The arts speak to the core of every person. We resonate from within with an image, a melody, a movement or a character, in a way that reveals something about who we are and our relation to the world around us.

The arts live at the core of a complete education because the arts express the fullness of what it means to learn and to grow. As we envision a future for arts education in California, we recognize its proper role as core curriculum in an education that every child needs and deserves. 

On April 20-21, 2009, the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and California Alliance for Arts Education will co-sponsor the State of the Arts Leadership in Arts Education Conference: Arts to the Core: Building a Future for Arts Education in California to feature important work being done at the state, regional, county and local levels to improve the quality of arts education, and to encourage your participation and leadership as we shape the future of arts education in California.

This conference, set in the most challenging of economic times, is an opportunity to focus on the many paths we may take to reach that future, and to deepen our understanding of the role each of us can play in bringing arts education into the lives of California’s students.

One of our featured speakers, the renowned playwright and director Luis Valdez, once said: “To whom does the future belong? It belongs to those who can imagine it.”

The demands of the 21st century call for us to transform our schools and communities to enable students’ preparation to live rich and rewarding lives. Our vision is that every California student–from every culture and language, geographic region, and socio-economic level–will experience quality arts learning in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts as part of the K-12 core curriculum.

PLEASE JOIN US!

Key Outcomes for the Arts Leadership in Education Conference

• Provide engaging visual and performing arts leadership experiences that motivate participants to become advocates in their local communities;
• Highlight effective arts education programs in schools, districts, and county offices of education that help close the achievement gap and improve student engagement;
• Provide an opportunity for educational leaders from across the state to build relationships with each other and key legislators and policy makers;
• Examine models that illustrate how partnerships and alliances can work together to build capacity for arts education;
• Provide examples of how county offices, districts and partners are working to build capacity for arts education;
• Highlight the important role that arts organization play in supporting arts education in our schools;
• Focus on the work of the CCSESA Arts Initiative in the eleven service regions across the state and the work of the California Arts Education Strategic Task Force;
• Showcase the new VAPA Arts Toolkit, a suite of arts education tools and resources developed by CCSESA to assist schools, districts, and county offices of education.

Conference Highlights

• Receive new arts education resources to use in your organization.
• Participate in a wide variety of engaging sessions that showcase arts education model programs and emerging best practices; examine how arts leaders are approaching planning, curriculum and professional development. 
• Receive new resources for strengthening and expanding K-12 arts education. Plus, cultivate relationships with your legislators and learn how to advocate for arts education in your community.
• Plan to attend the evening reception with live music by Tommy Dunbar, American songwriter and guitar player, who was one of the founding members of the band Rubinoos.

Also, hear from Sandra Ruppert, Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Arts Education Partnership, who will provide a national perspective on arts education. The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) is a national coalition of arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that demonstrate and promote the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and in the improvement of America's schools. AEP was founded and is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Luis Valdez, Founder and Artistic Director of El Teatro Campesino. Luis Valdez is regarded as one of the most important and influential American playwrights living today.  His internationally renowned, and Obie award winning theater company, El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) was founded by Luis in 1965–in the heat of the United Farm Workers (UFW) struggle and the Great Delano Grape Strike in California’s Central Valley. His play Zoot Suit that re-examines the “Sleepy Lagoon Trial of 1942” and the “Zoot Suit Riots of 1943”, two of the darkest moments in LA urban history is considered a masterpiece of the American Theater as well as the first Chicano play on Broadway and the first Chicano major feature film. El Teatro Campesino is the longest running Chicano Theater in the United States

On Day Two, hear from famous American vocalist and entertainer, Linda Ronstadt, who has established one of the most impressive careers in the history of contemporary music. Arguably the most versatile vocalist of the modern era, she has broadened the latitudes of the pop singer, expanding the vocalist’s canvas to include country, rock and roll, big band, jazz, opera, Broadway standards, Mexican and Afro-Cuban influences, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of the ultimate song. With worldwide album sales of over 50 million, at least 31 gold and platinum records, and 11 Grammy Awards to her credit, Linda is the consummate American artist.