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Illinois Creates About Illinois Creates Arts Education Goals How You Can Make a Difference Research and Resources Support Illinois Creates The Illinois Creates Coalition Join the Illinois Creates Coalition |
About Illinois Creates Illinois Creates, a statewide initiative led by the Illinois Arts Alliance, advocates for greater inclusion of the arts in education. The Illinois Creates coalition, comprised of 250 education, business, and arts organizations and hundreds of Illinois citizens, believes all Illinois children deserve a comprehensive education that provides a solid foundation for success. This must include the arts as part of the core curriculum. Arts instruction, like other core subjects, must be standards-based, sequential, equitable, and sustainable. Illinois Creates was launched in 2004 by the Illinois Arts Alliance, an organization with a 26-year history of arts advocacy in Illinois, and The Chicago Community Trust, which has served the charitable needs of greater Chicago since 1915 and has a long history of supporting the arts and arts education.
Illinois Creates, one of the Illinois Arts Alliance’s signature programs, was formed in 2004 to establish comprehensive arts education opportunities in every Illinois public school. In the spring of 2005, Illinois Creates commissioned the first statewide survey of principals and superintendents to assess the status of arts education in Illinois and to better understand the challenges in delivering arts instruction in Illinois public schools. The research uncovered broad disparities in the levels of arts education offered in schools throughout the state. Since the launch of Illinois Creates, IAA has worked with key education leaders and legislators as well as the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Arts Council to strengthen arts education in schools, districts, and communities statewide. In 2006, the Illinois State Board of Education, with the support of the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, established the Arts and Foreign Language Grant Program to support school districts’ efforts to offer standards-based, quality arts education in Illinois Schools. In 2006 and 2007, ISBE awarded 91 grants to districts throughout the state. Funding for this small, but essential program was eliminated in Illinois’ FY08 budget. IAA launched an aggressive campaign to restore funding for the program, and in July 2008, the Illinois General Assembly invested $4 million in the Arts and Foreign Language Grant Program for FY09. In September 2008, IAA released Committing to Quality in Education: Arts at the Core to assist schools, school districts, and arts organizations in developing standards-based, quality arts education programs. The guidebook offers encouragement, research-based ideas, and support for effective practice. IAA will distribute the guidebook to 4000 Illinois principals and 890 superintendents.
Illinois Creates Steering Committee In addition to the Illinois Arts Alliance and The Chicago Community Trust, people playing a leadership role in guiding the Illinois Creates initiative include: Staff Steering Committee Co-Chairs Steering Committee Members
Illinois Arts Alliance/Foundation |
