NEWS YOU CAN USE FROM THE OHIO ARTS COUNCIL - Jarred Small

NEWS YOU CAN USE FROM THE OHIO ARTS COUNCIL

Jarred Small, OAC Arts Learning Coordinator

The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) is excited to highlight some updates and opportunities available to help support music educators as they continue to engage, inspire, and lead learners of all backgrounds and abilities through a school year that has thus far been nothing short of extraordinary.

NEW UPDATES FROM THE OHIO ARTS EDUCATION DATA PROJECT

The OAC, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, and Quadrant Research, is pleased to have recently released data detailing K-12 arts access, enrollment, and other figures from the 2018-2019 school year via the Ohio Arts Education Data Project interactive data dashboard. This data is combined with data from the 2016-2018 school years to produce a more longitudinal picture of the status of arts education in Ohio schools.

With the release of this new data, our ability to track and analyze trends now becomes easier, more meaningful, and allows for significant findings and takeaways. For example, while there were slight increases and decreases between school years 2016-2019, student enrollment in arts courses remained mostly steady, and more students were enrolled in music courses than other arts disciplines. However, in that same amount of time (2016-2019), the number of students enrolled in music courses decreased by 13,950, with overall music enrollment holding relatively steady at approximately 73 percent of Ohio’s total K-12 student enrollment.

You can read more about the Ohio Arts Education Data Project and explore the interactive data dashboard at: www.oac.ohio.gov/Resources/Ohio-Arts-Education-Data.

GRANT APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR

While music educators wrap up the first half of the 2020-2021 school year, the OAC has geared up to begin accepting grant applications supporting projects for the following 2021-2022 school year. As educators and administrators continue adjusting, adapting, and testing new and innovative methods of teaching and learning, the OAC invites you to consider ways in which available grant programs may be able to support your plans, whether remote, in-person, or hybrid, for next school year. You can view available grant programs and their Guidelines at www.oac.ohio.gov/grants.

One grant program currently accepting applications for projects occurring next school year is TeachArtsOhio. Now in its third year as a formal program of the agency, TeachArtsOhio is the OAC’s flagship school-based artist residency program. TeachArtsOhio brings schools and community organizations together with teaching artists to share engaging, personal, and high-quality arts learning experiences.

You can read more in the TeachArtsOhio Guidelines at www.oac.ohio.gov/grants (scroll down and click the “Arts Learning” accordion header). TeachArtsOhio applications for projects occurring during the 2021-2022 school year are due by Feb. 1, 2021, and other OAC grant applications are due throughout late winter and early spring. For more information, contact Jarred Small via email (jarred.small@oac.ohio.gov) or phone (614-7284481).

The OAC wishes all of Ohio’s music educators the very best as we collectively find ways to create, engage, innovate, and lead in pursuit of musical excellence.

Jarred Small serves as arts learning coordinator at the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. He began his career as a music educator in the public schools of southwest Michigan, where he taught band, choir, and guitar. Jarred holds a Bachelor of Music in instrumental music education from Western Michigan University and a Master of Arts in arts policy and administration from the Ohio State University.