Something to Say

The San Francisco Arts Commission hosted Denise Montgomery to give a presentation about the Wallace Foundation’s report, “Something to Say” which investigated best practices in after school arts programming, particularly for tweens. You really should check it out.

Of course, I love their conclusions; they concur with so much of my own experience, but their research is comprehensive and backed up with data.

So now, as I plan the next season of the Where Art Lives program, I can point to the “Something to Say” study and say, “See - we need to treat our students as real artists with ideas that matter contributing to a project  that will have an audience and make a difference. And yes, it is worth it make sure we have expert teaching artist instructors.”

Students in the Where Art Lives programming will be part of a larger project. Students in many schools and after school programs will be working in tandem to explore ideas about what we should paint on the walls of our city. We’ll ask them to imagine that they have saved their money and opened a business in San Francisco. What will they name their business? How will they decorate the outer walls of their building to best benefit their community?

To be continued…