Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 16 May 2017

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From YouTube: Lori Snyder, Arts Education in Maryland Schools: Spring 2017

Description

AEMS is dedicated to arts education in Maryland schools. Learn how arts are a critical part of preparing students for an ever changing world.

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There are many discussions about what schools should be teaching our kids.

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Some seem to lead with stem.

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that stands for science, technology,, engineering, and math..

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Today s guest, lori snyder, believes that steam is what we need,.

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Adding arts as a critical part of preparing students for an ever-changing,, ever-challenging world.

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Lori is executive director of aems, arts education in maryland, schools, alliance.

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good to see you.. Thank you for having me. well, tell me--. Aems has been around for about, what,, 25 years?, twenty-five years.

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We were born out of a partnership between the maryland state arts, council and the maryland state department of education, back when some--.

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The initiative then was to take some arts out of the schools, and we were working hard..

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There were people formed that decided we needed to advocate at the state level through the legislature to make sure that didn t, happen, and of course, those agencies can t do that type of work.

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so, aems was formed as a 501(3)(c).

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Okay., I was kind of surprised that that s been going on,, this push to take the arts out of the school 25 years, ago.

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That s a long time, ago.

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It is. it is. yeah., but things have, with our work,. It s done a complete turnaround,.

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And we re working to make sure, and that s what aems s mission is -- to make sure that we have equitable access to arts education.

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For every student in the state of maryland. okay.

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So,, I m going to ask you, what place do you think the arts, and that s the performing arts, the visual arts,, the literary arts--.

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What place do you think they have in our schools?.

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I think it s part of the education of the whole child, and backed by lots of research that, in order to prepare students, for,.

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What you were saying: earlier, the careers and lives.

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That they ll have that we don t even what those careers may be,.

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But the arts prepare them in that way.

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So,, we believe that dance, theater, music, media arts,.

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And visual arts are all key to that: instruction.

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yeah. and then you--. We were talking a little bit off camera.

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You mentioned that even the federal government now-- something was passed called the essa? yes. every student succeeds act was passed,.

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And that was a bipartisan bill that wants to address how we assess schools.

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And how we look at what they re, doing. so, it s not just based on their math and language arts scores,, but on a broader look at how we teach children.

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Yeah. and the arts are included. now, there s been a lot of studies done to kind of monitor and find out the outcomes of the arts and what--.

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How they do play such a role in students learning and their development.?.

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So,, can you tell us about some of that??

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What have some of these studies shown? Us?

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well,? It shows that students that are engaged in the art stay in school,.

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Have a better attendance., they graduate from high school, and they are prepared to understand.

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And problem solve at a much better level,, because it-- the arts teach in a different way..

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They teach you through,, not just rote learning or the skills.

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That are involved to paint a painting or to play music,.

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But to solve the problem, to observe very acutely,.

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And then to analyze that and process that information.

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You know, in talking with my friends that-- you know, my contemporaries, and I look back at school--.

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I went to a public school in pennsylvania..

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The things I remember most were those assemblies and those special artists that they would bring in to school,, and I think, well, of course,. I feel that way, because I m an artist.

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however,. I m finding that people who are in business and construction.

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And all kinds of things, the things they remember about school, that affected them so deeply were a lot of these arts programs.

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And that s? What engages students in schools,, the performance and the ability to express themselves through the arts.

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A lot of companies are even looking now to hire,.

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Especially in the science fields--, when they re looking at scientists or engineers,, they re looking for people that have that artistic ability to be able to think outside of the box, to be able to look at things from different angles, and that s. What the arts brings to those students.

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So,, how large is aems?, I mean,, how people do you have working on this cause right, now?,.

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Well,, we are a small organization yeah., but we represent the entire state of maryland.

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wow. so,. We have repres--, we have all 24 local education, agencies,.

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So, the 23 counties and baltimore city.

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right., and we work with the state department of education and maryland state arts council still.. We have regional briefings that we-- that the state department of education.

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Does for the fine arts, and we support all of that work.

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There s also a fine arts advisory panel that exists that has representation from all the 24 les,.

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Which is fabulous, because they help in the advocacy work.

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Yeah. now I m sure there are people watching who say, well,, I d like to get involved, too.. I m not part of aems officially. so,. How can people get involved and help get the message out.

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That aems is working for?.

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Join the aems listserv. it s no cost,, but if they sign up on the listserv,, we send out regular advocacy alerts, and we give step-by-step what things are happening in their particular district,.

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As well as if they have any issues that are happening in a school.

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People reach out to aems,, and then we help to support them in advocating for fine arts. Education.

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so,, you have a website? yes,. We do.

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Okay. so, we ll direct people to that website, as well.

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That would be fabulous. yes. okay.

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And then just-- as far as, in the little time we have left,.

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What do you find are being-- are the biggest challenges right, now, though, for aems?, I mean,. Are you getting the support??

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You said the pendulum is swinging back,, which is good news,, but I m sure there are still some obstacles that get in your way.

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The biggest concern that we have is that equitable access.

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So, there are fabulous schools in the state of maryland.

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Baltimore county, we have the carver center,.

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Which is-- amazing arts programs.

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Patapsco and-- exactly., but it s about the equitable access for some of the places across the state.

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And in the counties where they don t have that arts, education., baltimore city and some of the other counties that not every student.

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Has an art program or an art teacher in their school, and that s what we re working, towards. funding s, an issue. so,. We re working with the commission on innovation, & excellence,.

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The kirwan commission, that s working on what the new funding formula will be for schools and we re hoping that that will include funding for the arts,.

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And I guess make the message clear to our elected officials, as well.. So.

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Absolutely. that s who needs to hear it.

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Well, terrific, lori.. Thank you so much.

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Thanks for having me. so, remember, arts, education can be life education, and that s our lesson from smarts,, the baltimore county arts and culture show.