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The Iowa Department of Education is holding a K-12 art contest to reimagine Iowa's education license plate. Art teachers are needed to adjudicate submissions beginning in February, 2025. If you are an art teacher interested in helping to select the artwork that will appear on Iowa's next education license plate, please complete the google form attached to the button below this text.
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The Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Arts Council, and Iowa Alliance for Arts Education are seeking clinicians for their biennial summit on June 17, 2025. The event will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the FFA Enrichment Center on DMACC's Ankeny campus. Registration details will be communicated in the March issue of this newsletter.
The summit will feature throughlines focused on each of the Iowa Fine Arts Standards' artistic processes (creating, performing, responding, and connecting) as well as sessions designed to help de-silo STEM and Arts learning in the classroom. If you are interested in sharing your expertise in dance, theatre arts, music, or visual art, please complete the google form attached to the button below this text.
The 2025 Emerging Educators Academy is returning to Drake University on January 11 for its tenth year of professional development and learning. Iowa preservice teachers, teachers in their first three years, and teacher mentors are highly encouraged to register to attend this engaging, full-day event. Registration is $35 and includes lunch. Find out more and register here:
Members of the Iowa STEAM team–Mauree Haage (NC Regional STEM Manager), Jennie Knoebel (Iowa Arts Council), Leon Kuehner (Iowa Alliance for Arts Education), Kris VerSteegt (Iowa Department of Education), and Casey Wenstrand (SW Regional STEM Manager)–attended the Arts Education Partnership/Education Commission of the States 2024 P-5 STEAM Technical Assistance Network Convening in Pittsburgh, PA on September 11. The convening featured interactive presentations from Susan Riley, founder and CEO of the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM, and Kirk Holbrook from Pittsburgh's Remake Learning as well as time for state level teams to share and advance their work on promoting PK-5 STEAM education in their respective states.
The Iowa team continues to compile resources to assist educators in creating and sustaining STEAM-inspired praxis in their classrooms. Contact kris.versteegt@iowa.gov if you are interested in learning more or contributing to resources.
Last month, the American Orff Schulwerk Association held its annual national conference at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. This conference provided countless research-based strategies, ideas for engaging student creativity, and absolutely exceptional performance groups. Headliners such as Judy Thompson-Barthwell and Sofia Lopez-Ibor Aliño shared their expertise with eager attendees from Iowa and around the country.
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The 2024 Iowa All-State Music Festival celebrated its 78th anniversary this November. District auditions for the 276-piece All-State Band, 214-piece All-State Orchestra, and 601-member All-State Chorus were held Saturday, October 26, 2024, at six centers around the state. Approximately 17% of the students who auditioned were selected for membership in the 2024 All-State ensembles. Participants rehearsed in Ames on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23, and the Festival Concert was presented to the public at 7:30 PM in Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, on Saturday, November 23, 2024. The concert will be broadcast on IPTV at 7 p.m. CST on Thanksgiving Day and will be rebroadcast again in early December.
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The Iowa Association of Alternative Education hosts a website in which students enrolled in alternative education can submit their visual art, writing, music, or films for an adjudicated contest before each IAAE conference (held annually in April). If you serve students in alternative education, you may direct them to https://iowaaltedmandala.weebly.com/ for more information, examples, and/or to submit their work.
Kris VerSteegt, PhD
Education Program Consultant, Fine Arts
Bureau of Learner Strategies and Supports
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-371-0410
kris.versteegt@iowa.gov
https://educate.iowa.gov
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