Arts Lead at every school and at every district: Hire a dedicated arts lead for each of the five districts in the region, as well as for each school within those districts. The district level arts leads will be responsible for organizing the various offerings in the region and securing the necessary funding (pushing art into the schools); each school-level arts lead will be responsible for advocating for his/her school and bringing specific projects in (pulling art into the school).
Art Ed Yelp: Build a digital platform that allows principals, teachers, students and parents to rate various arts providers and programs. The goal here is to add a lens of quality to what’s out there, in that not all arts providers offer the same level of quality or service. Having this rating will allow principals/teachers/parents/students to more knowledgeably access and advocate for high-quality arts programming and hold programs accountable for quality.
Arts Lead Cluster Model: Hire a dedicated arts lead for each of the five school districts in the region and one arts lead at the school-level for every 5-7 schools (school cluster). This is a scaled down version of the top recommendation under “Leverage”— instead of having a dedicated arts lead for each school, every grouping of 5-7 schools will share one arts lead.
Arts Supply & Provider Inventory: Create a centralized list of all arts providers in the region, including a profile for each provider that outlines programs offered, schedules, partnership details, and contact information. Similarly, create a centralized list of all art supplies in the district, which will allow schools to better share existing arts resources.
Transportation for students: Transportation was identified as a significant hurdle as to why schools couldn’t access all the arts opportunities they wanted. Increase funding for school buses for the most underserved schools.
Arts Lead at every district: Expand the current model and hire a dedicated arts lead for each of the five districts. Consider too seeking a volunteer among current staff at each school to be the designated “art lead” (the go-to person for all things art related at that school). This will be the person a district-level arts lead can contact, and someone who can coordinate with outside arts providers. Note that at the school-level, this “art lead” will not be a full-time position, but rather would function similarly to how a club sponsor would function.
Provider inventory: Create a centralized list of all arts providers in the region (with info about what they offer and their contact info).
Targeted outreach to underserved: Some of the most underserved schools might need more support to know what arts education options are available and how to access them.