Tim Mikulski

Honoring America in Song

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Jul 03, 2012


Tim Mikulski

In honor of the holiday, I thought I'd share a few videos of artists singing patriotic songs (p.s. if scrolling messes up the videos or text, just reload the page).

We'll start with Americans for the Arts Artists Committee member Josh Groban's three-song performance just down the road from our D.C. office in 2011:

Here is one of my favorite performances of The Star-Spangled Banner to date, as the Dixie Chicks sang prior to the 2003 Super Bowl: 

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Tim Mikulski

'Sesame Street' Moves Full STEAM Ahead

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Aug 27, 2012


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Thanks to a tweet from Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda on Friday, the world became aware of a new tool that I hope will greatly move the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education movement to STEAM (A=arts) instead.

What single tool could be that impactful?

I'll give you two hints. He's three-and-a-half years old and he's red. Get it yet?

Elmo could be the next great STEM to STEAM advocate thanks to plans for a new Sesame Street segment for the show's 43rd season this fall. According to a description of the new "Elmo the Musical" segment of the preschool learning show:

"An extension of our STEAM curriculum, each 11-minute episode is an interactive, fun-filled musical adventure created by Elmo and the child at home. Focusing on imagination and math skills, such as enumeration, relational concepts, addition/subtraction, geometric shapes and many more, Elmo takes viewers on thrilling explorations as he imagines himself in 'Sea Captain The Musical,' 'Guacamole The Musical,' 'Prince Elmo The Musical' and even 'President The Musical!' In 'Elmo The Musical,' kids can sing, dance, play and imagine along with Elmo on math-filled adventures!"

It sounds like a solid effort in showing parents (and their kids) the power of the arts in helping young children to learn other vital skills in science, technology, engineering, and math. Think about it. Are you still able to sing the words to songs like this from Schoolhouse Rock?

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Tim Mikulski

Giving PBS the Bird

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Oct 04, 2012


Tim Mikulski

Photo via Prince.org

Well, you had to have known this post was coming after seeing the debate last night, reading about it, or catching the highlights on the news.

Also, I can't believe I'm blogging about Sesame Street for the second time in six weeks.

As a political scientist by schooling, I had to wonder who on the campaign decided it would be funny, smart, or a good idea to throw in something quippy about firing Big Bird or Jim Lehrer when once again referring to a policy of not borrowing money from China to pay for PBS (or the National Endowment for the Arts as was mentioned in a magazine article a few months ago).

First, you automatically make a ton of enemies by putting the image of Big Bird being evicted out of his Sesame Street nest in people's heads.

Second, you are simply catering to hardcore fiscal conservatives who don't seem to understand that public television was only allocated $75 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the FY 2012 budget (plus about $222 million in direct grants to individual public television stations)—that's it. Guess how much was spent on national defense ($716 billion), health ($361 billion), and energy ($23 billion).

Some would argue that PBS stations should start airing commercials to generate more revenue or that there could be stations that cover more than one city or combine into regional networks. Okay, I can give you that, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that the small amount of federal spending goes such a long way to help PBS leverage those pledge drive (without quality programs partially funded by the government would people still pay?) or corporate dollars.

Others say we should just privatize all PBS stations. You might want to ask folks in New Jersey if they feel their NJTV lives up to the formerly state-run NJN when it comes to covering the affairs of a state trapped between two giant media markets with no other statewide network.

Oh and then there's Kansas. Remember when someone tried to privatize the state arts agency claiming that it could and should run without government support? That didn't turn out so well.

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KRIS Wine 'Art of Education' Contest Winners Unveiled

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Nov 13, 2012


Tim Mikulski

As you saw in a previous ARTSblog post, Brunswick Acres Elementary School in Kendall Park, NJ was very dedicated to winning the third annual "Art of Education" contest sponsored by KRIS Wine and Americans for the Arts.

Not only did this video help them jump out to an early lead, but it helped them score the top prize of $5,000 for their arts education programs:

Even more amazingly, they secured 16,000 of the 90,000 total votes in the contest!

Art teacher Suzanne Tiedemann plans to use the funds to support her recent "Shells for NJ Shores Program" for which students will create shell-themed art to raise money for those impacted by Hurricane Sandy late last month.

In addition, 15 other schools in 9 states will receive a total of $20,000.

