMEA will provide resources while preliminary actionable steps are developed. We invite you to join us with this important work.
Argy Nestor
Arts Educator, Blogger, Artist, Connector meartsed@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/anestor/
Argy’s Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share stories about people and places; and to celebrate the amazing work (and play) that students, educators, and organizations are doing in and for arts education. In addition, the blog has a plethora of resources and innovative ideas. This forum gives blog readers the opportunity to learn from each other. It is essential that we listen, learn, and collaborate in order to build on teaching practices for the benefit of every learner in Maine and beyond.
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