In the September-October 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 Mel Smith, President Paula S. Carlin      Vice President P. Loreen Mershimer      Treasurer Jeffrey A. Byrnes, Secretary Richard M. Assmus Frank Baiocchi Christine K. Buck Phillip J. Cote Dawnmarie Domingo Carol P. Eastin Sean D. Egan, Ph.D. Nancy Jones Emrich Stephen Flisk Kurt Johnson Kylie M. Sorden Elizabeth Swanson Phillip Thomas Bill Tuggle Jan Ellen Woelffer 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. Meet the Board Kurt Johnson What is your occupation? I run a business unit for Virtela Communications, an IT Infrastructure company. My undergraduate degree is from the University of Iowa (Political Science) and my MBA is from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. How did you learn about CAPE? I learned about CAPE throught the Arts and Business Council's OnBoard program. Why did you decide to join CAPE's Board of Directors? I've been a Chicagoan for a while now and came to the realization that I needed to get involved to take my 'citizenship' to the next level. Education has always been near and dear to me: it's fundamental to lowering crime rates, global competitiveness, job creation, and to strengthen the vibrancy of the city. CAPE is unique in its multi-layered approach because it addresses the system while working with students directly. What do you hope to achieve at CAPE? Realistically, I'm figuring that out. I'm interested in the Program Committe and the Strategic Planning committee. Understanding the organization's long-term goals and then identifying how I can contribute to the organization's success as it works towards those goals is my short-term objective. CAPE Research Associate Laura Tan (shown here either developing a new filing system for her CAPE projects or triaging her guest list), was married to Zachary J. Paradis on September 26, 2009 on the coast of Maine. Congratulations! While in NYC, Arnold Aprill was able to visit CAPE's former Research Associate Stephanie Pereira in her new position as Education Coordinator for Eyebeam Art + Technology Center – a highly innovative organization that supports a wide range of cutting edge drop-in programs, residencies, and projects. Stephanie described the intriguing youth networks her program has developed, and showed off Eyebeam's laser cutter, an amazing 3-D printer, and an extraordinary exhibit of indoor urban gardens (see www.windowfarms.org).
	1. Music National Service 2. Case Study: CAPE 3. Ahhh. . .Venice		4. CAPE in the UK 5. Research Associates x 2 6. Habla Arts Ed?
			CAPE is one of the founding partners in the Music National Service Initiative – a “peace corps” for musicians. In Chicago, MNS is a collaboration between Urban Gateways, Columbia College Center for Community Arts Partnerships, and CAPE working with many community-based organizations and schools.
	The music corps fellows will each spend a minimum of one year providing at least 35 hours of teaching, performing and community service work in challenged neighborhoods across Chicago. Other cities participating in this project include San Francisco, Seattle and New Orleans. Click for more information on Music Corps Fellows in Chicago, or visit www.musicnationalservice.org for additional information on the national project. - - - - During the Grantmakers for Education's 13th annual conference "Make No Small Plans: Innovation, Collaboration & Confidence During Challenging Times," a special conversation was convened on October 7 between grantmakers in education and grantmakers in the arts at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago on supporting 21st Century Creativity. Organized by Sydney Sidwell from Fry Foundation, Arnold Aprill from CAPE, and CAPE board member Frank Biaocchi from Polk Bros. Foundation, presenters included Corinne Rose from MoCP, Cynthia Weiss from Project AIM at the Columbia College Chicago's Center for Community Arts Partnerships, and Mario Rossero, Director of Magnet Cluster Schools and Program, Office of Academic Enhancement, Chicago Public Schools. CAPE staff (Mark Diaz, Laura Tan, Amy Rasmussen, Hilesh Patel, and Kelly Nespor)served as facilitators and documenters, Evan Plummer, Administrator for the Fine & Performing Arts Magnet Cluster Program (FPAMCP) at Chicago Public Schools served as a facilitator, and CAPE artist partners Jamie Topper, William Estrada, and Marina Lopez, and CAPE partner Principals Tamara Witzl and Barbara Kent served as discussants and respondents. The group investigated strategies for supporting creative teaching and learning at the classroom, school, and district level. - - - - CAPE was presented as a case study at the Priddy Symposium in Arts Leadership at the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts in Denton, Texas, Sept 18-20. CAPE’s presentation focused on documentation methodologies. The other case study examined by these young and emerging scholars in the fields of arts and arts administration was the Oklahoma A+ Schools, which focused on how a network of innovators was built across diverse constituencies. There was a growing sense throughout the symposium of moving beyond programs competing for funding and recognition into a common community working toward shared goals across the nation. Also at this conference, CAPE Researcher Gail Burnaford presented on issues of arts education policy development.
