The Alaska Arts Education Consortium

Do you know a school that values art and where students are expressing themselves artistically? The Alaska Arts Education Consortium, in partnership with the Kennedy Center for the Arts, is seeking nominations of art rich schools for the 2008 Creative Ticket School Award. Parents, teachers, administrators, students, and community members are welcome to nominate a school for recognition. This award honors schools that have done an outstanding job of making art an essential part of education. AAEC wants to recognize Alaskan schools that, through the arts, help celebrate Alaskan students’ rich and diverse backgrounds.

All K-12 schools are eligible—elementary, middle, and high school levels. Schools nominated should include two or more (not all necessarily) of the following characteristics. The School

Teaches all the arts (music, visual arts, dance, theatre)
Creates and uses imaginative learning environments for teaching the arts and recognize that the arts are critical and essential to education
Provides opportunities for parental involvement in the educational lives of their children through hands-on, creative arts-based activities
Provides students with various opportunities for learning about other cultures through the arts, enabling them to explore differences in ways that are full of adventure and devoid of cultural bias.
Provides community connections that build values and respect for the community by offering students diverse experiences beyond the classroom.

Deadline for 2008 nominations:

Glacier Valley Elementary, Juneau, wins Alaska Creative Ticket Nomination and National School of Distinction award from Kennedy Center

The Alaska Arts Education Consortium (AAEC) in conjunction with the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) selected three elementary schools for the 2007 Alaska State Creative Ticket School of Excellence Award. The three award winners were: Ayaprun Elitnaurvik in Bethel, McNeil River Canyon Elementary in Homer, and Glacier Valley Elementary in Juneau.

These schools were recognized for doing an outstanding job of making the arts essential to the education of their students. The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) established the Creative Ticket Award in 1999 to honor the role schools play in providing a creative learning environment for outstanding student achievement. The Creative Ticket Award is presented to individual schools that have arts education programs that include the following components:

teach all the arts as specific disciplines (visual art, dance, music, and drama);
provide imaginative learning environments;
include parental involvement;
promote learning about other cultures; and
encourage community connections

AAEC would like to recognize Lorrie Heagy, art advocate and music teacher, who has done so much to build the Art is Elementary program at Glacier Valley.

For more information on the Alaska Arts Education Consortium, contact Cristine Crooks (907-364-2290 • ccrooks@gci.net)