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Members of Sacramento’s For Art's Sake team, left to right: Assistant Superintendent Dr. Ziggy Robeson of the Twin Rivers Unified School District, Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond,
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Michael Kaiser of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and Arts Education Chair Ruth Rosenberg.
organizations. For communities that are
accepted into the program, a team from
the Kennedy Center is deployed to conduct
an audit of that area’s arts education
programs and existing resources.
Following the review, the team develops
a long-range plan pertinent to that community.
“Every community is different and the
survey is based on the facilitated conversations
we hold with each Community
Arts Team,” says Ayers. As part of the
survey the team gathers information
from “all constituents who have an interest
in arts education,” (superintendent,
principals, assistant principals, teachers,
arts organization personnel, parents,
community leaders, etc.). The program,
stresses Ayers, is not a fly-by-night operation.
Once a community is accepted into
it, Kennedy Center works with them for
several years. “We’re not doing drive-by
arts consulting,” says Ayers. “We’re looking
to do a good assessment, devising
the plan and making sure things move
forward.” Sacramento, Calif., one of the
first communities accepted into the program,
is just beginning to implement a
plan based on the information gathered
through their survey process.
Ayers says he hopes that in five years,
Any Given Child will be working with
15 to 20 communities and that the
program will be able to use one area’s
success story as a case study for other
interested communities. “It’s important
to reinforce that arts education is good
for the students,” adds Ayers. “If we’re
not providing the arts education for
these students, where will we be in this
country 20 years from now?”
Iris Dorbian is the former editor-in-chief
of Stage Directions. She is the author
of Great Producers: Visionaries of the
American Theater (Allworth Press/
Random House).
www.stage-directions.com •October 2010 35