Student Artwork Credit: Derick Carle, Etna High School, Siskiyou County
Inside This Issue
- California County Superintendents Arts Initiative News
- Student Artist Work Selected for Member Directory
- Music Education Thrives in Del Norte County
- Educators Build Capacity for Arts Integration
- Arts Education Framework Guides Prop 28 Implementation
- New County Arts Leads to Support Arts Education
- Expanding Access to Arts Education Statewide Community of Practice
- Regional County News and Events from Butte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Stanislaus, and Tulare County Offices of Education
- State Partner News from Create CA, AME Institute, California Art Education Association, California Dance Education Association, and California State Library
Arts Initiative News
Student Artist Work Selected for Member Directory
Happy 2024-2025 School year! The California County Superintendents started a new tradition this year by selecting a student artist’s work to feature on the cover of the 2024-25 membership directory. Oswaldo’s reaction to receiving an honorarium for his work and then using it to open his first bank account made us all smile.
TK-12 Music Education Thrives in Rural Del Norte County Schools
In recent years, Del Norte County Office of Education has used the LCAP process to prioritize music education and ensure they have music teachers for students from primary grades through graduation. In 2020, an instrument repair class launched at Del Norte County High School. Read more about the Del Norte music program and watch the brand new series Artscapes which is a video series featuring models of visual and performing arts education in rural Northern California counties.
Educators Build Capacity for Arts Integration
In July the Arts Initiative collaborated with the California History Social Science Project, the Area 3 Writing Project, and CLARA in Sacramento to provide professional learning for a small but dedicated group of Region 3 elementary teachers and county arts leads on arts integration. We focused on building literacy in the different content areas, building classroom community through theatre and dance, and books as centerpieces for integrated learning. Over several days together as participants designed learning experiences, we stretched our muscles while dancing, acting, and thinking like historians to build understanding of how different content areas can work together to benefit learning. Later in August we were hosted by the Crocker Art Museum to think together about bringing together visual arts, science, and history. We will continue our work together as lessons that participants designed are implemented over the 2024-25 school year.
Arts Education Framework Guides Prop 28 Implementation
This Summer Arts Leads from Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, San Benito, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Diego County Offices of education collaborated to bring the second edition of the virtual Implementing Effective Arts Education series to nearly 100 education leaders throughout the state. The interactive series for administrators and leaders focuses on the Chapter 9 of the California Arts Education Framework and key aspects of the guidance in the chapter. The continued popularity of this series is a reflection of the continued need for statewide support as LEAs implement Proposition 28.
New County Arts Leads to Support Arts Education
We celebrate and welcome the new County Arts Leads to the Arts Initiative Network! Please see the updated contact list for contact information.
Kim Tyler: Lake County
“My role as a learning support specialist includes work related to the CAASPP, FPM, and Computer Science, but one of my primary tasks- and the one I’m most excited for- is leading arts education in Lake County. Music, drama, dance, and art have been powerful influences in my life. I believe strongly in their ability to inspire and transform learning, and to promote positive outcomes for all students.”
Suzanne Adkins: Shasta County
“I am the Arts Education Lead for Shasta County Office of Education. In my role, I support schools and districts with their arts education programs as they relate to proposition 28. I also help support schools and districts with their proposition 28 funding. One of my goals is to connect small districts to one another to help boost support of arts education by partnering with one another. Another goal I have is to help connect teaching artists in the community with schools and districts for the purpose of highlighting arts careers and building sustainable arts support in our community.”
Julie May: Siskiyou County
Julie May is the new County Arts Lead at the Siskiyou County Office of Education, where she will collaborate with schools, the county arts teacher, and local and regional agencies to enhance arts education for students and teachers across the rural region. Julie also serves as the Literacy Lead for the county, bringing over 20 years of experience in education to her multifaceted role. As a passionate arts advocate, she is eager to embrace this new opportunity to enrich the cultural and educational landscape of Siskiyou County.
Jackie White: Sacramento County Regional Arts Co-Lead
Jacqueline White is the Assistant Superintendent, Adult and Student programs at Sacramento County Office of Education. She supervises Adult Education, College and Career, and our Community Operated Student Programs. She has consistently championed programs that enhance student achievement and foster community collaboration such as the Sacramento Healthy HeARTS and Minds program, and the Counselor Community of Practice serving hundreds of counselors across Northern California. She has also been instrumental in expanding Career Technical Education programs, implementing Dual Enrollment initiatives, and piloting strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism in schools.
