Stories from the HeART: personal journeys in the visual arts
A video journal
initiative supported by the Ohio Art Education Association fostering creativity
and innovation
as an educational opportunity for all Ohioans
Randy Robart, OAEA 1st
VP
Greetings and
Salutations my fellow EC members,
Imagine if the following question
were asked of you personally by your superintendent:
If your program were cut completely, who would know and who would care?
WOW! We all are aware of this scenario playing out in Cleveland, Toledo,
Columbus, and elsewhere in Ohio, but… What if it were asked of you?? This
question was asked of me at the Western Region National Art Ed. Leadership
Forum this past summer during a presentation by Christy Farnbauch, president of
the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. Christy’s presentation dealt with
advocacy, i.e. promoting your program, your students and yourself and the art
education profession in general. It was a very passionate and inspiring presentation,
where I walked away with a new OAEA project incubating inside my head. The final
result of which is the headline above; a video testimonial project encompassing
(hopefully) every district in the entire state (no, I’ve never been accused of
thinking small). So here’s the skinny: In each EC School district, imagine the
arts teacher/s asking a number of community members, business leaders, parents
and students to tell a personal story of how the visual arts has touched their
lives on video, the duration of which would be 30 seconds to 3 minutes
tops or something in-between. Imagine posting them one after another on your
district’s homepage for Youth Art Month
in March, better yet; imagine submitting them to your RD or PR chair for
inclusion on the OAEA webpage. Imagine
the entire OAEA project going national on the National Art Education Association webpage.
Imagine the power of actual people extolling the virtues of
the visual arts for a variety of reasons across the state. Imagine showing these
gems to state legislators, government officials, school board members, and
building principals. “Stories from the HeART” my EC friends and colleagues has
the potential to support the visual arts with real people, not names on a list,
but people who populate every voting precinct in the state. People who every
elected official must face come Election Day…
MY question to each of you is: Do you know someone who cares about the visual arts and do you care
enough about the visual arts program as well as your arts colleagues to
participate in this statewide initiative?
I hope you have each responded “yes”… GREAT!
Now here’s what to do:
1.
Read over the initiative guidelines provided by your RD and PR Chairs. 2.
Locate agreeable community members and discuss the project guidelines. 3. Ask
as obtain a signed copy of the Media and Intellectual Property Release Form
(provided by your RD/PR Chair). 4. Video tape your subjects w/a 10 megapixel or
higher camcorder. 5. Contact your RD/PR Chair and arrange for them to upload
you cinematic efforts on their Stories from the HeART flash-drive, saving it as
well to your hard-drive for inclusion on your own district website in March for
Youth Art Month. 6. Promote your own efforts via your district newspaper,
school website. That’s it everyone!
During the last OAEA Board of Directors meeting in Columbus
on 9/10/11, RDs and PR Chairs agreed to participate and contact their
respective members. Regional flash-drives are due back to OAEA in Columbus by
March 2012.
Let’s work together
to show the state of Ohio there are plenty of caring individuals and voters to
keep visual art a vital part of the K-12 experience!
I wish you well and again ask you to always “Imagine”!
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