In the January 2009 CAPE Communiqué:				CAPE's Mission CAPE advances the arts as a vital strategy for improving teaching and learning by increasing students' capacity for academic success, critical thinking and creativity. CAPE's Vision CAPE works toward a future in which: • students are valued as creators of culture in our society; • teachers, artists and students work collaboratively to develop and share innovative approaches to teaching and learning in and through the arts in our public schools; • teachers, artists, school administrators and parents recognize the arts as a key element in transforming schools into vibrant, creative and successful learning communities; • professional colleagues and partners regularly communicate and share their practices and research in order to continually improve and evolve the field of arts in education; and • policy makers, business leaders and all citizens value the arts in education as essential to a just and equal society, a thriving economy and an inclusive democratic culture. Board of Directors Nancy Jones Emrich, Pres. Phil Cote, Vice President Paula S. Carlin, Treasurer Jan Woelffer, Secretary Richard M. Assmus Frank Baiocchi Christine K. Buck Jeffrey A. Byrnes Dawnmarie Domingo Carol P. Eastin Sean D. Egan, Ph.D. Stephen Flisk P. Loreen Mershimer Mel Smith Kylie M. Sorden Beth Swanson Phillip Thomas Bill Tuggle Donate to CAPE With your financial support, CAPE can bring its extraordinary teaching and learning philosophies and methods to educators and children throughout Chicago. Your gift will enable CAPE to continue to be an effective advocate for positive change in Chicago's public schools. For the third consecutive year Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education has received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent evaluator of charities. Follow this link to donate to CAPE.
	1. New Faces 2. Hope, but We Must Act 3. Share Your Thoughts		4. All over the Midwest 5. Our New Partners 6. Second City Redux
	Please welcome two new staff members to CAPE:
			Program Associate Hilesh Patel brings to CAPE an extensive background in alternative high school education, the teaching of visual art and video in after school programs, and corporate account management. Just prior to CAPE, Hilesh was teaching at the non-profit arts organization Marwen and teaching and substituting at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. At CAPE, Hilesh will be focusing on our innovative work in after-school teaching and learning, SCALE.
	Misha Ferguson serves as Administrative Assistant at CAPE. She holds a BFA from the Pratt Institute in New York and is currently a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her thesis for the MA in Art Education Program will be on curriculum and pedagogical practices. Misha has been a cultural worker for over 10 years in communities in Oakland, Brooklyn and Chicago, including working for the Oakland Museum of California, Channel Thirteen in New York and the Office of Multicultural Affairs at SAIC.
	- - - - Misha had the opportunity to intend President Barack Obama's inauguration. "November 4th was the day my faith opened. I didn't believe that individual citizens had real power in the political process up until the last minute votes were counted. Although I am in Chicago, the same place the world was watching on TV that night, I didn't go to Grant Park to find out if Obama would win," Misha said. "Since I didn't go to Grant Park, I wanted to go to the inauguration. I was reluctant to be among hoards of people just to watch something that I could see on TV, but I realized that what I missed on November 4th I couldn't get back. I wanted to be a part of history. I wanted to be in union with all the people who helped make this happen and collectively feel the pride and accomplishment in putting such an amazing man into office."
