Happy New Year! I hope you had an enjoyable holiday season with family and friends. As we kick off 2012, now is the time to get inspired and energized for a successful New Year! What are you doing this year to take your career to the next level and help your students continue to succeed? I hope you will join me at the Arts Schools Network Annual Conference, January 23-29 in Orlando, Florida, featuring a week of education, excursions and exchanges of knowledge. 

Enjoy wonder and wisdom as we visit some of Florida's finest arts organizations, including Orlando Ballet, Orlando Museum of Art, Florida Aquarium, Polk Museum of Art, Florida Southern College, Harrison School for the Arts, and more. Come network with esteemed industry professionals, including the Disney Entertainment Creative Team, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Director of Development Patricia Decker, American Ballet Theatre Artistic Associate Raymond Lukens, and more. Participate in breakout sessions, guest speaker opportunities and more, featuring our conference strands: best practices, school visits, tour venues, college and career and leadership.

Treat yourself to this wonderful opportunity and join us for this exceptional learning experience! Learn more and register now atartsschoolsnetwork.org/2011-Conference.html. I look forward to seeing you there as we join together to develop new aspirations and celebrate a successful New Year!  

this is a story you have to LISTEN to, click on this link and click play.

story

white female rappers challenging hip-hop's masculine ideal

dec. 23, 2011 new york times by toure

RealVisions is pleased to announce the availability of its new book on arts integration, The ARTS Book: Designing Quality Arts Integration with Alignment, Rigor, Teamwork and Sustainability.

Written by Drs. Linda Whitesitt and Elda Franklin, The ARTS Bookdescribes four factors that are essential in quality arts integration programs: alignment, rigor, teamwork and sustainability.

Based on the authors' evaluations of eight arts integration projects over the past seven years in which they conducted over 1,000 structured classroom observations of arts-integrated lessons, The ARTS Bookexplains how to:

• Align project vision, activities, and outcomes;
• Align professional development offerings with arts integration curriculum and instruction;
• Ensure rigorous professional development;
• Guarantee rigorous arts integration curriculum and instruction;
• Include teamwork as a foundational strategy in project design and professional development; and
• Embed the sustainability of transformed teacher practice in the overall project design.

To learn more about The ARTS Book and RealVisions, visitwww.realvisions.net.

hidden light of afghanistan, a photographer's journey, ted talks gobal conference, july 2011

transcript posted dec 2011,Monika Bulaj

Behind the destruction, I found a soul of places. I met humble people. I heard their prayer and ate their bread. Then I have been walking East for 20 years - from Eastern Europe to Central Asia - through the Caucasus Mountains, Middle East, North Africa, Russia. And I never met more humble people. I shared their bread and their prayer. This is why I went to Afghanistan.

One day, I crossed the bridge over the Oxus River.I was alone on foot.And the Afghan soldier was so surprised to see me that he forgot to stamp my passport. But he gave me a cup of tea. And I understood that his surprise was my protection.

So I have been walking and traveling, by horses, by yak, by truck, by hitchhiking, from Iran's border to the bottom, to the edge of the Wakhan Corridor. And in this way, I could find noor, the hidden light of Afghanistan. My only weapon was my notebook and my Leica. I heard prayers of the Sufi - humble Muslims, hated by the Taliban. Hidden river,interconnected with the mysticism from Gibraltar to India.The mosque where the respectful foreigner is showered with blessingsand with tears,and welcomed as a gift.

What do we know about the country and the people that we pretend to protect, about the villages where the only one medicine to kill the pain and to stop the hunger is opium? These are opium-addicted people on the roofs of Kabul, 10 years after the beginning of our war.These are the nomad girls who became prostitutes for Afghan businessmen.

What do we know about the women 10 years after the war?Clothed in this nylon bag, made in China, with the name of burqa. I saw one day the largest school in Afghanistan, a girls' school. Thirteen thousand girls, studying here in the rooms underground, full of scorpions. And their love [for studying] was so big that I cried.

What do we know about the death threats by the Taliban nailed on the doors of the people who dare to send their daughters to school as in Balkh? The region is not secure, but full of the Taliban, and they did it.

My aim is to give a voice to the silent people, to show the hidden lightsbehind the curtain of the great game, the small worlds ignored by the media and the prophets of a global conflict.

Thanks.

(Applause)

Monika Bulaj, Photographer

Monika Bulaj's stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Read full bio.

