OUR POWERS COMBINED: HOW A UNIFIED FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT WILL STRENGTHEN YOUR DISTRICT.

BY: MARTY KRAL & CAMERON DEDRICK

We’ve all been there. You have a great idea, suggestion, change to tradition, problem to solve, etc., and no one will listen to your thoughts or concerns. The administration is busy with more pressing matters, the guidance counselors don’t understand your needs, and the community doesn’t recognize that your students have more value than just entertainment. It can be frustrating to grow your program in new and innovative ways. Most of us exist in a small vacuum. We have few staff, are housed in far flung wings of the building, sometimes travel to multiple buildings, and have a hard time maintaining regular interactions with other members of the staff. Here in Ashland, Ohio, we’re no different. Although we have great administrators and faculty support, amazing parents, and community members, it can be tough to gain traction on new initiatives and have our voices heard. In an attempt to combat this, we made a decision to triple our department size with this one thought: What if we were no longer just the music department, the art department, Theater, and Dance, but a Fine Arts Department?

Benefits Of Unifying The Fine Arts In Your District

By unifying the Fine Arts, you have just doubled or tripled your department footprint! Music, Visual Art, Digital Art, Media Arts, Theater, Dance, Photography, Video Production, etc. all have some of the same basic tenets in their discipline. We train students to become independent creators within their medium. We teach the skills, techniques, procedures and accepted practices that professionals would expect beyond High School. We also teach the importance of the aesthetic within our disciplines. The old adage of “Power in Numbers” holds true. Getting buy-in from all Fine Arts stakeholders in your district can only expand your department’s footprint throughout the building and allow you more staff to workshop and refine ideas before going to the administration or parent organizations.

HOW WE UNIFIED THE DEPARTMENTS IN ASHLAND, OHIO

We began with stakeholders from each department. This started as simply one music and one visual art teacher to discuss similarities within our departments. This blossomed quickly into a full Fine Arts Action Plan (email us for a copy). We started with the goal of combining all that we do. If there’s a performance in the auditorium, why wouldn’t we have art on display in the lobby? If there’s a gallery night to celebrate student art work, why not have a quartet performing to set the mood? This also expanded to creating honoraries for our disciplines. Tri-M and the National Art Honor Society, the music and art honoraries respectively, are two separate but equal entities at Ashland High School. They allow graduating seniors to wear honor cords to celebrate their achievements, but also bring together like minded individuals that value the Fine Arts in its various forms. One of our other goals that we continue to refine is that we want all Fine Arts classes to hold the same weight. Promoting departments together ensures equity of importance across our disciplines.

HOW TO BEGIN - IDEAS THAT WORKED FOR US

Just like any good lesson planner would, we identified our desired outcomes first. What did we want for our students? We decided to use a backwards design approach. This started with recognizing the students that were heading into college or a career in the arts. This included Music/Art Education, Graphic Design, Photography, Radio/TV, Music Instrument Repair, Tattoo Artist, Music Performance, Etc. We now hold an annual Fine Arts Signing Day where students are recognized for their decision to continue in the arts beyond HS. We bookended this idea with a Fine Arts Career Fair at the start of the year. How often do we sit without parents during conference nights? We capitalize on this time by holding a Fine Arts Career Fair. Parents and students of all grade levels meet with local artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, and college reps in the arts. This year we had 8 (all local) companies take part in helping students in their career path. It’s an incredible chance to network with your community and have students realize that what they enjoy most at school doesn’t have to end to get a “real job.” We encourage our fine arts students to identify as “creatives.” So many of them are multi-talented, and are intrinsically-motivated by the sheer satisfaction of creating something new. We remind them that the creative economy is second only to retail in industry sector revenue, and that people will not only pay them for their product, but the creative way in which they think ing or district. Do this in a way that makes sense for you. This could be a formal meeting time in the conference room or over zoom. It could be an informal get-together at a local pub or coffee shop. And don’t worry that only a few will come, but be adamant that this is for everyone and not just your department. Nothing new comes easy. In Ashland, we still don’t have 100% buy in from every Fine Arts teacher, and that’s okay. We push forward for the good of the kids and the program. The colleagues that show up to that first meeting may be all you need to get the ball rolling. Let their ideas and yours guide the discussion and create a mutual trust and respect between disciplines. Then be bold and shoot for the stars.