Marya Osucha: El Dorado County
“As Special Projects Manager at Arts and Culture El Dorado (a State-Local Partner to the California Arts Council), I oversee projects and programs that support the growth of cultural resources in rural and underserved communities. My work to advocate for robust arts programming in K-12 public schools has become my primary focus since the passing of Prop 28. To this end, I am the Create CA Arts Now Leader in El Dorado County and I partner with the El Dorado County Office of Education to serve as County Arts Lead.”
Summer Belloni: Solano County
Summer Belloni is a program manager at Solano County Office of Education in the District and School Support team. She supports initiatives in environmental literacy, arts, robotics league, social and emotional learning, and more. Summer strives to create meaningful connections for teachers, educational leaders, and community partners so they may help students learn, grow, and achieve life-long success on their journey to be future leaders in our community.
Jessica Dorris: Calaveras County
“I serve as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction as well as the Adult Education Coordinator. I am the Williams Coordinator and Rural/Foothills Ethnic Studies CoP lead. I also provide technical assistance in a variety of aspects of curriculum and instruction and support schools and LEAs with their continuous improvement efforts, from assisting with their implementation plans to providing or connecting them with professional learning opportunities. The Educational Services Department at Calaveras County Office of Education is small; therefore, our team supports one another as we respond to the needs within the county.”
Dave Harris: Tuolumne County
“My name is Dave Harris, and I’m the new STEAM Coordinator for Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools. I’ll be working on student events, science, computer science, and art. I look forward to working with you!”
Join us for 2024-25 Statewide Community of Practice: Expanding Access to Arts Education
Community of Practice participants will build capacity to support their county or district to expand access to arts education by:
- Exploring opportunities and models for expanding access to all students including emerging multilingual students, students with disabilities, and students in underserved communities
- Deepening understanding of various funding streams and models for funding arts education
- Sharing ideas and promising practices
- Engaging in facilitated conversations with other arts education leaders around problems of practice
Dates: 9/27, 11/1, 12/6, 1/31, 3/7, 4/4
Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
County News and Events
Explore what County Offices of Education are doing as they support arts education across the state. Please refer to the updated arts leads contact list if you have questions about any of these items.
Butte County Office of Education
Music Production to be Offered at Butte County Juvenile Hall High School
Responding to student requests, BCOE Sr. Director of Alternative Education, Nick Catomerisios, successfully engaged Butte Community College to staff a new course in music production to start on September 30. After being inspired by student interest last fall and the prospect of utilizing new Prop 28 funding, Mr. Catomerisios enlisted the BCOE Arts Education Coordinator to brainstorm the myriad components of offering the class. The Arts Ed Coordinator connected Catomerisios with the music department chair at Butte Community College which offers an Associate Degree in Recording Arts. Because of an existing contract for Butte College to offer select courses at the high school, the mechanism already existed to place music faculty at the high school. Students who complete the course will receive two college credits. The start up budget for equipment was approximately $8,000. A culminating presentation of student work has already been scheduled for December.
Glenn and Butte Partner to Bring Art and SEL Workshop Series to Region 2
The series will kick off on September 7 with a day long session with Amy Bultena, Director of Arts, Stanislaus County Office of Education, and co-author of Creativity at the Core’s Module 26, “Creative Health and Wellbeing Through Visual Art: A Social-Emotional Approach to Learning.” Cohorts of teachers from each county will meet several more times during the fall to support each other and share feedback as they implement the module’s lessons in their classrooms. CAL Hope funds from each county are being used to fund this professional development series.
CA Department of Education Awards Chico State Museum
The Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Museum Education which recognizes the outstanding achievements in California museum programs that serve K-12 students and/or educators was awarded to the Turner Print Museum for its after school program. The competition is the joint project of the California Association of Museums and the California Department of Education. Since 2012, the competition has recognized 66 programs, presented by a diverse range of institutions that demonstrate the vibrant contributions museums make to California’s K-12 educational system. Kids@theTurner is a free after-school workshop designed to encourage K-12 students to explore creative ideas and themes through the museum’s collection. Integrating arts-based service-learning, all classes are designed and taught by pre-service art educators, in collaboration with Art Education faculty at Chico State.
