Champions of Arts Education

For over 20 years, MAAE has recognized Massachusetts' outstanding arts educators and patrons in an awards ceremony held annually at the Massachusetts State House. Candidates are nominated by their colleagues and communities each winter and are reviewed by MAAE's Champion of Arts Education Award Committee.
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Community Arts Audit

Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) and Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) Partnership Project conducted the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) Community Audit for Arts Education in the school districts of Attleboro, Bridgewater-Raynham, Fitchburg, and New Bedford to give these communities the tools to meet their needs to develop active community support for arts education. The objectives of the project included: 1. Continue building a network of support for arts education in Massachusetts, 2. Provide a model for district reform, 3. Develop detailed 5-year strategic plans for placing arts education at the core of the curriculum in each participating district, and 4. Shape a strategy for implementation of the plans and create community arts education advisory committees in each community to help implement the plan.

As a result of the audit, networks of support for arts education in all four communities were strengthened. Members of the administration and the wider community were engaged in a wide-ranging, data-driven examination of the state of arts education in their districts. Advisory committee members and administrators were better informed about their district's arts education challenges and successes. In addition, community members, including students and parents, focused their attention on arts education programming and resources in their schools. In the next phase, school committees in these districts will become better informed about community support for arts education in the district, thus informing their own decisions.

To read more information about the community arts audit click here.

Kennedy Center for the Arts'
National Symphony Orchestra
Summer Music Institute
National Trustees' Fellowship

Every summer, approximately 70 students (ages 15-20) from all over the nation meet in Washington, D.C., to attend the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute (SMI). The Institute offers four weeks of private lessons, rehearsals, coaching by National Symphony Orchestra members, classes, and lectures to prepare aspiring musicians for their futures in music. One musician from most states will be selected to participate on scholarship for the 2008 Summer Music Institute. The Program is open, by recorded audition, to students ages 15-20 (as of June 30, 2008) who are seriously considering orchestral music as a career and willing to devote themselves to a musical education

Application deadline February 8, 2008. (program dates: June 30 - July 28, 2008)

Information and Application