Hearts in the Arts

Can plans be fun to carry out? Sure! A Plucky Schematic

Pinky and the Brain

“They prove their mousey worth, to overthrow the Earth,
their dinky, they’re Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain…”

Two little lab mice, plotting to overthrow the Earth. Pinky, the blissfuly-unaware-of-the wider-circumstances-mouse and Brain, the EE-VIIL, resentful mouse who plans are no less than world domination. I adored that cartoon when my kids were little and watching it. Someone with more-than–enough-whimsy had the Brain character voiced as ’Citizen-Cane’-voiced Orson Wells. It was just delightful. Sheesh, enough with the hyphens, already!

I am supposing that many people who read this read it at work. And, aren’t supposed to spend a lot of time doing reading the internet. This makes for great reading but no doing.
OK, 'jeg forstor', as we say in Norwegian, I understand.

But, truly, our attitudes are crucial to making positive changes, so the whole read/do dichotomy isn’t so important. It is what we do when we know is right for young people and making sure that we do it when the opportunity arises. Just think of the Brain, and his friend in need, Pinky.

I’d love to start an e-mail list of people who would like to receive a bumper-sticker for heartsinthearts.com but that won’t be to successful, the logistics won’t work out to anyone’s easy benefit.

So, I propose this, let’s do it by town. Is your town Arts-Friendly? Mine is to a degree and well, it will be in a few more years. Patience—oooh—oohhh, Ick. Need something else.

School-by school? Superintendent by Superintendent? Board of Ed by Board of Ed? I suspect that that would be a ‘busman’s holiday’- doing the same s thing on your free time as you do at work. Nope, that won’t do, either.

No, I think it boils down to our State legislators- the House and Senate. Some of you just froze up. No, no storming the gates of the state capital. Maybe an e-mail to the legislators from home? In Connecticut it is cga.ct.gov . GO visit!

And tell them this: (that means that you can cut and paste for you who would like to do so-)

Dear Legislator- (please put the name here, thanks!)

I am a teacher (administrator, student, parent of a child/children) in the public schools. I love my job and kids. My job is as hard as nails to do, but I love it and am sure that what I am doing is making a positive difference in children’s lives. But you know, something else needs to happen. We need to increase the number of Arts programs in the public schools and enhance the programs that we do have, in order to teach our children the innovation, creativity and forward-thinking that our nation needs right now. They just aren’t receiving enough brain training in creativity and innovation in our current curricula. Besides that, the Arts can be combined with any other subject, and we can have some very good teaching and learning in interactive, interdisciplinary subjects and programs.

Supporting more Arts programs and Arts Education will teach creativity and innovation. For your information, HeartsintheArts.com will be leading an effort to convince our State that the lack of enough Arts programs is hurting our children’s creativity, innovation and inspiration. Nothing teaches these as well as the Art, Music, Dance and other Arts. Please support efforts to increase funding to Arts programs in the Connecticut public schools from pre-K to our CSU system. Please visit heartsinthearts.com, to read more about why it has over 1,700 hits in just a few weeks.

It is TIME for creativity, it is time to look to inspiration, it is time to put the Arts back into the public schools so that all of our citizens will be served by the creativity and innovation that the Arts teach our children every day. Thank you very much for your time and attention,

Sincerely,

Or, you write your own. But, could you please do it? How about writing a snail mail letter? Did you know that if a legislator gets five letters on a subject, they consider that a lot of mail and start paying attention? It is absolutely true- I worked in a Congressional office for a while- you would be shocked!

So, let’s soften up the ground by writing and telling our legislators that what we want and then those of us who want to, can follow-up with the Education Committee and whatever Committee your/my favorite legislator is on.

It is not just jobs in the Arts, although it is that, it is not just kids singing, playing an instrument and, writing, composing, sculpting, dancing, although it is those, too. It is kids winning over obesity (dance and theatre), it is kids off the streets, it is kids thinking outside the bubble, outside the box, to the innovative, the creative, the scientific, the technical, to achieving to the next level of competence. The kids learning Math in the language of music- it is kids wanting to come to school, it is so much of what we want in our public schools. It is TIME for the Arts in public schools.

OK, the soap box is getting hot- more later!

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