ODE Arts Education Updates 

Arts Ed Spotlight:

November is National Native American Heritage Month. Heritage months are important recognitions of the contributions and histories of groups often underrepresented in textbooks and traditional curriculum materials. Find resources, events, and opportunities to connect over indigenous arts and culture, at the National Native American Heritage Month website, a collaborative effort of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Additional Resources:

• The Salem Art Association is hosting Native Salem, an exhibition that addresses the history and culture of the original Kalapuyans at Chemeketa Village - November 11 - December 24th | AN Bush Gallery | 600 Mis­sion St. SE, Salem, OR 97302
• The Native Arts and Culture Foundation Mentor Artist Fellowship program has partnered with the Portland Art Museum to host Mesh, a multidisciplinary exhibit to and celebration of Native American art and culture - November 6
  thru May 8, 2022
• The 2019 exhibit This IS Kalapuyan Land curated by by Steph Littlebird Fogel (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya) is now a virtual collection at the Five Oaks Museum. The museum hosts educator resources for artists and work featured in the exhibit. 
• Consider the intersections in your arts education practice with digital storytelling, as a form and practice to elevate student voices and honor their identities and experiences. Digital Storytelling as Arts-Inspired Inquiry for Engaging, Understanding and Supporting Indigenous Youth International Journal of Education & the Arts, V. 18 No. 5 (2017): 1-28.

Grants and Youth Opportunities 

Poetry Out Loud Program for Youth

When Amanda Gorman spoke at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, people around the nation were exposed to the power of poetry, and saw how much skill and creativity it takes to bring a poem’s words to life. For more than 15 years, Poetry Out Loud has given millions of high school students a similar platform through a national poetry recitation competition. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is offered in all 50 states, and organized at the local level by the Oregon Arts Commission.  Coordinators have access to a free teacher’s guide and an online anthology of classic and contemporary poetry. With more than 1,100 poems in the anthology, students gain an understanding of the breadth of poetry, while having the freedom to discover poems with which they feel a connection. As students participate in Poetry Out Loud, not only do they develop a deeper appreciation for poetry, they also improve their analytical skills while building self-confidence and public speaking skills. Visit OAC Poetry Out Loud to learn more about this program, and to access free materials, including guidelines on how to hold competitions in-person or virtually. To participate in the official 2021-2022 program, contact Amy Gray, Poetry Out Loud Teacher Liaison at amyforpetryoutloud@gmail.com. We hope you will help us grow this national competition and bring the power of poetry to even more students in the coming year.

Contact: Amy Gray (she/her), Poetry Out Loud Teacher Liaison

(503) 530-0398 text accepted  amyforpoetryoutloud@gmail.com

www.oregonartscommission.org | www.poetryoutloud.org

Image Description: 

Belise Nishimwe from St. Mary’s Academy (Portland, OR) presents at the 2019 national competition in Washington, DC.

Well Rounded Access Program 

In October 2020, Oregon received a five-year, $9.8 million grant to expand access to well-rounded education courses in STEAM, arts integration, and the arts. ODE has created a newsletter to inform the community with updates from this grant work. If you would like updates on the WRAP grant, as well as resources about STEAM and arts integration, sign up for the Well Rounded Access Program Listserv.

Needs Assessment Findings for the Arts

ODE has recently completed the planning year for the WRAP, including a Needs Assessment that was conducted across the state with engagement partners in arts education administration and leadership, culturally specific organizations, and arts education non-profits. These partners were essential in the process of determining needs across the state, and the WRAP team is grateful for their help in this process. 

In the coming weeks, the WRAP team will share key findings from the Needs Assessment and discuss an initial version of the project plan with engagement partners. 

Some of the highlights of our research include findings that:

• While there is incredible work across the state from many educators and partners to provide access to arts learning for Oregon students, based on reported courses to the Oregon Department of Education, 59,808 of Oregon's students still lack access to arts courses. A total of 10,286 students in rural areas, 18,520 students in towns, 6,927 students in suburbs, and 24,075 students in cities attend public schools without reported courses in the Arts.
• Of the arts disciplines available to students, Music is the most widely available, followed by Visual Arts and Theater. Dance, Media Arts, and Interdisciplinary Arts are available to 10% of students or less in both urban and rural communities. 
• Many groups of students are continuing to be underserved by arts courses, including Latino/a/x students, Native American/Alaska Native students, students experiencing disabilities, and Ever Emergent Bilingual students.

As the WRAP program develops a plan for the duration of the grant, your engagement in the arts education community will no doubt be valuable in addressing these issues. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage with this important work of increasing access to the arts for every student in Oregon. 

Oregon Open Learning 

Oregon Arts Group on the Oregon Open Learning Hub

The Oregon Arts Group on the Oregon Open Learning Hub is a new digital resource sharing and collaboration space for arts educators. Educators are able to access resources that are standards aligned, and contribute high quality resources to the group. Check out the Oregon Arts Group and join to stay connected and share with other educators. The digital resource bank is in its early stages, and will continue to grow. 

Oregon Open Learning Hub Open Licensing Training

The Oregon Open Learning Hub is a digital resource repository and collaboration space for educators, administrators, and other educational partners to curate, create, and remix open educational resources (OER). Unlike copyrighted resources, OER have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to retain few, if any, ownership rights. OER often have a Creative Commons license or other permission to let you know how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared. Do you want to learn more about open licensing? Check out the free asynchronous Open Licensing Module on Canvas.