Collective Impact Grant Awarded for Any Given Child Butte County Initiative
The National Endowment for the Arts announced its award of a $35,000 collective impact grant to Butte County Office of Education to continue to serve as the backbone organization for the Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child: Butte County Initiative in FY 24/25. Its focus is to develop and sustain a broad sector of the community to help expand arts education in three k-8 Oroville area school districts. This is the newest and the 28th site in the John F. Kennedy Center’s national Any Given Child network.
Fresno County Superintendent of Schools
Fresno County Summer Arts Academy
The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools proudly hosted the 3rd annual Fresno County Summer Arts Academy (FCSAA) June 14-29, 2024 at Fresno City College. 120 high school students from 42 schools across Fresno County participated in this FREE summer arts program! Students spent two weeks creating, connecting, responding, and ultimately, performing/presenting/producing their artwork in and through the following arts courses:
- Actor’s Workshop
- Concert Band
- Dance Performance & Choreography
- Mariachi Performance & Composition
- Musical Theatre Intensive
- Photography Exploration
- Visual Art
Fresno County Rural Theatre Collaborative
The Fresno County Rural Theatre Collaborative (RTC) is an initiative of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools made possible through generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The goal of the RTC is to increase equitable access to high quality theatre programs in rural high schools across Fresno County. 40 students and 3 teachers from the RTC’s year 2 cohort traveled to Ashland, OR for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Over the course of 4 days in Ashland the students were able to see 5 phenomenal productions! In addition to attending the shows, students were able to tour the production venues and attend pre- and post-show talkbacks with cast and production team members. The RTC Year 1 Cohort consisted of Caruthers High School, Justin Garza High School, and Kerman High School.
In addition to the trip, schools in the RTC have the opportunity to work with FCSS Arts Education Content Specialist, Joel Abels. Mr. Abels, an exemplary theatre educator and leader, provides 4 days of in-class instructional coaching and program/production consultation support for each of the teachers and schools in the cohort. 4 more rural high schools will be added to the RTC in the 2024-2025 school year.
Participation in the RTC is 100% FREE for students and schools thanks to the collaboration between FCSS and the Hewlett Foundation. For more information on the Fresno County Rural Theatre Collaborative (RTC), contact Aaron Bryan, FCSS Director of Arts Education.
Los Angeles County Office of Education
ECELA Leadership Institute
On July 24-26, 2024 the Engage California! English Learners through the Arts (ECELA) Leadership Institute brought together educational leaders from ECELA grant schools (Inglewood Unified School District, Rosemead School District, Los Banos Unified School District, Merced County Office of Education, and Los Angeles County Office of Education) and guest districts from Upland Unified School District, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Riverside Unified School District, Riverside County Office of Education, Westminster School District and the Orange County Department of Education. The in-person professional learning event happened at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Participants gathered to learn about ELD standards, the California EL Roadmap, Music standards, and arts integration strategies for English Learners (ELs).
The Engage California! English Learners through the Arts project is a federal grant awarded by the Office of English Language Acquisition to the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Center for Distance and Online Learning and Multilingual Academic Support units. The ECELA Project provides research and evidence-based professional development and family literacy programs that integrate arts in the content areas with strategies that increase literacy for English Learners and support Social Emotional Learning . ECELA will provide professional development to support improvement in classroom instruction for ELs. In addition, this project creates greater equity and inclusion for ELs to participate in the arts aligned with the California (CA) English Learner Roadmap, CA Standards for English Language Arts and English Language Development.
Collective Impact Through the LA County District Arts Coordinator Network
Region 11 is a model for collective impact focused on arts education. The District Arts Coordinator Network Convenings provides a space for district arts leaders to gather, learn, and support each other. There will be three virtual meetings in the 2024-2025 school year and some in-person meetings to be announced. In alignment with the goals of LA County’s Regional Blueprint for Arts Education, these convenings are coordinated for the LA County Arts Education Collective by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, LA County Office of Education, and Arts for LA.
