SOFA

On August 26th, Education Minister Dave Hancock took time out of his busy schedule to meet with four members of the SOFA committee.  Also present at the meeting was Christine Bouchard from Alberta Education, and Sean Yam who is the Minister’s Executive Assistant.

During the one hour meeting, a wide variety of items were discussed, including Mr. Hancock’s Inspiring Education strategy, the importance of fine arts education, and the use of ‘locally developed courses’ by School Boards to supplement core subjects.

It was very apparent during the discussion Mr. Hancock is quite supportive of fine arts education.  His goal is to create the opportunity for as many students as possible to take fine arts courses.  He intends to have the curriculum re-designed to allow for both a ‘rigourous’ and ‘exploratory’ option.  His desire to offer exploratory courses is so that all students will have the opportunity to benefit from taking a fine arts course, even though they may not have taken any earlier in their schooling.  However, he also stated it will be up to each local community working in conjunction with their principal to determine what kind of fine arts programming is offered.  Parental and community involvement will be critically important in this process.  He does not intend to take a ‘one size fits all’ approach in regard to fine arts programming throughout Alberta.

SOFA is pleased to hear that Mr. Hancock is supportive of expanding fine arts education.  However, we remain concerned over the availability of specialized educators in Alberta to support the type of programming indicated above.

During the meeting, Mr. Hancock agreed to respond to our questions in writing with the understanding that his response will be forwarded via email to those who have registered on our website.  This will be sent out as soon as a response is received.

SOFA members also asked Mr. Hancock if he would be willing to attend a public SOFA meeting in Calgary to discuss how fine arts fits into the new Inspiring Education stratgegy.   He indicated he was definitely willing to do so, provided the meeting is held in late fall when he will have more flexibility in his schedule.  We will post the date of this meeting on our website once it has been determined.

At the end of our meeting, Mr. Hancock was presented with a “Save Our Fine Arts” T-shirt and agreed to have a picture taken with SOFA members inside the Alberta Legislature.  Pictured below with Mr. Hancock (center) from left to right is Bill Campbell (parent and human resource professional), Murray Ord (parent and motion picture/television industry executive), Lyle Bennett (parent and Director of Sales for a well known chain of music stores), and Sam Gregory (grade 12 student and aspiring future politician).

It is interesting to note that Mr. Hancock has a particular interest in education, including the fine arts.  His wife is currently a high school principal, his son is a teacher, and his daughter is a recent graduate of the Victoria School of Fine Arts in Edmonton.   We can only guess this results in some lively discussion at home.

SOFA sincerely wishes to thank Mr. Hancock, Christine Bouchard, and Sean Yam for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with us.

Check out the latest edition of Edmonton’s SEE Magazine. The August 26th edition has a great article entitled “Brains in Concert“. 

Reporter Jesse Locke tackles the issues related to fine arts education in Alberta - the benefits, the availability of specially trained teachers, and the amount of funding.   SOFA’s meeting with Education Minister Dave Hancock is also referred to in the article.

To view the article, CLICK HERE

Are you on Twitter?  If so, join in on the conversation regarding “Save Our Fine Arts”. 

To participate, you will need to use the hashtag: #sofab

Please include this in any of your tweets so that others can follow the conversation and join in. 

When sending out tweets, we suggest you to include some or all of the hashtags listed below so that anyone following the conversations will learn about ”Save Our Fine Arts”:

• #ableg - conversations involving the Alberta Government (this is one of the most followed conversations in Canada)
• #inspiringed - conversations involving the Alberta Government’s Inspiring Education Strategy
• #abed – conversations involving Alberta Education
• #yyc - conversations to do with Calgary or with people living in Calgary
• #yeg - conversations to do with Edmonton or with people living in Edmonton

To include Education Minister Dave Hancock in a conversation, or to reach him via Twitter, you will need to use @DaveHancockMLA

If you are not on Twitter but are interested in participating, check out www.twitter.com for instructions on how to sign up.   It’s free to join.

The more people we can get involved talking about “Save Our Fine Arts” the better, especially if you include the above hashtags!

Happy tweeting!

If not, check it out at:   http://www.gopetition.com/petition/35101.html.  If you are concerned about education in Alberta, don’t miss this opportunity. 

For more information on Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd (author of the petition), CLICK HERE

Some great news!

On July 7th, Education Minister Dave Hancock announced the Government will be providing $48 Million to the School Boards to prevent the layoff of teachers.

If you are interested in reading Mr. Hancock’s comments on the above (which are posted on an Alberta Government website), CLICK HERE

To read the front page article in today’s edition of the Calgary Herald, CLICK HERE.  To read the Edmonton Journal’s version, CLICK HERE.

Mr Hancock stated, “… There should be no layoffs of teachers or support staff unless they (the School Boards) have a rationale for it that’s based on a change in student numbers or a change in programming.”

Now that the Alberta Government has addressed the funding shortage, SOFA will be watching the school boards with keen interest to ensure there will not be a ‘change in programming’ to fine arts courses and that fine arts teachers will not be negatively affected.

Recently,  Education Minister Dave Hancock released his “Inspring Action” Discussion Paper as a follow up to the “Inspiring Education” strategy. 