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Tim Mikulski

Kansas Becomes First State Without Arts Agency

Posted by Tim Mikulski, May 28, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed funding for the Kansas Arts Commission today (May 28), thereby ending a scuffle with the legislature, which funded the commission over his objections.

According to the Associated Press, Gov. Brownback said:

"The arts will continue to thrive in Kansas when funded by private donations, and I intend to personally involve myself in efforts to make this happen."

In light of this action, the following statement has been released by Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert Lynch:

Americans for the Arts is disappointed with Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) by vetoing the legislative branch’s budget for the agency. His action not only robs the citizens of his state of access to quality arts programming, but is also a direct affront to his campaign platform to create jobs and rebuild the state’s economy. Kansas now holds the dubious distinction of being the only state without a functioning state agency in charge of promoting the arts and culture.  

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State-ing Our Case for the Arts (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Feb 23, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Many of our loyal Arts Watch readers are familiar with Americans for the Arts' national arts advocacy efforts, but in light of recent state-level budgetary threats, we wanted to make sure that all of our members and non-members were kept up to date on the latest information in your individual states and regions.

The State Arts Action Network (SAAN), a network of over 70 arts advocacy, services, and education organizations, has been active within Americans for the Arts since 2004, when two previously independent national arts organizations (the State Arts Advocacy League of America and the National Community Arts Network) ratified an agreement to become part of our organization. Over the past few years, SAAN has also grown to include the members of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.

However, the SAAN isn't left to its own devices, as two staff members from the Government and Public Affairs Department, Jay Dick and Justin Knabb, provide professional development, networking, and technical assistance to the organizations. Jay and Justin also monitor news and events in all 50 states, providing advocacy help to the SAAN member organizations when needed.

All of this background leads me to a brand new area of our website.

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Covering ALL Our Bases (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Oct 27, 2010


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Dr. Jim Taylor, a psychologist who specializes in the areas of “business, sport, and parenting” and has also worked with a number of performing arts groups and individual artists over the years, recently published a blog post that takes a different approach to the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) movement in American education. Instead of turning STEM to STEAM to include the arts, Dr. Taylor makes a modification to the lovable acronym, changing it to STAMPER (science, technology, arts, math, physical, emotions, and reason).

How’s that for covering all of your bases?

In the post, Taylor says that he took engineering out of the equation, so to speak, because it is an “offspring of science, technology, and math” and he thinks the subject should remain in college and graduate programs, not in K-12 education.

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Priceless Historical Artifact or Dollar Generator? (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Jan 19, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

In addition to coping with the trials and tribulations of the reputation that MTV’s Jersey Shore has forced upon the state of New Jersey, I was dismayed to see that members of the arts and culture sector of ‘The Garden State’ are under fire for a decision they appear to have been forced to make.

According to Star-Ledger arts reporter, Peggy McGlone, the New Jersey Historical Society is being criticized for selling one of its ‘prized possessions’ for cash at a time of great need for the organization.

The object was a hand-colored map of the United States as of 1784 which generated almost $2.1 million through a Christie’s auction. According to an expert in cartography, it was the first U.S. map published in America and the first to feature an American flag.

Valuable? Absolutely.

Priceless? Apparently not.

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Obama's State of the Union: Another Missed Opportunity for Arts Education

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Jan 31, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim MikulskiI was planning to write a post about how President Obama made sure to put creativity and innovation at the forefront of his State of the Union last week, but somehow missed any references to the arts. There I was on a treadmill at my local Washington Sports Club, waiting for him to say it. And waiting. And running. And running. And waiting. It never came.

Before I could write a post about it, I came across another one making many of the exact same points. So, rather than state the same thing twice, I invite you to check out Lee Rosenbaum’s Huffington Post piece, State of the Arts: Why Culture Matters for Obamanomics.

In her post, Rosenbaum mentions that Capitol Hill may not be ready for a pro-arts argument following the National Portrait Gallery incident and an influx of new members of Congress who have no interest in funding the arts, humanities, railroads, or Americorps programs. I understand that, but even a passing line about turning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) into STEAM (adding Arts), would have been easy to insert.

What if instead of…

“And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math.”

