Promise and Performance: The Arts; ACT's Guide to TV Programming for Children

GENERAL

Research Abstract
Promise and Performance: The Arts; ACT's Guide to TV Programming for Children

Of all the components in a child's television programming diet, the arts are among the most nourishing but least available elements. There is music, to be sure, but its melodies are most often heard meandering through product jingles. There is drama, some would argue, but its catharsis comes at the end of a car chase. As for the visual arts, there are animated drawings to be seen on Saturday morning, but these are less than moving.

One searches practically in vain, however, for video images that speak to a child of the wondrous textures of life. And so ACT, like George Bernard Shaw, has looked for those things that have never been and said, Why not? This was our motivation in preparing a volume of articles on children's television and the arts. It was our intention to praise past accomplishments and provoke future forays into this rich and largely uncharted territory.

The careful reader will doubtless notice that many of the articles refer to arts programs designed primarily for adults (Live from the Met, Dance in America) rather than to those meant specfically for children. There are two reasons for this: First, in several important categories - dance, opera, the visual arts- there simply are no regularly scheduled programs that cater to the child audience. And further, we agree with Elma Lewis, director of the National Center of Afro-American artists, who has suggested that Maybe some adults ought to look at The King of the Golden River, and some children should look at Masterpiece Theatre. We did not hesitate, therefore, to invite the producers and executive producers of general audience programming to share their experience in presenting three-dimensional media on the two-dimensional medium, in the belief that when it comes to the practical side of things, what works with adults can, with a few adaptations, be modified to work for children. (p. Xiii-Xiv)

CONTENTS
Foreword, Maya Angelou.
Editor's introduction.
Acknowledgments.

Chapter 1. Bringing the arts to children.

Do children need an arts education? by David Rockefeller, Jr. and Marcia Chellis.
The child as perceiver, producer, and critic of the arts by William Ives and Paula Gillen Wilder.
The video palette: teaching art via television by Al Hurwitz.
The case for cultural diversity by Eugenia Collier.
Don't mind him. He's an artist. They're always temperamental by Carol A. Emmens.
Resources.

Chapter 2. The performing arts.

Keeping things in perspective by Wallace White.
Television and the stage by Adrian Hall.
Capturing dance on camera by Merrill Brockway and Glenn Berenbeim.
Preparing children to enjoy opera by Christopher Sarson.
Alternate technologies: Manipulating time, by Mark Schubin.
Resources.

Chapter 3. Music.

Developing original music for children's TV by Newton Wayland.
Making pictures with music by Joshua White.
Breaking the TV sound barrier by Ross Kauffman and David Underhill.
Resources.

Chapter 4. The literary arts.

No, but I saw the movie: adapting children's literature for the screen by Laurene K. Meringoff.
From novel to TV: the network perspective by Squire D. Rushnell.
Animating children's literature by Morton Schindel.
Tell me a story: The Spider's Web by George Morency.
Animation creations: Animals, animals, animals by Al Brodax.
Resources.

Chapter 5. The visual arts.

The museum as stage by Adele Z. Silver.
Beyond Children's Films by Perry Miller Adato.
Exploring the intimacy of video: Tut: The Boy King by Joseph F. Callo.
The evolution of Tut minutes by Arthur H. McDonald.
Resources.

Chapter 6. Audience building and diversity.

Ratings versus creativity by Norman Lear.
How to play (and win) the ratings game, by Eddie Smardan.
Funding: The corporate commitment by Lewis R. Angelos.
Resources.

Index.
About the editor.
About the contributors.

Of all the components in a child's television programming diet, the arts are among the most nourishing but least available elements. There is music, to be sure, but its melodies are most often heard meandering through product jingles. There is drama, some would argue, but its catharsis comes at the end of a car chase. As for the visual arts, there are animated drawings to be seen on Saturday morning, but these are less than moving.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Book
Harmonay, Maureen
0-88410-180-0 (p)
216 p.
December, 1978
PUBLISHER DETAILS

Ballinger Publishing
Cambridge
MA,
Categories