Georgia Council for the Arts, 2018 Spring

GCA Newsletter / Spring 2018

Musical Explorers, Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, GA
GCA FY19 Partner, Project, and Arts Education Grant Cycle Update
The deadlines for Partner, Project, and Arts Education Program Grant applications recently passed, so this is the time of year when applicants are curious about when panels will meet and grant announcements will be made. To answer some of your questions in advance, we put together a timeline of the grant review and notification processes.
March - Completion check by GCA staff; panelists are confirmed, assigned, and trained by GCA staff; panelists receive application materials
April - Panelists review applications and submit preliminary scores
May - Panelists participate in panel meetings and submit final scores

Valyn Turner, Georgia POL State Champion, from Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA
Poetry Out Loud State Champ Participates in National Finals
The Georgia Poetry Out Loud State Finals were hosted by the Atlanta History Center on Sunday, March 11, 2018. The winner was Valyn Turner, a junior at Lanier High School in Sugar Hill, Ga. She represented Georgia at the national finals in Washington, D.C., April 23-25.
Poetry Out Loud is a national program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation which encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization and recitation of the written word.

June - Final scores are tabulated by GCA staff; grants are calculated based on application scores and available funding
July - GCA makes grant announcements and distributes contracts to grantees; Vibrant Communities grant guidelines will be available

Georgia's Poetry Out Loud champion receives $200 from the NEA and their school will be presented with a $500 certificate for new books. The Poetry Out Loud runner-up will receive $100 from the NEA and $200 for new books for their school.

August - Grantees return signed contracts and other required documents to GCA; Vibrant Communities grant application deadline is August 31
Please note: This year the Partner Grant panel review process will include phone interviews with panelists. If you are a Partner Grant applicant and you have not been contacted by a panelist to schedule a phone interview, please notify Tina Lilly by email at tlilly@gaarts.org.

Pasaquan, Buena Vista, GA
GCA Grants Program Director Tina Lilly Contributes to GDEcD Tourism Resource Team
For the past six years, GCA has maintained a partnership with the Georgia Department of Tourism through their Tourism Product Development Resource Teams. In this program, representatives from state agencies and private consultants come together in a community to make specific recommendations about how to increase tourism in the local region.

Images from GCA's Teaching Artists Registry
GCA Expands Teaching Artists Registry and Accepts New Artist Applications
In an effort to provide up-to-date resources to schools and organizations, and to help promote the work of our state's best teaching artists, Georgia Council for the Arts recently expanded the Georgia Teaching Artists Registry.
Now including 49 qualified teaching artists from throughout Georgia, the registry features artists who have a combination of extensive training and experience in their artistic field, are prepared to work in schools and at organizations serving K-12 students around the state, and have passed a background check to work in a school environment.
The expanded Georgia Teaching Artists Registry can be accessed through the GCA website. Artists representing a wide variety of disciplines, grade levels, and geographic regions are available for bookings by schools, districts, organizations, and communities.

GCA staff members look at ways to increase the tourism potential of existing arts resources while also thinking about how the arts can be used to address community issues such as a deteriorating downtown. Recommendations have included utilizing pop-up shops by artists to bring energy to forgotten buildings and using public art displays to tell the history and stories of the community.
An example of a community carrying out the recommendations is Shellman, Ga., which painted murals on large silos that sit at the entrance to the city in an effort to attract visitors and revitalize the downtown. This project was covered by a regional television station, which said that new businesses have opened and tourists have already shown up to see the new artwork.
"Putting fresh new artwork up really helps (people) see the potential of the area and it's a way to engage with the community, " said Shellman mayor Paul Langford.
This year, GCA has served on Teams that visited Coffee, Upson, and Seminole Counties, while upcoming trips include Morgan, Paulding, and Jones Counties.

In addition, GCA will continue to update and expand the Teaching Artists Registry in 2019. Qualified teaching artists must be a resident of Georgia, must have a combination of training in their field and experience in educational settings, and must pass a background check. The deadline to apply was April 27, 2018. The selection process will conclude in July. Artists accepted to the Registry will be notified at that time.
If you have questions about the Registry, the application, or the selection process, please reach out to Allen Bell, Arts Education Manager, at 404-962-4839 or abell@gaarts.org.
Poet Laureate Judson Mitcham, the 2018 Poet Laureate Prize Winner and Finalists, Mrs. Deal
and Governor Deal
Georgia Poet Laureate's Prize Winner and Finalists Announced
Georgia's Poet Laureate, Judson Mitcham, in collaboration with Georgia Council for the Arts, is pleased to announce the winner and finalists of the fifth annual Poet Laureate's Prize.
The prize is awarded for an original poem written by a Georgia high school student. This annual program is designed to encourage students in grades 9 through 12 to write original poems and to engage in the unique art form of poetry. The winner and four finalists who were selected by Judson Mitcham were honored by Governor Deal, First Lady Sandra Deal, and the Poet Laureate at the Georgia State Capitol on April 30.
All Georgia high school students are encouraged to participate. Students interested in participating in next year's program should check for details about the 2019 competition on the Georgia Council for the Arts website in the fall of 2018. The annual submission deadline will be at the beginning of March. Click here to learn more about the program.
Meet the 2018 winner and finalists below.
2018 WINNER
Dagmawit (Bessi) Adamu "Seamstress" 11th grade Milton High School Milton, Ga.
2018 FINALISTS
Lillian DeLecuona "Ybor City" 12th grade Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School Augusta, Ga.
Allison Boyle "The State My World Is In" 11th grade Bradwell Institute Hinesville, Ga.
Ashley Wu "Dogtooth" 12th grade Johns Creek High School Johns Creek, Ga.
Avanti Tulpule "what i know of your silhouette" 11th grade Johns Creek High School Johns Creek, Ga.
Click here to read their poems on Atlanta Magazine's website.