Mariposa County Office of Education
This Fall, the Mariposa County Office of Education will be working with community partners Sierra Foothill Conservancy and the Mariposa County Arts Council to continue and grow our partnership Arts + Environmental Education program in 24/25 using ELOP funding. Led by naturalists, scientists, indigenous culture keepers, and teaching artists, this program is designed to provide standards aligned arts learning and natural resource stewardship experiences for students in natural landscapes near to where they live. Additionally, Mariposa County Office of Education is working with the Mariposa County Arts Council to invest time and resources into the implementation of many of the recommendations in MCOE’s Strategic Arts Education Plan in the areas of curriculum development, professional development, arts integration programming, community engagement/communication, and advocacy for arts education broadly.
Mendocino County Office of Education
MCOE Annual Educators' Retreat
Mendocino County Office of Education is excited to kick off the 2024-25 school year with our continued support for the Get Arts in Schools Program. We will continue our partnership with the Mendocino Arts Council to facilitate and fund local artists sharing their talents and expertise with students across Mendocino County.
We also want to share our gratitude for all the teachers who came to our Annual Educators’ Retreat this past summer. One of the highest rated workshops of the retreat was our session on arts integration and introducing the participants to the Creativity at the Core Module 26 on Creative Health and Wellbeing Through Visual Art: A Social-Emotional Approach to Learning. The teachers created their own abstract piece to show their journey through their past, present and future. It led to deep connections and meaningful conversations. Although it is labeled as an activity for 9th-12th grade students, even the kindergarten teachers saw the benefit of the activity and were excited to implement it! Teachers also saw wonderful opportunities for student engagement and building classroom culture through our workshops on Nature Journaling and the Focus 5 Acting Right program. We wish all incoming teachers a great start to their school year and look forward to supporting student creativity throughout the year.
Merced County Office of Education
Arts Now MCOE of Merced County continues to work with districts in and around Merced County as a resource for arts education and integration. In addition to working with LACOE’s Center for Distance and Online Learning on the Engaging California English Learners through the Arts federal grant, the County Office is partnering with the Central Valley Opportunity Fund and musical educators in Merced City to unite their curriculum and fill in gaps so that no student, K-12, is denied equitable, accessible opportunities for music education. Expanded opportunity with the Early Educators Training & Development grant has also made its way to Arts Now MCOE as ACTS (Arts Connected to Science) rolls into ACTED (Arts Connected to Education) and now features explicit connections between science, math and ELA/ELD. 2024 events will include Merced County Poetry Out Loud (in partnership with the Merced County Arts Council), an expanded Honor Choir (in partnership with the Merced County Education Foundation), and much, much more!
Riverside County Office of Education
Artslift Conference
Riverside County Office of Education hosted its first annual Artslift Conference on July 18, 2024. The conference was attended by 150 arts teachers, partners, artists in residence and administrators, and offered 24 sessions for guests to choose from. Keynote speakers Dr. Chad Sweeney, and Katie Xin were a big hit, as was the entertainment provided by Ms. Geena Fontanella. We had 6 generous sponsors for the event that provided swag and raffle prizes, culminating in the grand prize raffle of a painting by Tysen Knight. The feedback was universally positive, and we are partnering with City of Riverside to make next year a two-day event!
Sunnylands Museum and Garden Receives Superintendent Award
Just announced on August 14, 2024, RCOE and its partner, Sunnylands Museum and Garden were selected to receive a Superintendent’s Award for Museum Excellence for their three-year program (and counting) “Art and Wellness in Nature”. The award is selected by the CDE and given out at the California Museum Association conference in February 2025, in San Francisco. Louisa Higgins, Michaeleen Gallagher of Sunnylands, and the four teaching artists who created the program will be presenting it at the Western Museum’s Conference in September in Tucson, Arizona. The audience will include museums from Canada, the US and Mexico.
San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
Navigating New Horizons in Arts Education
Immerse yourself in a dynamic day of professional learning, hosted by SBCSS, where we delve into the 2019 California Arts Standards and the 2020 California Arts Education Framework. Join the discussion to explore the evolving landscape of Arts Education.
