A Michigan Online Conversation about Arts Education in These Changing Times

If you've been following national arts education conversations, you'll notice that there is a good deal of talk about "community arts" as leaders try to align their rhetoric with President-elect Obama's new directions.

With NCLB up for reauthorization, arts educators need to pay close attention to two conversations- those going on in the arts, and those in education.

Michigan arts educators also need to pay attention to what happens with the auto industry - the lifeblood of our region.

If arts education in schools is not strengthened through the NCLB re-authorization process, will the arts education of students be outsourced from our schools?

If it is true that the skills the arts teach are vital to our global economy (e.g. design, visualization, information graphics, imaginative learning, multimodal communications...) how can we by-pass the education system and turn something this critical over solely to community partners?

If you'd like to participate in our own Michigan conversation around arts education in these changing times, carefully read the ArtsJournal Debate on Arts Education and post your own thoughts to this blog by commenting to this post.