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Arts & Culture

Annotated List of Articles on Assessment of Art Education Programs
An annotated list of articles pm Assessment of Art Education Programs compiled by the Barr Foundation. (Source: Barr Foundation)

Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education
This conference was designed with the intent to demystify the topics of evaluation and assessment and to offer tools that will allow participants to tolerate, - nay to embrace – the premise that measuring the important work done in arts education today is warranted and beneficial. (Source: Barr Foundation, The Wang Center)

Best Practices for In-School Arts
Boston has been home to a very successful multi-partner theatre project, funded by the Dept. of Education, and involving four non-profits and five public schools. Read about it in this presentation by Kathy Tosolini, Senior Arts Advisor of the Boston Public Schools, Donna Glick of the Huntington Theatre, and Susan Gassett of CityStage. (Source: Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

Master Builders at the Wang
In this presentation, Carol Fineberg provides insights into several national arts education projects and tells stories that uplift and embolden. Margaret (Peggy) Burchenal brings stories of how she has utilized these national models and made them work! (Source: Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

Measuring Up Conference - Keynote Speech
Keynote speaker Nick Rabkin encourages us to keep moving forward to “democratize” the arts and give access to all in pluralistic America. We also need to keeps looking over our shoulder at the specter of those who consider this a cultural equivalent of a zero-sum game where for poor children to gain someone else has to lose. (Source: Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

Putting the Pieces Together
This closing session of "Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education" brings together three distinguished speakers as they discuss where evaluation fits in their work, as well as the role of schools, community groups and families in the ongoing work of arts education. (Source: Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

Where are You Headed and How Will You Know to Get There?
A presentation by H. Mark Smith of the MA Cultural Council dissecting trends in logic models, outcome measurements, and other current aspects of evaluation being used in human services, education and arts. (Source: Mearuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

more presentations

Building the Field of Dreams: Social Networks as a Source of Sector-Level Capacity in the After-School World

Since 2003 , the Barr Foundation has applied network thinking to its investment in the after-school sector. This report summarizes the funding approach and lessons learned from two experiences in the Arts and Sports after-school sectors. (Source: Barr Foundation)

Measuring Up - Conference Summary
Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education Programs jointly presented by The Barr Foundation and The Wang Center for the Performing Arts stirred debate and engaged the 154 participants in a timely conversation centered around the challenges and concerns of evaluating and assessing arts learning experiences. The impetus for the conference emerged from the current increasing need to develop and implement more accessible, effective and consistent tools with which to evaluate the work done in the arts and arts education. (Source: Measuring Up: Strategies for Evaluating and Assessing Arts Education)

Arts Service Organizations: A Study of Impact and Capacity

Arts service organizations play an
important role in supporting the work of artists and nonprofit agencies but many of them fall short in meeting their own operational needs. How can foundation investment be targeted to build the capacity of key arts service organizations? (Source: The Boston Foundation)

Immigrant Engagement in Public Open Space
The first immigrants to arrive in Massachusetts brought with them a clear mental image of what public open space should look like and how it should be used. This paper considers how recent immigrants to Boston connect (and do not connect) to public open spaces. It also explores alternative ways of “seeing” and using open spaces in different communities and highlights specific strategies, to engage urban residents born outside the United States. (Source: Barr Foundation)

Annotated List of Assessment Resources for Art Educators
This annotated resource list has been developed by the New England Arts Assessment Network (NEAAN) with the intention of supporting educators who are working to develop thoughtful methods of assessment of student learning in the arts. It is not intended to endorse any individual resource, nor does it claim to be comprehensive. It is a work in progress which may be amended as more resources are identified by NEAAN. It may be shared among educators in the spirit of professional development and collegial sharing of knowledge. (Source: New England Arts Assessment Network (NEAAN))