	This summer CAPE Program Associate Mark Diaz had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Arts in Society Conference in Venice, Italy. The annual international conference brings together scholars  and artists from around the world to critically engage and examine experimentation in arts practice that connect with and is contextualized in the studio, theatres, classrooms, museums, on the streets and in communities. Mark connected with professors from Australia and the Netherlands who worked on a transnational project that challenged two classrooms from both countries to research and create performances based on their countries' colonial histories. Artists from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Hawaii presented their participatory performances in "foreign" territory.  The transnational theme of the conference paralleled that of the Venice Biennale (click for more from Mark about the arts celebration). - - - - CAPE Education Director Scott SIkkema (joined by CAPE Researcher Larry Scripp) ventured to South Carolina to conduct a 4-day workshop with staff from Beaufort Middle School. Topics covered included collaboration, inquiry-based approaches, and documentation. Visual and theatre arts were also explored. - - - - On September 23, CAPE's sister organization Urban Arts Partnership held a panel to discuss How the Arts Can Drive Innovation in Public Schools, moderated by Soledad O’Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent. Held at the 92nd Street YMCA in NYC, O’Brien was joined by NYC Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis Walcott; NYC Department of Education Executive Director of the Office of Arts and Special Projects Paul King; CAPE Founding and Creative Director Arnold Aprill; New Design High School Principal Dr. Scott Conti; The Facing History School Principal Gillian Smith; and Executive Director of Urban Arts Partnership Philip Courtney to discuss the importance of arts integration in the NYC public school system. Attended by school principals, activists, teachers, teaching artists and Hip-Hop legend, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, panelists discussed the importance of arts access in schools as well as the debate over having the arts as a separate curriculum versus arts integration. - - - - On September 30, CAPE's Founding and Creative Director Arnold Aprill spoke at the "Creativity: Luxury or Lifeline?" conference in Bradford, England, presented by CAPE's British cousin, CapeUK. Some of the best English thinkers about creative learning and the future of education were convened to examine current practice and to imagine next steps. The primary themes were Creativity, Partnerships, and Inquiry (or as the Brits call it, Enquiry). There was extensive investigation of innovative approaches to assessing creative learning, as well as to the emerging roles of new technology in knowledge development and information sharing. UK educators are working hard to broaden the framework for school improvement by seeking to address the more holistic needs of children and families. This is reflected at the policy level by the Department for Education and Skills becoming part of a new Department for Children, Schools, and Families. In keeping with the concept of young people accessing new technologies, Arnold was interviewed by a youth radio station during the conference. It was a pleasure for Arnold to reconnect with beloved colleagues from the early days of CAPE and CapeUK, and to reflect on where we have come separately and collectively across national contexts. - - - - On October 2, Pat Cochrane, Chief Executive of CapeUK, and Arnold Aprill presented at the World Museum of Liverpool on partnership development to the Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium. A lively dialogue was sparked between arts organizations, schools and museums. Arnold found LIverpool cultural organizations to be notable in their commitment to communities and social justice. - - - - The U.S. Department of Education held its annual meeting for participants from across the country in its Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) and Professional Development for Arts Education grant programs. Dr. Gail Burnaford, researcher for CAPE, and Scott Sikkema, CAPE Education Director, attended a small group planning meeting that helped lay the grounds for the day. At the event itself, Dr. Burnaford facilitated a discussion which looked at the current state of organizational research around issues of teaching and learning in the arts, to which Scott was one of the respondents. In addition, Dr. Burnaford co-led break-out sessions for participants on professional development in the arts, and Scott and Anna Shane from the Chicago Public Schools Office of Academic Enhancement co-led break-out sessions on developing documentation and dissemination strategies. Also attending this meeting were CAPE Researcher Dr. Larry Scripp and Meg Venckus from the Office of Academic Enhancement. With the Office of Academic Enhancement, CAPE is currently partnering for two AEMDD grants, PAIR (Partnership for Arts Integration Research), and IB-TAP (International Baccalaureate Teaching Arts Project).
			The Habla Teacher Institute, convened in Merida, Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula, is a boundary and discipline-crossing experience for educators and artists. At the July 2009 Habla Teacher Institute Cabinets of Wonders: Museums of Memory (a collaboration between the Habla Center for Language and Culture, CAPE, and the
	ArtsLiteracy Project at Brown University), artists and educators gathered from Mexico, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Italy to explore ways we can place creativity at the center of learning. Click to see documentation of the 2009 Institute.
	Teachers and artists in the PAIR projects recently enjoyed a professional development workshop focusing on inquiry questions, and on the role of questioning in the process of creating through the arts. Guest artists Robert Possehl, Jeff Harms, and Kris Brailey led break-out groups in art-making. - - - - Teachers at Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts experimented with documentation (and presentation) through different media. Groups worked with Morris Bowie and Arnold Aprill on video; Laura Tan on digital sound; Kris Brailey on photography; and Hilesh Patel and Scott Sikkema on drawing.

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