This newsletter includes:

• Sonoma County Resources and News
• General Resources and News

SONOMA COUNTY RESOURCES AND NEWS

Student Arts Spotlight

Student Arts Spotlight shares the good news of the arts making a difference in students’ lives in a monthly feature. The Sonoma County Arts Education Alliance is pleased to celebrate Play Taiko! for April 2022. 4th graders at Miwok Valley Elementary School in Petaluma enjoy the newly founded Play Taiko! program. In addition to Taiko drumming, students study songs & dances, learn about Japanese language & culture, sew parts of their performance costumes and build their own practice taiko drums to play at home. Congratulations, Miwok Elementary students, administration, and creator, Tobias Sparks.

Learn about the Student Arts Spotlight and share your students’ accomplishments HERE.

State of Arts Education: Uplift, Inform, Connect!

Presented by the Sonoma County Arts Education Alliance, this FREE in-person event will update and celebrate important progress made in arts education. A forum of Sonoma County superintendent candidates will discuss and share their views of arts education. Leadership from the AEA will present updates and goals for the future. Student performances and exhibitions will be featured. 

The general meeting will be held from 8:30am-10:00am with doors opening at 8:10am. Following a refreshment break at 10:00am, guests will proceed to participate in breakouts of cohorts including administrators, classroom and arts teachers, arts organizations representatives, and Arts Ed Leadership cohorts.

Learn more HERE.

dunbART

dunbART is a year-long, strategic arts plan offering over 150 hours of free arts programming to 151 Kindergarten-5th graders at Dunbar Elementary in Glen Ellen, with the goal of helping students counter social isolation and improve academic engagement and development. dunbART comprises the following 1) the implementation of Sonoma County’s Arts Education Framework, 2)  2 professional development opportunities for staff and partner organizations, 3) yearlong visual and performing arts (VAPA) mentorship for 2 Dunbar teachers, 4) access to free arts integrated curriculum correlating with adopted school curriculum, 5) unifying 6 community arts organizations for curated, on site, multi-week, in and after school arts programming, 6) free 45 minute lunch arts activities, open for school wide at will participation. Read this Kenwood Press article HERE. For even more information, contact kimzincreative@gmail.com

GENERAL RESOURCES AND NEWS

Ten Dimensions of Powerful Arts Education Practice

This report, released by the Hewlett Foundation, describes “approaches and conditions that suggest powerful arts education is taking place.” Examples are provided to support understanding and offers a valuable resource guide for further understanding. Find the work HERE.

Encourage Creativity Quiz

How much do you know about the benefits of arts education? Find our through this quiz from Americans for the Arts found HERE!

Exploring the Convergence Between Arts and Sciences, One Month at a Time

Neuroscientist and classical Indian dancer, Sloka Iyengar, explores the connection between dance and science of the brain’s function in this interesting journey. Published in Arts Education Partnership HERE.

Visit the Creative Sonoma Arts Education page to learn more about arts education projects and opportunities in Sonoma County.