By Trina Harlow and Bob Reeker,
posted on Oct 10, 2024
Architectural blueprints are complex and often consist of many sheets representing each part of a building project. A solid blueprint for visual art advocacy also has layers of approach. Nailing the advocacy means dedicating strategic planning toward all facets of a quality art education program. When art educators focus on building programs one step at a time, brick by brick and nail by nail, the beneficiaries are students, colleagues, communities, and art educators.
Trina Harlow, Jane Montero, Bob Reeker, Daniel Bryant, Holly Bess Kincaid, and Sarah Ackermann present at the 2024 NAEA National Convention.
Here are some strategies that educators can tuck in their art advocacy tool belts:
Firm Up the Foundation
As with any structure you build, a firm foundation is key. Before you can add the walls, flooring, roof, electrical, and plumbing, it is imperative that you firm up the base. The same can be said as you advocate for quality art education programs. You need to answer key questions about your advocacy efforts: Who? What? Where? Why? When? and How? Each art educator will answer these questions based on their own individual situation, environment, and community. Once you establish your advocacy nuts and bolts, you can ready the space with some great advocacy tools and stories.
Maximize Moments with Joy
A joyful approach and mindset are imperative to the advocacy of arts education. Being able to think outside the traditional mindset is crucial to the future of artistic expression and pedagogy. We should try to foster and enable spaces where students create digital art shows, classroom documentaries, community murals, and classroom skits that connect to art education. Being able to maximize every moment is pivotal to the success of art education.
Engage through Events
Events and activities are important. Enter ART day (Art Read Think), an enriching occasion when community influencers engage with students through the prism of art-themed literature, weaving tighter bonds and underlining the indispensable role of creativity. With esteemed guests like the mayor and local DJ in attendance, the event forges invaluable alliances.
Attending school board meetings amplifies voices, ensuring vital resources for future initiatives. Collaboration with arts organizations serves as another powerful amplifier, harmonizing advocacy through educational platforms and dynamic events.
Build Relationships & Communicate
It’s important to identify a district contact person who can help you share your news. Whether you’re communicating with a district employee or a local newspaper editor, build a relationship so that person will gladly share news about your art program in the community.
With the ease and speed of free online apps such as Canva, newsletters can quickly be made and turned into QR codes, digital flipbooks, or social media posts. Be brave and communicate what you are teaching and what your students are creating.
Collaborate with All
To build a solid foundation, you need handy helpers like fellow arts colleagues, but consider branching out to foster additional advocates such as classroom teachers. An adult art club can help others learn about you and your program. Find out what’s happening with other teachers and consider ways you can contribute to broader curricula. Broadcast your efforts to leadership so they can celebrate your work. And don’t forget the power of your students. Plan projects that get them out there making and displaying their creations around your buildings. This collaboration will beautify spaces while it shows the school what’s happening in your art program.
Express Funding Needs
Actively speak to the school community about program needs and plan use of budgets, supply lists, student fees, and funding. Communicate with students’ families to request supplies and materials. Research available local, state, and organizational grants. Utilize grant databases easily found on the Internet and allow adequate time to complete lengthy applications. Join social media groups dedicated to grants, scholarships, summer institutes, and teacher opportunities. Hold discussions with administration about teacher financial compensation for personal cell phone, tablet, and computer use in the workplace and home Wi-Fi expenses.
Conclusion
There are many more advocacy tools that visual arts educators can employ than are listed here. When art educators invest time in planning their material list, which is a builder-made inventory of necessary items for a specific structure, an average art program can become an exemplary design. Nailing the advocacy builds better artists and quality programs.
Art teachers use nature to inspire students to become more in tune with themselves and the world around them. Young students take a mindful approach as they collage an imaginary place in which they feel calm, elementary students create visual responses that evoke empathy for those experiencing environmental disasters, middle-school students collaborate to create a sustainable felted planter for a community garden, high-school students build custom birdhouses for residents at a local retirement village, and more.
