Empire State Partnerships' Summer Seminar Program

Philip Alexander, Program Direction, ESP Professional Development Program

From July 17-21 at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY, the Empire State Partnerships Program (ESP) will hold its ninth annual Summer Seminar. Summer Seminar is an invigorating professional development retreat for teaching artists, arts administrators, teachers, and school administrators. This year’s theme is “Investigating Our Core Beliefs,” which urges participants to articulate core beliefs about the role of the arts-in-education and how those beliefs affect their professional endeavors.

All seminar workshops will be organized in one of three learning strands: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Leadership and Management; and Collaboration and Team Building. These strands, which reflect key professional development concerns of ESP Partnerships, will allow participants to explore one learning area in depth, if they choose.

In addition to participating in workshops, attendees will have opportunities to engage in discussions with peers about their practice, to plan with their school-based team, to consult with other professionals, and to network with colleagues. Seminar participants will be able to take advantage of assorted Long Island cultural and entertainment events as well. As in 2004, the Hillwood Art Museum on the C.W. Post campus will sponsor an exhibition of student art from ESP partnerships and organize visits to local arts festivals. An evening picnic at Jones Beach (an extremely popular event in 2004) is also planned. Online registration for this year’s Summer Seminar is expected to begin in May. For more information on Summer Seminar or ESP, visit www.espartsed.org.

Launched in 1996, ESP is a program of the New York State Council on the Arts that is dedicated to identifying, supporting, and developing promising practices in collaborations between cultural organizations and schools. The goals of the program are to raise standards for students, to permanently integrate the arts into K-12 classrooms throughout the state, and to contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning in New York schools.

Empire State Partnerships' Regional Leadership Networks

Philip Alexander, Program Director, ESP Professional Development Program

Empire State Partnerships’ (ESP) Regional Leadership Networks (RLNs) are seven consortia throughout New York State, each comprised of school/arts organization partnerships funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Each network provides support and professional development for teachers, artists, and administrators engaged in arts-in-education partnerships. The groups are located in Western New York, Central New York, the Capital District, and Hudson Valley. New York City’s RLNs are subdivided into elementary, middle, and high school RLNs.

Since the beginning of the current school year, RLNs have provided a variety of activities to address their communities’ needs. The Hudson Valley RLN has focused on issues of assessment, sponsoring discussion groups and inviting experts to speak to its members. The Central New York RLN supports projects that individual partnerships are pursuing, such as an action research project examining visual thinking strategies at Syracuse’s Everson Museum, as well as training for teachers and teaching artists at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. The Capital District RLN has been focusing on advocacy for arts-in-education. The group plans to showcase the work of the ESP partnerships at a summer institute organized by the Capital Region Center for Arts in Education. The Western New York RLN is engaged in coordinating the sharing of experiences among partnerships, meeting at sub-regional levels, creating publicity and PR materials, organizing large gatherings, and supporting the planning of the Common Ground conference. The group also plans to expand beyond its current structure to include pre-service teachers, emerging teaching artists, parents, and representatives from colleges and universities.

In New York City, inter-visitations to schools are being sponsored by both the elementary and the middle school RLNs. Both groups are also sponsoring members to attend the Common Ground conference in Buffalo. Additionally, the New York City RLNs have begun planning a city-wide professional development event for the coming year.

By sponsoring discussions of promising practices, exploring common concerns and solutions, sharing resources (financial and otherwise), and advocating for arts-in-education, RLNs are supporting quality teaching and learning in and through the arts, which will benefit the schools and students of New York State.

For more details on the ESP Regional Leadership Networks, visit: www.espartsed.org/regionalnetworks.shtml