Audience: District and Site Arts Leaders, Coaches, TOSA’s, and Teachers in San Bernardino
Dates: 9/26/24 and 5/8/25
Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
Cost: FREE
San Diego County Office of Education
Arts Empower San Diego Conference: 10/8/24
Educators, administrators, artists, and arts advocates from across California are invited to celebrate our journey as arts educators and leaders, sharing our stories and best practices in excellence and innovation. Participate in dynamic breakout sessions covering a spectrum of arts education disciplines, equity principles, elevating student voices, and championing arts advocacy in education. Take back effective approaches to optimizing arts funding, co-creating a sense of belonging, and expanding access to enriching arts education opportunities to build a brighter, artful future for our students. Please contact Pauline Crooks, Region 9 Arts Lead and Arts Coordinator at the San Diego County Office of Education with any questions.
San Mateo County Office of Education
Leveraging Multilingual Learner Assets Through the Arts
Learn how to incorporate art into your curriculum to access cultural and linguistic connections for Multilingual Learners. By leveraging student assets, we aim to provide full access to 21st-century skills, achieving high language proficiency and mastery across various subjects, including arts.
Audience: K-12 educators of all subjects, school counselors, and other school staff in San Mateo County.
Dates: 11/13/24 and 11/14/24
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Cost: $100
Santa Cruz County Office of Education
The Orchestra Rocks Concerts
We are fortunate to have a partnership with The Santa Cruz Symphony and Carnegie Hall to bring Link Up: The Orchestra Rocks to our county’s students at the end of February. Approximately 4000 4th and 5th grade students attend and have the opportunity to engage with our Maestro Daniel Strewart and our Symphony.
2024-25 Arts Education Community of Practice for Region 5
Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey County Offices of Education are co-hosting the monthly, year-long Arts Education Community of Practice. If you reside in the area, join us for a region-wide sharing of ideas and inspirations! The QR Code is LIVE so register today!
Solano County Office of Education
Foster Creative Spaces Through the Arts
Creative Spaces is a book exploration series for TK-12 educators aimed at enhancing students’ art education. Join us in classrooms across Solano County to read, reflect, and collaborate with artistic professionals as we foster a space for sharing best practices. Participants are welcome to join any session at anytime. Open to people outside Solano County. Registration is limited. Sign up today!
Dates: 11/14/24, 2/13/25, 5/1/25
Stanislaus County Office of Education
WAVES Curriculum: Trauma-Informed Art for Social-Emotional Learning
The WAVES curriculum offers 35 engaging, trauma-informed art lessons, each around 60 minutes, designed to promote social-emotional learning (SEL) in diverse settings. Aligned with California Arts Standards and the CASEL 5 core SEL competencies, WAVES is accessible to all students and facilitators, regardless of prior art experience.
The WAVES curriculum unpacking workshop explores trauma-informed care and trauma-informed artmaking strategies, offering hands-on practice through engaging WAVES curriculum lessons. Statistical analysis using a paired t-test has proven that WAVES significantly enhances student mood and well-being, making it an essential tool for educators, particularly those supporting at-promise students.
Student feedback underscores the impact: “I like this art. It helps me get my feelings out.” Please see the flyer about upcoming in-person WAVES curriculum unpacking workshops. Additionally, WAVES curriculum unpacking workshops can be customized to meet your specific needs and offered virtually to suit your program(s).For more information about purchasing individual WAVES Curriculum licenses please contact Amy Bultena abultena@stancoe.org
Empowering Inclusivity Through E-Textiles: A Workshop at CSPD Week
This past July, Amy Bultena (Director of Arts, Stanislaus COE) and Rudy Escobar (STEM Coordinator, Stanislaus COE) led an arts and computer science integrated workshop at Computer Science Professional Development Week (CSPDweek). The workshop focused on e-textiles—fabrics embedded with electronic components like sensors and microcontrollers. E-textiles uniquely blend high-tech computer science with artmaking and traditional crafting, offering a powerful platform for integrating these fields. Currently, e-textiles are making waves at NY Fashion Week, among individual visual artists, and in theatre set design, showcasing computer science as an innovative medium for the arts.
This approach is particularly impactful because it challenges traditional gender and socioeconomic divides in technology education. E-textiles provide leadership opportunities for female and non-dominant students in computer science, combining circuits and programming with artmaking, crafting and sewing, making the subject more inclusive and relatable.
