Arts Ed Study mission: Organize arts providers, principals, arts leads, etc. for a trip to a city demonstrating best practices to learn and see first-hand how they do what they do with arts education.
Partnership w/ major regional arts organizations (philharmonics, ballets, artists, etc.) for arts mentorship to district and school arts leads: Build mentorships between the region’s top arts organizations and each district, helping each district shape its art offering and gain access to the region’s best art minds and offerings. For example, the Executive Director of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera could help mentor the arts lead for Twin Rivers, helping the district think creatively about how to access the various arts offerings in the region.
Sister schools: Within each district, create pairs of schools to learn from one another’s efforts regarding arts education. Tap the schools with the strongest arts education programs to serve as mentors to a sister school with struggling arts education programs.
Partnership w/local community college & university for arts mentorship to underserved classrooms: Collaborate with local community colleges, CSU Sacramento, and UC Davis to create a mentorship program between aspiring artists and arts educators to underserved K-12 schools.
Grant writing training: Provide grant writing training to arts leads in order to better equip them to secure arts education funding. Consider partnering with an outside expert to provide the training.
Centralized repository of best practices: Curate and maintain a centralized database of arts education best practices (in the region and in the field in general). This database would have empirical studies, lesson plans, teaching techniques, etc.
Local artists brought in for guest presentations to students to increase arts exposure: Recruit artists and bring them into schools on a regular basis to increase arts exposure for students, especially at underserved schools.
Raise awareness of arts education needs and opportunities: On the Mayor’s website, share the data regarding where the Sacramento-area districts are in regards to providing quality arts education and share best practices for Sacramento schools and communities.