View the 6 minute video with photographs.

paddy bowman and lynne hamer, editors

The creative traditions and expressive culture of students' families, neighborhoods, towns, religious communities, and peer groups provide opportunities to extend classrooms, sustain learning beyond school buildings, and better connect students and schools with their communities.

Folklorists and educators have long worked together to expand curricula through engagement with local knowledge and informal cultural arts - folk arts in education is a familiar rubric for these programs - but the unrealized potential here, for both the folklore scholar and the teacher, is large.

The value folklorists place on the local, the vernacular, and the aesthetics of daily life does not reverberate throughout public education, even though, in the words of Paddy Bowman and Lynne Hamer, "connecting young people to family and community members and helping them to develop self-identity are vital to civic well-being and to school success."

Through the Schoolhouse Door offers a collection of experiences from exemplary school programs and the analysis of an expert group of folklorists and educators who are dedicated not only to getting students out the door and into their communities to learn about the folk culture all around them, but also to honoring the culture teachers and students bring to the classroom.

View the book online.

Visit the National Network of Folk Arts Education.

The new Dali has opened with an awe-inspiring installation of the museum's permanent collection within the combined 20,000 square feet state-of-the-art gallery spaces, allowing for the first time the complete viewing of all 96 oil paintings, plus a selection of drawings, fine prints, photographs, videos and Surreal Objects by Salvador Dali. 

¡Viva la Revelación! presents the collection in a chronological sequence, highlighting key works and transitional relationships in Dali's oeuvre. Specially designed salons surround the outer perimeter of the core exhibition housing the world-famous masterworks. The Dali in St. Petersburg presents the greatest number of these masterworks in one place. The salons offer visitors magnificent vistas of the paintings from various angles in ambient natural light. The two main galleries will have access to an alcove within the "glass enigma," giving guests a panoramic, breathtaking view of Tampa Bay before continuing their exploration of the new Dali: Viva Dali, Viva la Revelación.

visit the dali museum online

join us for an insider tour of digital media labs at

ringling college of art and design, monday jan 23

aquatic arts integration showcase grades k-12 from member schools, tuesday, jan 24

We are ending the day Tuesday with an arts integration showcase at theFlorida Aquarium.

This event will showcase a unified arts integration project by the magnet arts schools in Hillsborough County Public School system.  Elementary, Middle and High School students from six schools will present their collaborative projects and performances throughout the Florida Aquarium for spectators and conference guests.  The performances and exhibitions will include music, dance, theatre, and visual arts.

This event is a product of the District Magnet Fine Arts Professional Learning Community and the Arts Initiative Team. The Fine Arts PLC and Arts Initiative Team were created based on a template presented by Duval County at the ASN conference in 2009.

The schools involved:

Philip Shore Magnet Elementary School of the Arts (K-5)

Muller Magnet Elementary School of the Arts (K-5)

Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts (6-8)

Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts (6-8)

Howard W. Blake High School of the Arts (9-12)

lincoln center imagination conversation and challenge to arts schools network members

wednesday jan 25

Harrison School for the Arts hosts a Lincoln Center Imagination Conversation

Americans of all kinds - elected officials, business people, researchers, citizens - know the U.S. needs groundbreaking thought and action if we are to thrive in the 21st century. In a world economy defined by technology and globalization, only the ability to conceive of fresh ideas and realize them will enable our students and workers to compete.

LCI responded to this demand in 2009 by launching the Imagination Conversations, nationwide panel discussions on how imagination, creativity and innovation work across sectors and how they can be cultivated in schools and communities.

America's Imagination Summit, held on July 21 and 22 at Lincoln Center:

• was the first national gathering of professionally diverse leaders about imagination;
• took stock of lessons on imagination learned from two years of Conversations;
• built support for policies, programs, and research that will foster imagination, creativity, and innovation in the U.S.

Read Findings of the Imagination Conversations for in-depth information on the results of this two-year initiative. Visit online!

calendar of events and gatherings

january 23-29, 2012conference arts works,making your way, orlando, fl

may 2-6, 2012 board of directors' meeting, columbia college, chicago, il

october 15-21, 2012 conference chicago, chicago academy of arts, chiarts, columbia college, il

october 2013 conference new york city, nyu tisch, nyu steinhardt, laguardia

october 2014 conference denver, co, denver school of the arts

polk art museum is another lakeland fl resource

hosts end of day reception

wednesday jan 25

When we are there, the feature exhibition is Hunt Slonem: An Expressive Nature.