The workshop aimed to equip teachers with the skills to engage underrepresented students in computer science by integrating arts and technology. Teachers programmed micro:bits to control LED lights sewn onto backpacks using conductive thread. The project was a hit—teachers were deeply engaged, recognizing how such activities could broaden participation in computer science.
The e-textiles workshop successfully integrated computer science, visual art, and media arts standards. Teachers left inspired, excited to bring these inclusive, hands-on projects back to their schools, where they plan leverage computer science as a new medium for artmaking.
Tulare County Office of Education
Professional Learning Opportunities and Student Events
The Tulare County Office of Education is hosting a suite of professional learning sessions throughout the fall. Open to educators from Tulare County, these in-person and virtual sessions include workshops on the California Arts Standards, SEL and the Arts, arts integration, and networks and collaboratives. TCOE is also pleased to share information about several upcoming student events. To learn more about the sessions, click on the image or visit this link.
State Partner News
Create California
Have you ever seen over 500 Student Advocates mobilized at once?
Create CA and California State Summer School for the Arts hosted the third annual Arts Advocacy Day at CalArts on July 13. This event united over 500 passionate students across the state for a half-day of joyful artmaking and invigorating advocacy training, kicked-off with a fiery keynote speech from Aaron Huey, the founder of wildly popular arts-activist media platform, Amplifier. Watch the video recap.
Arts Now Meetup September
Arts now meetups are back! Join the Conversation! Come to the September Arts Now Meetup to connect with fellow advocates and support each other. The first meetup of the new school year is September 17th at 3:30 PM PST. Register here!
Nonprofit Advocacy During Election Season
Nonprofits have a critical role to play throughout the election cycle! Not only can public charities engage in issue advocacy during election season, but they can also conduct robust voter and candidate education campaigns and mobilize the public to get out the vote. Nonprofit staff and board members, join this session to gain a better understanding of how to safely engage in arts education advocacy during an election. Register here!
Arts Now Organizational Partners
The Arts Now Organizational Partners program supports nonprofit organizations in building their organizational capacity to engage in advocacy to further arts education programs in their community and schools. Participating organizations will have the opportunity:
- to learn about advocacy and policy work at the state, county, district and city level,
- to develop strategy focused on policy and advocacy at the local level with alignment to state and federal strategy,
- to receive support in creating an advocacy action plan with staff and members of their board of directors
- Upon completion of the advocacy training and strategic planning, organizations will receive a capacity building grant of $5,000
Apply here before November 15th!
Learn from the latest LEA profiles about Prop 28
This series of profiles highlights the efforts of various local education agencies (LEAs) in creating quality arts education programs. There are 4 new examples offering inspiration and practical ideas for LEAs looking to enhance their communities through arts education, showcasing how Prop 28 funding can be effectively used to implement meaningful programs in different educational contexts. Read the profiles here!
The Advocates' Glossary
Keep up with the key terminology, agencies, and organizations essential to starting a movement for arts education in your community with the Advocate’s Glossary. Learn the lingo of change and share this glossary with your network ahead of the new school year!
AME Institute
AME Institute Burbank 2024
The AME Institute Burbank 2024 welcomed over 600 educators to Burbank this past June for workshops, trainings, speakers, and creative industry networking opportunities. We had incredible field trips and hands-on learning from partners such as Nickelodeon, Adobe, Disney, Unreal Engine, Dolby, Warner Bros. Discovery, Snap, CA Film Commission and many more. Make sure you save the date for our 2025 AME Institutes:
- Bay Area Pop-up- Friday, February 28, 2025.
- AME Institute Burbank- June 25, 26, and 27, 2025.
Tickets will go on sale September 15, 2024!
Did You Know..?
The AME Institute offers a 3-day Professional Development for your AME teachers. They will get the opportunity to explore the foundations of a strong AME pathway, align their curriculum with the CA-AME Industry Recommendations, and develop a model AME course outline. They will also spend time exploring the aspects of a strong program including industry partnership, work-based learning, program promotion, certifications, and interdisciplinary collaborations.