In his Discussion Paper, he states, “… we will need each and every Albertan to play a part in building a bright future for our children. This begins with education and we must do everything we can to ensure that each and every child has the opportunity to maximize their potential – to be able to grow up equipped to take care of themselves and their families and contribute to their communities. Alberta’s future depends on a well-educated population capable of competing with the world.”   To view the “Inspiring Action” Discussion Paper, CLICK HERE.

If you are supportive of the ”Inspiring Education” philosophy Mr. Hancock is proposing, we urge you to let the Alberta Government know by completing their online survey at the following link:  Inspiring Action Survey

For more information, check out their website at:  http://engage.education.alberta.ca/

It’s time to get involved…

Mission Statement

Our mission is to participate in the preservation, expansion and promotion of excellence in fine arts credit-courses in our schools.

Objectives

Our objectives are to support and advocate for the implementation of quality fine arts curriculum in our schools, supported by adequate facilities and timetabling, delivered by teachers qualified as specialists in visual arts, dance, drama and music to

•  engage all students in K – 6 levels in the active study of all fine arts
• encourage interested and motivated students in grades 7 – 12 to pursue and achieve skills to their full potential in fine arts through in-depth and sequential study with specialists (in multi-credit courses), including directed study in performance groups, workshops and exhibitions.

 Initiatives

 Our initiatives are:

• to communicate and liaison with the Minister of Education, Alberta Education and school boards
• to foster a dialogue with post secondary institutions and Advanced Education and Technology officials to improve the training of fine arts teachers and to inspire fine arts graduates to pursue a professional career in their particular discipline and/or become fine arts educators
• to advocate for allocation and flow of adequate funding to fine arts programs
• to communicate and collaborate with other interested groups and associations.  Further, to facilitate discussion and network with stakeholders and those with a vested interest in quality fine arts education
• to show-case successful fine arts programs to business and government leaders as well the community at large.
• to participate in a review of the Calgary Board of Education instrument loan pool 

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) is a world wide organization set up in 1945 with a mission to build peace, eradicate poverty, and “promote the sustainable development of intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.”

According to an article on their website, ” …Arts Education, which … refers to the teaching of arts practices (visual arts, performing, dance, music, theatre, creative writing and poetry), is of crucial importance to the development of the child and requires awareness, creative thinking, and qualified teachers to challenge all students, not only those with ability and talent.  Research studies have convincingly shown that arts education comprises more than the mere study of the arts and producing works of art, but that it has also been beneficial to students in stimulating their intellectual and personal interests, as well as their social development.” 

The article further states, “…such education, when it makes use of a child’s creative potential, strengthens the acquisition of knowledge and life skills: creativity, imagination, oral expression, manual ability, concentration, memory, personal interest in others, etc.”

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

SOFA challenges the Premier of Alberta, Minister of Education, MLA’s, officials at Alberta Learning, and officials at School Boards around the Province to read UNESCO’s website regarding the importance of fine arts education.  If you are committed to ensuring that current and future students receive the necessary education to survive and thrive in our global community, make sure fine arts education funding is put back in place so that fine arts teachers can actually teach fine arts. 

Please make sure we don’t become a ‘third world country’ in terms of fine arts education.

For the sake of our children…

The Calgary Science School is a well known, publicly funded charter school that has received extensive recognition for offering a unique, high quality learning environment designed to inspire students to understand more fully the world in which they live.   It provides students in Grades 4 to 9 with an enriched curriculum, infused with mathematics and science.

As of September, 2010, a decision has been made by the school to install a mandatory band program for students in grade 6.   According to the School Principal, “… student engagement in band programs has been shown to contribute to academic success and enhance learning skills.  Participating in a band program allows students to develop greater musical appreciation, maturity and responsibility.”

If you are interested in reading the letter sent by the school to parents, CLICK HERE.

SOFA congratulates the Calgary Science School for making this decision. 

Welcome to the fine arts community!

GWYNNE DYER  is a well known Canadian freelance journalist, columnist, and lecturer in Canada and around the world.  He regularly can be seen as a guest on the CBC National News.

STEPHEN MURGATROYD is an internationally recognized author, journalist, lecturer, and keynote speaker.  See previous posts on this website.

On May 31st in Calgary and June 1st in Edmonton, both gentlemen gave a presentation at a “Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta” event.  These were both open to the public.

During the lectures, Dr. Dyer talked about the importance of fine arts education in Alberta and he stated, “… don’t regard spending on culture as a an indulgence – it is a critical investment in the future of Alberta and will produce profound and poignant social and economic returns.” 

Dr. Murgatroyd made similar comments in support of fine arts education.  He stated, “…spending on arts education and creativity is as critical as spending on maths and science if Alberta wants to become an innovation economy where every talent is found, developed and available to help Alberta become the place the world needs to see. Cutting arts funding and arts education is a decision to limit the future of Alberta and will permanently damage our ability to compete and be successful as a Province – it makes no sense.”

For more information on the above, check out the following link:  http://www.learningourway.ca/

Note – we received permission from both Dr. Dyer and Dr. Murgatroyd to publish their comments on our website.