Mary Tutwiler

Last week to take the Community Audit for Arts Education

by Mary Tutwiler

Friday is the deadline to participate in the Community Audit for Arts Education sponsored by the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the John F. Kennedy Center . The survey is a tool for the Acadiana Arts Council to get a handle on who is doing what in terms of arts programs in the schools and to measure the public’s perception of art in the schools. According to Ramien Pierre, education department administrator for the Kennedy Center, “any organization that wants to have a relationship with a school can. And the central office may not even know what individual schools are doing, because it’s so decentralized, principals can make their own decisions. So I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that there are arts organizations or artists that have independently negotiated opportunities to work in schools without the Arts Council or maybe even central office knowing. But this gives us a chance to find out. If we can get them or parents of kids working with artists or teachers to take the audit, we can uncover what’s really going on. The result is good data.” Once the audit is analyzed, the Kennedy Center team can begin figuring out a four year master plan designed to put art in every classroom, a requirement of last year’s legislative Act 175. To participate in the survey on-line, click here , or download the audit and return it to the AAC by April 18. For more information call 233-7060.