Tuesday, August 17, 2004
FanFare and General Hoopla Abounds!
I have an internship (-: (-: (-:
(This means I can spend more than 240 hours working for free in a position for which I am overqualified JUST so I can write a really long thesis that three people will read.)
And I am * * THRILLED * * !!!!
The internship will be with VocalEssence - As the name implies it's a choral group. But their education program has a multidisciplinary approach which makes up for the fact that they're all singers (-:
The thesis (which is actually more of an extended research paper) has a working title -
Assessment of Cultural Outreach and Education:
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
(Impressive eh?) It is NOT going to be about the importance of arts education (been there done that. Blah blah blah.) Instead, I want to know what makes a good, successful education program. (Hypothesis is that
Good Programs have lots of contact with professional artists, and are focused on processes not products.
Bad Programs are the well intentioned ones that bus kids to a matinee performance of the Nutcracker every December because "Otherwise these kids would never get to see a ballet." (ugh!)
The Ugly Ones are actually marketing gimics cleverly disguised as educational programing. Students are brought to performances with the aim of eventually turning them (and perhaps their parents) into partrons.
There's lot of potiential to do all kinds of grad school things (statistics and such) and I'm excited enough about the topic to not get burned out too quicky. The "Secret Dream in the Back of My Mind" is that perhaps a condensed version of this 'lil book report would be appropriate for an article in Teaching Artist Journal - but that's a premature dream.
And in case you're wondering, VocalEssence has a "Good" educational program. Which (combined with the free parking thing and the fact that Peter Schickele is on their honarary board of directors!) is why I am excited to be a temporary part of their organization!
I have an internship (-: (-: (-:
(This means I can spend more than 240 hours working for free in a position for which I am overqualified JUST so I can write a really long thesis that three people will read.)
And I am * * THRILLED * * !!!!
The internship will be with VocalEssence - As the name implies it's a choral group. But their education program has a multidisciplinary approach which makes up for the fact that they're all singers (-:
The thesis (which is actually more of an extended research paper) has a working title -
Good Programs have lots of contact with professional artists, and are focused on processes not products.
Bad Programs are the well intentioned ones that bus kids to a matinee performance of the Nutcracker every December because "Otherwise these kids would never get to see a ballet." (ugh!)
The Ugly Ones are actually marketing gimics cleverly disguised as educational programing. Students are brought to performances with the aim of eventually turning them (and perhaps their parents) into partrons.
There's lot of potiential to do all kinds of grad school things (statistics and such) and I'm excited enough about the topic to not get burned out too quicky. The "Secret Dream in the Back of My Mind" is that perhaps a condensed version of this 'lil book report would be appropriate for an article in Teaching Artist Journal - but that's a premature dream.
And in case you're wondering, VocalEssence has a "Good" educational program. Which (combined with the free parking thing and the fact that Peter Schickele is on their honarary board of directors!) is why I am excited to be a temporary part of their organization!