	CAPE Program Associate Mark Diaz shared information about CAPE with teaching artists, and CAPE Founding and Creative Director Arnold Aprill presented a workshop on “Connecting After School to School Day Curriculum” at the September After School Matters Instructor Development Day. After School Matters (ASM) is a non-profit organization that partners with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Department of Children  and Youth Services, the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and Community-Based Organizations to expand out-of-school  opportunities for Chicago teens. Many ASM teaching artists were moved and excited by the level of artistic sophistication and social engagement evidenced by CAPE’s work, and want to be considered for participation in future CAPE initiatives. - - - - Grantmakers in the Arts, the national organization of arts funders, held its annual meeting, entitled “Arts and the New American City: You Draw the Map” in Atlanta this year. The theme of the convening was the role of the arts in a rapidly changing economy, addressing both the current economic crisis and the changing role of the arts in an information age. CAPE’s Creative and Founding Director Arnold Aprill appeared on a panel with Nancy Carr, visual and performing arts consultant to the California Department of education, to argue the pros and cons of arts integration, facilitated by Frances Philips of the Walter and Elise Hass Fund. The meeting concluded with a stirring presentation by Bruce Ferguson, director of Future Arts Research at Arizona State University, in which he examined a world in which more and more citizens are becoming producers and distributors of original work. Readers of this communiqué that would like a copy of Arnold’s position document on the false dichotomy between arts integration and direct instruction in the arts can request a copy by e-mailing him directly. - - - - CAPE's ideology and methodology were showcased throughout the Midwest this Fall. Colleagues working on an arts partnership initiative in St. Louis similar to CAPE's visited two CAPE schools (Agassiz and Daley), and met with CAPE staff and representatives of the Chicago Public Schools Office of Academic Enhancement to discuss the development of effective collaborations between schools, district leadership, and the arts community. Our St. Louis visitors included artists, district leadership, a principal of a new St. Louis public school dedicated to the arts, funders, and the director of Interchange, CAPE's sister organization. The Office of Arts Learning of the Ohio Arts Councll brought CAPE Creative and Founding Director Arnold Aprill to their annual meeting to discuss the importance of arts learning in a meaningful 21st century education. He presented on information economy work skills (comfort with ideas and abstractions, analysis and synthesis, creativity, innovation, self-discipline, organization, flexibility, ability to work on a team), and the need for teaching artists to continually push their own aesthetic growth in order to truly serve schools and communities. Executive Director of the Illinois Arts Alliance Ra Joy (at left) and Arnold were both speakers at the annual meeting of Shore Shore Arts – an arts funding and advocacy organization in northwest Indiana. Arnold spoke on the importance of partnerships, and Ra spoke about the how and why of arts advocacy.
	A student at Agassiz studying water through watercolors realizes that there is another way to use a brush.		The CAPE Veterans Partnerships push forward in developing rigorous arts-integrated practice and research. This year partners will focus on five creativity factors to identify new ways of measuring student creativity and learning. The Veterans Partnerships program supports a strong and healthy network of teachers, schools, artists, and art agencies, doing leading-edge action research into best practices that promote effective teaching and learning.
	Long-time partner Hawthorne School will not be participating this year but kindergarten teacher Wendee Shavocky and artist Megan Williamson will always be part of the family. Returning schools in the network are Agassiz Elementary, Daley Academy, Victor Herbert School, Murray Language Academy, Mark Sheridan Academy, Northside College Prep., South Shore High School, Spry Elementary, Telpochcalli, and Walsh Elementary.  New to the CAPE Veteran partners are Burley Elementary, Robert Healy School, Lowell Elementary, Kinzie School, and North Grand High School.  With new schools come new artist partners: puppeteer Daniel Kerr-Hobert of Blair Thomas Company and Snow City Arts; designer and founder of Kinky Reggae Patricia Reyes; and multi-media artist and founder of Cooperative Image Group Michael Bancroft. - - - - SCALE 2 SCALE – SCALE participants Amy Vecchioni and Patricia Reyes of Waters School shed light on collaborative teaching to SCALE 2 teachers. SCALE, CAPE’s afterschool program, which brings together teachers and artists to offer high quality afterschool arts integrated curriculum, has a doppelgänger. Telpochcalli, Williams School, and Waters Fine Arts wrap up their last year in SCALE as three new schools begin to explore new approaches in afterschool programming. As they continue to scale up program growth, Telpochcalli, Williams School, and Waters Fine Arts will also spend this year reflecting on how they can best present five years of work to their peers, both regionally and nationally. A SCALE finale exhibition and/or performance at the end of this academic year will highlight their achievements. Known as SCALE 2, three schools along with two arts agencies new to CAPE will start their journey into the experimental afterschool laboratory. The teams are off to a wonderful start, having already identified their themes: Community will be the centerpiece for Kinzie’s projects; Marconi will tease out Identity; and El Cuarto Año will take on Environment. Joining the CAPE artist partner roster are Deeply Rooted Productions and Chicago Film Makers. - - - - On November 7, 115 arts educators from the Fine and Performing Arts Magnet Cluster Program of CPS gathered for a full-day of professional development. Teachers worked with teaching artists Kevin Iega Jeff (Deeply Rooted Dance Productions), DJ Aquil Charlton and Justin Dawson (DJ Itchie FIngers), Jessica Rogers (Second City Theater), Cheryl Pope and Amanda Lichtenstein (Museum of Contemporary Art), and Carolyn Defrin (House Theatre Chicago), to develop ideas for the 2008-2009 theme of Discovery and how it connects to arts and literacy learning. Teachers created dances, theater sketches, and visual art pieces in response to the provocative ideas and processes developed in the sessions. Many thanks to the Second City Training Center in Chicago for hosting this event.

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