The Arts Education Alliance (AEA) is a non-profit group composed of artists, educators and community members who work to bring quality arts education to Sonoma County.  While the AEA is under the umbrella of the Arts Council of Sonoma County, we collaborate with teachers, administrators, and arts organizations to provide training, advocacy, and quality arts opportunities for our community.  We support all arts disciplines including: visual, performing and literary arts. We are advocates for arts education in our schools and communities through collaboration, leadership and our passion for the arts.

Keeping Score Educationbrings the power of classical music into today’s classrooms

Keeping Score is an innovative professional development opportunity offered in collaboration with the Arts Council of Sonoma County, the Santa Rosa Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Founded and led by the San Francisco Symphony, Keeping Score skillfully trains K-12 teachers to integrate classical music into other core academic subjects, through high-quality training, materials, and on-going professional support.

Interested teachers are encouraged to contact Karin Demarest for details about the application process. 

www.keepingscore.org

Community Vitality and Arts Education
During 2004, the Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County (Arts Council) directed a countywide needs assessment for the arts surveying over 100 arts organizations and 500 working artists. A primary recommendation of this survey was to use arts and culture to strengthen K-12 education.

Fortunately, in the summer of 2003 the Arts Council formed a hard- working collaborative group, the Sonoma County Arts/Education Alliance (SCA/EA). As one of several key initiatives, the SCA/EA collected key data from arts teachers, arts organizations and artists.  The culmination of these efforts was The Arts Education Resource Guide. This is the first-ever guide to arts education resources in Sonoma County, and was distributed to every school and district-office, with the support of the Sonoma County Office of Education, and many dedicated volunteers.

To download a copy of the Resource guide via PDF, please click here.

The Arts Council of Sonoma County, in conjunction with the Arts Edcuation Alliance, recognizes that arts education is a vital component of a vibrant, well-rounded education, yet with budget cuts, declining enrollment and high-stakes testing, arts programs are typically the first to go. Knowing that education in and through the arts provides critical skills to our children, how can we sustain arts learning despite a volatile educational climate?

Advocate!

Whether you are a parent, teacher, administrator, artist or concerned citizen, you can make your voice heard by actively engaging in the support of arts education.

Let the Arts Council of Sonoma County support your advocacy efforts.  Contact Karin Demarest, to learn about how we can provide support through trainings, presentations, and other advocacy tools.

Poetry Out Loud builds on the recent resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as demonstrated by the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among our youth. The program encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance, which help students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and internalize our rich literary heritage. 

Each classroom holds a recitation competition, with students moving on to a school wide competition. School wide winners compete in a Sonoma County competition.  One local winner goes on to compete in Sacramento, and eventually on to Washington, D.C.

If you are interested in participating, contact Karin Demarest.

www.poetryoutloud.org

Since 1987, the InnerSpark program has provided artistically gifted and talented high school students intensive training in the arts through a multidisciplinary program conducted by distinguished arts professionals. This prestigious program is designed to enhance the students’ artistic skills and provide a training ground for future artists who may wish to practice their artform or to pursue careers in the arts. The school is open to students from more that 2,700 public and private secondary schools throughout California.  This year, 19 distinguished young artists from Sonoma County were invited to attend the program.

In 2008, three California Arts Scholars were recepients of the Herb Albert Scholarship for Emerging Young Artists.  Only 18 students from around the state recieved this honor, and one Sonoma County student, Esra Senvardarli, recieved the top award in Visual Arts – a $40,000 scholarship.

Youth Arts Sonoma was a countywide performance of art created by youth.  Each group of artists worked with school faculty to create an original performance.  This performance was presented in a non-traditional location, and will be videotaped for broadcast on the internet.  The work was performed live in different settings throughout Sonoma County.  The audience was community members present at the time of the performance and who had no advance knowledge of the event.  A significant element of the performance was the interaction of live art with the public in new and unexpected ways. 

You can watch the 2008 Youth Arts Sonoma performance Festival on YouTube by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkfeuDzizh4