Author: Prioleau, Darwin

Publication Year:

Media Type: Periodical (article)

Summary:

Abstract:

University arts and arts education programs have flourished in the last two decades, enough so that their initiatives have produced viable, measurable results that can inspire academics from other institutions and other levels of education. Perhaps one of the key components to success is found in effective institutional leadership that creates an atmosphere sensitive to preserving the core of the arts while also encouraging individual faculty to take leadership roles within and beyond the academic community.  The most important qualifications for successful arts leadership is an awareness of the exacting demands of creativity and receptiveness to the changing art making environment.

Ohio State University (OSU) is highlighted in this article as an arts leadership model. The author focuses on two specific OSU programs, the Department of Dance and the Department of Art Education. These programs change the way the arts are  experienced in the K-12 environment, and demonstrate a strong commitment to K-12 education that goes beyond preparing college students to become public school art teachers.

The key findings and summaries include: 

• The arts can become an integral, connecting force in the development of core holistic and integrative models of learning in the K-12 environment.
• Arts disciplines and individuals can contribute much to policy discussions, thus broadening policy considerations and ultimately providing a more supportive environment for the arts and the humanities.
• Arts departments can maintain the principles of each art form as well as explore substantive collaborations in academia and in the broader community.
• The arts can use the present fiscal climate as an opportunity to continue building a place of importance in K-12 and in higher education.

The author concludes with his opinion that the arts in higher education are at a crossroads due to changing demographics and outside pressures. These disciplines can play a significant role in creating new solutions to many of the prevailing problems in arts and in education generally. He suggests that arts leaders have two choices, either to wait and respond to the drastic measures and changes in a reactionary mode, or to act now to re-examine the values of disciplines from multiple perspectives. 

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education