I was fortunate to have attended the Arts Council New Westminster all candidates discussion last night for school trustee candidates. It was important for me to be there, the arts have played an important role in my life and help provide important building blocks to development. We were given the opportunity to present an introduction / statement of values and answer 3 questions. I would like to share the questions and my answers here for those who were unable to attend.

Introduction – Values:

Good evening, my name is Danielle Connelly –
I am an artist, I was raised as an artist and have raised my children to enjoy the arts and embrace their creativity.

Student and child learning in the arts is beneficial to so many aspects of social and academic development and Exposure to the arts through education is important on so many levels as children develop, from fine motor skills and language development to improving self-directed learning, it has been shown to help improve school attendance, sharpen critical thinking and creative skills and ultimately, the arts can help us be more diverse and culturally aware … so essentially, better human beings!

While some may view the arts and creative activities, especially in our schools, as a “luxury” the truth of the matter is that creativity and exposure to the arts helps give kids some of the biggest building blocks towards their development. It also can help bridge the gap between some of the socio-economic and cultural differences in our community. Art is a common language and brings communities together!

We are currently seeing a growing number of children and youth who are coping with mental health challenges and, without a doubt in my view, the arts can be an invaluable tool to help manage and support some of those who are struggling.

I have personally faced some of the challenges in our schools with regards to lack of funding and support of the arts, from raising money on pacs to purchase instruments for music classes to applying for grants to purchase lighting equipment for the drama department
I also have seen first hand how the lack of supported coordination has led to a diminished band program at Glenbrook. My son was one of the victims of that and is now sadly is too shy to pick up band in grade 9 after a year away.

He is also going into grade 9 this year with no art education because there was some confusion with regards to electives and core courses and those wanting to be part of the hockey academy and take a language course were made to choose between their applied skills course and their fine arts course as opposed to being allowed to drop their phys-ed class. Parents are still confused and upset with this decision and the lack of communication surrounding it.

I am a firm believer that a strong and cohesive arts strategy for our schools is something our school board needs to champion and work towards and if elected this will be a priority moving forward. All kids deserve to have access to the arts and our schools should be encouraged to work towards this.

Thank you.

Question 1 – Policy

There are many roles that the School District plays in arts education, such as curriculum, professional development, hiring, and specialized program design and delivery. Arts education is a mandatory part of the K-9 curriculum, and also a part of graduation requirements for grades 10-12.
Question: How do you envision SD40 delivering mandatory arts education to students in New Westminster Schools?

First off, to enable our district to deliver a robust and engaging arts program, we need to prioritize our funding and continue to advocate for adequate funding if there are shortfalls in order to ensure we have enough staff and money for materials and equipment to deliver successful arts programming in our schools.

I see us working in a coordinated and supportive way, that is led by our biggest asset, our teachers and engages our local arts community and city as well as parents, students and staff.

I would also like to see us establish a way to measure our programming and it’s delivery … as the saying goes, “what gets measured, gets done” If we place this kind of importance on our arts programming, we can see what is being done and where there are gaps – to access, supports, and programming.
now I am not talking about measurements for quality (that seems counterintuitive and non-collaborative and we already know the quality is there in our teachers!), but measurements for access and support. We need to see where we can and should be doing more and where there are gaps so we can ensure equitable access to quality arts programming throughout the district.

I also see a need to engage teachers as well as our local arts community. What about getting a catalogue of local artists who are willing and able to offer programming in the schools (dance, textiles, outdoor art projects) so teachers and PACs can turn to our local arts community to fill the needs as they arise.

From my own experience, we have done a good job engaging with first nations communities, in delivering arts programming and integrating it in to the curriculum, but that is at the elementary school my kids went to, we had button blanket making, dancing and community meals. Again, if we can measure these types of programs throughout the district we can see what schools might be missing out on these opportunities. Equitable access is important and shouldn’t be dependent on how much fundraising or grant writing your PAC can do.

So, to summarize, I see us delivering our arts programming in a coordinated, collaborative, fully supported and equitable way so all students have access to quality arts programming and teachers have access to professional development and funding to support learning outcomes.

Thank you.

Question 2 – Resources

The core competencies in the new British Columbia curriculum are: communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, personal and cultural identity, personal awareness and responsibility, and social responsibility. Priority has been placed on technology and there has been funding and staff focus dedicated in that area over the past 3 years, while arts development within the District has not been coordinated.
Question: How would you position and resource the arts compared to other methods to effectively deliver the core competencies.

I see arts education as an integral part of a well-balanced education so let me start off by saying I think that we can do better for our students and to support our teachers. Budgets have been stretched but we are in the process of getting back on track and it’s time we start focusing on some areas that have suffered from neglect over the past many years.
We need a coordinated effort from the board level to ensure we meet core competencies and engages the arts community and our arts teachers.
The arts can be incorporated in many ways to deliver core competencies, and even in relation to technology and tech education. We are fortunate in New Westminster to have the incredible New Media Gallery which exemplifies how the arts, culture and technology communities are intertwined.
A quick search of some of the most promising jobs of the future and you can see how exposure to the arts in school can help students in these future jobs, for example;
system developers – requires self-directed, critical thinking (check!)
Physical therapists – art therapy for recovery and fine motor skills (check!)
Elementary school teachers – pretty much all levels of art! (check!)
Lawyers – public speaking skills and dare I say acting?! (check!)
Accountants – music education has been shown to improve apptitude for numbers (check)
Software applications developer – creativity, critical thinking, design (check, check and check!)

As you can see, Exposure to the arts is critical to many career paths and interests and we truly owe it to our kids to prioritize their exposure to a well-funded, supported and well-rounded arts education.

Question 3 – Implementation

School Districts are responsible for implementing student learning, curriculum delivery and teacher-training. The core concepts of the BC Curriculum are currently rooted in the principles and practices of arts, with the full potential of realizing these concepts through arts participation emerging as a powerful delivery model. But, SD 40’s budget priorities, school plans and district-led professional development for teachers do not mention arts at all, nor is there a clear district-level administrator or facilitator assigned to support arts education.
Arts education in SD40 schools is delivered ad hoc because of the vision and hard work of individual teachers supported by parents/students/families, despite the lack of policy direction, educational vision, committed resources and senior level support from cross-community, cross-curricular arts-based activities, but these ideas consistently fail to advance with no one at the board level to champion them
Question: What would you do to create a more supported environment that would champion arts education initiatives and help to realize the full capacity of arts for learning in SD40 schools?

First off, I would like to take a moment to thank our local arts community, and our amazing district teachers who have pushed forward tirelessly with innovative programming. There are so many who have given their time, expertise and shared their love of the arts for my kids, all of our kids.

Next, I have two words to discuss, desire and communication.

First off, We need to have the desire and secondly we need to work better to communicate and engage with teachers, community members and parents with regards to championing arts education initiatives in our schools.

I would like to see the district develop both a short and long term comprehensive and sustainable arts strategy and this would need to be done with input and engagement from staff, parents, students and the community at large.

Supporting our teachers to develop and implement arts programming, especially cross-curricular arts based activities helps foster teacher innovation and collaboration and can only have a positive impact on our school culture.

We are, as a society embracing the idea that there are many types of learners and the universal design for learning points to developing rich learning environments that are designed around the needs of all students, including; emotional, cultural and social. Embracing and implementing a strong arts program can help ensure these needs are being met.

A lot of words here, and essentially what I am trying to say is, I would work hard to champion innovative arts programming and initiatives at our schools by working closely with teachers, many I know who are silently screaming to be heard, and staff to ensure we have funding and supports in place. I have seen the amazing work done by hardworking, creative and completely underfunded arts teachers in our schools and feel with the renewed emphasis on funding education in our province, the time is now – we have the expertise right here in our community and in our teachers to develop a solid, well rounded and supported arts program that makes school district 40 a leader in this area.

Those who know me, and there are a number in this room who do, know I am a doer and as school trustee I would be there, sleeves rolled up and in the thick of things working hard to see these changes through to completion.

Thank you.

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As an aside, UNESCO published a Road Map to Arts Education in 2006 that I believe sets a solid guideline for implementing arts programming in our schools.