LAUSD and the Arts

The Los Angeles Unified School District recognizes that education in the arts make a unique and vital contribution to a child*s cognitive development. Therefore the District is committed to providing all students with opportunities to attain a substantive education in the visual and performing arts at all grade levels, an education that will prepare them to create, collaborate, problem solve, perform, and appreciate works of art.

On July 22, 1999, the Los Angeles Unified School District*s Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution to commence a 10-year effort to establish arts for all students, at all grade levels, in all schools, in all four art forms. To accomplish this goal, LAUSD*s Arts Education Branch began Arts Program Schools (APS) at the elementary level. In the first eight years of the program the number of schools participating has grown from 54 to 392 and it is projected that by 2010 all elementary schools in the District will have the opportunity to participate in the APS project.

In the 2007 - 2008 school year the Arts Education Branch launched a new project at the middle school level to meet the needs of middle and high school arts teachers. The Arts Bridging Teacher Project assigns various visual and performing arts teachers to feeder schools in order to build enrollment and experience in individual art forms .

In addition to the four arts content areas mentioned above, Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Art, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Arts Education Branch (AEB) seeks to establish and support Media Arts as a fifth standards-based Arts Content discipline. Media Arts are an art form comprising of a range of creative and expressive uses of media and communications technologies, including, but not limited to , digital imaging, graphic and web design, video/film production, television, digital music, video gaming, mobile devices and interactive media.

Work has begun on the next 10-year District Arts Education Plan. The second 10-year plan must extend the critical and necessary components of a well-rounded, dynamic and rich arts education and will focus on a K - 12 continuous and articulated curriculum. The Los Angeles Unified School District recognize that the Arts programs benefit students from the entire spectrum of educational programs and demographics, including special education, at-risk, GATE, and English Learners. LAUSD further understands that the Arts, (all five) increase student engagement, empower students' creative voices, and promote active participation in an increasingly networked world.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

ARTS Benefit Show and Auction

The Save The Arts Benefit Show and Art Auction
at
Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in the historic Cocoanut Grove Theatre
3400 Wilshire Blvd. LA, CA 90010
Phone: 323 935-9744
Enter on 701 S. Catalina Street, LA CA 90010

Saturday, June 11th at 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Tickets: $25.00

Art Auction
Auction Items
Performance in the historic Cocoanut Grove

Performance Highlights:
A special performance by Debbie Allen Dance Studios
A performance by Chester Whitmore
A musical performance by Michael Johns of "American Idol"
Original theatrical performances developed, written and directed by the elementary students of LAUSD.
Theatrical presentations by the students of Van Ness Elementary
Poetry by the students of Wilshire Crest
A theatrical performance by the students of Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools
A performance by members of the District Dance Ensemble
The Wilshire Park Elementary Chorus
And more......
ARTISTS
Olivia Armas
Kim Baylyff
Michael Blasi
Castillo
Paul W. Evans
Deborah Krall
Isabel Martinez
Adriana Munoz
Katherine Ng
Synthia Saint James
Kristin Vanderlip Taylor
And more.....

Save the Arts is an organization created by parents, teachers, students, and the community. Their express purpose is to ensure that all Los Angeles Unified School District children from grades K-12 receive a well-rounded education which, naturally, includes the ARTS: Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual and Media Arts.

Due to the current economic situation and budget cuts to education, our children are in danger of losing wonderful Arts Education Programs (please see attached Friends of the Arts flyer for details). All of the arts come together to help educate the whole child and allow children the opportunity to be creative and imaginative in myriad ways. The arts teach empathy, kindness, tolerance, patience, teamwork, and compassion. The arts are the great equalizer. You don't have to be rich or an academic scholar to be creative and gifted in the performing and visual arts, you just are. The arts keep students in school. For many children, the arts are a lifeline.

If Arts Education Programs are cut as drastically as planned, our children will lose this important component of their educational experience. Some students' parents will have the resources to expose them to the arts through other means, while most other children will be left without this important part of their educational development. Come, be a part of our "Save The Arts" Benefit by attending the event on June 11, 2011, at the Historic Cocoanut Grove Theatre. If you cannot attend, please make a donation and help save the arts for a child. http://savetheartsla.eventbrite.com/

- Suzanne Nichols, Executive Director, Save The Arts
http://www.savethearts.net
helpsavethearts@gmail.com