…The President said (using some of the language of Education Secretary Duncan):

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Wolf Trap Foundation - Turning STEM to STEAM in Early Childhood Education

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Feb 03, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Wolf Trap Early Childhood LogoWolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts recently launched an innovative Early Childhood STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Learning Through the Arts initiative that builds upon its 30-year history developing and delivering early childhood arts education programs.

In this podcast, Arts Education Program Manager Tim Mikulski interviews Wolf Trap Foundation Senior Director of Education Mimi Flaherty Willis about the program.

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House Cuts FY11 NEA Budget by $20.5 Million

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Feb 18, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

By a mere 8 votes in the House of Representatives, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) FY2011 budget was cut down to $124.5 million yesterday-the same level of funding as FY2007.

Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-MI) amendment passed 217-209, but it wasn’t a case of party line politics as 23 Republicans voted against the measure and 3 Democrats voted in favor of it.

The good news is that the two amendments to eliminate the NEA altogether were introduced, but never offered up for a vote by the sponsors on Thursday. That is a testament to the advocacy efforts  of the arts community and the strong supporters for the arts in the Congress, including Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who gamely handed our Creative Industries maps out to House members on the floor before the vote.

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Tim Mikulski

It's Time to Testify on Behalf of Arts Education

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Feb 25, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

It's hard to believe, but six months has passed since we celebrated the first National Arts in Education Week (as declared by Congress). As we all know, legislative bodies don't often operate on a timeline that is convenient for the rest of us (i.e. the fact that our federal government runs out of money in just a few days).

Because of that, a group of us on Twitter that gets together for arts education chats on Thursdays (search #artsed) came up with the idea of using that week to start projects that could be celebrated later in the year, or more specifically, a half a year later during what is known as Arts Education/Youth Arts/Music in Our Schools Month - March.

During that time, we have also been collecting signatures of advocates who promised to testify on behalf of arts education at their local school board meetings throughout the month of March. We just asked for regular people who support arts education in their local schools to show up to the meeting and say something positive about the arts during the public comment section, or even better, get on the agenda ahead of time.

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Arts Education Funding Cut in Two-Week Budget Fix

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Mar 03, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Although Congress quickly avoided a government shutdown this week, arts education funding somehow managed to get caught up in the two-week continuing resolution Band-Aid that was passed by both the House and Senate yesterday.

While the Continuing Resolution (CR) keeps the government running for another two weeks, it also makes a $4 billion cut in domestic spending, including a number of federal education programs.

Among the programs designated for cuts is the total elimination of funding for the Department of Education's $40 million Arts in Education program. This program funds a large number of arts education activities across in the country, including the Kennedy Center's arts education efforts and VSA, the international organization on arts and disability.

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Speaking Up (or Protesting Quietly) for Arts Education

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Mar 14, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

I'm always talking about the importance of arts and arts education advocacy since my background is in the political world, but I know that it can be intimidating to talk to a local board of education member, local legislator, or state representative - let alone a U.S. Senator or Congressperson.

While we try to make the latter easier thanks to a day-long training session before National Arts Advocacy Day and offer other advocacy resources such as our current Testify on Behalf of Arts Education campaign, those methods aren't universal solutions.

For this reason, I often collect stories about local efforts to fight for arts education (and the arts in general) in case anyone ever wants other advocacy alternatives.

It just so happens that last week, there were three different types of advocacy efforts going on in three areas of the country - Reading, PA; Melrose, MA; and, San Diego, CA.

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Tim Mikulski

Tweeting Yourself to Arts Education

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Mar 15, 2011


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Although I successfully avoided using Twitter for a while after it was first introduced to the world. I figured that I didn't need another time suck added to my life beyond Gmail and Facebook.

While that is still probably true, I also discovered a better use of Twitter than just reading the crazy Tweets of Kanye West. It actually helps me do my job.

When I moved over to become arts education program manager at Americans for the Arts, I brought along our weekly newsletter, Arts Watch, with me to the new position.

I already had too many Google News alerts and also have a Post-It with 12 search phrases that I use each week to collect information that goes into that publication.

What I didn't realize is that Twitter can be used in a way that I would never have thought of until a friend of a coworker mentioned it to me - it's a news gathering system.

By "following" other arts and arts education organizations, practitioners, managers, etc., you end up having information delivered to your feed throughout the day.    

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