TN Musician Vol. 72, No. 1

WEAKLEY ARTS CAN:
A MODEL FOR RURAL
ARTS ADVOCACY
They laid out a ten-year plan to
expand music and art from singlesemester
classes in elementary
school to full-year classes and
make choir, band, orchestra,
drama, and art available at every
secondary campus.
by Christopher Dye, Ed. D.
A
devoted group of advocates have committed themselves to
improving access to the arts in Weakley County Schools.
Launched by school parent Katie Mantooth, assistant
director of the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Office
of Career Planning and Development; Julie Hill, chair of the music
department at UT Martin; and Angela Ammerman, previously
a music education faculty member at UT Martin, Weakley Arts
Can has built a broad coalition of community members over the
last two years.
Each of the founders approached the group with common cause
but unique motivations. Mantooth had recently moved to Martin
and discovered that the availability of music and art classes was
far less than her children had received in their previous district.
Hill, a native of the area and long-time advocate, was driven by
a desire to see students receive the same opportunities that had
launched her career. Ammerman had experienced the limits
Weakley County scheduling placed on finding sufficient field
placements for music education majors at UT Martin.
The group began by reaching out to professional resources
for guidance, including NAfME President Denese Odegaard,
NAfME Southern Division President Dian Edelman, and TMEA
Advocacy and Government Relations Chair Christopher Dye.
Weakley Arts Can started its local outreach with the district’s
existing arts teachers, making sure there was unified support in
favor of expanded offerings and staffing. The arts teachers then
assisted in distributing an electronic survey to parents across the
district to gauge their attitudes towards arts education and their
opinions about the district’s provisions. Respondents indicated
overwhelming support for the arts broadly and were in favor of
efforts to improve offerings.
Weakley Arts Can built awareness by establishing an email list
serv of supporters, designing a website (weakleyartscan.org),
creating social media accounts, and using the hashtag #artscan.
Influential community members along with parents and students
recruited through the parent survey taped promotional videos.
Videos included testimonials about the impact of the arts,
statements of support for increased arts in the schools, and
student accounts, both of positive experiences in arts classes
and negative emotions experienced when music and art were not
offered.
In the spring of their second year organizing, Weakley Arts Can
made a major presentation to the school board, laying out a vision
of a flourishing system with comprehensive arts offerings at all
grade levels. They laid out a ten-year plan to expand music and
art from single-semester classes in elementary school to full-year
classes and make choir, band, orchestra, drama, and art available
at every secondary campus. In response, the district has added a
music teacher position for the 2019-20 school year, ensuring that
there is music available at each of the district’s middle schools.
As they continue to build on their position within the community,
Weakley Arts Can has integrated itself with numerous existing
groups and events. During the Martin Community Band’s summer
Music in the Parks series, parents and community members
spoke in support of arts education. The organization set up tables
with materials to allow concertgoers to freely create visual art and
caption their art with “The Arts Make Me ____”. They collectively
hung the art along the exterior of the park, visible from Main
Street and then later exhibited the works at the public library. In
early September, they organized interactive events at the annual
Soybean Festival, including instrument test drives, dancing, and
the creation of a community mural. Volunteers carried the mural
and a banner in the Soybean Festival parade.
Weakley Arts Can is now looking to transition from the
establishment phase to a sustaining organizational model. They
are continuing to build on their initial successes while ensuring
that their message stays present in the community and that local
policymakers continue to be aware of the need for improved arts
access for all of Weakley County’s students.
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 15