PACKED issue: Return to Speech, Debate & Music Guidance, Advocacy Resources
Welcome to the April Performing Arts Newsletter...
a monthly newsletter for all state administrators overseeing Music, Speech, Debate, Theatre and Academics. Please feel free to share the information with those in your state.
Music activities, along with speech, debate and theatre, should be given an equal opportunity to practice, perform and compete this spring in cases where schools are in session. While many states have conducted some of these activities successfully in a virtual setting, there is nothing to replace in-person participation – if proper mitigation protocols are followed.
The NFHS and NSDA believe it is essential to the physical, social, emotional and mental well-being of K-12 students across the nation that students return to regular, face to face speech and debate activities as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. The NFHS and NSDA also recognize that not all students will be able to return to in person speech and debate activities and therefore endorse the return to activity in any and all formats.
This resource includes: Key Takeaways for Administrators, General Safety Guidelines, Budget Implications, Recruitment and Advocacy components.
Arts Education & Social Emotional Learning Framework is designed to illuminate the intersection between arts education and social-emotional learning to allow for the intentional application of appropriate teaching and learning strategies, with the overarching goal of enhancing art education.
Congratulations to Kylen Running Hawk, a student a Morris Area High School in Morris, Minnesota, on being named the 2021 national recipient of the National High School Heart of the Arts Award! Kylen is a member of the Hunkpapa Lakota and participates in Theatre, Choir, Speech, Mock Trial, and traditional Lakota events.
“I'm a kid from our reservation who has the joy of being into the theater, where other kids have never had that experience. I’m thinking about bringing theater into the reservation. I've always wanted people from my reservation or any other reservations to get a chance, because the only way that we get to experience this (theatre) is to go off the reservation to other schools,” - Kylen Running Hawk
The NFHS is excited to compile resources from the U.S. Department of Education, Varsity Performing Arts, Marcia Neel, NAMM, NAfME, Steffen Parker, Ultimate Drill Book, and DCI for helping to compile and share all of these resources with us.
This fully arranged, designed, and choreographed performance is available for FREE to any school and director seeking performance music through June 2022
Topic: How to Access Education Relief Funds to support Music Education
Date: April 20th, 2021 at 3pm Eastern Time
Description: The American Rescue Plan Act includes $126 billion for K-12 education. These funds can help support music education programs which may need additional assistance due to the pandemic and education budget shortfalls. In addition, the funds can also help more students participate in music and arts education.
Join NAMM, the NFHS, and NAfME in this interactive webinar to learn about how much stimulus funding your state is getting, hear from those who have successfully used prior stimulus dollars to support students and music programs, and identify the people in your district who can help you make the case and access funds to support and sustain music and arts education.