Back To Basics

What are we doing as teachers? We hope to create safe, engaging, and relevant learning environments for our students. We teach them the value of teamwork, collaboration, skill building, ethics and morality, etc. Are we always doing that as staff members? If you feel like an island, what have you done to change that? This plan all starts with taking the initiative. Our first suggestion would be to schedule a meeting with any Fine Arts staff in your build-

WHERE WE’VE COME AFTER THREE YEARS OF UNIFICATION

We’re Thriving! We love to list our accomplishments for the students and the community. This is simply called ADVOCATING for your program. We suggest visiting the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education on ways to advocate for your district. It’s a huge resource for all Fine Arts teachers. Below are only some of the ideas to promote, teach, collaborate and grow as a Unified Fine Arts Department. Email us at any time to learn more about any of these ideas:

1. Name your Unified Arts Department something memorable. We went with the AVPA: Ashland Visual and Performing Arts Department, and created a logo for promotion.

2. Spend a few dollars: We spent a few bucks on logo pens, a retractable sign for the stage and hallway, and digitizing the logo so any staff could buy a shirt with the logo embroidered to help promote us unified.

3. Quarterly Newsletters that celebrate all the Fine Arts in the district. This is a digital item that we send to students, staff, administration and parents.

4. TRI-M & NAHS - Honors Society

5. Fine Arts Career Fair

6. Fine Arts Signing Day

7. Visual/Digital Art on display at concerts and music performed at Galleries and Art Shows

8. Art Show weekend is now Fine Arts Show weekend including as many students as possible throughout the time of the show

9. Presenting Fine Arts accomplishments to the school board (at least twice a year)

10. Moving the December School Board Meeting to the auditorium to hear some holiday music from our performing ensembles

11. School calendar with student art highlighted every month

12. Digital Displays (TV Slide Shows) in prominent areas that ONLY displays Artwork, Fine Arts events, Student achievements in the arts, and Arts propaganda (quotes and facts about being in Fine Arts programs)

Marty Kral is the Music Department Chair and District Fine Arts Coach for the Ashland City School. He directs the High School Bands including the Symphonic, Concert & Marching Bands. He also teaches HS guitar, music technology and media arts courses. In 2010, 2020, 2021 & 2022 Mr. Kral was selected as a guest clinician at the Ohio Music Education Association State Conference, most recently co-presenting a clinic on making the fine arts “Non-Negotiable” in education. In 2021 & 2022, he was a featured clinician at the Ohio Art Education Association State Conference as well as in 2011 at the National Technology Institute for Music Educators Conference. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Education from Ashland University, Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning from Nova Southeastern University and Teacher Leadership Endorsement from Concordia University. He serves on various committees for the Ashland County Community Foundation & Ashland University and is a former board member of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. Mr. Kral has Master Teacher status with the district, and holds a Lead Professional Teaching License. He has a K-12 Music Licensure as well as a Teacher Leadership Endorsement.

EMPOWER YOURSELF & GO FOR IT

Identify what your hopes are for a unified department and jot those down in an email to your fellow Fine Arts colleagues in your building or district and make that first contact for a meeting. There’s nothing stopping you from going for it. We didn’t ask for permission to collaborate, we only decided it was the right thing to do. After deciding on student centered ideas to grow our presence, build unity, and promote the amazing things we’re already doing, then let your administration know. It won’t involve any work on their part (which they love), but it’ll let them know why you are using new branding: as in the AVPA in our case. We believe you have nothing to lose, and only good things to gain. GO FOR IT!

Cameron Dedrick is the Media Arts Department Chair for the Ashland City Schools. He teaches 3D Foundations, 2D Foundations, Drawing Fundamentals, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Media Arts at Ashland High School. Previous to his high school career, he taught Elementary Art for 15 years. He also serves as Assistant Marching Band Director at AHS and District Technology Coach. In 2021 & 2022, Mr. Dedrick was selected as a featured clinician at both the Ohio Music Education Association State Conference and Ohio Art Education Association State Conference, where he presented various clinics about the fine arts classroom. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Ashland University with concentrations in Graphic Design and Printmaking, and a Master of Arts in Educational Technology from Baldwin-Wallace College. In his undergraduate program, Mr. Dedrick was heavily involved in the music department, participating in Marching Band, Concert Band, University Choir, and Chamber Singers. He is also a member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity and a former Assistant Stage Manager for the Ashland Symphony. Mr. Dedrick is the Vice President of The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, and serves on Ohio Arts Council & Ashland County Community Foundation Grant Committees.

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