“Collaborating with peers to align our curriculum with updated standards allowed us to rethink our teaching strategies and incorporate more innovative, student-centered approaches. The workshop emphasized the importance of staying current in our practices, ensuring that our students are not only learning the essential skills but are also prepared to thrive in a dynamic industry. It was a productive session that reinforced the significance of continuous improvement in education”- AME Alignment participant, Los Angeles Unified School District
California Art Education Association
Lemon Grove Students Shine with Unsung Heroes Art Project
Lemon Grove students, taught by CAEA member and ARTEFFECT Ambassador, Alyssa Navapanich, were honored in June by Mayor Raquel Vasquez and the Lemon Grove City Council for their artworks and research inspired by the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. Councilmember Alysson Snow praised the students as outstanding community artists who embody creativity. Their powerful artworks were showcased at the Lemon Grove Library throughout the summer.
SDUSD Students Transform Transit Shelters with I Am San Diego Project
CAEA member educators: Don Masse, Meera Ramanathan, and Patricia Cox from San Diego Unified School District guided their students in creating digital art as part of the ‘I AM SAN DIEGO’ project. This project turned 30 MTS transit shelters across the city into vibrant showcases of students’ creativity. Student art can be found on this website.
2024 CAEA Professional Educator Awards
Fourteen CAEA members have been honored with the 2024 Professional Development Awards, recognizing their exceptional instruction and impact on their schools and the organization. These awards will be presented at the CAEA Fall Conference in November. The awards celebrate members who have demonstrated outstanding contributions through a rigorous nomination and selection process. Check out the awardees are on the CAEA website.
CAEA State Conference
November 8-11, 2024
Enhance your skills, connect with peers, and stay updated with the latest trends by attending the 2024 California Art Education Association (CAEA) State Conference. The conference will take place from November 8-11, 2024 at Hotel Fera Anaheim in Orange County, California. This event gathers art educators from across the state for a weekend of professional development, networking, and creative exploration. The conference features keynote addresses from Lalo Alcaraz and Wendy MacNaughton, hands-on workshops, presentations, and the popular Curriculum Slam, where educators can quickly share innovative ideas in a fast-paced format. Participants can also attend specialized workshops for an additional fee, offering a deeper dive into various art techniques.
CAEA Artisan Fair
Sunday, November 10, 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
CAEA members have the opportunity to showcase and sell their artwork. Members interested in participating are encouraged to submit a request via the provided application form.
For questions, please contact CAEA Northern Area President, Ross Roadruck, at northern@caea-arteducation.org.
2024 CAEA Youth Art Month Program
Youth Art Month celebrates the creativity and expression of young artists across the nation, highlighting the importance of art education in schools. It provides a platform for students to showcase their work and fosters appreciation for the visual arts in communities. Local Show deadlines may be as soon as November 10, 2024.
Check with Chairs for local show and flag submission details
- Northern California Chair: Maryann Schultz (maryann.schultz@gmail.com)
- Central California Chair: Vacant; if interested, contact Central Area Director Vicki Smart (giraffe622@icloud.com)
- Inland Empire Chair: Kristen (Ursenbach) Carrillo (kurse00@gmail.com)
- Los Angeles Chair: Christine Terry (cterry@buckley.org)
- Orange County Chair: Vacant; if interested, contact CAEA Southern Regional YAM Chair Kristen (Ursenbach) Carrillo (kurse00@gmail.com)
- San Diego Chair: Alyssa Navapanich, (caeasd.president@gmail.com)
Save the date for the Southern California Regional Show (Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego) Exhibit: 3/1/25-3/15/25; Closing Reception 3/15/25 Time: 10am-12pm Artwork will be on Display at: Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501
California Dance Education Association
NDEO Conference
CDEA is looking forward to gathering with its members at the National Dance Education Organization annual conference this year in Bellvue, WA from 9/28/24 – 10/1/24.
StandUp4Arts Day
In April, CDEA, CETA, CMEA, and CAEA participated in StandUp4Arts Day. Read the article by clicking the image below.
CDEA State Conference
Save the Date! CDEA State Conference, March 1 – 2 at CSU Long Beach. Find out more on our website.
California State Library
Fun Free Online Resources for Back to School
“Every Californian with a library card now has free access from their phones and laptops to a large collection of performing arts videos, Ken Burns’ documentaries, world music, and 11,000 plays. The expanded arts, history and social studies collections are part of COMPASS – California Online Media Program for Access and Student Success – which provides a broad range of online resources to local schools and libraries that includes Britannica, TeachingBooks, National Geographic for Kids and PebbleGo Science.”