Sunset - Blackrock Mountain State Park, Peter McIntosh, Clayton, GA
GCA's Executive Director Karen Paty Participates in National Governor's Association Roundtable
In April, the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices convened an Experts' Roundtable: Leveraging the Creative Sector to Strengthen Rural Economic Development in Washington, D.C. NGA invited a group of thirty-five advisors, including state arts agency executive directors from Georgia, New Mexico, Colorado and Iowa, to help them think through effective state policy strategies for using the arts to drive rural economic development. The stated objectives were:
Further our understanding of the varying perspectives on the opportunity and case for the creative sector to strengthen rural economies. Identify and prioritize the promising and evidence-based arts strategies appropriate for governors to address rural challenges. Review and discuss opportunities to incorporate arts initiatives into a state's larger policy framework.
More Arts News and Opportunities
For 2018, GCA is developing a new five-year strategic plan. GCA will launch the new plan in the coming months. In the meantime, visit the GCA website for additional details about the strategic planning process.
GCA recently held a Council meeting on April 12, in Columbus, Ga. The itinerary included visits to Pasaquan, The Columbus Museum, and the Bo Bartlett Center for the Arts at Columbus State University. GCA wishes to thank our hosts in Columbus and Buena Vista for their hospitality.
Congratulations to the 21 organizations in Georgia that received a total of $370,000 in grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A recent National Endowment for the Arts report states that the arts contribute $760 billion annually to the U.S. economy. The same report states that in Georgia the arts make up 3.9% of the state's total economy.
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) has created four short videos which highlight the benefits of the arts. The themes are Art in our Everyday Lives, Art Heals, Student Success, and American Ingenuity.
Registration is now open for the fifth annual Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference. Presented by the Alliance Theatre and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the conference for educators, administrators, and teaching artists will take place June 5-7, 2018. To learn more or register online, visit their website.
Recent research from the Brookings Institution on arts-focused field trips shows significant math and language arts test score gains by students who experienced multiple visits. This research took place at the Woodruff Arts Center partners - the High Museum of Art, the Alliance Theatre, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Images from GCA's Arts Education Campaign
GCA Launches Arts Education Campaign
In mid-October, GCA launched our Arts Education Campaign, including a series of 16 slides highlighting the benefits of arts education paired with adoption tips outlining how local advocates can work to improve access to quality arts learning opportunities in their schools, districts, and communities. The slides, adoption tips, and a toolkit with additional resources are available on the GCA Arts Education Campaign web page.
We encourage you to use these resources in your classrooms, in your schools, in your communities, and on social media to help make the case for access to quality arts education opportunities. We especially hope you will use the Arts Education Campaign resources to illustrate the benefits of arts learning as local districts develop their plans to align with the state ESSA plan and federal ESSA legislation.
Be sure to follow the Georgia Council for the Arts Facebook page and share the arts education benefits and adoption tips that GCA posted there. If you have questions or suggestions for additional resources, or if you would like to share how you have used the Arts Education Campaign resources, please contact Allen Bell, Arts Education Manager, at 404-9624839 or abell@gaarts.org.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently shared a summary of two articles on the long-term benefits of musical training on brain development and health.
Another recent study shows that music lessons boost students' cognitive skills, including language-based reasoning, completing complex tasks, and academic achievement.
Meanwhile, additional research has concluded that "Music and art are increasingly being used as tools for therapy for high school students who have faced trauma -- and have been proven to help students cope, both physically and psychologically."
Sir Ken Robinson makes the case that dance education is just as important to student development as other subjects in the curriculum.
This recent PBS Parents story outlines the ways that the arts are essential to child development, including motor skills, language development, decision making, and visual learning. Visit the PBS Parents Music & Arts section for additional resources.
This blog post from the Arts Education Partnership offers a guide and resources for school leaders who want to build a new music program at their school.
Google recently learned that some of the most important training their employees receive is in the arts and humanities.

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