Contemporary works by New York- and Louisiana-based artist Hunt Slonem are sought after by collectors from around the world. His vibrantly colored works can be found in nearly 100 international museum collections and countless other corporate and private collections. Slonem's expressive paintings pivot between the fantastic and the natural. As a youth in Hawaii, he developed an early affinity for nature, especially the various species of tropical birds living on the island. These natural forms ultimately became the subjects for his artworks, appearing in large lavishly colored paintings and constructed sculptures. As an artist, Slonem is fascinated by the many expressive faculties of color. His paintings are layered with thick brushstrokes of vivid color, often cut into in a cross-hatched pattern that adds texture to the overall surface of the painting. This surface patterning combines with the rich colors and recognizable subject matter to create paintings that are as physically exciting as they are aesthetically rich.

Permanant collections include:

• Modern and Contemporary Art
• Pre-Columbian Art
• African Art
• Asian Art
• Decorative Arts

Visit Polk Museum of Art online!

see and hear from member schools and dance teachers who have completed the american ballet theatre national training curriculum

friday jan 27

ABT's National Training Curriculum is a program for the development and training of young students that embraces sound ballet principles and incorporates elements of the French, Italian and Russian schools of training.

Under the direction of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, ABT's National Training Curriculum was designed and written by Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens in collaboration with ABT's Artistic Advisors and the Medical Advisory Board.

Visit ABT online!

orlando ballet is opening rehearsal to us for upcoming performances battle of the sexes 3

friday, jan 27

The Orlando Ballet began in 1974 as The Performing Arts Company of Florida and was started with twelve young, non-paid dancers and only $4,000. In 2001, the Orlando Ballet School received its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the company changed its name from the Southern Ballet Theatre to Orlando Ballet the following year.

Since 2009, the company has been under the creative expertise of Artistic Director, Robert Hill. Hill is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and the New York City Ballet. He has taught for American Ballet Theatre, the ABT Studio Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and for companies where he creates and stages his work.

Today, Orlando Ballet is Central Florida's only fully residential professional ballet company and performs its annual season at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. The Company includes not only dancers from the United States, but also Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Romania and the Ukraine. The Orlando Ballet School is currently home to over 1,250 students in four locations, and has trained some of the brightest young talent in the world of dance today. Graduates have gone on to dance professionally with Orlando Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet as well other companies in major US cities.

We look forward to having you experience our company as well as the school!

About the exhibition:

Living in Style presents beautifully crafted functional objects created by both men and women from traditional African societies throughout the continent. These objects are primarily personal and household items used in everyday life. Included are domestic implements, containers, furniture, weapons, jewelry and apparel. These objects were made to fulfill a useful purpose, but they were also created to be expressive works of art and treasured possessions. As works of art they communicate important cultural ideas within each society through their form, decoration and aesthetic quality. These ideas affirm shared values about social relationships, civic organization and spiritual beliefs. By enhancing these utilitarian objects with aesthetic and cultural meaning, they become more than luxuries or conveniences. In the hands of African artists these works became expressions of their way of life-their style of living.

The Orlando Museum of Art is grateful to William D. and Norma Canelas Roth for making this exhibition possible with gifts and loans from their collection and to Michael Roth for his curatorial guidance.

About the collector:

Norma Canelas Roth, art collector and lecturer, holds a bachelor's degree in art history from Rollins College. Both she and her husband, William D. Roth, have been deemed numerous times as one of the top 100 art collectors in the country by Art and Antiques Magazine. Enthusiastic collectors, the Roths rely primarily on the knowledge and expertise of Mrs. Roth. Much of their collection was purchased over the past thirty years in the United States from auctions, private dealers, galleries, and the Internet. They have also collected directly from contemporary artists. Their well-known collection of material culture from all over the world includes more than 1,000 African arts of adornment such as ethnographic headdresses, beadwork, textiles, contemporary art, and basketry. They started by collecting Ndebele headwork, and their collection today remains strongest in works from southern Africa.

Visit OMA online!

morse museum of art boasts largest tiffany collection

friday jan 27 last stop

The world's most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is housed at The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. The Museum's Tiffany collection includes jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass windows and lamps, and the chapel interior the artist designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The museum's holdings also include a major collection of American art pottery and representative collections of late 19th- and early 20th-century American painting, graphics, and decorative art.

Visit the Morse Museum online!